3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I Think Miike Censored This Intentionally, June 19, 2008
This review is from: MPD Psycho: The Complete Miniseries (DVD)
The third personality of a schizophrenic detective escapes his body, possesses others, and sets in motion a series of murders and dismemberments throughout a city. This is a 6-part (5 hour) miniseries directed by Takashi Miike, and is one of the weirdest, quirkiest films ever made (i.e., personality transfer, wacky detectives, stolen fetuses, people killed and planted in soil, bar-coded eyeballs, etc.). The greatest contribution is that the storyline is essentially a brainteaser that gives clues to many events that occur offscreen. Luckily, this is sharply intelligent and successfully executed since things make sense after the viewer works things out. In addition, the character of Nishizono Shinji is perhaps one of the more intriguing murderers in cinema. On the negative side, there is a noticeable lack of action and suspense sequences, but this series is very interesting for its massive quantities of originality as well as its seemingly endless layers of complexity.
It's debatable whether or not Miike intentionally used pixellations to cover up some of the gore. I think he did it on purpose because what little can be seen outside the pixellation range looked very fake. I seriously doubt that Miike would use a cheap plastic model for someone's brains. He probably used the pixellation to disturb the viewer by forcing them to use their imagination.
Buy this series. It's really good. And if you have difficulty figuring out what exactly is going on, head over to the IMDb message board for some explanations.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Read the manga instead..., August 24, 2007
This review is from: MPD Psycho: The Complete Miniseries (DVD)
Really, read the manga instead. This isn't necessarily a BAD show, and $XX for a J-drama series is fairly reasonable. But the pacing was awkward, with some parts dragging along and you don't really connect with any of the characters--Hosaka Naoki performance as the main character is sleep-inducing, as is Nakajima Tomoko's (Machi).
At times, the show itself pushes the limits of what can be shown on TV in Japan, though it is generally tame by most standards. I've seen worse on CSI. It's not nearly as gruesome as the box art makes it seem and if you're looking for the standard Miike Takashi shocks, this doesn't really have it. It does, however, have his little touches of weird, dark humor.
Overall, the story is interesting, though I find the manga to be better (and a lot more graphic--no kiddies allowed there!). Much of the miniseries comes straight from the manga, though some storylines have been changed, so if you've read the comics, this drama might be a little more enjoyable.
For the most part, the acting was uneven, but the little bits of humor were a nice, though unnecessary and very unusual, break in the show's slow pace. Osugi Ren (Det. Sasayama) is hilarious when he needs to be, and puts on a great performance, as always. For me, he stole the show. And as a little plus, Miura Rieko (Chizuko) is always nice to look at (for what little time she's on screen).
I would've given it two stars, but I gave it three because of it's relatively low price and interesting story. Most J-drama fans would do well to avoid this and horror fanatics will find this boring.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not eay to..., October 20, 2007
This review is from: MPD Psycho: The Complete Miniseries (DVD)
Call me slow, but I needed to watch the whole series twice until I caught the whole idea and got familiar with the characters. But it was worth it. The story follows a serial killer with an artistic and technological touch on the murders--I loved the figurines they use to represent the murders, wish I could have one. I loved the song, too, creepy as hell, and the excellent special effects.
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