Manga Review: MPD Psycho

MPD Psycho or in it's original name "Multiple Personality Disorder Psycho" is a manga written by Eiji Ohtsuka and illustrated by Shou Tajima. The genre of MPD Pyscho is a Detective fiction with alot of Psychological horror involved. It was first published in 1997 and is still ongoing with 13 volumes made so far. MPD Psycho was never adapted into a full TV Anime Series however it was made into a Live Action Drama called "MPD Psycho: Kazuhiko Amamiya Returns" which had only 6 episodes aired.

Yôsuke Kobayashi is a detective and is on the case of a serial killer who dismembers his victims. The killer later sends Yôsuke's girlfriend dismembered but kept alive. Yôsuke hunts down the killer and due to the events, loses his sanity and develops Dissociative identity disorder with the two main personalities being Kazuhiko Amamiya, a cool headed detective and Shinji Nishizono, a reckless psychopath. After being placed in prison for murderering the killer, Yôsuke Kobayashi is released and works for an independent detective agency ran by Machi Isono. Later serial killers are appearing with barcodes in their left eyes, which Yôsuke Kobayashi also has.

So we have these serial killers in the beggining and we have this young detective going by the name of Yosuke. When working on the case he finds his girlfriend dismembered horribly and when he catches the killer his personality changes to a homicidal maniac called Shinji who then kills him. However it seems further down the line his multiple personality disorder is a key to ressurecting one of the worlds most prolific serial killer lucy morningstone an american pop star and terrorist whos mind is far too dangerous for this world. The story is really alot like the film scilence of the lambs, or anything with hannibel lector in it, it consists of a dangerous serial killer, and you have a detective who is also one to try and catch him. However the plot is not that linear you will have to find out for yourself why it is so great.

Yosuke Kobayashi: Here we have the main protganist with his main personality first introduced in the manga. He is a young detective who is quickly becoming one of the best in his police agency. He is a silent man who is quite kind and does not want to let people down and so he works his hardest when trying to track down this one serial killer. However when he finds his girlfriend with all her limbs missing all that changes. When he finnally finds the serial killer he snaps and a new personality takes over, and Yosuke was never seen again.

Shinji Nishizono: Yes this new personality was the homicidal maniac who calls himself "Shinji". He is the stone cold killer who is very well capable of killing people without batting an eyelid. He has a very cold personality and prefers to kill criminals instead of bringing them to justice because he is a psychopath. He also does not mind killing innocent people as well or use them as meat shields against bullets. Yes because of him he killed the serial killer who killed Yosuke's girlfriend and he ended up in prison because of it.

Kazuhiko Amamiya: As soon as he wakes up from his ordeal he is in prison. He doesn't know it yet but you can say he is the new Yosuke. He cannot remember anything that Shinji has done and so when he comes out of prison he is asked to be apart of a unique poice agency to which he agree's. He is still sane you can say and is very much like Yosuke except he is better, he is smarter, stronger, more witty and can command a situation very well. He is the police detective who also houses psychopath who can come out in any second.

There is a real lack of art within MPD Pyscho, well what I mean is that all the pages and panels within the manga are all very plain and white. It seems like this illustrator doe not like to put in any shading in anything he draws, so do not expect to see much shadows. Though I guess it is a type of manga style, however not one I may be particularly fond of. Ussually if there is a lack of shading then you make up with it using alot of detail, however in most cases that does not seem to be the case. However where the art truly shines is the sheer detail involved in the gore, yes drawing body parts, with the bone, veins, muscles and blood takes alot of attention. Why the illustrator draws it so well, you are pretty much looking at an actual murder scene.

I will surely say that you have to be over 18 to read this manga. The sheer level of gore that is in this manga is enough to make your stomach spill out all its contents. You will see alot of eyeballs, torn off limbs with all the flesh being ripped apart like cheap fabric. You will see brains being cut open and the fluids trickling out. There also will be finger nails being ripped off, tounges cut out, eyelids torn off revealing the human eyeball in all it's glory. Why in the picture above the girl has sliced her throat open with a razer blade. Now the next page would be her head flopping to one side without much neck support and a scene which can only be discribed as a beautifull blood fountain. Regardless if you are like me, then you might find all this graphic gore quite fascinating and somewhat beautifull.

Hmpth, I thought reading manga's like Berserk or Battle Royale gave me an insight of the definition of "gore". However it seems MPD Psycho has taken the definition and rewritten it to give it a more accurate discription. By all means this is a very intresting manga and the gore is very much needed to make the horror jump out of you. When a serial killer is introduced with their victim, you wonder "I wonder in what screwed up he is gonna torture them?" in most manga's we would proberbly only see a closed door with some screams being heard. But nah this is MPD Pyscho! we see every gruesome detail in all it's bloody glory! And for that this manga is very, very intresting and truly a great read, as long as you do not mind all he gore.