Notable: Violence Voyager (2018) is a weird, twisted little tale
Some stories demand to be told. Others, well, I don't know what they want other than to ramble quietly in the corner to anyone who will listen. Violence Voyager centers around a boy named Bobby being kidnapped in an amusement park and forced to deal with a Pinocchio-type body horror nightmare. Let me be clear, this is not a movie for everyone. I would struggle to even call this a good movie, but I had a great time watching it. The animation is… unique is the best way to describe it, reminding me of Reading Rainbow. Frozen painted figures contend with real-life fire and liquid effects to produce disturbing but also charming imagery in an anti-animation, postmodern style. The story itself is a meandering science fiction mess with little character development, but like the best genre has wild moments that add instead of detract. My background in the subject matter of 1960s and 1970s Japanese science fiction is lacking, and I feel like there's a cultural barrier that I could not quite breech to make sense of things. However, this is something to be seen if you are a fan of body horror and stories that break off and do their own thing. Check it out for something different.
Here are my notes, beware of spoilers:
Stitches on hands
So you know those movies where kids cut themselves to become blood brothers? This movie has that on our two main kids without telling you what it means until the end when a third kid shows up with the cut as well. It's a "proof of identity" kind of mark that is shown but not told, unless I was not paying attention. Since subtlety is not this movie's flavor, I can only feel confused as to whether I missed or did not miss vital information that pays off later.
Voice over oddity
Voice over is a subtle art. Inflections can lead to a variety of meanings. Do not expect that here as some of the voice cast seems to believe they are in different movies, rooms, and planets than others.
Lying to sick mom
Kids need to learn lessons, but don't ever lie to your sick mom and expect me to root for you. Keep that kind of talk to your weird dad.
Old man Lucky Monkey, your friend
How do you introduce a Doc Brown type figure into your narrative? "Hey, isn't that the house of your friend Old Man Lucky Monkey?" will do it just right every time. Also, WTF.
Logic off? Friend last year
The movie multiple times breaks its own logic in regards to how much time has passed relative to other events. Bobby, the American kid new to town, has been friends with Akkun for at least a year, because the whole reason the story starts is they are going over a mountain to visit a friend who moved away. Baffling as to how the new kid in town can have blood brother friends that have already moved away.
"I changed into my uniform for nothing"
Koike, the owner of the crazy ass amusement park, is dedicated to trapping children. When Bobby and Akkun don't have money, he laments getting dressed to greet them, saying "Come on in for free this time." Dude didn't even offer them candy first. Also, why is the amusement park called "Violence Voyager?" It's super odd, but hey, not my park.
Real fire and bubbles
When acid and fire come up, boy do they come up. Holy crap this weirded me out when real ooze started gushing over the drawings. I did not get used to it.
Shot vs Dolphin gun
Akkun is given a room full of squirt guns, water pistols, and H2O cannons to defeat the "robots" in the park. First he gets help retrieving a shotgun-type weapon. Then he picks a dolphin. It's cute, but he's not shown a liking for cuteness up until now.
Derrick jump scare cat
When traveling to a friend's house across a mountain, bring your cat Derrick along. He's really damn useful when dogs attack and will jump out randomly to freak you out.
"What happened to that boyfriend of yours?"
This is a direct quote by Akkun to a girl they find who says she's been trapped in the amusement park for over a day. This is also a quote from a sexual predator to the main character in a romantic comedy.
Bridge and Dog attack
Neither a bridge nor a dog are set up as being things required to pass as Bobby and Akkun enter the amusement park, but the bridge (which was shown but not commented on) nor the dog (never shown until it attacks) are vitally important when they wish to leave.
Vomit
When still images started vomiting I suspected things were gonna get wacky. I was not disappointed.
Dad and annoying brother rescue rangers
In every story, you need an outside element that shows the people you are watching are invested in the community. Here, we have Bobby's dad and Akkun's annoying brother. They matter for about ten minutes of screen time.
Kid acid muder and nudity
This movie escalates quickly when a kid gets barfed on with acid, then the rest of them are stripped nude and dunked into a vat of something that changes them into TV robot people.
Pinochio with Robots
We get the meat of the story, with the evil scientist keeping his robot-headed son alive by turning other kids into robot-headed creatures with a creature he calls "mother."
Mother brain pigeon milk
Mother is a big brain like mass, a la Metroid. At one point there's a sign that says "pigeon milk," unless once again someone piped gas into my apartment. Yet hallucinations are more fun, so I swear this all happened.
"Everybody's naked" show don't tell
While you think me complaining about the lack of subtlety with Checkov's guns was just good old fashioned old man grumbling, here one character looks at naked people and says "everybody's naked." I am fascinated at the lack of storytelling by either the writer/director or the translation team.
Takaki Scar, changed robot
Checkov's scar comes back with that third kid, the kid who Bobby and Akkun were crossing a mountain to visit and they all share the same scar, he was the boyfriend of hers from earlier. My nose was blown.
Find A way out, underwear
So you find yourself naked in a madman's science amusement park dungeon and need to sneak out. How? Put on his mutant robot son's underwear. It's the thing to do. You'll achieve nothing, but your under bits won't hang out.
Dad goes fishing
Bobby's dad makes it to the evil scientist lab, but is too late to save anyone. So he fishes them all out until he finds Bobby, now with robot head and bloody exposed skin I will call RoBobby.
Lucky Monkey Doctor A-Team
I um… Well, they did not waste Lucky Monkey, did they? After RoBobby escapes from the evil madman, he makes it to Lucky Monkey who treats his wounds, tells him what's up with crazy mad science man (he is both crazy and mad for reasons), and then stocks RoBobby up with hella weapons, a jumpsuit, and animals to go back in there and kill everyone.
Bear murder
So why is the crazy mad scientist Koike both mad and crazy? Seems he was a shitty dad who let his kid get eaten by a bear. Don't worry, chile, Lucky Monkey gonna tell you a bedtime story and give you weapons.
Cat's alive! Beastmaster
The last time we saw Derrick the jump scare cat he was dangling off of a ledge getting attacked by a dog. Well he's back, you bastards, along with his friend Bat and Lucky Monkey's Chimpanzee to help RoBobby storm the evil scientist's lab.
That's a sentence I never knew I always wanted to write.
Wet fart march to murder
I mentioned the voice acting earlier, but let's talk foley effects. While RoBobby, Derrick the cat, a bat, and a chimpanzee are marching to the lab, their footsteps sound approximately like the bathroom of a Taco Bell at three in the morning. It's gross and thankfully does not last long. Other effects include: the sound of grown human munching an apple without an apple and random splats and crunches.
Death traps
Getting into a mad science lab is hard, especially when the dude's got kids impaled on spike tables that spring out of the floor! I thought Koike was not trying to kill the kids (except for the acid face ones, obvs), so why are these here?
Yesterday or six days?
More time craziness. Lucky Monkey says RoBobby took six days to get his shit together, but then there's a reference to him escaping yesterday. Confusion.
He can sudden acid is sudden
RoBobby can spit acid. Huh. That would have been useful escaping, but what do I know?
Bride of Takashi
Here's a turn I suspected might happen back with the "where's your boyfriend?" stuff, but we get it complete here. Turns out the evil scientist didn't want his mangled robot son to be lonely. That's sweet, in a mad scientist sort of way.
Splosions
More real boom-booms of fireworks (I'm being literal, like Fourth of July fireworks are going on over the pictures) as the laboratory known as Violence Voyager goes up in a plume of justice.
End on Mom face
The ending shot might be the most odd thing about the movie. RoBobby has made it home, sans dad and cat (which went out like a boss getting that dog back). Then we get a still of his sick mom's face, small grin staring out at us… forever. And ever. Credits.
