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Kacho Ouji (Black Heaven)

A spoof of anime cliche's. A late-night adult show. A coming-of-age show. A mid-life crisis show. A music-saves-the-world show. Kacho Ouji (released here in the US as Legend of Black Heaven, even though the true translation would have been closer to "Prince Salaryman") is a bit hard to pin down.

Story Intro

"Ouji" is a middle-aged salaryman, bored with the inanity of office work, when he learns that his wife of many years threw out his last remaining electric guitar. Years ago, he was the leader of a heavy metal group named Black Heaven, and family life brought out new responsibilities for almost all the group members. Long gone are the days of rock and roll as "Gabriel Tanaka" and all that remains is "Ouji" the businessman.

In a drunken slump over the loss of the last memoirs of those years, he meets a beatiful woman who reminds him of his youth and knows the whereabouts of his guitar. She asks him, Gabriel Tanaka, to play for her -- she needs his particular sound to help battle invading aliens.

Other Notes

Like a spoof of Macross and other shows that try to make music save the universe and be serious about it, this show makes light of it from the beginning. Ms. Yuki and her assistants come off as the most inept group this side of the Three Stooges at times; of course, Ms. Yuki looks exactly like the leader in Gabe's son's favorite sci-fi TV show.

The animation is sparse at first, looking like an even cheaper than usual digital show, but after a few episodes things start to progress. I recommend this more for the music (guitar solos by Whitesnake's John Sykes), '80s music references (mostly about Michael Schenker), with the story and character designs during its better moments.

A good quick show to prove that anime doesn't have be all teenaged angst, giant robots, and psychic powers. After all, sometimes it can be adult angst, spaceships, and "groove". One to rent, at least.

Kacho Ouji (13-episode TV)

Kacho Ouji Copyright (C) AIC / Pioneer Entertainment
Distributed by Pioneer Entertainment as Legend of Black Heaven.

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