Not enough good things could be said about Parasyte. It was an extremely captivating book for a number of reasons – it is one of those manga you can’t possibly put down and end up reading the whole thing 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.

One of the main things that makes this book 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:
Not enough good things could be said about this manga – it is an awesome classic that many people will now be able to read for the first time if they’re smart enough to pick it up