Jason Bradley Thompson
February 13, 2016 
Shozo Sakurai, the one in the business suit, is a sensitive man, sometimes conflicted about his job. Amano, his young, sloppily dressed partner, is much more blasé, often saying blunt things that leave their clients in tears. Their “clients” are people on the verge of suicide or other terrible life decisions, and their job is to steer them onto the right path, or failing that, at least to cleanse their souls.
As Psycholith Collection & Cleaning, they have the power to draw forth a person’s psycholith (it sounds much cooler than “soul stone”), to transfer them, to grant life or death. After all, improperly disposed of souls are a health hazard. In haunted places, where slimy psychic residue oozes and glows like stains under a blacklight, Sakurai and Amano do their work, and steer people through the moral choices that will effect this life and the next…
“Occult detectives” are a major manga genre: think Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, xxxHOLiC, etc. In a field as crowded with titles as the afterlife must be with souls, Livingstone has two major points of interest: character designs by Kazuma Kondou (Deadman Wonderland) and a story by Tomohiro Maekawa, a playwright known for supernatural and sci-fi themes. Kataoka’s art bears more than a passing resemblance to Kondou’s, which is a good thing; sometimes wonky-looking but always darkly stylish, there are some cool visual effects, like when Sakurai’s body uncoils like a spool of string to peer into a client’s crystallized soul.
Fortunately, Maekawa doesn’t phone it in either, but uses the 21 Grams-esque premise to do what occult detective tales do best: character studies of interestingly flawed people who suddenly have supernatural forces involved in their life decisions. The stories don’t always work, but the supporting cast is nice, and the better tales have a refreshing theme of compassion and mercy, rather than the supernatural vengeance common to the genre.
publisher: Kodansha Comics
story: Tomohiro Maekawa
art: Jinsei Kataoka
rating: 16+
