Review: MPD PSYCHO (Multiple Personality Detective) is Miike's made for TV adaptation of the manga of the same name. Interestingly, this six part mini-series is, according to Tom Mes' book, "the first production for which Takashi Miike is credited as a writer," and it's not hard to believe. Just like his visual style, MPD Psycho's storyline is quite unorthodox as it doesn’t follow a conventional narrative. This approach made the series hard to follow and it will not please everybody. Don’t expect a traditional police drama. Although this signature approach will click with Miike fans for sure, it will totally alienate viewers not used to a more arty side of cinema.

Another aspect that makes the story confusing is that a lot of questions emerge during the course of the development. Many key elements briefly appear here and there but there is not enough information to actually understand many of the subplots and mysteries of each episode. Most of these mystery question points will, I hope, find their answers later in the series. It is indeed too soon to really put a final judgement on the story as it has yet to unfold, but so far it’s intriguing and entertaining enough to say that it's on the right track to being a very good detective series.

A big deal of the series' mystery surrounds the character of Yosuke Kobayashi, portrayed by Naoki Hosaka. Who was he in his past, what made him turn into Amamiya Kazuhiko and what is the exact connection between him and Nishinzon the killer? Strangely, Kobayashi is not the character with the most screen time. So far, most of the investigation is followed through the eyes of Police Inspector Toru Sasayama, portrayed by Ren Osugi, a familiar face of Miike and Sabu productions. Sasayama also appears much more friendly and likable than the mysterious and cold Amamiya.

As for blood and guts, the series has its moments. Most of these gruesome scenes usually come when a new victim is found. Women with bellies open or heads split with the brains out are a few examples of these extreme visuals. To our disappointment, all of these scenes are censored by a mosaic, hiding specific parts of these bloody moments. At first sight, this looks like a censored job but it's not. This is something that might seem strange to anyone familiar with Miike's work, but the scenes have been intentionally censored by Miike himself, probably in an artistic way to approach TV Censorship (These scenes are featured uncensored as an extra on the original Japanese DVD release and you can clearly notice that the make-up is sometimes unfinished or simply missing where the censoring mosaic appears.)

Between the gory scenes and serious storyline, Miike also introduces some comedy elements, most of which comes from Police Inspector Toru Sasayama and his geeky assistant Toru, who claims discrimination whenever someone calls him an Otaku. These small moments really help us sympathize with these characters and this will surely influence our feelings towards them throughout the series.

So far, MPD Psycho is an interesting detective series which probably keeps the best card in its sleeve until the end. At the moment, everything can go in either the worst or the best direction and, knowing Miike, I'll keep watching until the end credits before passing a final judgement. With a great mixture of weird visuals, some gory moments, plenty of mystery and great characters, this TV series is on the right track to becoming a must see, especially for those who love Takashi Miike`s work.