Ever since the DVD release of Takeshi Miike's video version of Eiji Otsuka's brain-splitting horror thriller fans have been buzzing, dreaming and praying for an official English release. But what publisher had the ability, as well as the cajones, to bring the complex tale of a police detective with homicidal alternate personalities to more conservative-than-Japan English-speaking markets?
It didn't happen overnight, but Dark Horse Manga took the reigns, and the result is what has been called the most authentic representation of a manga from Japanese to English, ever. From the embossed matte cover to the superb translation by Kumar Sivasubramanian (Ohikkoshi) to the completely uncensored presentation, that's a hard claim to argue with. Does accurate mean it's good? Of course not. So, is MPD-Psycho good? You better believe it is!
Police detective Yousuke Kobayashi has a special insight into the murder cases he investigates. You see, he is a murderer himself…well not him, but his alternate personality, Shinji Nishizono. And possibly Kazuhiko Amamiya? It doesn’t matter when the detective is tossed in jail in the opening frames, but it isn’t long before our “hero” is back out and working on some of the most bizarre and trouble serial murder cases the Tokyo Metro Police have seen. Let’s just hope that Det. Kobayashi didn’t have a hand in them.
MPD-Psycho is like no psych-horror-thriller you have ever seen. The clean and almost sterile artwork of Sho-u Tajima makes the gruesome murder scenes that much more close, but also make the world of our Multiple Personality Detective seem less insane. Especially in the beginning, time jumps around in a bit of a dizzying fashion. The visual clues that signify a personality shift won’t be obvious to the reader at first (and that’s alright. It is explained clearly in the notes at the end).
What makes MPD-Psycho so original is that is not only the art and the story, it’s that this isn’t just a horror story, but a puzzle. The reader will be confused in parts. And that’s OK. This first volume asks more questions than it answers and that’s what first volumes of ten-volume thrillers are supposed to do. Editor Philip Simon has said, “Stick with it, you will get payoffs,” and having read the first three volumes, it is easy to say this is a series worth sticking with.
One review I read called MPD-Psycho, “Death Note for adult readers”. I think this is a fair assessment for a couple reasons. To me the story is more the violence of “The Silence of the Lambs” meets the complexity of “The Usual Suspects” meets sci-fi sprinklings of “Lost” meets the bizarre sickness of “Gozu“ meets the moral ambiguity of “Death Note”. That being said, MPD-Psycho is for mature readers. The images of nudity and brutality (often in the same frame) aren’t intended for children. Besides that, the story isn’t going to appeal to kids. Eiji Otsuka doesn’t hold his reader’s hand, but more pushes him off a cliff into this alternate, psychotic universe. It isn’t a walk in the park, unless the park you walk in is full of plants potted in soil made of brain tissue.
If you have been waiting to see if MPD-Psycho is worth starting as series, then you can be assured that if you are into psychological thrillers, thought-provoking twisty tales and jaw-dropping scenes of horror then pick up and read MPD-Psycho Volume 1. Then take a shower and pick it up and read it again.
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