Graphic Novel / Manga / Horror
Rating: Mature 18+
Price: 10.95 USD
Fellow Comics Village reviewer Charles Tan, bless his heart, chose MPD-Psycho Volume 4 as his Pick-of-the-Week sight unseen a couple weeks ago, and damn if Charles didn't close his lids and hit a bullseye.
The first couple volumes of MPD-Psycho are a graphically dazzling but difficult and confusing venture into the world of a Tokyo Police detective, Kobayashi, with multiple personalities, some of which are as homicidal as the criminals he so expertly tracks down.
What I think is difficult for fans of manga released in the US is to accept a "Lost" like fractured story-line with a lot of Japanese names in a quarterly form. I will admit, for the first three volumes of MPD-Psycho, I made the time to re-read the previous volumes before delving into the new one. The truth of the matter is, we are getting these volumes in English at a quicker pace than the (massive and dedicated) Japanese audience did, and understanding that you aren't supposed to understand everything is actually part of the story.
Eiji Otsuka, whose name you might recognize from the completed short Mail series and the ongoing Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (and I hope for an English release of his latest series in Japan, Detective Ritual) is a master of the macabre in stark and brutal blasts of violence in already dark (but not humorless) worlds.
The last thing you want to hear about MPD-Psycho is too much, so for the uninitiated and for those who have read the first three volumes, let me say that Volume Four amounts to a the equivalent of a "Lost" or "Heroes" or "Battlestar Galactica" season finale episode. The first 2/3 of the book present a popular character flipping his lid, and some of the best (if that is the right word) executioner-style rampage killing ever seen on comic pages. The violence is intimate and heart-wrenching.
On top of that we get some direct connect-the-dots answers to some secrets and mysteries, which couldn't have come soon enough.
A cover misprint delayed the release of MPD-Psycho Volume Four by a few weeks, and Dark Horse's dedication to the title by rejecting the mistake in order to deliver what is amounting to one of the most accurately translated and represented manga titles from Japanese to English is commendable. This is some beautifully presented graphic and mature content, and the respect Dark Horse gives to its adult readers like myself is more than a little comforting (even if the content of the material is disturbing).
For those who had doubts about delving in MPD-Psycho, I think Volume Three closed the lid, and Volume Four nailed it shut (though we still have seven volumes to go). If you are an mature reader that likes mind-scrambling twists and the frank brutality of psychopathic killers, some of which may be the good guys, then you should already be reading MPD-Psycho.
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