As a summary of the plot, society as we know it was erased from the Earth after some people uncovered dark powers and the show follows a future in which humans live in a medieval style and magic and monsters are a common thing. In that new world there was a war against a dark army led by the infamous sorcerer Dark Schneider, who being impossible to be killed was captured in a baby and the army was defeated.
But the dark army has come back with its old commanders and the baby has become a teen. One day, in a danger situation, Dark Schneider manages to manifest in the real world, but he is no longer so evil, as his soul has been affected by the pure soul of the body in which he was captured all those years. Now, he protects humans against the dark army with his dark power and exhibiting some of his prior personality traits, like lust and egocentrism.
Regarding the manga, I started reading it when it came out in the 90's to my country and that's the reason why I watch this show, so I don't know anything about how it was advertised.
I can say that it is very loyal to the story and style of the manga, and much better than the old anime. However, I will try to remove false expectations and create a clear view after reading some reviews here.
First, it's a show about fights with magic, sometimes so long that takes 2 or 3 episodes. They continuously throw attacks to each other saying "it is impossible that you escape" and start laughing satisfyingly and the other appears without a scratch after the smoke disappears and everybody watching the fight freaks out, including who launched the attack. The fight goes on incrementing the level of the attacks and also each new enemy is more powerful than the prior one. After an attack there is at least 5 minutes of listening the multiple observers saying how strong is a character and they did something never seen before. False defeatings, fake deaths and resurrections are also common. So you need to be into that.
Then there is the lust part. To be clear, it is not an erotic show -may be spicy, yes-, and in my case it makes me laugh or smile when female characters get clothes torn apart or the main character starts touching some of them under the clothes while they were having a serious conversation. Hair, shadows and other things cover strategically some parts of the anatomy and there is no sex, but anatomy exhibition and some touching and these scenes are usually exposed in a funny way, as they can be in the middle of a battle, for example. There is more sex in most HBO shows.
The metal or rock theme is only an excuse for some names, it is not a metal animation show. I mean, there is the opening with some nice hard rock piece, but the score of the show is normal with some electric guitar pieces when action arise, completed with some choirs in some dark moments and always the same. Metal is used to make fun, as for example with the names of the 4 kingdoms: Metallicana, Judas, White Snake and Iron Maiden. Some other metal names are used during the show, but without any real connection with the music bands, like the Helloween spell or the character Bon Jovina.
Characters are very exagerated, almost like a parody. They overexpose on how they managed to get something done, and they laugh and are over-confident and proud of themselves.
But if you like this kind of thing, if you can feel some complicity and fun with the bad not-so-bad main character, his enemies that turn into allies, his self-admiration and admiration of others for his power, despite the repetitive formula of each episode, this will be your guilty pleasure.
