Review: Step Into The Nightmare with “Violence Voyager”
Ujicha might not be a household name in Japanese movie industry, let alone Japanese anime & manga industry. Albeit so, it shouldn’t be a defining factor for you not to watch his latest creation called “Violence Voyager”. The animated movie which has been released on various digital streaming services on October 21st, 2019 is one of a kind as it used paper toy-like technique in which each character is drawn into. If you’d expect the cartoon to be on the level of Hayao Miyazaki’s creation or Makoto Shinkai’s vision, you should not let the hope rises up that high. Some reviewers pointed out that it looked similar to the animation technique used on popular US TV Series, South Park. “Violence Voyager” gets even more detailed and extreme as each movement or gesture from the character was drawn fully onto the paper. The details involve oil-painting like animation that could be a feast for your eyes. However, the details and unique animation technique gets lost in the stiffness of movement as the character’s facial expressions rarely change in between dialogues. That creeped the hell out of us.
The nightmare doesn’t solely lay on the animation though, as “Violence Voyager” builds a strange narration that might suit the taste of those who love movies like “Paprika”, “Perfect Blue”, “Attack on Titan” or animated series “Parasyte”. The movie tells the adventure of an American boy named Bobby who lived in Japan. He befriended a kid with a strange scar on his forehead, Akkun. After school, while talking about their project, the two boys went on a mission to find a friend who moved away to a mountain. On their way there, they found ‘Violence Voyager’, a man-made amusement park where they had to fight an alien invasion. This alien is a flesh dissolving creature that you might not want to meet on your way to anywhere. The amusement park proved to be more dangerous than they initially thought as one of them went missing, and another’s life was preyed upon. In between their journey at the amusement park, you’ll find yourself ‘entertained’ with all kinds of gore materials from melting bodies, flesh, blood (lots of it), twisted face, and many more. We’re glad that the animation is a bit stiff, or else, this movie will haunt us to sleep.
Putting aside that strangely made animation, “Violence Voyager” lived up to its name where you can find bizarre scenarios happening one after another. You might not get why specific characters or violence made appearance on the movie, but considering that the movie paints itself as ‘a strange one’, then it all starts to make sense. In spite of cartoonish appearance, this truly isn’t aimed for children without adults’ accompaniments. “Violence Voyager” can be enjoyed on Amazon, DirecTV, FlixFling, VImeo on Demand, Vudu, FANDANGO and AT&T.
Reviewer: Novita Widia
