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1[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black_heaven.jpg]]
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3->''Hard Rock Saves The Space!''
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5At first glance, this TwelveEpisodeAnime from 1999 -- originally known as ''Kacho Oji'' (課長王子), either "Old Section Chief", "Prince Section Chief", or "Section Chief Oji" -- is about how Oji Tanaka, a jaded and distracted office worker who doesn't seem to get much enjoyment out of life, meets Layla Yuki, a hot new coworker.
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7It turns out that Layla Yuki is part of an alien army trying to defend outer space from another army. Her troops are losing badly, and even though they have an ultimate weapon, only Tanaka can operate it. In his golden days, Tanaka was better known as "Gabriel", the leader of a band called Black Heaven that was highly popular before a groupie (Tanaka's current wife, named Yoshiko, or just "Yokko") found she was pregnant with Tanaka's baby. His skills on the guitar are second to none, and for some reason, the ultimate weapon is powered by ''hardcore ass-kicking rock music.''
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9Soon, Tanaka is trying to balance his rekindled love for playing the guitar despite Yokko getting angry at him for clinging to it, taking care of his family, trying to get the band back together, and fighting a war in outer space. At the same time, Layla's [[ComicTrio three subordinates]] get the cast wrapped in some rather wacky hijinks.
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11The series was released in English by Creator/{{Geneon}} (as Pioneer). Creator/DiscotekMedia announced that it'll see a rerelease it North America with a Blu-Ray release.
12----
13!!Tropes:
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15%%* AutobotsRockOut
16%%* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Watanabe/Mechanabe.]]
17%%* BackToBackBadasses: [[spoiler: Gabriel(Oji)/Michael(Sato) during episode 9's "Surprise Attack" segment]]
18%%* BettyAndVeronica: Yoshiko and Layla; played with later on with Layla being the Betty and the Veronica being played by Hamil.
19%%* ColorFailure: When Tanaka watches his vinyl record get crushed by a street sweeper.
20%%* CoolSpaceship: The ''Zappa''.
21%%* DisproportionateRetribution:
22* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Oji/Gabriel's relationship with Layla is shown as similar to an affair on multiple levels.
23* FlippingTheBird: When [[spoiler:Watanabe]] does this involuntarily (through having hurt his middle finger), it sets off a chain of events that ultimately get him killed.
24* ForeignLanguageTheme: the theme song is sung by John Sykes in perfect English.
25%%* GloryDays
26* HollywoodCyborg: [[spoiler:Watanabe, more commonly called Mechanabe by the characters once he returns from the dead as an eight-armed keyboard-playing machine for the enemy army of aliens to try and defeat them with his own groove. ''Seriously.'']]
27%%* ICouldaBeenAContender: Oji
28%%* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Names of famous rock songs.
29* MarketBasedTitle: Outside Japan, it's known as ''The Legend of Black Heaven''. In Japanese, it's ''Kacho Oji''.
30* LawyerFriendlyCameo: [[Series/TheXFiles Mulder and Scully]] briefly appear to investigate a UFO sighting.
31%%* NecktieHeadband
32* PenultimateWeapon: Ironically, the ultimate weapon. [[spoiler:The enemy retaliates with their own ultimate weapon, which outclasses Layla's because they have Black Heaven's old keyboardist outfitted with at least four extra arms for super hard rocking.]]
33* PowerBallad: Oji's song in the final episode, managing to ''out-rock an 8-armed'' cyborg with it.
34-->'''Tanaka''': Everyone, please listen to the way I feel right now.
35* ThePowerOfRock: This show is ''about'' the unrivaled awesome power of rock music! As it turns out, what powers the ultimate weapon is, and I quote, "groove."
36* PursueTheDreamJob: {{Inverted}}. It opens with a bored and unfulfilled salary man who used to be a rock star; he gave up his musical career for a steady office job so that he could support his family.
37%%* PuttingTheBandBackTogether
38%%* {{Salaryman}}: Oji
39* {{Sentai}}: Oji's son Gen is fanatical about a Sentai group called Flying Five (or [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Flying V]]), whose events and characters parallel Oji's life.
40%%* VisualKei: Oji's band.
41* VocalDissonance: The infamous scene with the angry ScaryBlackMan with a decidedly non-angry, non-scary sounding voice.
42* WaveMotionGun: This is the ultimate weapon, powered by rock music.

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