Dark Horse Manga's daring MPD-Psycho series is completely unabridged in all of its gory glory - exactly as it appeared when it first ran in Japan! MPD-Psycho has earned praise for its complex, shocking story arcs and artist Sho-u Tajima's stark, arresting art style - that draws comparison with artist Charles Burns's work. Step onto this crazy ride, as even more strange deviants are introduced and writer Eiji Otsuka continues to astound with his inventive plot twists and atrocities.
And the comedy routine of Sasayama is back! By now, we have gone far enough afield from the Takashi Miike TV adaptation, that we enter the a whole other comparison ... Twin Peaks Season 2. For some of you, I must explain.
Twin Peaks was David Lynch's most famous foray into TV that started with a murder. The premise of the first season was exploring the sweet community of Twin Peaks in search of the person who killed Laura Palmer. The deeper the FBI and the local police dig, the more they discover the sins hidden under the surface of the community. At the start of the second season, though, they were forced to reveal the killer and end that storyline. What followed was a bizarre mix of soap opera, drag, weird characters and a loss of what made the first season so special.
MPD Psycho has now taken that move. Not quite finishing the story it started with, this volume introduces a midget profiler with oversized glasses to team up with Sasayama. We also get a different set of murders that - in some weird way - goes beyond a barcoded eyeball in the bizarre realm. Are these connected to the previous volumes? In a very thin way, yes. Much like how Twin Peaks Season 2 connected to Season 1. Had the humor not been so overt, I probably would have bought into this move. Some of the twists and reveals in this set were moderately interesting ... but there is only so much before we break suspension of disbelief.
I love this series, but this volume was god awful. I am giving it 3 stars just because the there is still some heft to this story but otherwise this is probably the worst of the 8 volumes I have read. The pacing is clunky, the writing is threadbare, and the addition of a new sidekick for one of the characters, who looks like a cross between Linda Hunt and Edna Mode from "The Incredibles" was so annoying that it made me almost put the manga down and swear off this series entirely! I would only recommend this for MPD-Psycho Fans and Manga Readers who follow a story to it's eventual end. Other than that, STAY AWAY!!!!
The good thing about this volume is the new serial killer that is in someway obsessed with the biblical mythology about Eve being made from a rib of Adam. It's not at all clear how this connects to the barcoded eyeballs, and who knows if it will be linked up in any clear way. This series has departed so far from the original premise that it's almost just a different book. The bad thing is the goofiness added via a new detective character who is the constant butt of jokes from Sasayama, even though she seems to have a lot more smarts than he does. Hopefully she will show him up, and shut him up. We'll see.
After Gokuso failed we finally get back to the usual murders. Well, maybe not so usual. But author very beautifully explained why we, the readers, never heard about them before. Also we get introduced to some interesting characters. It was a little bit confusing because apparently we had another time jump but once I understood that everything started to make sense. There's still unanswered questions what happened with Miwa and why she crashed a plane, and, in general, how she's tied with all eyeball conspiracy but I hope it will be explained soon. 5 out of 5. Enjoyed it very much.
Machi got a new partner, dan ternyata partnernya itu keponakan Lucy Monostone, the man behind all of this mess... Muncul kasus baru, banyak gadis terbunuh dengan dada disayat dan di dadanya ada rusuk laki-laki dengan kromosom XXY.
Eiji Otsuka's MPD Psycho is one of the most brutally bloodiest, psychologically dark, mind fucked mangas I have ever read. The complex array of socially dysfunctional psychopaths committing brutally creative, straightforward morbid homicides borderline erotic and disturbing at times left on mark on me while reading this series for nearly 5 years.
The art fresh with simple clean lines, macabre to say the least, hypnotized me with detailed expressions and backgrounds. That said, the illustrator kept most of the cast true to the Japanese background, a rare feat in today's mangas.
The plot felt realistic to a certain degree when excluding the Lucy Monostone ensemble (especially in the finale). There isn't much comedy as it is very dry, with no useless characters and a dark environment.
Unfortunately, the translators stopped a few years back and no english volume has been release in some time. Fortunately, the french version of the series had been completely serialized in France so I was able to grab copies and read the ending finally. Although I can read french this is the one downfall for those that cannot...
If you can muster the first chapter, you're in for a treat. This is just one of the novels where you need to fully pay attention to each sentence. Do I recommend it: YES!!!