Hitoshi IwaakiBesprekingen

¡Última entrega de este apasionante thriller!
¿Quién decide eso? ¿Quién decide el peso específico de la vida del ser humano y de las demás formas de vida?

¡Se acerca el final de este apasionante seinen! Se acerca el final de este relato sobre supervivencia a la dominación parasitaria. Shinichi, a su vez humano y monstruo, sigue luchando por evitar una tragedia irreversible para el devenir de la humanidad y su continuidad bajo la faz de la Tierra.

Un manga seinen que te atrapará. Shinichi ha estado escondiendo su verdadera naturaleza al mundo. Su cuerpo ha sido colonizado por un parásito alienígena, y ahora es mitad humano, mitad extraterrestre. Los otros alienígenas, encabezados por la cruel y hermosa Tamura, han descubierto su secreto. Shinichi es un escollo para su verdadero objetivo, destruir a la raza humana. Una amenaza que estas criaturas despiadadas ya no pasarán por alto ...

Un manga seinen inquietante. Hace tiempo que Shinichi ha dejado de ser un chico normal de instituto. Desde que su cuerpo convive con un parásito, se ha convertido en un monstruo con cara y consciencia humana. Una lucha desesperada para salvar su propia alma y la de sus congéneres.

La tranquila vida de Shinichu Izumi ha cambiado desde que su mano está colonizada. Los otros gusanos (parásitos) continúan su misteriosa cruzada, invadiendo los organismos humanos para dominar su cerebro. Sigue su lucha por la supervivencia en un mundo hostil, acompañado por un nuevo compañero forzado de fatigas. Thriller manga seinen con toques de humor que te atrapará.

Un thriller inquietante... Shinichu ha dejado atrás su vida tranquila y ve como su cuerpo se transforma. Sigue su lucha por la supervivencia en un mundo hostil en el que nada es lo que parece.

Un thriller inquietante... Shinichu Izumi debe aprender a convivir con su nuevo habitante. Mientras, otros parásitos depredadores acechan a inocentes por toda la ciudad.

Un thriller inquietante...
Shinichi Izumi es un adolescente normal hasta que unos organismos invaden la Tierra. Se trata de gusanos (parásitos) que se introducen dentro de los humanos a través de sus ojos o nariz, con el objetivo de dominar su cerebro.

Guys...okay guys this series was part of my introduction into manga waaaaay back in 1997 when Mixxzine was a thing. When you have something like this wedged in between Sailor Moon and Magic Knight Rayearth it kind of makes you go 'whhhhaaa?' but I was so hooked.

Migi was, to be blunt, my hero. In this first volume he kind of like 'I could give a fuck' to Shinichi's horrified reactions. From a purely objective viewpoint Migi has a point--human beings are hypocritical. We see (or the vast majority of us see) no problem with killing other species to survive. How is that any different from Migi's species? Yeah they went about killing indiscriminately at first, but they were, for all intents and purposes, BABIES. Newly formed, newly arrived, newly conscious. They had no other guiding force except what their instincts were telling them and their instincts were like 'Eat humans!' (or dogs, or whatever their host species turns out to be).

I'll tell ya all a secret though - a 13 year old girl running around in junior high questioning the hypocrisy of humans based on a foreign comic with lots and lots of violence and foul language? Not the best way to make friends or be considered normal.

Anyhow this new version published by Del Rey is uber-slick. TokyoPop put the series out in 10 volumes, while Del Rey skimmed it down to 8 volumes by adding more chapters per book. Its a good presentation overall and looks very clean.

As the first volume is a set up in all respects--the aliens' arrival, Migi and Shinichi's bonding, adjustments and so forth--Shinichi can be a bit of a pain in the ass with his constant nagging at Migi to be more considerate. Granted it does make Migi think outside the box, but it also just makes a muddle of things that should have been straight forward. Also there's one too many gags as Migi tries to learn about human culture (and what makes Shinichi tick) and does something embarrassing (like turning Shinichi's entire right arm into a giant male member to see what human mating is like....which I can't remember if that was shown in the TokyoPop version or not, it may have been censored since the magazine wasn't technically slated at 16 and older at first).

Things came back to me also from when I originally read the series. I remember something ends up happening to Shinichi's mother and Murano (a classmate and a girl Shinichi is interested in) ends up learning about Migi at some point and they spend a lot of time joining forces to poke at Shinichi. That's all in the future. I can't remember if I read to the end of the series, but I don't think I did as it stopped being serialized in 2000 and at the time the graphic novels (which was $15 or so each--yeah once upon a time manga was really expensive guys) were too expensive to keep up with (as I had a lot of other interests).

I do plan on re-reading the entire series though--I miss Migi!!

I keep forgetting to mention this, but part of my renewed interest in the series is that there is the live action movies coming out (at the end of this year and in the beginning of next year). Much like the Mirai Nikki live action show I'm hopeful that it remains as true to the source material as possible. Kimi ni Todoke, Koizora and to a certain extent the Gantz movies proved it could be done.

We get in this new volume a return of Kana, Murano's uneasiness, a new alien who wants to be "friends" (hahahaha) and lots of lovely death.

I'll give Shinichi credit, since Migi helped to heal his heart he's gotten quite a bit smarter in some ways. In others not so much, but he's gotten more tactically smart. Poor Migi though, the evolution of a failed Parasyte is not an easy one.

Tamiya, from the first volume, re-appears (away from Shinichi) and I'd swear she has some sort of weird epiphany once the baby is born, but I could be wrong.

Oh and I forgot, this manga definitely paved the way for me to love and enjoy [b:Claymore, Vol. 01: Silver-eyed Slayer|777423|Claymore, Vol. 01 Silver-eyed Slayer (Claymore, #1)|Norihiro Yagi|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1353190521s/777423.jpg|763452] (which also deals with monsters taking human form to eat other humans).

I kind of want Kana to fall off a cliff? She's got weird dreams about Shinichi, weird premonitions and is kind of courting death with a smile on her face. Isn't that weird?

Meanwhile the Parasyte's existence is made public and much like anything else humanity (or at least Japan's people) treat it with little reverence for the danger inherent. I blame the government and media in this case though--"Pull a hair! It can prove if this person is an alien!" IDIOTS. Don't you think the Parasytes, aside from now KNOWING YOUR PLAN TO EXPOSE THEM, wouldn't want to be exposed? Honestly I think people are safer NOT knowing how to tell them apart since it will make them more uncertain and less likely to run off with a stranger. Probably.

Ah book 2, in which my predictions of Shinichi's mother are fulfilled and I'm like 'oh crap...'. Also its the one where Shinichi goes from having that boyish haircut guys like in manga to the badass haircut delinquents in manga prefer.

He goes from this:


To this:


After him and Migi :ahem: merge some more.

Interestingly we meet another "failed" alien/human merging (the guy's chin! He outdoes Bruce Campbell's chin and I thought that's impossible!) and despite his protestations Migi seems to be interested in keeping Shinichi both alive AND sane.

Meanwhile Murano is highly suspicious (as she should be), Kana is highly interested (idiot girl) and Makiko (who Shinichi meets on his way to his dad's side) is just baffled (to be fair we all are dear).

I gotta feel bad for poor Shinichi. He desperately wants everything to go back to how it was, but no matter what he does it gets WORSE. And by worse I do mean it gets much much worse. I tend to believe that my interest in this series led to my interest in Mirai Nikki (aka [b:Future Diary, Volume 1|6226363|Future Diary, Volume 1|Sakae Esuno|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348368825s/6226363.jpg|6408945]) and [b:Gantz/01|2824337|Gantz/01|Hiroya Oku|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1349028971s/2824337.jpg|2850440] because the series share some common elements (namely mild mannered male student has to become ultra violent to protect what he cares about).

This is a classic. I wanted to try it and see if this manga might find a loving home in my collection . . . the answer is no.

It is still funny, gory and - weird in a good way, but this is not for me. Others will enjoy this story with a hint of body snatching, aliens and sci-fi.

'Parasites' come to earth with a mission. They have to invade the humans, so they have to enter the brain. Unfortunately, for one, he entered by the hand and matured before reaching the brain.

A lot of chaotic moments surrounding the mc and the parasite with awkward moments, but nothing screaming 'continue to read.'

3- stars for a classic and okay story.

This has to be one of the weirdest manga series I’ve read to date. What starts as an alien invasion / body snatcher story evolves into a combination urban horror fantasy and a examination of various ecological issues.

The art work is a bit simplified for my tastes and the pacing a little inconsistent, but it’s an engaging premise that raises some interesting issues.

Entertaining, but also poses interesting questions on humanity and other species.

Moving away from body horror and into The Boys superhero territory.

While one major event happened, it largely feels like its spinning its wheels here.

Relatively short, as manga series go, and still overly long.

The Good:
-There's some real body horror and The Thing-like tension.
-The gore is drawn really well.
-The artists definitely achieve alien designs in the parasytes
-The message about humankind's treatment of the planet is just as, if not more, relevant as its ever been.
-The scenes with the x-rays were awesome!

The Bad:
-The side plot with the human serial killer didn't seem to contribute much, and I wish it had been cut to give more screen time to the other characters. The ending scene on the roof could have been done just as well with a parasyte, perhaps better.
-I never really buy the romance between the main characters. I hate/love to say it, but he's got more chemistry with his own right hand than his girlfriend.
-I feel like there's a lot lost in translation. There's some really unclear or clunky dialogue that can make plot points or motivations tricky to follow.

The manga has held up really well over the last few decades and is still enjoyable today.

(Possession, mutations, aliens) . This is a story I've read before, but it still made me grin.

A fun, exciting story. Interested to see where this goes in the next volume.

Strange, horrific murders are being committed all over the world. The identity of the culprit or culprits is, for now, a mystery. But one young man has, to his cost, learned the truth: a quiet invasion has taken place, and now the human race is no longer at the top of the food chain.
Do you like /body horror/? Stories about the human organism being changed and twisted and mutated into bizarre, terrifying new forms? Stuff like the Prototype games, or John Carpenter’s The Thing? If you do, me too. That’s why Parasyte by Hitoshi Iwaaki is one of my favourite manga I’ve discovered lately.
What I’m particularly enjoying with Parasyte is the way the story makes you look at our world from the creatures’ point of view: Shin, the series’ central character, doesn’t so much fight for humanity as fight to /keep his own/.
As only the very best monster stories can, Parasyte makes you think about what it is to be human. If a bit of gore is a problem for you, your loss. For anyone else in search of something fast and fresh to feed on, I suggest you let Parasyte infest you today.

I first learned about Hitoshi Iwaaki's manga series Parasyte at a library conference last year. Kate Dacey of The Manga Critic mentioned it during the "Best Manga You're Not Reading" panel which focused on great manga that relatively few libraries seemed to have on their shelves. Parasyte was originally published in Japan between 1990 and 1995, winning the Kodansha Manga Award in 1993. The series was initially published in English by Tokyopop in twelve volumes. In fact, Parasyte was one of the first series that they ever published. Beginning in 2007, Parastye was released in English by Del Rey Manga, following the original eight volumes of the Japanese edition. I've never read Tokyopop's version of Parasyte, but I have read the entire series as published by Del Rey. They have done a fantastic job with the printing and adaptation of the series. I completely agree that Parasyte belongs on the list of best manga you're not reading. That is, if you haven't already read it.

They fell from the sky. Small, intelligent, parasitic creatures that after entering the host's body, completely take over its brain and begin eating potential hosts of the same species. The parasites favored group? Humans. And most of them don't even know the parasites exist. But high school student Shinichi Izumi does. He's been infected by a parasite that failed to take over his brain and now resides in his right arm. Neither of them are particularly happy with this situation, but it's currently beneficial for them to cooperate with each other. Without Shinichi, Migi, the parasite, would die. Understandably, it's very protective of Shinichi's body. It soon becomes clear that Shinichi's survival depends on Migi, as well. And even if it didn't, without the parasite he would be down an arm. So, for the time being at least, they'll work together, hoping to keep their existence a secret from both the parasites and the humans.

The relationship between Shinichi and Migi is extremely important in Parasyte. Shinichi does seem to move rather quickly from absolute terror to a lazy acceptance of the situation, but he doesn't really have much of a choice. He gets more and more used to having Migi around, but every once in a while the parasite will do or say something to bring Shinichi crashing back to reality. I like Shinichi a lot. He has a good-natured, easygoing personality. Migi, too, is fairly likeable even considering what it is. However, the longer they stay together the more they change and adapt. And the changes don't go unnoticed--both Shinichi's (unofficial) girlfriend Murano and his mother sense something is different. As a reader, it's fascinating to watch Shinichi and Migi's relationship develop. Initially, Migi is only concerned about its own, and by extension Shinichi's, survival. In turn, this slowly makes Shinichi more ruthless and selfish in his own thinking.

I really like Parasyte. The first volume easily pulls the reader in. Not only is the series entertaining and engaging, it also considers pretty serious questions about the nature of humanity. Parasyte has some fantastic moments of humor, mostly caused by Migi not quite understanding the subtleties of human interaction yet, which keeps the series from getting too heavy. Granted, this does make the darker aspects of the story stand out even more in contrast. Another source of amusement is Shinichi's parents. They're wonderfully down-to-earth people, especially his father, and they have a great relationship with their son. Iwaaki also incorporates some excellent visual gags, including one of my favorite unexpected moments out of all the manga I've read so far. (I won't say more, because I don't want to spoil it.) I'll just end by saying you should give Parasyte a try if you haven't already; it's a great series.

Experiments in Manga

This tied up the series nicely.

As a whole, the series is a great read and I would recommend it to anyone, those who are familiar with manga and those who aren't.½

Not as strong as the first 2 volumes. Yet another parasyte joins the school and bloody chaos inevitably ensues. We see the hint of the authorities realizing the extent of the problem, but you'd think people would notice two serious incidents in the same school in the same year? Still, I was thoroughly entertained and look forward to the next volume.

Oh God!