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MPD Psycho #2
MPD Psycho, Vol. 2
MPD-Psycho Volume 2 finds multiple personality detective Kazuhiko Amamiya on a new case - which will result in even more personalities emerging inside his confused, scattered mind! A wave of grisly, imaginative schoolgirl suicides hits Tokyo! Investigating the scenes of these gruesome deaths, Amamiya and the colorful characters of the Isono Criminal Research Lab come across a new villain who knows about a key event from Amamiya's past. What does the white-haired Zenitsu have to do with the suicides, Amamiya's "barcode puzzle" theory, and a stuttering victim from a decades-old night of murder and destruction?
185 pages, Paperback
First published February 25, 1998
18 people are currently reading
295 people want to read
About the author
Eiji Otsuka
361 books142 followers大塚英志
Social anthropologist and novelist. Graduated from college with degree in anthropology, women's folklore, human sacrifice and post-war manga. In addition to his work with manga he is a critic, essayist, and author of several successful non-fiction books on Japanese popular and “otaku” sub-cultures. One of his first animation script works was Maho no Rouge Lipstick, an adult lolicon OVA. Otsuka was the editor for the bishojo lolicon manga series Petit Apple Pie.
In the 80s, Otsuka was editor-in-chief of Manga Burikko, a leading women's manga magazine where he pioneered research on the “otaku” sub-culture in modern Japan. In 1988 he published "Manga no Koro" (The Structure of Comics), a serious study of Japanese comics and their social significance. Also as critic, Otsuka Eiji, summarized the case of the Japanese red army's 1972 murders as a conflict between the masculine and the feminine principles as they were both embodied by women and against women (Otsuka,1994).
Social anthropologist and novelist. Graduated from college with degree in anthropology, women's folklore, human sacrifice and post-war manga. In addition to his work with manga he is a critic, essayist, and author of several successful non-fiction books on Japanese popular and “otaku” sub-cultures. One of his first animation script works was Maho no Rouge Lipstick, an adult lolicon OVA. Otsuka was the editor for the bishojo lolicon manga series Petit Apple Pie.
In the 80s, Otsuka was editor-in-chief of Manga Burikko, a leading women's manga magazine where he pioneered research on the “otaku” sub-culture in modern Japan. In 1988 he published "Manga no Koro" (The Structure of Comics), a serious study of Japanese comics and their social significance. Also as critic, Otsuka Eiji, summarized the case of the Japanese red army's 1972 murders as a conflict between the masculine and the feminine principles as they were both embodied by women and against women (Otsuka,1994).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
August 27, 2023
the problem with manga is that it's way too expensive to buy physical copies but reading online is about 99% less fun and i hate it.
this is very good and i say this as someone who can only remember one name at a time and has already lost track of all his multiple personalities.
i cannot wait to see where this goes and especially what the whole eye stuff is about but alas i don't have money to spare so it might be a while.
this is very good and i say this as someone who can only remember one name at a time and has already lost track of all his multiple personalities.
i cannot wait to see where this goes and especially what the whole eye stuff is about but alas i don't have money to spare so it might be a while.
January 20, 2023
This volume provided us with a little more information on the main man and his several personalities, but I was missing a little bit of the bloody mayhem and gore.
February 21, 2019
Vol. 1: ★★★★★
Vol. 2: ★★★★☆
I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as Volume 1, only because this volume felt tamer and a little less interesting to me. It focused more heavily on back story, which I think will actually cause a lot of readers to prefer this installment, but for me, I found myself missing the non-stop action and gore (no shame!). That said, volume 2 is still pretty graphic at points, including some child-related violence/murder that I figure readers might want a heads-up for ahead of time. I probably won't rush to get the next volume, but I definitely plan on continuing the series at some point.
July 18, 2018
DAMN.
This is getting good now. The situation is much more complicated and twisted than I’ve initially assumed. We get to know some of the personalities living inside Amamiya’s body and their traits better and it’s getting easier to distinguish them. And those murders are so shockingly brutal and intricate, just how I love them (hehehe). The art style is growing on me as well, the plain backgrounds and the lack of shadowing make the story all the more creepy and unsettling.
This is getting good now. The situation is much more complicated and twisted than I’ve initially assumed. We get to know some of the personalities living inside Amamiya’s body and their traits better and it’s getting easier to distinguish them. And those murders are so shockingly brutal and intricate, just how I love them (hehehe). The art style is growing on me as well, the plain backgrounds and the lack of shadowing make the story all the more creepy and unsettling.
September 11, 2008
Overall Rating: B+
Summary: MPD Psycho is a psychological horror series written by Eiji Otsuka and illustrated by Shou Tajima, which follows Yousuke Kobayashi a former police detective. The series opens with Kobayashi tracking down a serial killer who severs the limbs off his victims. Meanwhile, Kobayashi is suffering from strange dreams where he sees himself killing people. After seeing Kobayashi on tv, the serial killer kidnaps his girlfriend, and severs her limbs, but keeps her alive.
After Kobayashi tracks him down, the killer tells him that he sees something familiar in Kobayashi and that they are on the same side. At that point, another personality emerges, and Kobayashi becomes Shinji Nishizono. Shinji kills the serial killer and is sent to prison. It is implied that the dreams Kobayashi had been having were actually Shinji killing people.
Most of the above is revealed in flashbacks, and the bulk of the first volume is set after Kobayashi is released from prison. His primary personality is now Kazuhiko Amamiya, a brilliant criminologist, and he has been hired to work with a private consulting agency. The agency is headed up by Machi Isono, a criminologist that asked Kobayashi to consult on some cases while he was in prison. They work to track down and bring to justice serial killers, and tend to deal with the really weird and difficult cases the police have trouble solving themselves.
Eiji Otsuka also writes Kurosaki Corpse Delivery Service, which I love, so I was excited to read MPD Psycho. The two titles are very different, and MPD has little of the dark humor that makes Kurosaki great. However, it makes up for that with a great concept, some really intriguing plot, and interesting characters. The only slight negative is that sometimes it feels like they're trying too hard to shock the reader. MPD comes shrink-wrapped and with an 18+ warning for good reason, and I would definitely caution against reading it if you're squeamish. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to checking out volume 2.
For more manga and anime reviews, please check out Hobotaku.
Summary: MPD Psycho is a psychological horror series written by Eiji Otsuka and illustrated by Shou Tajima, which follows Yousuke Kobayashi a former police detective. The series opens with Kobayashi tracking down a serial killer who severs the limbs off his victims. Meanwhile, Kobayashi is suffering from strange dreams where he sees himself killing people. After seeing Kobayashi on tv, the serial killer kidnaps his girlfriend, and severs her limbs, but keeps her alive.
After Kobayashi tracks him down, the killer tells him that he sees something familiar in Kobayashi and that they are on the same side. At that point, another personality emerges, and Kobayashi becomes Shinji Nishizono. Shinji kills the serial killer and is sent to prison. It is implied that the dreams Kobayashi had been having were actually Shinji killing people.
Most of the above is revealed in flashbacks, and the bulk of the first volume is set after Kobayashi is released from prison. His primary personality is now Kazuhiko Amamiya, a brilliant criminologist, and he has been hired to work with a private consulting agency. The agency is headed up by Machi Isono, a criminologist that asked Kobayashi to consult on some cases while he was in prison. They work to track down and bring to justice serial killers, and tend to deal with the really weird and difficult cases the police have trouble solving themselves.
Eiji Otsuka also writes Kurosaki Corpse Delivery Service, which I love, so I was excited to read MPD Psycho. The two titles are very different, and MPD has little of the dark humor that makes Kurosaki great. However, it makes up for that with a great concept, some really intriguing plot, and interesting characters. The only slight negative is that sometimes it feels like they're trying too hard to shock the reader. MPD comes shrink-wrapped and with an 18+ warning for good reason, and I would definitely caution against reading it if you're squeamish. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to checking out volume 2.
For more manga and anime reviews, please check out Hobotaku.
May 25, 2018
This review will not be worth much.
Several months after buying vol. 2 of MPD Psycho I picked it up to read it, and realized I had bought it in Spanish instead of English. As Spanish is the language I can read and understand the most of after Norwegian, English, Danish and Swedish, and I felt like practicing a bit before going to Spain next week, I decided to read it anyway. My Spanish really isn't good enough to follow a story like this. I probably understood less than 50 % of what was being said.
At least I could look at the pictures, and I guess this is where I got disappointed. I loved the bizarre violent drawings in volume 1, but here I didn't see any flowers growing out of brains or anything similar. Maybe if I had understood the text some of deaths in volume 2 would have been just as delightfully violent as they were in volume 1, but I didn't really understand that much of what was going on.
As I said, this review is not worth much. I suggest you read this in a language you are fluent in.
Several months after buying vol. 2 of MPD Psycho I picked it up to read it, and realized I had bought it in Spanish instead of English. As Spanish is the language I can read and understand the most of after Norwegian, English, Danish and Swedish, and I felt like practicing a bit before going to Spain next week, I decided to read it anyway. My Spanish really isn't good enough to follow a story like this. I probably understood less than 50 % of what was being said.
At least I could look at the pictures, and I guess this is where I got disappointed. I loved the bizarre violent drawings in volume 1, but here I didn't see any flowers growing out of brains or anything similar. Maybe if I had understood the text some of deaths in volume 2 would have been just as delightfully violent as they were in volume 1, but I didn't really understand that much of what was going on.
As I said, this review is not worth much. I suggest you read this in a language you are fluent in.
May 28, 2020
The most horrible thing.....nails cut too short!!! *Shudder* 🤮
More personalities, more murderous mayhem.
More personalities, more murderous mayhem.
July 1, 2021
I really love how this manga keeps getting interesting despite the fact that it was already so good. Loved the complexity of each situation and how this manga works.
January 22, 2025
Another staggering and exciting volume of truly exceptional manga.
November 12, 2025
A psychotic multiple personality detective… that a lot to take in. I find whole thing nonsensical and entertaining 🤷🏽
3.4🌟
3.4🌟
May 30, 2012
Stuff I Read – MPD Psycho Vol 2
The insanity continues. With the fifth volume of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service taking forever to get through Borders, we opted for picking up the second volume of that writer’s other series involving murder and death. At MPD Psycho vol 2 does not disappoint in those regards, delivering yet grisly tale. This one really falls into two stories, which is a bit odd for such a short manga, with the first revolving around high school girls killing themselves and the second pushing the main character’s back story to the front. Both are well done and have some disturbing scenes, which is always nice, but this volume steps back a bit from the gore of the first volume. Yes, there is a girl who dissolves herself in chemicals and another who siphons off all her blood with a fish tank pump, but next to the brain plants from the previous volume, this one comes off as much more tame. Especially the second half of the volume, where really only one person is murdered.
The first story, the one with the high school girls killing themselves, is a fairly straightforward mystery, only it gets solved far too quickly. There is a problem with having volumes as thin as MPD Psycho and that is that you don’t get nearly as much time to build tension and mystery before you have to wrap everything up. The first volume did this a bit better with the brain flower story but the origin suffered a bit from brevity, and such is the case here as well. The visuals are cool and we are introduced to some new characters, but mainly the mystery is solved without a whole lot of effort, and even then most of the girls manage to kill themselves or get killed anyway. Only one survives, and the story never gets back to what happens with her. That seems strange, as she is a possible connection to what has been happening, but as soon as she gets saved she is forgotten. A new recurring villain appears who may be the main villain for a while, so there is that, but it seems like a rather small point to build this mystery around.
The second story is only a bit better in terms of pacing, with the action of the story at least progressing fast for a reason. And it does bring up the main character’s back story, and perhaps the origins of the multiple personality disorder that he is suffering from. Though at this point it rather seems that the psycho killer persona is the true person and the other personas have either been adopted to avoid suspicion or because of severe mental stress. Whatever the case, this story is a bit better because it involves the main character directly, and the supporting cast directly, making them possible victims, something that will probably happen again. Again, however, this really wasn’t a mystery, and didn’t exactly feel all that fleshed out. It was another opportunity for the villain to show up and be menacing, and it did reveal another personality for the main character, so it does have some points in its favor. It manages to answer a few questions while leaving so many more open. Because of the mental state of guy trying to meet back up with the psycho persona, it is hard to know what the flashback scenes mean.
So really, this volume was a step forward for the story as a whole, but is still plagued by pacing issues that I would have hoped would have been resolved. I had hoped that after the first volume the series would start sticking to one story per volume, but here is another that is split in two, and given the limited space of the volume I don’t think that it is a great thing. I would prefer to be able to linger a little more, to build tension a little more, and not be bounced around quite so fast. I mean, it gives things a very fast feel, like all this is a snowball rolling downhill, but at the same time it seems to be rolling so fast it’s not picking up much snow as it goes, so by the time it reaches the bottom it’s not as impressive as it could be. Still, it is an enjoyable read and I can hope that the next volume will slow things down a bit. The greater mystery of what is happening with the main character and what it has to do with the barcodes on the eye is still present and still the building, so there is pacing on a large scale, but on a small scale, over the short run, things feel a bit rushed. It might just be me, though. I give this volume of MPD Psycho a 7.5/10.
The insanity continues. With the fifth volume of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service taking forever to get through Borders, we opted for picking up the second volume of that writer’s other series involving murder and death. At MPD Psycho vol 2 does not disappoint in those regards, delivering yet grisly tale. This one really falls into two stories, which is a bit odd for such a short manga, with the first revolving around high school girls killing themselves and the second pushing the main character’s back story to the front. Both are well done and have some disturbing scenes, which is always nice, but this volume steps back a bit from the gore of the first volume. Yes, there is a girl who dissolves herself in chemicals and another who siphons off all her blood with a fish tank pump, but next to the brain plants from the previous volume, this one comes off as much more tame. Especially the second half of the volume, where really only one person is murdered.
The first story, the one with the high school girls killing themselves, is a fairly straightforward mystery, only it gets solved far too quickly. There is a problem with having volumes as thin as MPD Psycho and that is that you don’t get nearly as much time to build tension and mystery before you have to wrap everything up. The first volume did this a bit better with the brain flower story but the origin suffered a bit from brevity, and such is the case here as well. The visuals are cool and we are introduced to some new characters, but mainly the mystery is solved without a whole lot of effort, and even then most of the girls manage to kill themselves or get killed anyway. Only one survives, and the story never gets back to what happens with her. That seems strange, as she is a possible connection to what has been happening, but as soon as she gets saved she is forgotten. A new recurring villain appears who may be the main villain for a while, so there is that, but it seems like a rather small point to build this mystery around.
The second story is only a bit better in terms of pacing, with the action of the story at least progressing fast for a reason. And it does bring up the main character’s back story, and perhaps the origins of the multiple personality disorder that he is suffering from. Though at this point it rather seems that the psycho killer persona is the true person and the other personas have either been adopted to avoid suspicion or because of severe mental stress. Whatever the case, this story is a bit better because it involves the main character directly, and the supporting cast directly, making them possible victims, something that will probably happen again. Again, however, this really wasn’t a mystery, and didn’t exactly feel all that fleshed out. It was another opportunity for the villain to show up and be menacing, and it did reveal another personality for the main character, so it does have some points in its favor. It manages to answer a few questions while leaving so many more open. Because of the mental state of guy trying to meet back up with the psycho persona, it is hard to know what the flashback scenes mean.
So really, this volume was a step forward for the story as a whole, but is still plagued by pacing issues that I would have hoped would have been resolved. I had hoped that after the first volume the series would start sticking to one story per volume, but here is another that is split in two, and given the limited space of the volume I don’t think that it is a great thing. I would prefer to be able to linger a little more, to build tension a little more, and not be bounced around quite so fast. I mean, it gives things a very fast feel, like all this is a snowball rolling downhill, but at the same time it seems to be rolling so fast it’s not picking up much snow as it goes, so by the time it reaches the bottom it’s not as impressive as it could be. Still, it is an enjoyable read and I can hope that the next volume will slow things down a bit. The greater mystery of what is happening with the main character and what it has to do with the barcodes on the eye is still present and still the building, so there is pacing on a large scale, but on a small scale, over the short run, things feel a bit rushed. It might just be me, though. I give this volume of MPD Psycho a 7.5/10.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2016
Toujours aussi gore que le tome précédent, celui ci fait la part belle aux enquêtes et montre à quel point Amamiya est un excellent détective.
C’est aussi le retour de la personnalité de Shinji Nishizono et surtout l’arrivée de Mina Amamiya, une jeune aveugle de 16 ans.
Et puis bien entendu, les chapitres sur l’enfance de notre détective, avec sa perte de mémoire et les massacres de sa jeunesse sont très intéressants.
D’autant plus que les personnes qu’il a tuées portaient les mêmes noms que les personnalités qu’il développe maintenant.
A l’arrivée, difficile de savoir quelle était la personnalité d’origine d’Amamiya, lui même semble d’ailleurs l’ignorer.
Je suis très curieuse d’en apprendre plus sur Gakuso, l’organisation derrière tout ça, et quel rôle joue exactement le chanteur Lucy Monostone dans toute cette histoire.
Je suis très fan du dessin, très pur, très clair et très fin.
Mais si l’histoire me passionne autant, je vous recommande tout de même de vous munir d’un calepin et d’un stylo pour noter les différents noms sous peine de devoir passer votre temps à retourner fouiller les pages précédentes pour vous y retrouver.
C’est aussi le retour de la personnalité de Shinji Nishizono et surtout l’arrivée de Mina Amamiya, une jeune aveugle de 16 ans.
Et puis bien entendu, les chapitres sur l’enfance de notre détective, avec sa perte de mémoire et les massacres de sa jeunesse sont très intéressants.
D’autant plus que les personnes qu’il a tuées portaient les mêmes noms que les personnalités qu’il développe maintenant.
A l’arrivée, difficile de savoir quelle était la personnalité d’origine d’Amamiya, lui même semble d’ailleurs l’ignorer.
Je suis très curieuse d’en apprendre plus sur Gakuso, l’organisation derrière tout ça, et quel rôle joue exactement le chanteur Lucy Monostone dans toute cette histoire.
Je suis très fan du dessin, très pur, très clair et très fin.
Mais si l’histoire me passionne autant, je vous recommande tout de même de vous munir d’un calepin et d’un stylo pour noter les différents noms sous peine de devoir passer votre temps à retourner fouiller les pages précédentes pour vous y retrouver.
January 10, 2009
It's been too long since I've read volume 1 but there's not too much to forget regarding this series. It's comprised of unsettling murders. The premise is simple. While trying to solve a grusome murder, a cop discovers that he has multiple personalities. This begins a horrific game uncovering a conspiracy of more unsettling and graphic murders, suicides, and other macabre events.
This manga has a dual nature. It can be both very uninteresting and engaging to read at times. To me, it's too much shock value and fetishism. It reads like a television show with it's pacing and plot revelations. Maybe by toning down the graphic nature, it could almost fit in with the CSI shows. However, it just wouldn't be MPD Psycho.
This manga has a dual nature. It can be both very uninteresting and engaging to read at times. To me, it's too much shock value and fetishism. It reads like a television show with it's pacing and plot revelations. Maybe by toning down the graphic nature, it could almost fit in with the CSI shows. However, it just wouldn't be MPD Psycho.
September 15, 2008
Much better than Vol 1 - though I didn't particularly care for the amount of 'female death' in this collection. It's as if the male cases are glossed over with a mention or morgue photo, but the female deaths are detailed and extend well past two pages. We get it, the Japanese mook you're serialized in loves dead bloody chicks, get on with it! LOL. It does save itself by giving more hints about Amamiya's past, and we meet another personality. Yum.
September 30, 2012
The mystery deepens and the gore splatters everywhere in this second volume. I remember reading this during winter break in 2008 alongside volumes 3 and 4 and remember being floored by all of them. This is not some kind of Manga for teens or wannabe otaku(AKA Weeaboos) this is a mature manga that treats the readers as adults and takes them on a ride that lets them wrap their brains around the mystery while covering them with a sense of dread that barely dissipates when the last page is turned.
July 30, 2013
And now, the story picks up.
The thread and main mystery are truly introduced and expanded on in this volume. We are introduced to an interesting villain, the barcode connection becomes more prominent, and things just make more sense. Here we are introduced to a couple of other personalities hiding within our main character, but they don't feel forced or excessive. This is what I was looking for when I read volume 1 a while back. So glad I continued with the series!
The thread and main mystery are truly introduced and expanded on in this volume. We are introduced to an interesting villain, the barcode connection becomes more prominent, and things just make more sense. Here we are introduced to a couple of other personalities hiding within our main character, but they don't feel forced or excessive. This is what I was looking for when I read volume 1 a while back. So glad I continued with the series!
February 17, 2015
I had borrowed this book at the same time from the library as the first one, and just like the first one I had skipped through scenes as I was more interested int he death part. But then I did read it and I enjoyed it ore than the first one, the deaths were more interesting and this felt more captivating. Although, I'm not sure if I'll like the whole series as I get bored with police detective mangas as I don't care about investigations and all of that drama.
June 20, 2016
By the second volume I could finally start seeing difference between protagonist's personalities which actually makes easier to understand whole plot much better. Also this volume dips into the past of our protagonist which makes everything just a lot more interesting. Tho the youngest character, Miwa is getting on my nerves. I never liked brats and she's a really bratty one. I hope she will mature in the following volumes. 5 out of 5 without question. Mister Otsuka didn't disappoint me yet.
December 4, 2008
I hate to say it but this series is mediocre (at least untill now). I think the artwork is lame and the story reminds me of Gacha Gacha. Really, it's also about a person with multiple personalities but Gacha Gacha is more fun plus funservice minus gore. And what's probably the biggest drawback of MPD Psycho that I absolutely don't care about the characters. They all can just die. I don't care.
August 22, 2025
The serial killings are replaced with kids manipulated into joining a suicide cult. Amamiya saves one of the member of the cult and even encounters the man behind it, Zenitsu. He does so with murderous Shinji Nishizono persona. The rest of the volume is focused on Amamiya's origin story and that of his personas. It's a mess and a half.
May 12, 2014
The story is starting to develop, with some more glimpses into the main character's past. It's kind of difficult to keep track of all his personalities, and I feel like I need to create myself a cheat sheet to reference while reading.
April 14, 2008
Inspiration for the outstanding Japanese mini-series MPD Psycho. Sick, twisted and exactly what I was looking for.
July 29, 2011
While still episodic, but with more back ground being woven in. Not as sensational as the first volume, but certainly more satisfying.
January 19, 2012
Awesome...blood, gore, hot psycho dude..what can be better? MORE HOT PSYCHO DUDES!
May 6, 2013
More killings...
cewek2 SMP banyak yang bunuh diri dan ternyata mereka semua memiliki kesamaan yang hanya disadari oleh Amamiya
cewek2 SMP banyak yang bunuh diri dan ternyata mereka semua memiliki kesamaan yang hanya disadari oleh Amamiya
January 27, 2015
This was definitely a story.
I can almost tell the characters apart.
I can almost tell the characters apart.
August 18, 2015
Muy buena mezcla de detectivesco-terror-suspenso
November 23, 2019
Well that was really good!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews