 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | DEL REY | | | ▪ | AUTHOR / ART: | | HITOSHI IWAAKI | | | ▪ | FORMAT: | | JAPANESE / B&W | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 228 | | | ▪ | RATING: | | OT | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 05/13/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 06/15/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | SCOTT CAMPBELL |
Not enough good things could be said about Parasyte. It is an extremely captivating book for a number of reasons – it’s one of those manga you can’t possibly put down and end up reading the whole volume in one sitting. The story of Parasyte revolves around a 16 year old boy named Shin and the alien life form that falls from the sky one day to make Shin its host. This “parasyte” is just one of many that have suddenly dropped down to earth. They arrive in silence and darkness – descending from the sky. They have a hunger for the flesh of whatever they latch onto – those hosts usually being humans. Basically they are parasites, alien creatures who to survive must invade – and take control of – a human host. Once they have infected their victims, they can assume any deadly form they choose – monsters with giant teeth, winged demons, or creatures with blades for hands. But most of these parasites have chosen to conceal their lethal purpose behind ordinary human faces. No one knows their secret – except for Shin of course. Shin is battling for control of his own body against an alien parasite – but you’ll come to ask yourself whether he should, or should he try to coexist. In volume three, the invasion continues as more and more people start to realize that the aliens are real. Shin is becoming stronger, and perhaps even losing some of his inner humanity. Now he’s been approached by two mysterious victims of the invasion: Tamiya, a beautiful schoolteacher, and Shimada, another student. What do the aliens want with humanity and with Shin? Shin battles his own changing self as well as the alien body snatchers around him that threaten those he loves, while also dealing with the fact that his relationships are changing because he doesn’t seem the same to those who love him back… One of the main things that makes this series so good is that it isn’t too unbelievable. It constantly begs you to ask yourself the question: “What would I do? What if this was me?” That fact alone makes this manga extremely involving – you really begin to care about the main character and his odd coexistence with the life form that has invaded his body. The story is so cool, but it’s too hard to say much more without giving away the great plotline. The one thing to keep in mind while reading it though is the fact that no matter how Shin feels about the life form that he knows about and coexists with, what should he feel about the other ones that are out there roaming around without any knowledge of what they are doing? It’s difficult for him to come to a decision – like whether or not he should warn humanity of the horrors that these parasites may bring to the people of earth. But if he does – might he too be blamed and treated as an alien? It’s a really great story – it’s very engrossing, though not complicated in the least. The art is nice and clean – it adds to the joy of reading the manga. Everything about the manga, including the art, has this wonderful simplicity to it, but still offers so much. It almost says “Look reader, I’m not jumping through any superficial flaming hoops here because I don’t have to. My story is awesome, I’ve got great characters and my art helps the flow of the story move along and delivers what is needed.” It never tries to over stimulate with the art to make up for a less than desirable story, simply because it doesn’t need to. The text is also readable, there are almost 300 pages, and the overall design of the book is pretty cool. This one is an A+ winner – most people should be able to get a lot of entertainment from this well written sci-fi/horror manga with a twist. The twist being that it’s so much more than the genre it should fall under – it’s got lots of other good points, making it fairly well rounded.
IN SUMMARY:
All three volumes of Parasyte have been great reads so far, and volume three was host to a number of shocks and revelations. This series is a real sleeper hit – it’s so engrossing and entertaining to read! |
