Story by Eiji Otsuka, Art by Sho-U Tajima
Dark Horse, 184 pp.
Rating: Mature (18+)

Do you like a little bit of the ultra-violence? Have you watched the movie Se7en multiple times? You might like MPD Psycho, which is being released by Dark Horse on June 6th. Fans of Takashi Miike have likely already seen the 2000 TV mini-series based on the manga.

MPD Psycho combines top-notch artwork with a grotesque and disturbing story. The pacing and panel layout is reminiscent of watching an episode of an HBO police drama… if that drama was Ichi the Killer.

The “MPD” of MPD Psycho is a clever acronym for “Multiple Personality Disorder”. Protagonist Kobayashi Yousuke was investigating a serial killer when the killer killed his wife mid-case. Kobayashi’s personality split and he killed the serial killer as a different person. That personalty then hid while a third personality did time for killing the serial killer. The main story of the manga begins when Kobayashi is let out of jail on a consultant basis in order to work profiling criminals on current serial killer cases. (How many times can I use the word kill in this review?)

Poor Kobayashi’s wife was killed in a really disgusting still-left-alive-but-better-off-dead kind of way. Here is some life advice: If you are a cop working on a serial killer case, and someone delivers a mysterious box, and you happen to be married at the time (or have a significant other), DO NOT OPEN THE BOX. I’m serious. Just return to sender and call your S.O.

You might recognize Shou Tajima’s artwork from Madara, and he was the character designer for Kai Doh Maru, Otogi Zoshi, and the anime segment of Kill Bill. Writer Eiji Ohtsuka is also the author of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, also available from Dark Horse. The art of Corpse Delivery Service is a little weak – it’s too bad Tajima didn’t draw that title – it would be absolutely terrifying.

Tajima draws eyes in an amazing way. Check it out:

Eyes figure into the larger story arc. Many of the victims in the story have registered with “the Eye Bank”, and the protagonist happens to have a barcode on the white part of his eyeball just below the lid. He doesn’t remember how the barcode got there. Here’s what I would say if a friend told me that:

Friend: So I found this barcode on my eye, and I don’t remember getting it.
Me: Oh really? That’s weird. Well, you know what? Don’t worry about it. This kind of stuff happens to me all the time.
Friend: Really?
Me: Uh…. sure. Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s nothing. I have a mole on my back that I don’t remember being there last year.
Friend: …

MPD Psycho is one of the sickest things I’ve ever read. It gives new meaning to the phrase “better off dead”. Fortunately there’s not a lot of text per page so you can flip really fast past the frequent nudity and often-severed limbs and still be able to follow the story. This works to the book’s credit. I didn’t really have the stomach to stop and enjoy the artwork, but perhaps other readers will.

For a brief and spoiler-free example of the twisted nature of MPD Psycho: One splash page of art between chapters (unrelated to the story) features a nude woman missing an eye. Her missing eye has been sewn into a space where one of her nipples used to be.

I once heard an NPR story about a kid who wrote letters to jailed serial killers to befriend them as a pen pal. The NPR interviewer was so disturbed by the kid that after the interview he went outside and looked up at the sun for a while. That is exactly how MPD Psycho made me feel. As a nerd I am normally averse to bright sunlight, but after reading volume one of MPD Psycho, I felt like going outside for a while.

Despite the adequately awesome art and adequately disturbing story, I had some problems with the supporting cast of police detectives. The profiler who springs Kobayashi from prison is a rookie and she’s not good at her job. I can understand that. But the only other detective in volume one is a total idiot, so much so that I wondered if he was suffering from mild brain damage. It broke me out of the world of the story to think that only geniuses and morons exist in the universe of MPD Psycho.

Speaking of worlds made up exclusively of geniuses and idiots, MPD Psycho reminds me of Death Note, and here’s why: Both stories start off with a simple Hollywood-style premise. “A boy finds a notebook with the power to kill anyone who’s name is written within.” ” A detective is released from jail to profile criminals after avenging the death of his wife.” On top of these simple premises, crazy manga-like details are layered on, and it could no longer be a regular Hollywood film. As an American I am so accustomed to the Hollywood formula that I have certain expectations for any media that follows Hollywood rules.

Death Note stops being a normal Hollywood movie plot as you stack on the manga details: The notebook is found by a genius schoolboy, the top scorer in Japan. And he’s pursued by a super-dective who’s also a genius. MPD Psycho suffers the same fate: The detective also has multiple personality disorder. If it weren’t for the “MPD” in MPD Psycho it would be a more reasonable, believable, down-to-earth story.

I’ve made a chart using an onion to illustrate my theory:

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that MPD Psycho reminded me of the film proposed by Charlie Kaufman’s brother Donald in the movie Adaptation. Donald’s script, called The 3 was about a detective, a serial killer, and the killer’s female hostage who all turn out to be the same person. If you haven’t seen Adaptation, you should rent it, and watch it back to back with Hot Fuzz.

This review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.