Violence Jack

This manga is only now being translated very slowly by various groups, so bear with this preliminary review.

Violence Jack is where Go Nagai's style I feel starts to shine compared to his earlier violent mangas. The main character, Violence Jack, lives up to his name as a sadistic if slightly moral protagonist, ripping all his enemies into bloody shreds and reaping death across the post-apocalyptic world. I can't say this is a new high for Go Nagai's gore and violence, but in certain aspects such as the gore or the horror it may take the cake over Devilman. There's a lot of very fucked up imagery and sadism on part of Slum King, the main villain, that was a key missing element in the previous Nagai manga Devilman where there's no central antagonist. It's as if Go Nagai picked right off where he wanted to continue Devilman before he kicked it off a cliff near the end.

Although it's not very clear even at my point in the manga, it is obvious that Violence Jack is a part of the greater Devilman franchise and is one of the more important parts of it, so it is slightly annoying this has yet to be translated decades after publication. I won't spoil how exactly it ties in, but this is a very good expansion on the lore if you think about why the world is the way it is, definitely one of the most crucial parts of the series' world building and overarching story. All you need to know is that you should read Devilman first, which is generally the one rule for reading any Devilman manga. I wish Violence Jack would be finished so that this, Devilman and Lady could form something of a trilogy, as right now Devilman is almost impossible to fully comprehend if you don't read Japanese. Now that's out of the way...

Violence Jack is a surreal manga, as well as a violent one. There's a lot of mystery about who or what Violence Jack is from the beginning and most of what happens involves largely unexplained supernatural powers. The best comparison I could make for this series is Hokuto no Ken/Fist of the North Star, both violent and have intense fights, although I'd say HnK easily has better fights while Violence Jack is more, well, violent. Unlike Hokuto no Ken, Violence Jack's structure is not as linear, instead veering off in typical Go Nagai fashion to focus on sub-plots that almost seem unrelated to the main story, but unlike Devilman or large parts of Lady, these parts I actually enjoyed! Not all of them however, this manga might have some of the worst filler yet but what's good is by far the best of this weird series up to this point in Go Nagai's career.

Most of the time the manga follows Violence Jack, but does cut back to show a flashback of what went on before an apocalyptic event happened and at other times to follow side characters. The one flashback in the series is obviously building up to a later reveal, as of now untranslated, but it's a decently interesting foreshadowing that is well executed to show off why the world is in such a bad state, and why Violence Jack is such a messed up immoral person. Other characters it follows tend to be less interesting than Jack, but they have a personality and motivations that are well done. I'm not really sure if there's going to be a pay off for any of this later on, but it's impossible for the ending to be as gloriously dumb as Devilman or Lady anyway.

The story can follow a formula at times of side characters get in trouble -> Jack shows up to save them -> moral dilemma -> dilemma solved (sometimes in very unorthodox/sadistic ways by Jack) -> Jack leaves. This is not too bad though, as it at least leads to a fun little scene of Jack solving the problem, usually dealing with a villain terrorizing innocents. Despite how violent it is, this has a level of subtlety and simplicity that is sorely missing from Devilman. The villains tend to be episodic but there are a few who have their own mini-arcs, with Slum King as the very, very disturbing and awesome villain of the manga. This character really carries what is out right now of this story with his absolute sadism and cruelty, his fight isn't fantastic or anything but knowing he comes back later as well, it's definitely worth reading to see his segments in a similar way to Jinmen in the original Devilman.

What is bad is simply that there's too much plodding, the plot being stalled by these sub-plots and the fights are a little lackluster at their best. Go Nagai's fights are pretty sloppy although I can't blame him too much given the characters and scenarios he has to draw, he does a competent job. The art in general is also some of his very best if slightly more simple. It can feel somewhat by-the-books for art, as characters tend to have this very old-fashioned style, oblong faces, not too imaginative. However if you're coming into Violence Jack expecting a work of art I'm not sure why. It delivers fully on that violence, gore and over-the-top action, even if the art falters at times.

As far as filler goes, there's definitely some padding between the Jack sightings where not much happens. This is another case where a super long manga just has tons of down time between the important events, if only the parts with Jack or his direct interactions were in there, nothing would be lost of too much value. Everyone is only reading for these parts anyway, as the side characters aren't too interesting. It's a shame as without these parts this would be a very solid, short manga that may have been translated by now. Nonetheless one of the stronger parts of this often confusing and loosely-connected franchise. Directly compared, Lady is arguably as good or better than this but in my opinion is worse solely for its inexplicably stupid ending. Recommended strongly to Devilman fans and if you like mangas such as Hokuto no Ken but also have a taste for violence, gore or horror.

Hello everyone, my second try of posting this review cause my internet/keyboard for some reason trolled me and freaking erased my text... So here i am one day later after reading other stuff to relax and also after a party, so expect me to be quite excited about that review. OK, enough with the bullsh**, let's get to the very point, that is VIOLENCE JACK, i absolutely love Go Nagai's view of horror and the way he tells this kind of story, that is the main reason he is one my favorite authors of all time and in that work his artstyle evolved a lot, it is really good to look at, especially in the full page panels,i will write a quick NON-SPOILERS review, cause like i always say in my reviews, i like to see people dive fresh into stories, with only the minor knowledge to lead them into it and help them absorb as much as they can. The story takes place in a post-apocaliptcal wasteland in japan, after a terrible earthquake destroied the land, the scenario in really similar to fist of the north star, but as Jack came before Hokuto, i believe it surved as a inspiration for Hokuto, and just a nice fact for you guys, Violence Jack, especially the protagonist heavily influenced Kentaro Miura on the creation of the Berserk universe and also on the creation of Guts, but ok, back to VJ, in the middle of that wasteland, some people are trying to survive peacefully and rebuild society, while others, with wicked, twisted and vile minds just want to be agents of chaos and tear apart what is left of the mankind, so expect cruelsome villains, rapers, serial killers, demonic beings that shock even the most brave ones, but, in response to these villains, he comes from the shadows, from the black hearts of the same men who created him, with the voice of silence and a mission of justice(Sting reference yall wrestling fans!) comes Jack, he carries a gigantic jackknife that looks more like a manchete, so they call him violence jack, he has a minor moral code to keep his journey in the right way and not became just a killer machine, he is one of the best protagonists EVER, stand out of the majority of protagonists, cause he responds the violence with even more violence, there aint no "take this as a lesson and stop being evil" Jack knows he is in a land where there is no hope left, the people doing bad stuff are doing this cause they are psychos, they have pleasure in it, so he responds them equaly, but he is not only rage and violence, Jack shows a kind side(in his own manner) especially with child, showing he is not a agent of chaos, but kind of a demon with a golden heart(reminds you of something doenst it ? the ending will get you guys, so read it)And with that i finish my review, give that manga a chance, sometimes in the middle the story gets a little weird but the ending is totally worth it, i really hope netflix gives Violence Jack a adaptation like they made with devilman, or even a crossover with new animation and a good treatment would suit, this series deserves some love, lets see what the future holds for our friend Jack !