Violence Jack is a three part OVA based on random stories from the manga written by Go Nagai. For some reason, the OVA was aired out of order when shipped to the states. This volume is meant to be second in Japanese order and first in English, but it doesn't really seem to matter which order these stories are seen, because when looking at the beginning of this story in comparison with the first part, it's possible this volume can be seen as a stand alone. This second volume sees another director at the helm being Ichiro Itano(Angel Cop, Blassreiter), and although I will say it's better than the last volume, it's still pretty much complete garbage.
I began an attempt to review this series months ago, and I reminded myself why I stopped in the first place; the narrative is just so boring and it moves at a plodding pace. The characters are boring despite the heavy themes the anime puts to use. Violence Jack himself is one of the most stale main characters I have ever come across. He makes Dragon Ball Z characters look NGE deep. All he really does is just stare out into space, throws a few punches, and fights with his unimpressive over sized pocketknife; and there's one moment that really stands out as he introduces himself to one of the blocks. It just so happens he suffers from amnesia and he tells the people to call him Violence Jack, because he's violent, and he carries a jackknife. This is so fuckin' lame because it doesn't even work as unintentional comedy gold.
The story really doesn't make much sense, and it feels as if it was only written for one to share his misogynistic fetish. Jack appears and he's later put in a position to join one of the blocks; he chooses Block-C because the women were raped before and are defenseless... I never saw that coming. This begins a chain of events where Block-B decides to start killing Block-H for whatever reasons.
Violence Jack embodies all the turn offs synonymous with 80's anime; it's overly violent with hentai elements galore. Women are raped and torn to pieces, children beheaded and knifed to death, it has the works. Some people may confuse these mindless antics with risk taking and boldness; make no mistake though, it's nothing but confusion on their part.
The entire time it's never really made clear why they're killing each other though. The story element concerning being buried alive is brushed upon but never really brought into fruition. It all feels like some excuse to showcase rape and murder. It would have made sense if Block H and B were fighting over the women. Since Block B wants the women dead as well, it just stirs up this gigantic WTF cloud. It doesn't seem to occur to them that if they kill the women, then there goes the sex. There doesn't seem to be much of a connection here. The anime does take a dip into the supernatural and Japanese mythology pool, but it's dry as hell because it comes off as nothing more than a plot device most people will find to be unbelievably silly.
Visually, this is a step up from the Slum King. The colors are a bit brighter with a little more detail. The animation still takes numerous shortcuts with the action, such as knife swipes and falling bloody bodies. On other occasions, it does deliver some brutal death scenes. The rape scenes are not left to the imagination as you get some of the things that make up a hentai anime. Women are being raped with blood running down their legs and forced into oral acts, yeah, I had to go there. The voice acting is in Japanese with subs and the words move pretty quick sometimes, but it's nothing to worry about because you're not missing any story at all.
I don't remember Violence Jack ever being that popular back then. It was out of print for a very long time and for a good reason. This is probably the hardest three episode OVA I ever tried to get through, and it doesn't get better on repeated watches either. I only recommend this to the serious anime fans who are deep into hentai and violence.
Highs: Consistent tone
Lows: Very weak story, uninteresting characters galore, shocking for the sake of it
