Ana Presents Nippon Eiga Series Part 19 NY Premiere of Detroit Metal City

DIRECTED BY TOSHIO LEE

STARRING KENICHI MATSUYAMA, GENE SIMMONS, and others

Japan | 2008 | 103 min. | 35mm film | Japanese with English Subtitles

Thurs., Aug. 20 - Doors open 6:15pm - Film starts 7:00pm

The ImaginAsian, 239 East 59th Street (Bet. 2nd & 3rd Ave.), NYC

For RSVP, www.newyork-tokyo.com/wp/dmc

“Detroit Metal City” (DMC) is a cartoon series started in 2005 on Young Animal magazine. It soon earned a cult following for its eccentric setting, distinctive characters, radical story and the funniest jokes. As soon as it was released as a comic book, it quickly sold out at every bookstore, and those who couldn't get the comic were called “DMC refugee”.

The rumor was spread by word of mouth as well as the blog/message board on the Internet, and DMC gained popularity not only among the subculture mania, but also among the writers, actors, musicians, artist, etc, who then competed to introduce this comic at their shows/ columns. With all these phenomenon, the comic sold over 3 million copies to date.

DMC became the front cover of an authoritative culture magazine, Studio Voice, on its issue in September 2006. It also topped the Japanese comic chart in 2006 surpassing “Death Note”, which already had been made into the award-winning movie.

DMC is the first Death Metal comic book to be released on screen and in animation at the same time. Both were released in August, 2008 in Japan. The animation is produced by STUDIO4°C, known for its recent works such as “Tekkonkinkreet”, “Animatrix” and “Mindgame”.

In the movie, Gene Simmons of KISS plays the “legendary and world- renowned” Death Metal artist, “Jack IL Dark” who competes with DMC on stage. The final live performance scene is not only the craziest spectacle and the climax of the story, but a collaboration any Death Metal music fan would crave to witness!

Story

Souichi Negishi is a conservative and pure-minded boy, who came to Tokyo from the country in Japan with a dream of becoming a fancy pop- song musician. He writes a song “Raspberry Kiss“ to send to a music label, however, by a mere accident, he is forced to make a debut as the member of the satanic Death metal band “Detroit Metal City” (DMC), whose trademark is an eccentric make-up and destructive performance.

Despite of Souichi's hope of becoming a lovely pop musician, DMC's debut single “SATSUGAI - genocide” (which used to be “Raspberry Kiss” before arranged by the madly strange music label's owner) achieves explosive sales, and Johannes Krauser II bounces up to the position of charisma in the Japanese Death Metal music scene.

Meanwhile, his girlfriend Ms. Aikawa, who loves cute outfit and French pop songs, does not know the fact that Souichi becomes Johannes Krauser II. Therefore, Souichi has to live with the extreme caution to keep this biggest secret not to disappoint her.

After its sensational debut, DMC continues to build up “legends” as a Death Metal band – defeating a rival band on stage and messed up the live show of the No. 1 Japanese HIP-HOP artist, to name a few. Souichi always, in all of the cases, first tries to act nicely but presses all the wrong buttons to end up in creating the image of furious Johannes Krauser II. One day, when DMC is totally recognized as an up-and- coming Death Metal band throughout the country, Souichi has received unexpected news. The legendary Metal artist, Jack IL Dark, starts his world tour and DMC is named to perform on his stage in Japan. The members of DMC and the fans are thrilled to hear the news, but it gives Souichi (chicken-hearted) a shudder•••

Director: Toshio Lee

Born in 1964 in Osaka. After graduating with a literature major from College of Art, Nihon University, Lee worked on many TV drama productions. He made his feature directorial debut with “Backdrop of My Papa” (2004) and “Detroit Metal City” is his second feature film.

Casts:

Ken'ichi Matsuyama (L: Change the World), Rosa Ogawa, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Gene Simmons

© 2008 TOHO CO., LTD. /HORIPRO INC. / HAKUSENSHA, INC. / Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. / DENTSU INC. / d-rings Inc. / PARCO CO., LTD. / SDP, INC. / Tokyo FM Broadcasting Co., Ltd. / Yahoo! Japan Corporation / NIPPON SHUPPAN HANBAI INC. / TSUTAYA Group All Rights Reserved.