VIOLENCE VOYAGER (BAIORENSU BOIJA; 2018) was the second feature created by Japan’s Ujicha. It followed 2013’s mind-roasting BURNING BUDDHA MAN/ MOERU BUTSUZO NINGEN, and once again utilizes the “gekimation” style, in which cut-out stills are moved around by hand, that Ujicha single-handedly revived. VIOLENCE VOYAGER is the more elaborate and commercial of the two films, with a coherent, audience-friendly narrative, although the overall vision, which leans toward the grotesque and aberrant, is much the same as that of the earlier film.
…a coherent, audience-friendly narrative, although the overall vision, which leans toward the grotesque and aberrant…
The main character is the young Bobby, a white skinned American (in case you were unsure about the film’s target audience) living in Japan. One day Bobby, his cat Derek and his pal Akkun are on an expedition through a mountainous region, where they’re warned by an old man not to venture too far. Upon finding a flyer for something called the “Hands on Amusement Park” the boys disregard the warning.
After crossing an ominous looking bridge they happen upon a run-down park, and Kiyoke, a creepy caretaker who claims to have constructed the place himself. Upon entering they’re given blue suits to protect them from aliens with robotic TV monitor heads and contorted eyeballs, which, as they’re informed via a televised briefing, have overtaken the area. Also provided are water pistols with which to fight the critters, and after squirting a few of the aliens, which Bobby and Akkun believe (wrongly) are fake, they meet an abandoned girl named Tokiko.
This trio attempt to make their way through the amusement park, where they’re attacked by a rabid dog that severely gores Derek, and put in an enclosure where they meet some stranded girls and a boy who’s been horrifically deformed by the aliens (although the character design is plenty weird on the whole). But then the aliens attack and kill several members of the group, whose bodies are then brought to Kiyoke, who uses the corpses as food for the aliens. Bobby manages to escape becoming breakfast, but gets transformed into one of the robotic aliens, as does Akkun.
VIOLENCE VOYAGER has a more professional feel than THE BURNING BUDDHA MAN (and wisely refrains from the live action bookends that nearly sunk that film), with artwork that’s more distinctive and assured, but it lacks the previous film’s audacity and mind-tugging strangeness. The story is standard kid movie fantasy stuff from start to finish (with explicit nods to JURASSIC PARK, THE WITCHES, THE GOONIES and several other vintage kid flicks), albeit with very non-kid-friendly depictions of flayed corpses, mutated anatomies and scatological acts (as when Bobby is seen on a toilet while farting sounds are heard on the soundtrack). Those things don’t change the juvenile orientation; just the opposite, in fact, as they evince an adolescent urge to shock.
…non-kid-friendly depictions of flayed corpses, mutated anatomies and scatological acts…
As in the earlier film it’s the astounding visuals that take center stage. Ujicha’s gekimation images are consistently strange and fascinating to behold, with the cut-out characters made to bob, shake and even spin amid impeccably drafted backgrounds and splashes of actual water and blood.
One complaint I have that isn’t Ujicha’s fault is the fact that the most widely accessible version of this film is English dubbed, with silly little kid voices that incorporate out-of-date slang (“for realies?”). I’d advise tracking down the Japanese language version of VIOLENCE VOYAGER, but not until after you’ve seen THE BURNING BUDDHA MAN.
Vital Statistics
VIOLENCE VOYAGER (BAIORENSU BOIJA)
Yoshimoto/Katsu-do/Dark Coast
Director: Ujicha
Producers: Red Anzai, Kimitsugu Ueno
Screenplay: Ujicha
Cast: Aoi Yuki, Saki Fujita, Nao Hanai, Tomoroo Taguchi, Naoki Tanaka
(English version): Debbi Derryberry, Daisy Hamilton, Xanthe Huynh, Cedric Williams, Derek Petropolis, Kellen Goff