The Stats
đ BOOK REVIEWâ đ
BOOK: Parasyte
AUTHOR: Hitoshi Iwaaki
Publisher: Kodansha @kodansha_comics
Stars: âââ
Published: 1990-1995
The Review
In my youth, Tokyopopâs Mixxzine brought out monthly publications of manga issues translated into English. Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth, and (for the horror fans) Parasyte. I remembered it being a twisted and disturbing story, but one with enough humor and philosophy to keep it from being a complete gorefest. My Summerween challenge asked me to read something in the dark, so I chose to reread the first issue from my tablet. And I proceeded to finish the series. All 10 volumes.
The Title/Cover Draw:
So, sure the title is Parasyte. You know, with a âyâ to be a special snowflake. You know kinda what youâre in for. The art, both on the covers and throughout, feature terrifying warps of human anatomy. Heads twisted into unnatural shapes, and hands turned into a series of blades. The way the parasytes shift, almost like their bodies are just masses of fondant that get sliced and molded, is brilliant.
Unfortunately, the rest of the artwork just doesnât keep up. Character lineart is rough and sharp, and often looks wrong and unnatural, even for the human characters. The âspecial pagesâ that occur every now and then were likely painted in a variety of colors, but when put into grayscale, they come out blotchy and irresolute. And, since a majority of the characters are 90âs Japanese high-schoolers, the character designs end up looking like bland rejects from Yu Yu Hakusho splashed with vomit from H.R. Geiger.
What kept me reading:
The concept is incredible, predating the likes of Tokyo Ghoul by about 20 years. Aliens come to earth, and they burrow into creatures to take over the body. They prefer the most dominant life forms. And, when I say take over, I mean TAKE OVER. Once they absorb your brain, they can morph your head into a dizzying array of teeth, blades, and tentacles. They can heal wounds quickly, and they have limited telepathic abilities. They also like to eat people. Pretty scary.
But this isnât just a mindless slasher. The parasytes are here for a reason, and the story delves into societal issues such as overpopulation, environmentalism, and racial prejudice. It also gets into deeper issues. What is it to be human? How do you know if you are still you? And thatâs all driven by the two main characters.
The Characters:
Shin is a high school student. One night, a parasyte comes into his room and attempts to eat his brain. He manages to block and trap it in his right arm. The next day, his hand pops out eyes and mouth to start talking to him. Enter Migi (Righty, in the English translations). Heâs curious, calculating, and machiavellian. He teaches himself Japanese in a day. Heâs also totally reliant on Shin to survive.
So, when it becomes apparent that other parasytes want to kill Shin and his family, the two have to work together. In early stories, the two are a great comedy duo. Migi acts as a straightman, but one that suggests totally inappropriate and monstrous things. Shin overreacts to everything he says. However, the longer they spend together, the more things weigh on Shin, and he begins to doubt his humanity. He gets cold and unfeeling, and this causes problems between him and his girlfriend.
But, thatâs as far as the characters go. Sure, there are plenty of others that exist, but they do so little to drive the story. Shinâs girlfriend might as well not have been there for all she did, and many of the parasytes would have been interesting if developed out. After a few volumes, the parasytes devolved almost into villains of the week, and then kept getting worse until the end.
The Ending:
The end which was disappointing. Do I have to give you a spoiler warning? Okay. After all is said and done, thousands of humans are dead, the big organization of Japanese parasytes demolished, and the big bad gets killed. The remaining parasytes just go âHmm, you know, I think I feel like eating human food from now on. Sounds good.â And just live the rest of their lives as normal humans. Even Migi decides heâs just going to go to sleep and never wake up again. Seriously? Thatâs where you end this? An entire species of anthrophagic parasites all shrug in unison and the curtain falls? Did you just get bored writing this and decide to move on?
Consider if you like / Reminds me of:
I mentioned it above, but this series is extremely similar to Tokyo Ghoul, where a hidden race of human-like creatures with body-morphing powers struggle to live in a world where they have to eat humans to survive. Arguably, however, Tokyo Ghoul takes the philosophical themes further, develops its characters more, and has much more iconic character designs. It doesnât have Migi, though.
If you are up for disturbing, body-horror, Go look at anything by Junji Ito. My skin crawls just typing his name.
You can see more in my video review:
*****
Summary:
They arrive in silence and darkness. They descend from the skies. They have a hunger for human flesh. They are everywhere. They are parasites, alien creatures who must invade – and take control of – a human host to survive. And once they have infected their victims, they can assume any deadly form they choose: monsters with giant teeth, winged demons, creatures with blades for hands. But most have chosen to conceal their lethal purpose behind ordinary human faces. So no one knows their secret – except an ordinary high school student. Shin is battling for control of his own body against an alien parasite, but can he find a way to warn humanity of the horrors to come?
I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.