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Title             : Black Heaven
Episodes          : 01-13
Genre             : Drama
Release Date      : January 18, 2002

Episode Names     : 01 Stairway to Heaven
                  : 02 All Night Long
                  : 03 Hot House
                  : 04 Space Child
                  : 05 These are the Days
                  : 06 Walk Away
                  : 07 In Need
                  : 08 All Right Now
                  : 09 Get Off My Cloud
                  : 10 Ten Years Ago
                  : 11 Sweet Emotion
                  : 12 Into The Arena
                  : 13 The End

Feature Length    : 22 minutes x 13
Uncompressed Size : around 200 megabytes per episode

Audio Language    : Dubbed English w/ Japanese Language/Subtitle Pack
Audio Encoding    : 128 kbps Mpeg Layer 3
Video Frame Rate  : 23.977 fps (IVTC)
Video Resolution  : 576 x 432
Video Codec       : Divx Low Motion codec
Video Bitrate     : VBR 950, 773, 796 kbits/sec
Source            : Hybrid DVD

Ripper            : Taran'li Maren (DVD to Mpeg-4)

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Subtitle Pack Use:
  To view the file with subtitles, extract the contents of the sub pack 
  and execute the sub.avi.  If you rename any of the files, they will not
  play properly unless you rebuild the sub.avi.

Encoding Notes:
  

Credits
  Come visit our web page at http://zhentarim.cjb.net or on IRC at DALnet 
  channel #zhentarim.

BUY it!
  If you like this, please support the creators of this anime by purchasing it.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- DVD review stolen from www.animeondvd.com -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Get it online at:
http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews/region1/a-d/black_heaven_vol1-1.htm

Black Heaven Vol. #1
 
Released by	: Pioneer 
MSRP		: 29.99$
Region		: 1,4 
Running time	: 100 minutes
Aspect Ratio	: 1.33:1 
Reviewed by	: Chris Beveridge 

Content		: B
Audio		: B+
Video		: A 
Packaging	: B+
Menus		: B+
Extras		: A- 

Features	: Japanese Language 
		: English Language 
		: English Subtitles 
		: Non-Credit Opening 
		: Non-Credit Ending 
		: Conceptual Art Gallery (40) 
 
What They Say: 
Far, faraway, back in the era of dreams...
We once burned as brightly as the sun. 

Life can crush your dreams. Oji is a middle-management drone whose only grip on sanity 
in the drudgery of his corporate lifestyle, are the few shreds of hope surrounding his 
past life as the amazing guitarist of Black Heaven, a heavy metal band that almost made 
it. In his bleakest moment, the magic of performing is restored to him when a beautiful 
mysterious woman informs him that only his special sound can save the universe from an 
evil alien invasion.
 
Review: 
Like most people, I tend to let trailers do their job of giving me some kind of glimpse 
or inkling of what a show is about. Trailers can sometimes be nothing more than text 
just giving you a tease of what's in store. Others practically spell it out. 

The trailer for Black Heaven, which also doubles for the opening sequence of the show, 
does this but in a way that has let many people think of the show as substandard and 
probably very very bad. After all, it's the anime variant of rotoscoping a live concert 
sequence and some models on a walkway.

I mean, what are we meant to think? Well, after watching the show itself, the trailer 
does sell the one thing that is key to the series; the music.

Audio:
The English and Japanese tracks provided on this disc are quite good and have no real 
issues at all. The dialogue for both is clean and undistorted, and thankfully the 
English track avoids sounding hollow. The music comes across very good and very 
detailed, though not as warm as one would hope for. But then again, the music focuses 
more on the heavy metal side, so warm isn't exactly a term often used with that genre.

Video:
This is an absolutely gorgeous transfer. Pioneer's really pulled another great looking 
disc out of their bag of tricks. Again, having had my view of the show already colored 
by the trailer and then the half resolution VHS preview copy I got a month ago, I was 
really startled by how great this looks. Color definition is spot on with no visible 
bleeding from oversaturation. Jaggies and line noise seem almost non-existent and the 
accursed rainbows are nowhere to be seen. If only everything could look this good!

Packaging:
I can really see the cover art that was used as being a cross-over appeal piece for 
the music crowd to draw them in. A lot of Suncoasts, at least in my area, have music 
video DVD's next to anime. Seeing something like this, the tattooed wild-eyed angelic 
rocker with a guitar strapped across his chest, will definitely catch their eye. And 
with first pressing runs having the shiny chromium insert, it'll cause them to do a 
double take. The back cover contains a brief synopsis of the show, gives a few shots 
of the animation itself and lists all the features. Overall, a very well put together 
package and yet another in a string of releases that don't conform to what we've 
been seeing for so many years. Kudos on that alone.

Menus:
The folks at Nightjar return again for another Pioneer series, which means we get some 
pretty shiny looking menus with excellent sound that are also very functional. The 
only real downside to the menus was in the extras submenu where it gets difficult at 
times to be sure what selection you're about to select. Access times are very quick 
throughout though, which is always a big plus.

Extras:
Always a big plus for me is creditless openings and ending sequences, both of which 
are supplied here and look great. Of course, having now seen Bandai's take on these 
by providing romaji and English optional subtitles, I hope more companies follow their 
lead. There's also a solid conceptual art gallery containing 40 pieces.

Content:
Black Heaven's concept seems to take a lot of inspiration from a variety of other 
sources. Depending on your upbringing and your views, you can see some Heavy Metal, 
Macross and some of the more lighthearted anime comedies of recent years.

The story focuses around Oji Tanaka, a mid to late 30's husband and father. We're 
introduced to him as he prepares for his job with him providing the narration. At 
the end of it, as he's brushing his teeth, he talks about how he's basically just 
a nameless cog in the life. You basically expect to not know his name.

"Oji, take out the trash when you leave!" yells his wife from the bedroom.

That's where you can really read into things. Yes, with just that line. Though 
barely into the introductions, Oji tells you what most of his life up to this point 
has been in a few scant lines. He's just another salaryman with a family trying to 
scrape by. He's nobody, not even a name.

But his name gets called out and his life is about to change. And boy does it. 
There's some new people in the town that seem to be keeping an eye on him, though 
he's oblivious to it. And a new assistant at his office seems to be really into him, 
though he's again oblivious to it. At least until he's stinking drunk later that 
night.

Layla Yuki reveals that she knows of his past as a member of the heavy metal band 
that almost made it big, Black Heaven. She offers him a chance to recapture heaven, 
and being as drunk as he is, follows her back to her place. But her door doesn't 
lead to an apartment but rather a portal to the starship she serves on. When there, 
he's directed towards a long stairway where a guitar rests.

And he plays like he hasn't in years. The salaryman is gone and the musician comes 
pouring out from his place. Though he's been told that he's being used to help fight 
a war in space, he's oblivious to that as well. All he focuses on is the music he's 
making and the feeling that it gives him.

The following episodes follow a similar pattern, with Layla and her assistants 
bringing Oji back to the ship to help fight the battles. Throughout the show little 
is actually revealed about how is music is helping them fight the faceless enemy 
off though. 

The main focus of these early episodes is more on Oji's life of near mediocrity and 
how he deals with it. Once he starts getting a taste of his past though, his daily 
interactions with others begin to change. His wife, who you initially don't care 
much for, begins to get fleshed out more as does their son. His seeming resentment 
early on turns into an interest in his family and their lives. 

The animation for the show in general is very good, though a bit on the slim side 
of things as it was a late night series I believe. There's a few scenes, such as 
early on with one of the buses pulling up, that looks really out of place with the 
CG and animation mix. The digital panning of the camera and some of the fake feeling 
layering of characters and backgrounds may throw some people off as well.

Black Heaven so far isn't much of a breakout show, but as Mike Toole of Anime Jump 
noted, it's so rare to have a show with the lead character being in his 30's and 
not a pretty boy teen, it's definitely got some alluring qualities to it. And there's 
also the draw of John Sykes providing some music and many references to LP's and 80's 
band styles that the older fan will have an eerie sense of deja vu.