Reviews

Huvahh (Manga) add (All reviews)
Nov 30, 2021
Mixed Feelings
(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 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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