NAKED APE

PROFILE

Finding entertainment in the dark corners of the world

The detective genre has kept readers enthralled for well over a century. So what is it that keeps us returning to those gruesome and macabre spectacles? Is it the cleverly constructed murder mysteries? Or, more likely, is it the ingenious and unique methods of the investigator?

Naked Ape, a mangaka duo who cut their “manga making” teeth on the dōjinshi circuit with bishōnen focused stories, thrive on skirting the line between reality and the darkly sinister and supernatural.

The manga making team excel in creating unique protagonists, from the androgynous Crown Prince Ayato of Magnolia, to the “Jekyll and Hyde” temperament of Etou Kai in Switch. But it’s in the crime/thriller genre where Naked Ape really explores the concepts of light and dark in their much often tortured leading men. In Suicide Line, we have just that with a protagonist drenched in the trauma of his childhood.

Kuroda, an investigator in the First Investigation Division, has developed a unique talent – the ability to literally smell a corpse before anyone else. Due to the nightmare of being trapped with his deceased family for several days as a child, the investigator uses this rather macabre trait to bring justice to those the poor, traumatized victims he investigates.

Kuroda meets Ikaika, a genius criminal psychology analyst in the newly established “Special Mission Search and Investigation Office”, aka “Search Office”, a department specializing in investigating “peculiar missing persons” in the Metropolitan Police Department…

How can I construct a fiendishly clever crime? What can I do to keep my readers surprised? Just how can I illustrate a murder scene that both compels and repulses?? Naked Ape will be available to answer your questions in the next “Mangaka Spotlight”.