Today’s series is Kacho Oji aka Legend of Black Heaven. The title is a multi-layered pun that can be variously translated as “Section-chief Oji”, “Old section-chief” or “Section Head Prince”. The American translation renders the title as the Legend of Black Heaven. Regardless of what you call it, though, if you like hard rock music and good anime, this is one series that you shouldn’t miss.

I first watched this series at an odd point in my life. I was in a dead-end job that I hated, stuck in a soul-sucking relationship and living on what was essentially someone else’s couch.

Then I watched this series. The opening, John Sykes’ “Cautionary Warning” was where they first got me.

How could you not see that and not want to find out what the series was about?

Hook.

In the first episode we’re introduced to our eponymous protagonist. A poor schmuck stuck in a dead-end job, in a marriage that had lost all of its passion, and growing more and more distant from his child. But he wasn’t always so ground down. Once upon a time, he was the hard-rocking Gabriel. Lead Guitar for the band Black Heaven, adoring fans at his beck and call. But as the series starts, this is all in his distant past. He’s just another guy rapidly approaching middle age and wondering how it all went wrong.

I found myself going, “Wow. That’s me up there.” Okay… me without the adoring fans in my past, but let’s not dwell on that.

Line.

Despite myself, I found myself fascinated. When the really hot co-worker started to flirt with him… I got REALLY interested.

And Sinker.

I thought this was going to be a series about a man pushing past his prime, desperately trying to recapture his youth with the help of a nubile young lady… which turns out to be EXACTLY what it was about, just not the way I thought. His new co-worker it turns out, is an alien (although not exactly, but we don’t find that out until much later), but it’s okay ’cause she’s one of the good aliens trying to defend the planet. The bad aliens are out to destroy it. She kidnaps Oji because he’s the only one who can make their superweapon work.

Why?

Because some super-genius decided that they needed to create an alien superweapon that works on the power of live rock music.

I only wish I could make stuff like this up.

His specific guitar handling can make their superweapon light up harder, longer and stronger than anything else they’ve ever used. Only the fact that the very human-like aliens sent the really hot chick to pull Oji in shows that they aren’t entirely stupid.While all of this is a key part of the premise of the series, it felt a little like a weak point. This is really not something to analyze too closely, just take it as important that hard rocking will be necessary to save the planet, and move on.

The fact that his awesome and stylish guitar playing is absolutely essential for the survival of the planet revitalizes our hapless hero. This is the part that really got me about this series. It wasn’t just that he was helping keep the alien invaders away, which, please do not get me wrong, was also very cool. The fact that he got to play his music again, to recapture a part of himself that he thought he’d given up, was what really brought it home.

Aided by the aliens (especially some hilariously bumbling underlings), and despite his wife’s growing suspicions about his possibly having an affair, Oji keeps on rocking out, manifesting his groove and growing in confidence. He sheds the broken shell of a man that he was at the start in favor of who he’d always been in his heart. Saving the planet becomes incidental to his managing to turn around his life and save himself.

Keep in mind, the series came out in 1997, and it does show its age a little in the animation quality and CGI. The music though, with both hard rocking riffs and one of the cutest ending themes I’ve run across, definitely stands the test of time.

This is a great, albeit short (only 13 episodes) series that will definitely be worthwhile to watch. In turns, it is funny, touching, hard-rocking, sweet, and true. Sometimes it’s all of that at once.

It is an anime about dreams, and not giving them up, no matter what your circumstances. This is a message that deserves to be told. It’s an anime about most excellently hard rocking with tons of guitar references sprinkled generously throughout. It’s an anime that you really should be watching.