365 Days of Manga, Day 141: MPD Psycho

MPD PSYCHO (Tajû Jinkaku Tantei Psycho, “Multiple Personality Detective Psycho”) （多重人格探偵サイコ) • Eiji Otsuka (story), Sho-u Tajima (art) • Dark Horse (2007-ongoing) • Kadokawa Shoten (Shônen Ace, 1997-2006) • 11 volumes • Shônen Crime Horror • 18+ (language, extreme graphic violence, graphic nudity)
The goriest of Eiji Otsuka’s many crime manga (and the most serious, although it still has lots of hipster black humor), MPD Psycho caused controversy when it was printed in Shônen Ace, technically a boy’s magazine. Kazuhiko Amamiya is a former detective with a severe case of multiple personalities, some of them murderous, dating back to a childhood trauma. Released from prison to work in a private criminal research lab (together with his boss, her teenage half-sister, and other weird, grungy characters), he investigates a string of gruesome serial killings which are connected by barcodes imprinted on the eyes of the killers. A plot which first seems to be just an excuse for imaginative mutilation–flowers growing out of human brains, dismemberment, cannibalism–turns out to be the tip of the iceberg of a monstrous sci-fi conspiracy, with allusions to the Japanese Aum Shinri Kyo gas-bombing, Pol Pot, ’60s counterculture, and other J.G. Ballard-esque elements where private and public violence blur. Sho-u Tajima’s excellent art accentuates the mood, with twisted (or twistedly beautiful) faces, deep solid blacks, and unflinching closeups of atrocities.

With this review, we come to the end of our catchup period to make up for last weekend which I missed. And today’s winner is Ben J. of New Jersey. Congratulations, Ben!