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Detroit Metal City Teaser Posted with Death Note's Matsuyama
posted on by Egan Loo
The Japanese website for Kiminori Wakasugi's Detroit Metal City rock comedy manga and spinoff projects has posted the first teaser trailer for the live-action film version this past weekend. The teaser briefly covers how the mild-mannered, struggling crooner Sōichi (played by Death Note's Ken'ichi "L" Matsuyama) transforms into "Johannes Krauser II," the profane lead singer of a chart-topping heavy metal band. The site also posted images from the anime DVD that Studio 4ºC (The Animatrix, Genius Party) is producing. Both the live-action film and the anime DVD will premiere this summer.
The Cinema Today movie site has posted the first group photograph of the main cast on Monday. The photograph has the three members of the band (Matsuyama, Yoshihiko Hosoda as Masayuki "Alexander Jagi" Wada, and Ryūji Akiyama as Terumichi "Camus" Nishida), Yasuko Matsuyuki as the nameless Death Records label executive, and Rosa Katō as Soichi's college crush Yuri. Significantly, the photograph also has Gene Simmons, the famous American lead singer of the Kiss heavy metal rock band which inspired the fictional Detroit Metal City band. Simmons plays "Jack ill Dark, the emperor of truth" and Sōichi's nemesis. The website quotes Simmons as saying (after being translated into Japanese and then back into English), "My scenes were wonderful. I get to be a god walking on Earth. Me!" Matsuyama commented on Simmons' signature body feature, "Gene-san's tongue really is long. When it comes to tongues, I lose." The website reports that Simmons knew about the manga beforehand and surprised Matsuyama by speaking a little Japanese after one shoot.
Image © 2008 Detroit Metal City Production Committee
