The penultimate volume has arrived! What murderous showdown could it be leading to?
Creative Staff
Story: Kiminori Wakasugi
Art: Kiminori Wakasugi
Translation/Adaptation: Annus Itchii
What They Say
I want to save the world with rice!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The entirety of this volume of the metal insanity masterpiece Detroit Metal City is spent building towards the final volume. The final story arc. The final blood lust!
The volume starts off with a few stories about Soichi trying to be normal, live a normal life, and play ‘normal’ music. Of course, at this point in the game Krauser II was completely fused with Soichi’s personality. There are few good chuckles here and there, such as Soichi totally freaking out on Aikawa while taking her on a date in his ‘new’ car, falling in love with the personality of a completely hideous girl…and then freaking out on her, etc. These chapters are mildly amusing at best with a couple of good laughs but overall the joke is running thin. I’m getting tired of the same setup and execution of each of these chapters. Soichi as Soichi is not that amusing anymore to dedicate multiple chapters IN A ROW to these misadventures. Even the chapters where Soichi returns home and decides to get a job as a combine (rice harvesting machine) salesman bored me. Maybe for a second you think he might actually quit DMC and get the job but we know better. Why spend so much time showing that Soichi IS Krauser no matter how hard he tries and then let him just quit and sell combines? It just doesn’t make sense and therefore the chapters are semi-predictable and just filler until we get back to what makes DMC really awesome.
On the other hand, what I am not tired of yet are the antics and drama that revolve around DMC as a band. These situations are contiuously interesting and funny. The plot, once we get there, is that DMC and three other metal gods are all releasing new singles on the same day; signifying a metal “big bang” of death and destruction; of which the band who sells the most records will become the newly crowned God of Metal! We revisit some of the bands previously introduced as well as a new super duper extreme band, Cannabalisim Animal. Some typical fair is had here that leans on the disgusting again, thanks to the band Deathism, but it actually quite fun. My favorite part of this initial portion is where Boss literally kills Soichi so that for once in his life he can ‘die for metal’. Sadly, this setup required the existence of one of the earlier chapters I just mentioned as not that good but…it’s all worth it in the end.
Throwing a wrench into the mix is the sales results of the four bands’ new records….none of them placed first! Instead a mysterious new band that has no name and whose record has no title, outsold the rest by a mile. I really found the events that followed really intersting and a good juxtaposition to what DMC has been doing all along. Well, maybe juxtaposition isn’t the right word but the stories are right! It is found that this new mystery band is fronted by the son of famed death metal legend Karl’s Murder. The twist is that this guy, Hideki Karls, is exactly like Soichi. He wants to be a model, maybe an actor; though he is way too ugly to actually be a model but he has passion! Hideki transforms into an all black beast known only as God and follows the same paths and rituals that Soichi follows everytime he becomes Krauser. This can turn out very interesting and bring a nice conclusion to the series, I am looking forward to it. But of course Soichi ends the volume by saying that he is quitting DMC, with sugar sticks STILL sticking out of his ass, and Boss appears to die upon hearing the news. How will it all end? Have to wait till September for that but it looks to be something good as each climax to DMC band related arcs tend to be.
In Summary
Volume 9 stays strong with what DMC does best but the constant meditation on Soichi trying to be normal but failing has gotten really old by this point. That is really the only fault here. The jokes are still there, more miss than hit this time around though, and the last 4 or 5 chapters are really the only reason to read the book. With the series winding up to wind down let’s hope it goes out with a bang!
P.S. The 100th chapter features a tally of rapes, fucks, and murders so far throughout the series. The winner? Rape with 265! Wow! That’s a lot to take but…it’s been fun.
Content Grade: C
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: June 14th, 2011
MSRP: $12.99
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