Nov 30, 2021
(There's a TL:DR version at the bottom of this review)
So Huvahh is a bit of weird one: It's a very short one-shot, almost completely devoid of dialogue (apart from gibberish), and a heavy focus on being creepy and grotesque. That last detail should not be a surprise to those familiar with Q Hayashida's work (Dorohedoro, Dai Dark), and this seems to be an experiment for the author to tell a story almost entirely through visuals, and creating a feeling of witnessing something really alien.
The enjoyment factor for me personally comes from challenging yourself to discern the narrative, by following the art, the paneling, and
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identifying certain tropes and messages. Another part comes from the creepy and violent art, which as an unapologetic Q Hayashida fanboy I thought was pretty cool, but not all that unique for the artist. The one-shot, despite it's shortness, still has a couple Hayashida-isms that are cool to identify if you're a fan (e.g. a character with many eyes stacked on their face).
I think back to how "Gon" tells it's story entirely through visuals and then look at Huvahh and feel that, while I think it's an amicable attempt, the visual storytelling is not as affective as it can be, I think, in part due to the one-shots incredibly short length. Another problem is one that is a result of the nature of such an experiment: After you piece it together, you might find the story is not all that interesting, because it can't really be all that complex, instead touching on a few familiar beats. That's not to say a simple story is inherently inferior to a complex one, it's just something that you might find disappointing after I just talked up how fun it is to figure out the narrative yourself.
TLDR: At the end of the day, Huvahh makes for a really neat little novelty, and fun bite-size experiment in purely-visual storytelling, especially if you are, like myself, a fan of Q Hayashida's work, but nothing all that special. Still, for it's short length, I say go give it a try if you like horror.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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