The Legend Of Black Heaven #2: Space Truckin' Pioneer 75 minutes English/Japanese English Subtitles 12/19/2000

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You know you're in for a winner when you're hit with a rapid fire camera zoom on the crotch of some ill-fitting leather pants. Thumbs up to Black Heaven. Hard rock's still saving the space. Oji Tanaka is a pretty bad dad and an even worse husband. But, as a man who's in his position, I can sympathize. You see, when you're employed in a job that is completely soul sucking you very quickly forget to care about everything else. I went on a date last week and I only tried halfheartedly to get laid. My snide allusions to sexual relations weren't even close to full blast and the night ended with me alone, in my own sack. The saddest part was, I didn't even really care. All I wanted to do was take a nap. Oji and I have something in common, we're both total burnouts. I can't blame him for how he treats his wife because we're cut from the same stock. Every eight hours at work is like a festering boil on your fragile, little girl psyche. The stress builds and builds until you find yourself sitting in a chair in the bathroom, all of a sudden fifteen minutes have went by and you've done nothing but state at your pack of cigarettes. It's a sad state of affairs, but at least he's been offered a way out of the cycle of torment.

This is in the form of Layla the alien and her offer to take him to heaven. Only she wants Oji when SHE wants Oji. She doesn't seem to care when he wants to play, Layla only wants Oji when they need to fight off the bad aliens. Oji's got a new song, but it doesn't really matter to all those up in the heavens waging their war. They want the sound that powers their ultimate weapon, not this new stuff he's putting out. He thought Layla was taking him to some sort of cool new nightclub, and that the whole "war" thing was just a joke. He didn't understand at all, and now the grave realization of his fate hits him like a Dark Nebula Demonic Army queen. So Oji just gives up, he starts living the family life again. He turns down tickets to the Michael Schenker concert because he's got a meeting that day. He's a wage ape again, and all that hard rock was just a mid-life crisis. He goes back to his fish and sake stand to drown his sorrows. Even then he's not the same, "he always liked Hanpen fishcakes" the fishmonger says. He was so close to his dream, but now it's all gone. So the next day he takes his wife and son to the amusement park and forgets.

 

Or does he? Like A Christmas Carol he's visited by three spirits. Only by "three spirits" I mean "three hot alien girls". they're back to inspire him and get Oji back on their side. They need the powerful weapon that is his sound, or they'll surely lose the war. From crazy haircuts to faked hallucinations in the bathroom to fortunetellers and dreams of doctors, they're there and they're gonna fix him good. Oji will have none of that though, he wants to just forget, they call him a liar and he just snaps, he's had enough. Back in space, the battle is not going well. Desperate times call for desperate measures and Hammil, some sort of first officer or something decides it's her turn to get Oji to pull his weight, by any means necessary. Implementing the time old techniques of the "user-slut" she semi-seduces Oji with hands on her breasts and kisses to his cheek. While this gets him playing again it's not the same. The difference they can't figure out is that there's no soul in his music.**

But Oji makes a comeback and it's not because of Hammil's sluttiness. He plays because he knows he HAS to touch Layla, and that's all he needs to say. Black Heaven is still high quality. This should be up on everyone's "Buy first" list with Cowboy Bebop and Trigun. Black Heaven is a keeper.

**Why are aliens always so emotionless like that? Certainly this won't be another show about "Teaching them to love" will it?