Jun 17, 2024
I don’t think the MAL description does a very good job at representing what this series is about.
Psycho x Past is about a time traveling detective who swaps minds with the victims of serial killers in the past before they were killed. Using his detective skills and his knowledge on the cases from the future, he needs to bring the killers to justice while avoiding being killed himself.
And yes, this manga is every bit as fun as that premise sounds.
If you’re familiar at all with Shingo Honda’s work, you know that his manga lean heavily into “fun B movie splatterhouse horror” and this
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manga is no exception. The killers hit that nice balance between being cartoonish over-the-top caricatures and genuinely threatening, depraved lunatics. To give you an idea of what I mean, the first serial killer is a man obsessed with his mother’s breasts and wears a flesh mask made out of the severed breasts of women he’s murdered. And while that is obviously horrifying and disturbing, the way he acts is very over the top and campy. And of course, our detective protagonist ultimately gets the better of him and beats him at his own game. Again, B movie splatterhouse horror. It’s horror, but it’s the FUN kind of horror if you understand what I’m saying.
Our two main characters are both pretty fun and enjoyable in their own way. Our main character, Godai, is a Dirty Harry “loose cannon” cop who gets reassigned for losing control with criminals. What makes him work as a lead, though, is how his “hard-boiled chain-smoking cowboy cop” personality is transported into the bodies of random people, such as a kidnapped teenage girl or a bedridden child. So you have all the people around him going “Dude, what happened to you? Why are you acting so different all of a sudden?” It’s consistently entertaining seeing him trying to solve cases and catch serial killers while also needing to play out the life of whoever he’s inhabiting. There’s not much I can say right now about the other lead, Shisei, because only 15 chapters are translated. He’s basically the psychic who sends Godai back in time, and he's the kind of character who you’re never QUITE sure if he’s gonna be an ally or a villain. And also of course there’s plenty of yaoi bait between him and Godai.
In terms of story, each case seems to mostly be self contained. There is definitely a bigger overarching mystery going on behind the scenes, but again only 15 chapters are in English when I’m writing this so I can’t say any more than that. In terms of the individual cases though, they’re all pretty solid and entertaining. Each one feels pretty unique from each other, but one element they all share is that the climax has some big “Ace Attorney” sequence where Godai hits the killer with the evidence and deconstructs their modus operandis. While I wouldn’t say any of them are deep, slow-burn mysteries or anything, all the clues that Godai uses are actually pretty subtly foreshadowed. For example (minor spoiler for the third case), when Godai is talking to one of the killers, you can briefly see a pretty high-end camera sitting in his room, indicating that he’s skilled in photography. This, of course, turns out to be a crucial detail in the case’s climax. Again, don’t expect any deep complex mysteries here (at least right now), but there’s definitely fun to be had in trying to piece together the clues yourself.
As for art, if you’ve read Shingo Honda’s other works, you already know he’s great at conveying tension and dread through his art and paneling. He has made several horror manga before this and he clearly knows how to pull it off. If you’re looking for creepy, disturbing imagery, you’re 100% gonna find it here.
All in all, this manga CERTAINLY is not for everyone (like, look at volume 1’s cover). But it succeeds in doing what it sets out to do: being a fun horror story. If you’re into that, then I recommend giving this one a read.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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