Real men begin a concert by hanging themselves.

Actually, the title is a lie. This is not a Behind the Music spoof but more an analysis of the show’s leading character, Souichi Negishi, and his more famous Death Rock alter ego, Johannes Krauser II. If you don’t like it, get lost before I summon Krauser-sama from the depths of Hell to murder you and do other bad unspeakable things to you. Mwa ha ha ha ha! Rock on!

I recently watched the music comedy, Detroit Metal City based on recent recommendations and laughed my ass off at every minute of it. The show focuses on an indie Death Rock/Death Metal group matching the show’s name and the subsequent woes of the band’s lead singer, guitarist and songwriter, Negishi. Behind the music and the laughter lies a tortured soul, and we see the portrait of a man slowly coming embracing a heavily repressed part of himself. Much of the humor of the series stems from Negishi’s unwitting relationship and subsequent disdain with his Death Rock alter ego, Krauser. On one side there’s Souchiro Negishi, an overlooked mild mannered pansy and Swedish Pop enthusiast, quite frankly the epitome of normalcy. Johannes Krauser II, a terrorist demon from hell with a satirically fancy European name, as well as the Emperor of Japanese Death Rock that regularly kills and rapes unsuspecting people to satisfy his insatiable lust (according to the crazed DMC fans anyway). The two are as opposite as humanly possible, yet they are the same person. Negishi is Krauser just as much as Krauser is Negishi, two distinct personalities in one body, two sides of the same coin.

In a lot of ways Negishi’s relationship with his other self mirrors that of super heroes, the most easily identifiable being Bruce Wayne to Batman, Clark Kent to Superman and Peter Parker to Spider Man. For convenience sake I’ll only refer to Batman hereafter in my comparisons because he’s my superhero of choice when it comes to characters that assume a distinct separate persona to fight crime. When a character assumes an alter ego it becomes increasingly difficult to tell who the real persona is as the alter ego develops an identity of its own. Such is the case with a complex character such as Batman. Bruce Wayne is still technically Bruce Wayne, but the superhero persona is the true identity with Batman assuming the identity Bruce Wayne.

It was a dirty slut anyway.

Furthering the Persona discussion is the fact that characters with alter egos typically wear masks to transform from ordinary to extraordinary (or vice versa depending on your point of view). Though Negishi doesn’t wear a mask proper, the face paint still serves to transform him into the infamous Krauser, and he does become another person. The change is so drastic that not no one outside the immediate DMC group knows the true identity of the fearsome Krauser.

While Negishi is neither a serial murderer rapist nor a demon from hell, it’s the public persona he needs to survive. First, he begrudgingly assumes the mantle as a source of income. Second, though he may not realize it himself, it’s a healthy vent for the anger of his dark side. He gets to terrorize the general populace with no consequence while spreading DMC’s legend further. Examples include but are not limited to inadvertently assaulting and “raping” police officers, members of rival bands, tambourines and even Tokyo Tower. Negishi is mostly in control of his alias both as himself and as Krauser, but there are times when the inner demon inadvertently takes control.

Though Krauser is the antithesis of a hero, he is sort of heroic in a way in that Negishi regularly has to become Krauser at a moment’s notice to keep DMC’s rowdy fans in check, even going so far as to offer life lessons to his brother and old friends while in character. Much of the show’s humor stems from the fact that Negishi himself is often verbally abused by his loyal fans who often tell him to piss off in some fashion or another, both in person and even on the internet, when not disguised as Krauser.

Murder, Death, Kill. Murder, Death, Kill. Don’t forget to brush your teeth!

Furthermore, if Negishi didn’t have such a creative outlet to vent his anger, there’s no doubt in my mind he would have actually gone completely loco a long time ago. He did try to walk away from DMC once but found himself coming back to reassume the mantle. He claims to hate everything about DMC, but he won’t hesitate to defend Krauser and his music when confronted by DMC’s many challengers and detractors. Negishi takes pride in what he does and as much as he hates to admit it, he needs Krauser and actually enjoys the wanton chaos. I’m speaking strictly for myself, but if I would gladly become Krauser if I could get away with all the things he does.

When we think of the legends of Death Rock, guys like Gene Simmons and KISS, as direct inspirations, and Ozzy Osbourne and Meatloaf, as indirect inspirations come to mind. These guys were truly wild with drugs, women and dangerous stunts akin to those pulled off by Krauser. Such legends of Death Rock are embodied by the Second Emperor of Death Rock, whom was promptly overthrown by Negishi in the show’s final episode in a rock off to determine the next Emperor of Death Rock. Negishi is none of the things we associate with rock stars. He’s never done drugs, and for all we know he’s still a virgin, but he is nonetheless a rock star in his own right with his own legend. Whether he likes it or not, and he unconsciously really does, he is inseparable from Krauser.

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