Whoo boy, this sure is a manga. 

After blowing out everyone’s tear ducts with Devilman, Go Nagai-san began Violence Jack. Formatted into clear, sectioned-off plot arcs, the story is credited with kickstarting the post-apocalyptic genre. Before Mad Max, before those millions of movies like it, Nagai-san wrote about a lone man wandering a desert wasteland, dodging biker gangs and (sometimes) saving more honest folks. Our indifferent hero is Violence Jack, who is built like a brick shithouse and named himself after his jacknife. After a huge earthquake flattens and splits off the Kanto region, the Japanese government swears off the place, letting any survivors fend for themselves. Self-styled warlords form gangs, fight over Kanto’s remaining resources, carve up territory, and commit whatever atrocities they want. The worst of the warlords is the Slum King. In each plot section, Jack trundles upon a new kerfuffle, and people ask him for help. As the manga goes on, Jack and the King seem destined for a conflagration of a confrontation.

While usually I review manga after I’ve read the entire series, I have little idea of when I’ll be able to read the remainder of Violence Jack. This manga is so incredibly violent that very, very few licensing agreements have been successful, despite the historical significance of the work. I read as much as I could find. Thank you, fan translators, for your hard work!

Since I read Devilman Lady, the other sequel to Devilman, right before Violence Jack, I compared the two a lot. While Devilman Lady struggled with plot and character cohesion, Violence Jack is very clear about these storytelling elements. On each page I knew who is who, what they’re doing, and why. Each arc has a beginning, middle, and end. I understood why Nagai-san returned to this universe multiple times over decades. There’s a great sense of adventure and villainous drama, with no limit or horizon. The setting and its aesthetics have a big, heavy presence, and I had no doubts as to why they’re the manga’s legacy.

However, I struggled to figure out what the fuck it all meant. The violence, the destruction, and cruelty is so over the top that it seemed to lose purpose. What thematic messaging does this 100th panel of rape convey, that the other 99 didn’t? Nagai-san seems to delight in the brutality depicted on page, to the point it’s brutality for brutality’s sake. If pressed, I could conclude that Violence Jack comments that survival at any cost, is not a survival worth having. Sticking to your principles is a heroic act, especially at the end of the world. But I’m really stretching here. My own brain got in the way of my enjoyment too.  I kept trying to figure out how Jack and his allies connected back to Devilman and its established metaphysics. This tact only resulted in frustration. The lack of answers isn’t because something especially clever is happening in the background. I wasn’t missing clues. There are no clues. Readers will have to wait until the ending for Nagai-san to explain what’s going on. 

Violence Jack is a Manga with a capital M. My experience is so uneven I struggle to rate it. As a story with great historical importance, I hope one day it’s fully translated for the English-speaking audience. If you have a strong stomach and adore Mad Max, read where it all began.