The Legend of Black Heaven | 13 eps TV series | 1999 | 7/10
This is a show about a middle aged man named Oji Tanaka, who used to be in a hard rock band, along with a few of his college friends. Real life eventually caused all of them to go their separate ways to raise families and work day jobs. Oji is now a salaryman, working a job he hates, living with a wife who doesn't fully appreciate him, and he's constantly reminiscing about the halcyon days of yesteryear.
Well one day Oji has what is clearly a moment of midlife crisis (near nervous breakdown), and around that same time, a new female employee begins working at his job. From there... he eventually finds himself swept up in an interstellar war, where only his band can rock hard enough to save the Earth from menacing techno loving aliens. While he's also tempted constantly by forbidden fruit, which he may or may not have nibbled on.
So that story is what we're lead to believe, if we don't take a moment to look deeper. You see, it's also possible that none of this ever happened, and Oji was just daydreaming the whole time. As well as fantasizing about having an affair with his new coworker. The subtle allusions to this alternate possibility are always there, especially noticeable with repeat viewings. As someone who is also middle age-ish, and also used to be in a band, I can certainly relate to parts of Oji's plight. If nothing else, it was great to see an anime with a protagonist
I could actually relate to.
Overall I enjoyed Black Heaven for the most part. There are clearly some filler episodes, and I believe this show would have been better as a six episode OVA, rather than a 13 episode TV show. But all the same, Black Heaven
has its moments. Believe it or not, Whitesnake's own John Sykes wrote the opening theme song "
Cautionary Warning", proving Black Heaven is indeed blessed with the true soul of rock 'n' roll. Enough to make you want to live that dream again every day, one air guitar solo at a time.
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