Viz Pictures secures the rights for Toshio Lee's "Detroit Metal City"

by Chris MaGee

If you were one of the people who packed Toronto's Ryerson Theatre during Toronto IFF's Midnight Madness screening of Toshio Lee's "Detroit Metal City" back in 2008 then you have probably been one of the people scratching your head wondering when this feel good death metal comedy was going to make its way to North American DVD. It had international screen idol Ken'ichi Matsumoto, KISS bassist Gene Simmons, bone-crunching metal and some of the funniest moments in film of the past few years, so why the yawning gulf where a DVD release should have been?

Thankfully that yawning gulf is being filled, and what's better it's being filled by San Francisco-based distributor Viz Pictures. Viz recently announced that is has picked up the rights for the live-action adaptation of the Kiminori Wakasugi manga about meek and nerdy Soichi who moonlights as Johannes Krauser II, the lead singer of goth/ death metal band DMC. No specific release date has been announced (yet), but Viz Pictures is promising that North American Japanese film fans will be able to pick up the Region 1 DVD release of "Detroit Metal City" later this fall.

Thanks to Sci-fi Japan for this great bit of news.