Review by Ian Keogh

All drugs are now legal in Japan, but people are still responsible for the criminal consequences of their actions while taking them, which is where the D-Unit come in. They’re a group of Tokyo police detectives on the trail of Dopemen, users of drugs that turn people into monsters or give them super powers. They’re a no-nonsense bunch headed up by Tojima, quick to go for his gun and single minded in his pursuit of drug abusers. It’s all extremely hypocritical, as in order to be able to combat what drugs turn people into, the D-Unit are copious users themselves.

Dopeman Vol. 1 was a troublesome product, glorifying violence and promoting male power fantasies, which continues as the story picks up with the battle in the hospital ending the previous book. A villain has the power to possess dolls, and has fortunately found a whole platoon of realistic sex dolls provided for the use of patients. The dolls are all female. This is a flashback sequence, by the way, explaining how Matrix came to be part of the team.

Perhaps aware of the prevailing lack of logic over the first volume, around halfway through this volume Ryo Yoshigami begins to explain the series background, including why if all drugs are legal there’s a criminal cartel involved. The police unit hunting down Dopemen need to restrain some people to protect the public from the scourge of a drug known as icarus. It’s thin justification for the mayhem.

Yuhey Ogino relishes the primary threat this time, which is a form of ghoul. Or packs of them to be more precise. As before the linework is simple, but as soon as the action begins it’s difficult to make out what’s happening in the blur of slashed lines.

There’s still barely any depth to Dopeman, which is all action and little motivation. We’re given Murai’s background (reformed icarus dealer who idolises Tojima), and one imagines him to be the stand-in for author Yoshigami, similarly obsessed with his repulsive lead character. There is a clever twist to events right at the end, though.

Dopeman is a limited series, and the third volume concludes affairs.