Legend of Black Heaven is a four
dvd anime series by the writers and creators of
Tenchi Muyo!.
When a middle aged, middle manager named
Oji Tanaka, a former star guitarist with the chart topping band that almost made it called
Black Heaven, finds his last guitar has been thrown out, his life is a pathetic day to day existence and he is stuck with brand new and very attractive co-worker he only wishes to relive his glory days in front of the crowds. That is until he learns his music is the only thing that can activate the
powerful weapon that the co-worker, actually an undercover agent for an
alien fleet, needs to help guarantee victory for her race. Not that he really knows that yet, he just knows that when his
guitar is in hand, he is glorius again.
Black Heaven is a 4 disc series on DVD from
Pioneer Animation and while it showcases the not so great early attempts at digital panning for the
animation, it can be overlooked for the plot and depth of this show. It's more than just "We'll play music and beat the aliens," Oji is a character that viewers can care about. He's a man, who was once living his dream but is now stuck in this terrible middle management position, a marriage to a wife he barely talks to and a son he doesn't even really know. Then along comes
Layla Yuki, a hot young woman offering him his dreams again. I was torn, I wanted Oji to take up the guitar, play his dreams and be happy again, but this happiness he brought himself drew him closer to his family again and then I wanted him to patch things up with them and settle down instead of flying around space.
The series only improves over the course of the next few discs as Oji learns the extent of the war in space and begins to reunite the original members of Black Heaven in order to save the earth from the invaders. With the final DVD due out on April 24, 2001 I will be the first in line to pick it up and see how it all turns out.