''MPD Psycho'' (full title ''Multiple Personality Detective Psycho – Kazuhiko Amamiya Returns'') is a 2000 Japanese six-episode horror

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

television series based on the manga of the same name and directed by

Takashi Miike is a Japanese film director, film producer and screenwriter. He has directed over one hundred theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. His films run through a variety of different genres, and range from violent a ...

. It originally aired on 2 May 2000. It has a

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

bent, and, according to Jim Harper, the author of ''Flowers from Hell'', "bears little similarity to the average made-for-TV detective thriller". The plot is similar to the beginning of the manga series but does not relate to the incidents of Lucy Monostone and the Gakuso Company. The story takes place in the final days of the

Shōwa Era The was the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until his death on January 7, 1989. It was preceded by the Taishō era. The pre-1945 and post-war Shōwa periods are almos ...

. Yosuke Kobayashi, a detective assigned to a homicide unit, saw his wife killed by a serial killer, Shinji Nishizono. From the shock of the incident, he suffers from

multiple personality disorder Dissociative identity disorder (DID), better known as multiple personality disorder or multiple personality syndrome, is a mental disorder characterized by the presence of at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states. The di ...

and becomes Kazuhiko Amamiya. Soon after, he manages to hunt down and kill his wife's murderer. Now a series of murders has started and the suspect is claiming to be Shinji Nishizono.

Episodes

Background

The series contains several visual distortions which, mistaken by some to be censorship, are of non-explicit images and have been seen instead as a jab against Japanese censorship.

Critical reception

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

called it a "difficult yet fascinating" series that "wraps you up in its nightmarish dreamscapes", writing, "its unending complications will put off many, but for fans of Miike's catalogue or other similarly intentionally dense, style-over-substance material, there's enough here to delight and horrify".

Home video

The series was first released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

by Pony Canyon in Japan. It was subsequently released on DVD in Australia in 2008 by Siren Visual Entertainment.

References

; Sources *

External links

* * {{Takashi Miike Japanese television miniseries 2000 in Japanese television Japanese horror fiction television series Wowow original programming Films directed by Takashi Miike Dissociative identity disorder in television Television shows based on manga