Last week, the big-screen adaptation of one of my favorite graphic novel series of the year finally got its much anticipated DVD release. I refer, of course, to the live-action movie version of Kiminori Wakasugi's incredible Detroit Metal City!

What? You thought it was going to be something else?

DMC follows the musical misadventures of Soichi Negishi, a young man who wants nothing more than to sing ultra-trendy, sugar-sweet pop music, but thanks to a gift for brutal lyrics and an uncontrollable temper, ends up becoming the frontman for Detroit Metal City, Japan's most evil death metal band. In his identity as Lord Krauser II, he sings about murder, destruction, and the pits of hell, then cries himself to sleep at night for not being able to find fame with his songs about walking on the beach and cooking cheese tarts. Trust me: It's hilarious.

That's why today, I've compiled a bandwidth-busting collection of The Ten Best Animated GIFs From Detroit Metal City!The movie really lives up to its source material. It's a pretty faithful adaptation of the first two volumes, although it changes the order of events to build up Krauser's climactic guitar battle with American death metal icon Jack Ill Dark (played by Gene Simmons). Sadly, the character of the masochistic Capitalist Pig is omitted -- they're probably saving him for a sequel -- but it's a great adaptation that really manages to capture the absurdity of it source material. In fact, since it's live-action, it's a safe bet that it might even be more absurd than the original.


#1. Negishi Goes to Tokyo
: It's easy to look at this one as Negishi's saccharine-sweet trendiness writ large, but I'm not gonna lie, this was pretty much exactly how it was for me when I took my first trip to New York this year. And apparently, they've got a Statue of Liberty there, too.

#2. Krauser Decapitates a Gargoyle: The movie actually includes most of Krauser's signature moves, like his Guitaris Dentata (wherein he plays guitar with his teeth) and his Ten Rapes a Second (wherein he says the word... you know, that one's pretty self explanatory), but as those don't translate well to the otherwise-flawless animated .gif format, you'll have to content yourselves with smashing a gargoyle's head off.

#3. Public Hanging: In a direct re-enactment of a scene from the comic, Krauser crashes a rival group's show -- an all-girl punk band performing a diss track called "Castrate 'Em All" -- by inadvertently hanging himself, unquestionably the most metal way to bum rush the stage.

#4. Death Metal: It's For The Children: When he thinks his double life has led him to blow it with his crush, Aikawa, Negishi -- in full Krauser regalia -- gets pretty upset. As does a nearby kid.

#5. The Heavy Metal Headbutt: Because even the Power Rangers can be corrupted by the all-consuming brutality of death metal!

#6. Nice Tambourine Work!: There's no mistaking Detroit Metal City for anything other than a comedy, but seriously? A scene where someone walked into a bathroom at an amusement park to see this is the kind of thing David Lynch dreams of crafting.

#7. Mowing The Lawn: In another scene lifted straight from the manga, Negishi has to convince his brother -- who has become a die-hard Krauser-worshipping DMC fan -- that he needs to focus on his work around the family farm. How's he do it? With the same method I used when I'd mow the lawn when I was a kid: By pretending I was practicing the ancient arts of assassination.

#8. Pacifying the Buffalo of Metal: And speaking of how farm skills can be useful in the life of a death metal dictator, Krauser is able to calm The Buffalo of Metal with a simple -- and basically amazing -- wave of his hand when Jack Ill Dark releases the beast at their battle.

#9. KILL: Under normal circumstances, Krauser wears the character for "KILL" on his forehead, which, let's be honest here, is pretty metal. But when he writes it out in English so that his American opponent will know exactly what he intends to do in their battle to determine who is the king of death metal? That means you've already won.

#10. F**K: During their battle, Krauser steals Jack Ill Dark's signature cuss. Coincidentally, this was my exact reaction to the news that Thor: The Mighty Avenger was slated to be canceled.

I predict that one's going to be getting a lot of use out there on the Internet. You're welcome.

More From ComicsAlliance