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Column by Scott Green

Manga Preview
MPD-Psycho Writer: Eiji Otsuka
Artist: Sho-U Tajima

Volume 2: To be Released by Dark Horse Manga Sep 05, 2007
Volume 3: To be Released by Dark Horse Manga Dec 05, 2007

What works in MPD-Psycho is not necessarily what is most sensational about the manga, and this eases the issue that its carnage is a bit oversold. With an initial volume that leers at bondage-gear adorned, sorto-of living women with flowers growing out of their exposed brains, the manga set an early precedent for its exhibition of graphic, generally sexualized crime scenes. As the plot got underway, the manga began to use these scenes more sparingly, almost as if to ensure that it neither wore out the shock value or entirely relied on depicting physical violation.

There is manga that is very difficult to read without going into the "please don't arrest me for looking at this" shelves. Ichi Killer/Voyeur creator Hideo Yamamoto offered something that will peal the lining off your stomach with Homunculus. MPD-Psycho is frequently, "oh shit!" and occasionally "I didn't want to see that", but rarely "I wish I could unsee that." Instead, as the series has wound itself in its convolutions, it has placed the reader in the passenger seat for am=n unpredictable thrill ride. That unpredictability that makes the trip so intriguing also defies a firm mental engagement. That the series' social relevance is a bit distant also lightens the cerebral heft a bit.

Like the Eisner award winning Oldboy manga, MPD-Psycho feels like an act of arson committed on a historic story model. Where as Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi's Oldboy was an inverted hard boiled detective tale, Sho-u Tajima and Eiji Otsuka rip apart the analytical detective, so that the sleuth cannot even trust himself. In this unreliability, the reader is left without any clear indication of whether they should be cheering the protagonist to solve the case, whether they should be thrilled by this character as a vigilante, or whether, he's a dangerous force to be feared.

Kazuhiko Amamiya is a criminal profiler whose observations and deductions command respect. Shinji Nishizono is an alpha predator who has cross paths with a number of Japan's nightmare serial killers, including a fatal confrontation with the killer who sent police officer Yousuke Kobayashi the barely living torso of Kobayashi's girlfriend packed in a cooler with a home-brew life support system. Yet, Kazuhiko Amamiya, Shinji Nishizono, Yousuke Kobayashi, the zoned out Murata Kiyoshi, and the young woman Amamiya Mina all share the same body. Since Kobayashi's crisis in the first volume, the dominant personalities have been Kazuhiko Amamiya, who has been working under Michi Izono in her private investigation firm, and Shinji Nishizono who finds his way into the direst situations.

MPD Psycho volume 2 opens with a girl buried in curbside trash, being exsanguinated by a tropical fish tank pump. This proves to be the first encounter in a round of teenage deaths, each of which has a paper cut/pink prick imaginable closeness, and which together have a variety that ensures at at least one will queasily get under the skin of any reader. The manga might not be strutting out gore as regularly, but it is still leveraging its credentials.

On the series wide scale, the first volume opened with what looks like the densest collection of shocking scenes, and on a narrower scale, individual episodes have been front-loading their visceral jolts. Because the approach is to strike early, then side-swipe the narrative with the bloody aftermath later on, the reaction is more anticipation than dread. Cases where the unfolding act has been shown are the exception, but when they do crop up, there is that chilling moment that promises what is to come before the axe falls.

From serial killer encounter to serial killer encounter, the series has become driven by its involvement in a set of running mysteries. The basics of how Kazuhiko/Shinji and company can to be is not dragged out. Told through a chorus of voices that are deranged and/or evasive, the background story requires scrutiny, but, the manga does not appear to have dragged out the mystery behind the character's origin. There is a story that does seem to explain how this character came to take on his different personalities, and it at least seems like the true, if not the whole truth.

The plague of killers as well as Shinji Nishizono's involvement with multiple perpetrators look like manifestations of a unified, hidden truth. The signposts have been barcode markings under the eyes, and these have pointed in an equally Illumanati-esque direction: cults, doomsday government initiatives, and a (male) rock legend named Lucy Moonstone.

As a thriller, the manga is constructed like a Mr Potato Head with his nose and ears exchanged. The divide between protagonist's the Jekyll and Hyde don't simply seem to be teaming up to track down and execute more unrepentant villains. While this is heady, the meta games do lessen the effectiveness of the momentum. For example, Michi Izono's cute, younger sister is obviously the damsel in distress, and the manga is so aware of that that her function is played to the hilt, making her presence unbearable.

The gleeful jump overboard has a similar effect on the stories, one of which features both body doubles and a tanker truck with its brakes cut on a collision course with a landmark (the Umihotaru artificial island/parking structure). That evokes images from Speed to the driving bear anime gag in the animated Clerks. While this isn't Kazuo Koike level straight faced hyper-implausibility, it is approaching that lofty point. At its best, it's darkly irreverent, at worst, its campy by association.

Counter-intuitively, despite the dire crimes throughout, the series has not effectively established any stakes. After seeing the violence that the protagonists have NOT stopped, what CAN they accomplish? Stopping killer X doesn't do much when Y, Z and a hidden multitude more are still lurking around. Should the budding trust between Kazuhiko Amamiya and Michi Izono warrant concern? A non-tragic destiny for that coupling wouldn't receive favorable odds.

As a mystery, the manga deserves credit for not being a chore to follow. The multiple personality roulette quickly becomes comprehendible. With clear distinctions in how they are illustrated, the active personality is always discernible. The dialogue gracefully emphasizes the names in such a way that its easy to keep the who's-who straight. That presumes that the manga is not trying to mislead its reader, but so far, it appears to be hiding the complete picture of the stories rather than dealing falsely. The trouble for the mysteries is the sci-fi workings. While the manga is set in something like the present,events have already offered up radical cosmetic surgery and organ replacement. Without the limitation unestablished, theoretical explanations can't be forwarded.

Time and distance have dulled some of MPD Psycho's impact. The manga is trading on Japan's fears from a decade ago. The prints of the Aum Shinrikyo gas attack are evident. Given the time frame involved (1997), it's before internet suicide pacts really entered the public consciousness, but groundwork and general idea makes an appearance. Neither the crimes or their effect fit into an American perspective. Following the barrage of publicized killing sprees and antisocial attacks on the government, officials talk about society being on a teetering point, but the depicted citizenry does not seem to be losing its composure. If anything, as one of the killers suggests, they are consuming it as entertainment.

Even with Dexter and the expansion of the Hannibal Lector franchise, the mercilessness of MPD Psycho ensures that the manga is not not cutting edge. However, it's not burning with relevance either. From an American standpoint, the fears being conveyed seem more like the workings of popular fiction than real panic moments, such as the Belt Way Sniper or structural collapse like Oklahoma City, 9-11 or the Minnesota bridge.
The economics of comics in North America is dicey enough that a remake probably could not be sustained, but if the premise and tone for MPD-Psycho could be combined with a more localized set of concerns, the results could really be staggering.

On an objective level, it is obviously unfair to criticize the work for not speaking to someone living in North America in late 2007. Subjectively, the manga feels like it is trying to stir a more severe reaction than the one that it actually produces, and a large part of that seems due to its concerns being one-off's from ours.

Anime Preview: Red Garden
Volume 1
To Be Released by ADV Films Sep 18, 2007

Red Garden is a thoroughly unconventional horror anime. Employing live action techniques to establish a stalking threat rather than just unnerving notions and cutaways to carnage differentiate it from most anime horror. A supernatural Breakfast Club meets Suicide Squad group of teenage girls faced with mortal danger in a modern New York that oscillates between dark and dirty and glitzy art deco emphases, is unmistakably a one-time high concept for anime.

Especially when the studio produces works for older audiences, Red Garden's creators at Gonzo receive grief in many circles (including this column) for providing series that are not what one would hope for. Speed Grapher was neither a sophisticated attack on society or an edgy, salacious exercise in exploitation. It promised Hunter S Thompson and delivered local OP ED. Samurai 7 promised a high budget sci-fi retelling of Kurosawa's lauded epic, and it delivered on some well animated fights and even half an episode from Hisashi Mori, but it was never as exciting as the demo reel. However, the studio deserves some credit for not adding to the overpopulated pool of cute girls stories in which the cast engages in male-defined drama or ironic situations. And, the willingness at least try and potentially come up short is likewise worthy of some respect.

In Red Garden's case, the series is not a painful under performer, and not work that suggests false expectations. It is also not a commanding argument for the vibrancy of anime. While there is an involving story successfully told from a distinctive perspective, it doesn't offer something to hold up as an example of what can be accomplished in anime. In an ideal world, the baseline for anime would feature Red Garden's degree of attention to characters and direction.

The setting, the scenario, and unvarnished presentation of its characters position Red Garden as a bridge between anime and genre film. In June 2006 Japanese anime news site MoonPhase indicated that the animation studio Gonzo and Solty Rei director Yoshimasa Hiraike would be adapting Dario Argento's Suspiria. There may be no connection between Red Garden and that suggested project. When Red Garden aired in October of that year, the director was storyboard artist and Millennium Actress producer Kou Matsuo. There were murders and mysterious deaths around a school, but parallels to Argento's plot are superficial at best. However, the bleeding giallo colors and the brutality of the violence do hint at a tie.

As when colors bleed through the anime's lens, Red Garden is innovative without rewriting the rules. Gonzo's texture mapped Gankutsuou comes to mind upon seeing the series' opening credits, in which kaleidoscopic floral patterns and strands of pearls fill silhouettes, but the most significant cross-over between the works is writer/planner Tomohiro Yamashita. As stark as some of the visual effects are, including a corpse that is one of anime's most distressing simply due to how dead flesh is rendered in CGI, the series distinguishes itself in its nuanced character design and direction.

Red Garden commences with men in black spiriting a quartet of unconscious teenagers into the girls' own homes. The four, Kate Ashley, the intense daughter of a wealthy family and recent inductee into the school's Grace social policing cadre, Rachel Benning, a fashion and party minded queen bee, Claire Forrest an independent hard-case and Rose Sheedy, a timid, oldest child, did not socialize in the same clique. They did all attend the same upper crust high school on New York's Roosevelt Island, and staggering into school the next day, they learn that their mutual friend Lise Harriette Meyer was found dead. As night sets again, each of the four follow a flock of phantom butterflies to one remote location. As they try to piece together the holes in their memory from the previous night, a woman and a man dressed in black walk up and inform them that the pair will be the girls' new "teachers." First, the woman shocks them by insisting that the four all died on the previous night, then coldly commands them to kill newly approaching man with their bare hands. Almost in response, the intruder lets out a wolf's growl and charges the group.

The standpoint of the action feels uncomfortably close to a violent crime in progress. Like a tense horror movie, or a survival horror video game, it trades in lack of power and abilitiy. In a dark, urban environment, boxed in by parked cars and chain link fences, the protagonists hide and the anime captures the stalking movement of the threat. Not only is adversary limited to two modes: searching or rushing, when the point of engagement is reached, the anime is keenly aware of concrete, physical difficultly in pulling the attacker off a victim or scaling a fence. It's not Little Red Riding Hood and the gender of the protagonists hasn't been much of the issue in these confrontations. The tone is more of the overwhelming experience of being in the position to be prey.

As one would expect, the girls manifest some degree of supernatural powers, but the series does not shift from horror to flashy action. The confrontations remain messy. Adversaries try to claw and bite, and dealing with that animalistic assault, the protagonists are neither trained nor natural fighters. They demonstrate bad instincts, and even when they attempt a theoretically effective approach, they fumble in their inexperience.

After seeing the brush with death presented by the fight, the protagonists' trauma is perfectly apparent as they are told that not only do they have to survive these fights, they have to engage in the battles or their new lease on life will be forfeit. With its kill or die conundrum evoking Battle Royale, the tension of the characters waiting to see if they must fight again is acutely painful drama. The "I must not run away" routine becomes sharply serious, and accepting the panic and self pity of the characters under this duress seems natural. From the perspective of a detached observer, the uneasiness is compounded by an uncertainty regarding the agenda being forwarded and by some suggestion of a reason to be uncomfortable with snuffing the growling adversaries.

Four episodes in, the series has been diligent in reaching the developments that a critical observer might expect. The dire business has taken its toll on the characters, and as might be suspected, it has strained their social statuses and their relationships with the people around them. At the same time, it is gratifying to see the characters edge towards a more proactive stance.

The series is not perfectly conceived for an American audience. When it tries to appropriate a Seinfeld routine, presumably for New York texture, the line lands with an amazingly inelegant thud. When an episode emphasizes its emotional conclusion by having a character break into Broadway song, a narrative curb has been skipped and that break in presentation becomes laughable. Not only is it at odds with what the established expectation, the built up association between song and parody, both in anime and in the wider body of pop media, does the interlude no favors. Not every episode in the volume concludes with song, but when it becomes expected, and more of the cast, including more hard-nosed elements join in, the disparity between what Red Garden seems like it should be, and what it temporarily becomes momentarily turns into comedy. Red Garden's willingness to try different storytelling models is one of the series' assets, but in the case of adopting Broadway song, it's an unintentional joke.

Red Garden's design team, whether it is Fujijun and Kumi Ishi's (Rozen Maiden) character design or Masatoshi Kai's (Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Howl's Moving Castle, Jin-Roh, Millennium Actress) art direction, goes to great lengths to capture the particular nature of the people and places. This is especially noticable in the faces of the characters, which have a wide diversity, and are conspicuous for attention to all features. In particular, this is seen in the noses. To some degree, it is just noticeable due to unusual the attention, but in many cases, characters have rather large noses.

This is a situation where maybe a cigar is a cigar, and maybe a preponderance of large nosed characters is conciously playing into a physical stereotype of westerners. The later case is suggested by the fact that the anime seems to be motivated to capture the look of particular people, as opposed to something like Nobuteru Yuki's work on Escaflowne where large noses are omnipresent and it simply seems to be global embellishment. In either case, the design characteristics are a significant factor in the anime. Those who distain unconventional approaches to character design will have a problem with this aspect of Red Garden, and by the same token, those who are intrigued by animation that is not in lock step, will find it a point of attraction.

The New York angle to Red Garden is certainly distinctive, but this is not a gimmicky anime. The attraction is the attention to the place and the personality as well as its implementation of traditions of horror through anime. As such it is not as sensational as something like Higurashi/When They Cry and not violently surrealist in the way of Requiem from the Darkness. The appeal is a bit subtler, and in theory, fans of international and historic horror movies would find it a worth while curiosity. In practice, fans of anime work that is tailor to the tastes of anime fans may find the series a bit iffy, and facing the immense list of entertainment choices that are available, the horror movie fans probably will not find the anime at all.

ADV to Handle Geneon Sales and Distribution

ADV Films and Geneon Entertainment (USA) announced a new distribution agreement where, starting October 1st, ADV Films will be Geneon Entertainment USAís sole distributor. ADV Films will handle all sales and distribution duties for the combined catalogue as well as certain marketing functions.

"This is a great alliance." said Geneon President and CEO Eiji Orii. "The efficiencies weíll achieve ultimately will mean more anime for the fans to enjoy."

ADV co-founder and President John Ledford concurred. "This alliance makes both companies stronger. Anime as an entertainment category is in competition with every other form of entertainment, and our partnership with Geneon gives us the scale to help widen the anime market in North America."

Ledford continued, "As we look ahead to an increasingly digital future, scale matters. In bringing anime to new media platforms, ADV Films and Geneon can only benefit from the added clout this alliance brings."

Upcoming in Japan

Anime News Network notes that the ninth One Piece movie, scheduled for a March 2008 theatrical release in Japan, will retell the Drum Island Story. The story introduced the were-reindeer character Tony Tony Chopper. Manga creator Eiichiro Oda will be involved with the script. The official site features a teaser video and a promotional movie video

A third season of Aria, based on the "futuristic healing comic" has been announced. Junichi Sato will return to direct the series, entitle Aria: The Organization.

Toei Animation will be adapting Hakaba Kitaro, the original manga that featured the characters from Shigeru Mizuki's Gegege no Kitaro.

ComiPress reports that Yuka Nagate will be illustrating a Fists of the North Star side story starring Toki called Shirogane no Seija (The Silver Saint) starting in issue 39 of Coamix's Comic Bunch.

Upcoming Collection From Right Stuf's Nozomi Entertainment

Right Stuf, Inc. and Nozomi Entertainment will be releasing NINJA NONSENSE: THE LEGEND OF SHINOBU Complete DVD Collection - Limited Edition on December 4, 2007 for $89.99.

This first-ever Ninja Nonsense collection features the complete series - with all of the video and print extras included during its initial release - and an art box to house the four DVD volumes. Plus, this limited edition will also include a special mini-manga by series creator Ryoichi Koga, an "Onsokumaru" squeeze toy and a ninja-trainee headband.

Based on Kogaís manga Ninin ga Shinobuden (2 x 2 = Shinobuden) and animated by ufotable (Coyote Ragtime Show, Tales of Symphonia OAV), take one totally cute (and naive) ninja-girl trainee, add a ninja horde under the tutelage of a perverse headmaster - a strange, yellow, spherical, pudgy... creature... named Onsokumaru - and you get the kind of "super-explosive ninja insanity" that can only be found in whatís been called "the runaway nuclear reactor" of anime comedies!

DVD Features:
Entire series in one complete collection with scene access, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo audio for English and Japanese dialog, English subtitles and English on-screen translations. Plus: Reversible covers, character bios, interviews with the Japanese cast, TV spots 1-18, textless openings and closing, "Kurukururin" (closing) full-size video, original U.S. trailer and Right Stuf / Nozomi Entertainment trailers. Also: Four booklets featuring production journals, "Happy Doodles" from the Japanese staff, liner notes and more. Finally: The Complete Collection - Limited Edition includes a special mini-manga by creator Ryoichi Koga celebrating the box set release, an Onsokumaru squeeze toy and a ninja-trainee headband.

The Lost Universe DVD Thinpak will also be released on December 4th for $49.99

The seriesí first-ever DVD collection also marks the first time the 26-episode Lost Universe saga will be available to North American fans with unedited (and remastered) video. This collection will also include two new subtitle tracks (standard and on-screen translations), plus the previously released Japanese audio and English-language dub.

Lost Universe shares a creative team with the popular Slayers anime series: Both anime properties were based upon novels by Hajime Kanzaka (Slayers), directed by Takashi Watanabe (Slayers, Slayers Next, Slayers Try, Shakugan No Shana) and feature character designs by Naomi Miyata (Slayers, Slayers Next, Slayers Try). Additionally, the series was recognized with the "Best Individual Episode" award by the Japanese magazine Animage following its initial TV Tokyo broadcast.

Millie Nocturne has one great goal in life: to be the best in the universe... at absolutely everything! But when she tries her hand at being the "best detective," she ends up an unwilling partner with two people who will change her life forever - Kain Blueriver, the psi-blade-wielding master of the starship Swordbreaker, and Canal, the smart-mouthed holographic image of the shipís computer! Join this unlikely trio on their adventures as they hurtle through space, facing off against intergalactic crime lords, rogue starships, hijackers dressed as chickens... and thatís just the tip of the asteroid!

DVD Features:
Entire 26-episode series in one thinpak collection with scene access, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo audio for English and Japanese dialogue, two completely new English subtitle tracks (standard track and on-screen translations), and unedited, remastered video. Plus: Character bios, liner notes and Right Stuf / Nozomi Entertainment trailers.

Anime on TV

ICV2 reports that the card-game based Kodai Oja Kyoryu D Kids Adventure, redubbed Dinosaur King, will be shown on Fox.

Virus Buster Serge will replace Tokko on the Sci Fi Channel's Ani-Monday line-up in October.

Anime localization company has announced that the first 9 episodes of their AnimeTV programming will be offered by Comcast's Anime Select On Demand service beginning in September.

Speaking of AnimeTV, host, Johnny Yong Bosch (BLEACH; character-Kurosaki Ichigo) and the cast of AnimeTV will be taping a live show at Anime Vegas on September 2nd. They will also sign autographs and hold a Q&A session.

Sunday (September 2, 2007)
10:30 AM ? 11:00 AM: AnimeTV LIVE Taping
11:00 AM ? 11:30 AM: AnimeTV Cast Q&A
12:00PM ? 6:00 PM: Booth 1104 - Autograph sessions with AnimeTV Cast & Raffle for AnimeTV prizes.

New Daimajin DVDs

Twitch notes that the Daimajin giant stone samurai kaiju trilogy will be released on DVD with English subtitles on October 26th.

Pumpkin Scissors and Other Upcoming ADV Releases

ADV Films will be releasing the following titles on October 23

Le Chevalier DíEon: Volte-Face (5 of 6)

Paniponi Dash! Chaos Cum Laude (6 of 6)

Pumpkin Scissors: Honor And Blood (volume 1 of 6)

Slayers OVA Collection ($19.98)

Pumpkin Scissors
From GONZO Afro Samurai, Chrono Crusade), AIC (Solty Rei, Ah! My Goddess)and director Katsuhito Akiyama (Thundercats, Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor)

Synopsis: Some casualties of war never heal. Yet for those who remain in power, the spoils can be sweet indeed. In the aftermath of the Great War, Lt. Alice Malvin is charged to take command of the Imperial Armyís Intelligence Section Three, an elite team where even the newest member hunts down tanks with a handgun. Their code name: Pumpkin Scissors. Her mission: to sharpen IS3 into a deadly instrument of justice, and to expose the corrupt power-mad nobility who prey on the weak. But as Malvin starts to peel away the layers of a government cover-up involving a defunct super-soldier program, she discovers the existence of a military technology decades ahead of what the Army has! As terrifying secrets crawl out of the tomb in which they were buried, war becomes hell in the first stunning volume of Pumpkin Scissors!

ZAPT!:Royal Blood in Previews

Shannon Eric Denton notes that the TOKYOPOP release of ZAPT!:Royal Blood is listed the latest edition of Diamond's Previews solicitation catalogue.

It's not manga or OEL or anything of the like, but it does have western zombies, but Shannon Eric Denton also has Graveslinger from Shadowline/Image listed.

Graveslinger #1 (Of 4)
story Shannon Eric Denton & Jeff Mariotte
art & cover John Cboins
32 PAGES FC
OCTOBER 10 $3.50
Arizona, 1873. Frank Timmons, former soldier and lawman as well as undertaker at Arizona's Gila Flats Territorial Prison, accidentally releases 117 dead killers from Hell. Frank roams the West, tracking them down and trying desperately to avoid his own damnation. Dying in the effort isn't an option.

To offer a preview of the TPB collection of World War II horror Common Foe, written by Keith Giffen and Shannon Eric Denton, with art by art by Jean-Jacques Dzialowski and Federico Dallocchio, publisher Desperado has posted the entire fifth issue online.

Worth Checking out

SAME HAT! SAME HAT!! translates Shintaro Kago's Multiplication here

Hot Tears of Shame TV - Episode Two - Amano Ai here

Matt Alt's thoughts on urban vinyl figures Oh, the Urbanity

Heisei Democracy looks at "Doujinshi, Obscenity, and Japan's Imperiled Freedom of Speech"

ComiPress has Production I.G president Mitsuhisa Ishikawa's talk on the Mag Garden merger here

AnimeNation has links to fan protests over changes to the Japanese Simpson's dub cast here.

Toon Zones talks to Tad Stones about "Hellboy: Blood and Iron" here

1up reviews Dynasty Warriors: Gundam here.

Anime bloggers have been accessing the fall season, including THAT Animeblog, Anime Bonzai

Sea Slugs! Anime Blog, Kisaragi, Star Crossed Anime Blog

More animated Heavenly Sword here

Craig Thompson's take on GeGeGe no Kitaro

ADVFilms.com is hosting the first episode of Air online here.

For more commentary see the AICN Anime MySpace.