Legend of Black Heaven Vol. 4: Into the Arena (DVD, 2001)

A dark horse in the world of anime, the Legend of Black Heaven showcases what happens after the band breaks up--only this time Oji Tanaka, once known as Black Heaven's lead guitarist Gabriel, gets what becomes a series of unbelievable (except in anime) wake-up calls starting the day his wife throws away his last guitar--his favorite, his Gibson Flying V.

Once he's rescued it from the garbage man, a new girl at the office named Layla persuades him to put pick to string (supposedly because she always thought his playing was a turn-on) to... save the world.

Yeah, I typed that right--it seems that there's a battle to save the world going on above the heads of the oblivious, one where the side of good has a mega-weapon that's powered on Gabriel's once-famous and still unique sound. But there's still something missing--the weapon doesn't reach ultimate power until Oji does what every good former lead guitarist of a heavy metal band does--he gets the band back together! He yanks his former bandmates (except for the required dead member) from their own mundane, boring, nagging-wife-and-adorable-child lives for sessions in the bathroom of a demo home that's actually...

But never mind the whole plot--that's why you get Volumes 1-3. Volume 4 picks up after it's revealed why the dead keyboardist (best in the world--nothing's too good for Black Heaven) is not actually IN his grave. Turns out the opposition's found themselves a weapon powered on the Black Heaven sound and stole the body to... and there I go again revealing plot when someone may want to find out themselves--I need to quit doing that.

Anyhow, once you've begun to listen, you'll find that Black Heaven reminds you a LOT of a little anime called Cowboy Bebop. There's reasons for that--Oji's voice actor is the same as Bebop's Jet Black, John (aka Beau) Billingslea. Les Claypool III lays his hand on the series' music production, making the Legend of Black Heaven's music a character unto itself, much as Yoko Kanno made the music of Cowboy Bebop a character all its own.

Anyhow, Volume 4 contains the startling climax to a little-known anime series and is well worth the money to let you finish watching the saga. I found the first three volumes the same place I always find the Right Stuf, but found the fourth here on eBay, and the cost was only slightly higher than I paid for the others. I would recommend this series (and the climactic Volume 4) to anyone fond of action combined with good music and the occasional need for rescue from anime series done much more poorly than Black Heaven.

As always, watch your sellers, keep the bootlegs out of your collection and get the true anime experience from the original publishers--they may cost more, but you'll never regret missing a Four-Bucks latte to support your favorite companies and their employees.