Aroma of Troma: The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989)

 The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989) dir. Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz, Lorimar Film Entertainment/Troma Entertainment 

By now Troma was established and even making ways into the mainstream. Why not revisit what put them on the map in the first place?

If you recall the last film scrawny nerd Melvin was transformed into the Toxic Avenger (John Altamura, later replaced with Ron Fazio midway through) and things have settled down in Tromaville. Sadly this now has put Toxie into a funk. His girlfriend Claire (Phoebe Legre) has gotten him a job at the Tromaville Center for the Blind, so at least he's keeping busy.

Things get interesting when the Chairman of Apocalypse, Inc. (Rick Collins) pulls up in a stretch limo. He wants the land. So naturally he blows the place up, with Claire and Toxie surviving. When the workmen arrive to start building, Toxie emerges from the rubble and works out his rust by mauling the workers. 

When a frontal assault proves futile, the Chairman and his #1 gal Malfaire (Lisa Gaye) opt for subterfuge. Learning that Melvin's father skipped out on the family when he was child, Apocalypse Inc. gets Toxie to visit one of their (unknown to him) doctors, who sells him the idea that he needs closure with his father if he wants to be happy. What do you know, they just happen to know where dear old daddy is: Japan!

So off Toxie sails on his windboard to the Land of the Rising Sun, leaving Claire and Tromaville alone. Making landfall, he runs into Masami (Mayako Katsurgi) when saving her from some thugs. She then becomes his sidekick while they search for his father. They find Big Mac Bunko (Rikiya Yasuoka), local Yakuza bigwig and apparently Melvin's dad. He claims as such, then goes on about what a terrible son Smelvin was. With Toxie's evil detecting senses going overboard he has no choice to turn his father into sushi. 

With Toxie dealing with this, plus being exposed to anti-tromotons to weaken him, Tromaville is left utterly defenseless. Can Toxie regain his confidence and save his hometown?

Too much, too broad yet not enough. The violence is cartoonish. Not gruesome enough yet not over the top enough. The Japanese setting is nice and shows off the budget but honestly they could have set it in Newark and still had the same effect.