AKA: Violence Jack Bangaihen

Genre: Mindless bloodbath/post-apocalyptic disaster of the biggest order

Length: OAV series, 3 episodes, 40-55 minutes each

Distributor: Currently licensed by Discotek Media.

Content Rating: NC-17 (violence, murder, gore, language, rape, cannibalism, plus the complete absence of SANITY OR MORALITY. Oh, how I wish they would invent a 'FI' rating, for

Related Series: CB Chara Nagai Go World (OAV)

Also Recommended: Being the victim of a brutal gang-stabbing. Trust me, it's far more enjoyable than watching this.

Notes: Review unlikely to be updated. Warning: discussion of violent content within. Based on the manga by Go Nagai.

Rating:

Violence Jack

Synopsis

(from the box cover)

Evil Town is a buried city: a lightless, vermin-infested hell suffocating beneath a million tons of masonry and iron. While the survivors struggle against disease and starvation, control of Evil town has been split into three warring sections: the corrupt section A, the psychotic gangs of section B, and the secretive C, with whom no contact can be made.

(the REAL synopsis)
The inhabitants of Evil Town uncover a giant man under a dig in the underground ruins that makes up the buried city that is Evil Town, which results in them finding themselves with a knife-wielding murderer in their midst. And he's the good guy? O_O

Review

There are times when I just have to wonder about the sanity of people creating anime. No, I'm not talking about the good-natured "oh, those crazy kooks" sanities of ... say, the creators of Excel Saga or Puni Puni Poemy. I'm talking about the "HOLY JESUS CHRIST, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" ... sanities that makes your stomach churn your intestinal acid up your throat with pure disgust. It's a brilliant example of what a human mind should NEVER have been able to produce if common sense was working like it should, and -- unfortunately -- it's also the creative mind behind this anime. (And by creative, of course I mean completely FUBAR.)

In this anime. the story is mainly about Violence Jack, a giant of a man found by the members of section A. As he can't remember his name, he asks them to call him Violence Jack. Violence, because he is a very violent man, and Jack, because of the jackknife he always has with him. And if you think I'm kidding, hoo boy, you better be sitting down right now, because ... I'M FRICKIN' SERIOUS!

And speaking of characters, let's describe the ones in this series. Let's see ... in Violence Jack, we have murderers, rapists, murderers AND rapists (in fact, just scratch out those first two) ... and women. I think it goes without saying that this anime is a great, big insult to all the men in the world.

The only good thing about this anime would have to be the animation. It is respectable in all its gory glory, and colorful too. Imagine that: for being one of the grittiest, most misanthropic anime I've ever seen, they've certainly not skimped on the pastels.

It starts out as a 'not too bad' sort of deal, with some background information given regarding the situation at hand. Apparently, natural disasters are the reason everyone's living underground, fighting to survive (or, more likely, just killing some time *groan*). And after lulling you into a false sense of security, it's going nowhere but downhill from there. Gangs meet, confrontations arise, Jack kills some people, new confrontations, Jack kills more people. They all meet the elusive section C, which is nothing but women. Jack switches sides when more of the past is revealed. (Cue rape scenes ...) More confrontations. More kills made by Jack (mostly). One thing I did find amusing (well, as much amusement as I could work into my mental state at the time, that is -- meaning very little, even though it was relatively early in the OAV) was the fact that the members of Section A had the good grace to look downcast and guilty about their earlier actions. Of course, those are actions that would have had me lose my friggin' mind and go insane with guilt and self-disgust.

Like I stated earlier, the way things are on this OAV -- a thing that really makes my blood boil, too -- is that every male member of this movie, Jack aside, is presented as a backstabbing rapist or a merciless killer (which, ultimately, is the reason Jack changes sides) and every female member, Blue aside, is presented as peace loving, motherly, "golly-I-don't-want-to-fight" good people. (The latter or which there isn't anything wrong with in particular, but why only women?) And Blue, in case you were wondering, is the psychotic punk girlfriend of the leader in section B.

And if you don't hate this movie enough by now, here comes the 'best' part:

Jack does kill Blue as the movie goes along. This does, of course, not sit well with aforementioned section B leader, since he actually loves her. So, what does he do? Why, he goes "Oh Blue, I'll make sure we'll always be together" (He's such a romantic at heart) ... just before -- say, are you still sitting down? If not, then you better do it. Anyway, he loudly proclaims this statement of love and then ...

... he eats her. And I'm not -- I repeat -- I'm NOT KIDDING. "Oh, Blue. I can feel you inside me," he gurgles proudly between bites, and if you can listen to that without your food going in the wrong direction, I don't know whether to admire your "intestinal" fortitude or pity you your state of mind.

Anyway, after a somewhat disgusting transformation sequence by the section B leader, the last fight commences, which of course, Jack wins. And with that, the video ends with Jack and the section C women -- the surviving ones -- emerging into the open ground, a paradise of hills, forests and blue skies stretching out in all directions (probably). Yep, it was there aaaall along, which begs the question: WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST DIG THEMSELVES UP IN THE FIRST PLACE? I mean, did they enjoy "struggling against disease and starvation" or something?

So let me just end this by reaffirming my total and utter hatred for this title. I recommend you stay far, far away from it. Burn it, eat it, or stab it with a knife the second it comes within arm's reach. And by all that is holy, don't ever consider watching it, not even for a second. And lastly, if you should for some unexplainable reason ever come upon ME sitting and watching this, just shoot my tired, stupid ass. Believe me, I WILL be very, very grateful for it.

Believe me when I say that this is a title I'd very much like to go against the grain and give NO stars. — Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: No one. With the utterly disgusting violence and murdering, the cannibalism, the rapes, the language.... It makes me wonder why they bothered to warn us about the nudity. I mean, after all that, a little nudity is as inconsequential as a fart in a Monty Python skit.

And this review, God help us all, is based on the EDITED version.

As my good friend, Eddie, said: "Ghandi would be driven to kill the makers of this anime."