Violence Jack: Jigoku Gai-hen

The GOAT of Violence OVA!!!

If you rate it anything lower than 8 out of 10, then clearly this type of anime is not for you, so you should not even be rating this. I put the threshold at 8 because, although I love this type of 80s/90s OVA, this particular title has some very minor weaknesses, which I overlook in my rating by giving 10/10 but others might not. So there it is.

This second installment in the Violence Jack series has the infamous director Ichirō Itano on the directors seat, who is by far the best director when it comes to gory sexy violence in ... anime.

The theme and story is very dark that it delivers what it advertises in the opening: "darkness falling in humans hearts". Darkness really fell in my heart watching it and I loved it and if neither of the aforementioned events (darkness/love) did occur to you then do not waste your time with 80s/90s violence OVAs.

There is mindless sex, mindless violence and mindless characters overall. The graphics are killing, literally. I mean the crushing skulls and splattering eyeballs alone make it a must watch.

The final fight between Mad and Jack is by any standarts the greatest of all times. Its allusion to manga graphics is spectacular, like drawing the characters monochromatic or transparent, etc. This particular fight alone deserves a standing OVAtion.

The only weakness is that the main character Jack himself is kind of a bore, who bores people by being boring, when he is not boring holes in peoples bodies. When he is not fighting he just stands there devoid of any emotion. This may be part of his asocial character but from time to time it just bores the viewer.

Violence Jack: Jigoku Gai-hen does not cut any corners showing the viewer all of the horrible acts post apocalypse. It is not for the faint of heart. The gratuitous violence and extremely disturbing rape scenes show the absolute worst of humanity. The excellent animation of this OVA makes it extremely difficult and uncomfortable to watch. While not everyone will enjoy Violence Jack, it should be respected for its classic animation and symbolism. The overall plot, however, leaves much to be desired and brings down the overall experience. This is not an anime for everyone but if you have any ... interest in 80s animation this is worth the watch.

A thing I really like to see, in the works of art I watch or read (movies, novels, comic books and so on) is when the author(s) gives me something to think about the nature of violence. Because I hate violence, but it's everywhere, and I feel like I need to understand from what it generates.
Violence Jack (and, in particular, this OAV) fails to do it. Not only, but somehow it celebrates its violence, it finds some pleasure in showing it.

Now, I will make some spoilers, but the story is very formulaic: basically, it's not about "what happens", but "how it happens", so you ... could watch it and "enjoy it" (even if there's nothing to enjoy about it) even knowing how it ends.

So, the plot is about this guy, named Violence Jack, because he has a jacknife and he's violent, who is found, inside a wall (I swear), by the inhabitants of a city in the underground of Tokyo. Japan has been devastated by a cataclysm, and people live in difficult situations, much like in a Mad Max film or a Fallout game. This story in particular is about the war between three sectors, one ruled by men, one ruled by, how can I put it, monsters, and one by women. Jack allies with the ladies, trying to protect them, but the war will be inevitable.

Now, the point with Violence Jack is, that it tries to show how, even in very difficult situations, humans are incapable of collaborating, but instead, they try to fight even further for supremacy. This could be a good thing to talk about, if it wasn't shown in such a horrible way.
The problem of the series is that it has some kind of a sadistic pleasure in showing killings, rapes and violence of different kinds. There are scenes of children getting viciously killed, rapes that are shown in long scenes in a pornographic way, there is necrophilia and cannibalism, and all characters that are, in a way, LGBT+, are evil and perverse.
I haven't read the original manga from Go Nagai, but by watching this OAV I really can't understand the success of this work. It seems more like the perverted fantasy of a man who enjoys all the things I have just described, who tries to put them in a story in which in the end, good prevails because Violence Jack avenges the victims of these crimes. Yeah, he does, but so what? People have died, they have been brutalized and raped. But yeah, a huge good guy has killed the bad guys, so justice has won. Sure.

If you enjoy watching tortures and gore of any kind, this is for you. For the rest, it's just 60 minutes of "why I am I even watching this? What's the point of this senseless violence? Is this a rape porn?"