Pink Dark Boy is a manga written and drawn by Rohan Kishibe that ran in Weekly Shonen Jump starting in 1993. The series is a suspenseful horror anthology separated into 8 arcs, with the only common factor between them being the titular character, a detective who solves mysteries related to the supernatural. The series is often known for its masterful suspense, realistic artwork and compelling characters. The series is also known for its hiatuses, as Kishibe often takes breaks to research so-called supernatural phenomenons to make the stories as realistic as possible. Kishibe is also known for his crucial role in ending the Kira murders in his hometown of Morioh and the impossible speed of his drawings despite his lack of editors. The man who discovered Kishibe, Ryosuke Kabashima, once claimed that "it's almost as if he threw his ink drops from his pen onto the page to draw his manga."
An OVA based on the third arc of the series was released in 1998, and noticeably was criticized by Kishibe, saying that "it never reached the suspense and realism seen in my manga". However, the OVA was pulled out of print in 2000 for the design of the main villain, who coincidentally resembled the Boss of Passione, a feared mafia group located in Italy. Another attempt, this time adapting the first arc into a feature length anime film in 2008 was pulled from theaters and never released onto home video after Kishibe criticized it for the quality of its drawings and the glaring omissions of several important characters and plot points, most notably fan-favorite Fastcart. It was eventually adapted again into an ongoing series adapting the arcs in order in 2013, this time with Kishibe acting as executive producer to avoid the same mistakes that the last two adaptations had. It was also famously adapted into an arcade fighting game based on the third part for the Neo Geo hardware by SNK in 1998, in which Rohan redesigned Rose, who was only seen from the legs down.
- Author Avatar: Hirohiko Araki, the manga artist writing the series Jojos Bizarre Adventure is noticeably based on Kishibe himself.
- Series Hiatus: Notably had multiple hiatuses in 1999, including when the author was beaten up by an angry fan, and during his time investigating the Kira murders.
