Mad Bull 34 (マッド★ブル34) is a Japanese manga series written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Noriyoshi Inoue. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Young Jump between 1985 and 1991; Shueisha collected its chapters in 19 volumes and later Studio Ship published it in 27 volumes. The series follows the violent exploits of the toughest cop in the NYPD's 34th Precinct, "Sleepy" John Estes—known to his enemies as "Mad Bull"—and his partners, Daizaburo "Eddie" Ban and Perrine Valley. A four-episode original video animation (OVA) adaptation was released from 1990 to 1992. A sequel manga, Mad Bull 2000, was serialized in Shueisha's Manga Allman magazine from 1999 to 2001, with its chapters collected in seven volumes. The OVA was licensed in English by Manga Entertainment and released on VHS in 1996. Discotek Media re-released it on DVD in 2013.

Plot

After graduating from the New York City Police Academy, Japanese American NYPD rookie Daizaburo "Eddie" Ban is assigned to the 34th Precinct, which has the highest crime rate in Manhattan. There, he is paired with Afro-Puerto Rican cop John Estes, who is nicknamed "Sleepy" by his friends but is notoriously known as "Mad Bull" by criminals due to his violent behavior. He has no qualms about firing a shotgun at minor threats and executing petty thieves. He also skims money off prostitutes and often causes enormous damage to the city while cracking down on crime. At first, Daizaburou is reluctant to pair up with Sleepy because of his uncooperative behavior, but as their partnership continues, their relationship changes. Sleepy's actions are outrageous and illegal, but he always has the right motives (for example, he uses the money he skims off prostitutes to support venereal disease clinics and domestic violence shelters). As the pair become famous in the 34th Precinct, police lieutenant Perrine Valley joins them as they face more difficult cases involving the mafia and drug-running.

Characters

Media

Manga

Written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Noriyoshi Inoue, Mad Bull 34 was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Young Jump from July 1985 to January 1991. Shueisha collected its chapters in 19 volumes released from June 1, 1986, to December 1, 1990; Studio Ship would later publish the series in 27 volumes from June 20, 1993, to July 20, 1994. A sequel, titled Mad Bull 2000 (マッド・ブル 2000), was serialized in Shueisha's Manga Allman magazine from April 1999 to September 2001. Shueisha collected its chapters in seven volumes, released from October 19, 1999, to February 19, 2002. Renta! published the first volume digitally in English in August 2014.

Original video animation

A four-episode original video animation (OVA) by Magic Bus and directed by Satoshi Dezaki, was released from December 21, 1990, to August 21, 1992. Manga Entertainment released the series with an English dub on four VHS sets from March 19 to September 24, 1996. Discotek Media announced that they had licensed the OVA in June 2012 and released it on DVD on February 26, 2013. In December 2020, Discotek Media stated that they no longer hold the license for the OVA.

Episodes