There are several potential titles for this series... depending on which panel of the box or which moment of the credits you are watching... Black Heaven     The Legend of Black Heaven      Kacho O-Ji
HARD ROCK save the SPACE?! ___ HARD ROCK SAVES SPACE?!

I just finished watching the first two tapes (the first seven episodes) of Black Heaven. I liked it a lot! As I watched, I would often check myself for attitude and, each time, found that I was smiling from ear to ear! Maybe it is because I am over forty that this story grabbed my attention and my emotions... right off the bat!

The main plot of the story (the idea that a battle rages deep in space in which the humans are using an alien-defeating weapon that can only be powered by ex-hardrocker Oji Tanaka’s live guitar performance) is the weak point that you have to get past in order to buy into the rest of the drama. But... go with it and enjoy the production. It is alternately touching and hilarious. Black Heaven has nicely  designed characters, first rate painting and backgrounds, plenty of high anime style, and the nicest blending of computer generated graphics and traditional animation techniques that I have ever seen. Plus the music is great!

Oji Tanaka is well over thirty, works in an office as a section manager (kacho), has a wife and a young son, and finds that he is just going through the motions of life without any joy or fulfillment. He longs for "the old days" when he and his band almost "made it" in the Hard Rock scene. He is approached by a strange, beautiful woman, Yuki Layla, who asks him to perform on her stage. Oji is provided with a fine guitar and an elevated stage with lots of bright spotlights and he is asked to "play". He Jams! He Rocks! It is a huge, stellar solo. He loves it. Somewhere in deep space, the  massive super weapon builds to full strength and unleashes a huge battle-ending blast that sweeps the enemy ships into oblivion! Oji has no idea. He gets to go home. He feels great. "I still got it!"

Oji begins to live his old dream. He has to fit it in around his "real" life... job... family... bills to pay. The aliens call upon him from time to time. His wife and neighbors are talking. Nothing is normal anymore. A lot of human comedy and emotional warmth is woven into the production. The seven episodes are each 25 minutes long. That means that I enjoyed the entire 175 minute (almost 3 hour) series in only two sittings and I was still wishing for more when it ended. The little "next episode" teaser at the end of each episode is a gas!... and at the end of episode seven, which seems to be the logical end of the story, there IS a teaser for an episode eight.

Give it a try! You will like the people and marvel at the production. I was lucky to have gotten the "Original Japanese Language with Subtitles" version. The Japanese language tapes are always the best. The character dramatization and human energy is so strong in Japanese and is always so lost in the English dubbing. A couple of the finest English language anime were Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Totoro ... but... even in these I found the dubbing to be a little less than I would have imagined the Japanese to be.

 

3/10/01: Late-Breaking News! I just watched the 3rd tape - starting with Episode 8... "All Right Now". Dubbed in English... and still enjoyable... Fun, even! The dubbing is very nice... a lot of fun and very lively. The character voices are great and the timing seems pretty good. One of the best I've seen. Thanks!

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Tenchi Muyo     Ryoko     Aeka     Pretty Samy - Sasami
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