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MANGA REVIEWS

Volumes 1-3
Story and Art by Otsuka Eiji and Tajima Sho-u
Copyright © 1997~ Otsuka Eiji & Tajima Sho-u





Multiple Personality Detective Psycho
—by Rika Takahashi

In these days where many mainstream manga experiment with retro styles, many other manga from the "minor" publishers experiment with new styles. In fact, many EX readers may know Kadokawa Shoten's MONTHLY SHONEN ACE as the magazine that carries a lot of the manga versions for today's popular anime (the magazine launched with EVANGELION as one of its flagship titles). At the same time, ACE has its share of "experimental" manga. One such manga that explores future possibilities is this series, MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DETECTIVE (TAJUU JINKAKU TANTEI) PSYCHO.
  The series deals with a main character that suffers from Multiple Personality Syndrome (MPS). As the series' title indicates, he is a detective—but certainly not a normal detective: he was a regular police officer until an incident induced one of his "hidden" personalities to surface. The emergence of this second personality induced a third personality, who the reader will spend a lot of time with. In the beginning, the detective investigates a series of bizarre homicides—such as the murderer who removes parts of the victims to make the next day's lunch. Fortunately for him, he has the assistance of a female cop-turned-private-detective by the name of Isono Machi. The two combine their knowledge and profiling ability to find the culprits, only to find that the criminals all have something in common.
  Tajima Sho-u's distinctive art style, in even better form than in his previous works such as MADARA, shines through in each episode of MPD-PSYCHO. His lines are thin yet strong, his occasional use of contrast is startling. The color art shows a subtle blend of earthy colors, while his monochrome images use the multitude of grays to fill the pages with what little "color" the format can present. Some of the pages can be wordy, but the placement of each balloon is calculated to create a distinct feeling of the page as a whole. Some of the camera angles Tajima uses provide much-needed impact to the scene. Let's not forget about the realistic presentation of gore—if you're someone that can't stand bizarre murders with body parts and corpse mutilation, this definitely isn't the manga for you.
  The story, plotted by Otsuka Eiji, is intricate and compelling. As noted earlier, the beginning of the series is presented in the "casefiles of the detective" format often seen in series that have detectives as the protagonist. However, as the series goes on, the main focus of the story becomes the connection between the cases, and the connection between all the homicidal maniacs and the main character. The pacing for each revelation occurs in a rather timely fashion—not too early to spoil the rest of the story, yet not so slow that one feels "dragged on" by the plot. There are many questions left unanswered during the story: some are answered later on in the mange, some are answered in the auxiliary novels authored by Otsuka, and others are still unknown.
  All in all, MPD-PSYCHO is an atypical "casefiles" manga that is a worthwhile read. However, the reading level is rather high for a shonen manga (especially when special terminology comes into play) so have a Japanese/English dictionary handy!

Published by Kadokawa Shoten (serialized in MONTHLY SHONEN ACE)
3 volumes out, ongoing
180~190 pages each, Black and White with 4 color pages / volume
vol.1 ISBN4-04-713188-1 C0979
vol.2 ISBN4-04-713210-1 C0979
vol.3 ISBN4-04-713260-8 C0979
¥580 (plus tax) per volume
Available now in Japan
Where to buy


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