Customer Reviews

Parasyte #01

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At first glance this manga seems a little unpolished, given its (seemingly) unoriginal sci-fi premise and its rough, unstylized artwork (Iwaaki is no Otomo, but he's also nothing like CLAMP, thank God). However, Iwaaki's extrapolation of the premise (of mysterious aliens taking human forms and preying on humans) is intelligent and well-developed, his character explorations are perceptive, and his depictions of the alien parasytes are sheer cleverness. (I've never seen such creative yet unrepulsive gore...it's a damn cool manga!) Good stuff. Try it.

Oh GOD, I love this manga, and I'm a picky reader! This manga has seriously Darwinian implications! Who is the fittest, the alien parasytes, or humanity? Shin is a high school kid who is finding out. Shin has a parasyte that matured in his left hand and is dealing with the issues of why parasytes feed on humans, creating a panic in the city over the "mincemeat murders."

Shin must deal with becoming more and more like the symbiotic alien in his left arm, while the alien picks up more human reactions. There's a lot of violence and blood, not to mention questioning of what is it to be human. Not only that, but there is the parasytes' need to survive in human society, because humans are noticing their presence. They are trying to save themselves and their species. Who's right and who's wrong? And why do they need to eat humans?

If you are into these issues, check this out!

(BTW: there IS a movie in the making! The Henson Creature Shop is working on it! Whoo hoo!!)

Volume 1 of "Parasyte," by Hitosi Awaaki, tells the story of a mysterious plague of intelligent, shapeshifting parasitic life forms that take over the bodies and lives of their human hosts. These parasyte/human unions spread a trail of murder. The story centers on Shin, a high school student whose parasyte fails to take over his brain and his will; instead, the creature takes over his left arm. Shin and "Lefty" soon develop a curious symbiotic relationship.

The crisp black-and-white artwork is an effective medium for telling this story. The book is full of inventive, at times stunning, visuals. Awaaki maintains mystery and tension throughout the story, and throws in some mind-blowing surprises. Shin and "Lefty" have a truly intriguing relationship, and it's complicated by their encounters with other parasytes; this character-driven element is one of the story's key strengths.

"Parasyte" is at times extremely gory and bloody. Overall, it's a well-written and imaginative blend of horror, science fiction, and teen angst.

I always browse through the Japanese manga section of the book store when I ran across this book with a *really* gory cover (prob'ly why they don't have it pictured on here). Although it has kind of a campy 'aliens possess humans' been-done storyline, this manga makes it BETTER. The art is cool, there's humor (esp. from the alien's quips) and...and...just *read it*! And it really should be made into a movie...in fact it is! Jim Henson is working on it.

"Parasyte" is a cheerfully icky, somewhat silly, and quite enjoyable sci-fi anime yarn with strong environmental overtones -- which makes it pretty much unique in this world. Award-winning creator Hitosi Iwaaki takes a well-used premise and injects it with squirmy new life -- and I'm impressed. There's so little original science fiction out there (when was the last time you read sci-fi that wasn't based on Phillip K. Dick or Star Wars? Think about it), and I'm grateful to see new material presented in a graphic novel format....and I'm not even an anime fan.

The story begins one night, when hundreds of tiny seedpods descend to Earth from....somewhere. The pods land, break open, and hatch out slimy little worms who seek out sleeping humans and burrow into their bodies. When the people wake up, they aren't people anymore -- from the neck up, they've transformed into grotesque, shape-shifting fiends with lots of eyes and tentacles who are fully intelligent and can make themselves look perfectly human. Guess what their sole source of food is? Us, of course.

The hero of "Parasyte" is a teenager named Shin, who lives a perfectly ordinary, boring life until the night a parasyte burrows into his left hand. He uses a tourniquet to isolate the thing in his arm, this saving himself from total infestation. However, the parasyte matures, and soon Shin's hand is sprouting eyes and a mouth, chatting pleasantly to him, and reading textbooks while he sleeps. Initially shocked and repulsed, Shin, develops a bizarre symbiotic relationship with the parasyte (named "Lefty"), and they start getting into some freaky situations. Parasytes can sense each other's presences, and all the other parasytes are very interested in Shin and Lefty, who may be the only human/parasyte hybrid alive. Fortunately, Lefty is super-fast, super-strong, and can morph himself into razor-sharp blades and slice people up like pastrami. Of course, so can all the other parasytes....

You get the idea. This pilot volume -- there are twelve in all -- is basically a series of disturbing scenarios designed to integrate us into the world of parasytes. There is, of course, the integral scene where a parasyte splits open like a flower and eats its host's wife's head in a single bite. And the scene where Shin and Lefty encounter a flying monster-dog. And the one where an escaped lion foolishly attacks a parasyte named Mr. A, with unpleasant results. There's an awful lot of gore in this series, what with innocent and not-so-innocent people getting torn limb from limb, devoured, stabbed, decapitated, blown up, vivisected, and so on. And then there's the hilariously over-the-top moment when Lefty demonstrates his knowledge of the male reproductive system. This may turn off a lot of people, but I really don't think you're supposed to take this very seriously. Later on in the series, things becomes more serious as Shin's battle with the parasytes gets personal and he begins to doubt his humanity.

"Parasyte" is well-drawn, with a simple black-and-white format and a more realistic style than a lot of anime. It's well-written, and well-translated for American readers. It's well-paced, with lots of twists and turns to keep your interest and make you wonder what messed-up thing's gonna happen next. And it's well-conceived. The whole "Aliens-Taking-Over-Our-Bodies" thing has been done so many times, but never quite like this. Kudos to Iwaaki! I highly recommend "Parasyte" to anyone who likes some good, bloodcurdling fun.

I haven't said this about any book, TV, or manga series, but I'll say it now: this is a series people need to read at least once in their life. Not for the gore, the violence (which is an added bonus for those of you who like it), or the supposed 'hot' main character, but because it does what the Japanese manga artists do best, questions reality. The plot may seem initially cliche if you just read it from the back, aliens taking over human bodies, but it's actually nothing like the normal cliche.

The greatest thing about this series is that Shin is not your idea of a hero, in fact he's very human (at least he is at the beginning, but I won't spoiler it all for you.) As the plot progresses, he questions his emotions, thoughts, actions, and even what it means to be human. Not only that, but the parasyte on his left hand, who the translators call Lefty (it was 'Migi' which means 'right' in the Japanese version, but it was switched around when they flipped the pages) stops Shin from telling anyone about the parasytes by threatening to...well...chop off his arms, legs, ears, and/or nose, stopping Shin from doing any serious herois deeds that the main characters do in normal action series. But one of the greatest concepts was (*spoiler alert*) later in the series where a convict that had commited gruesome murders is used for recognizing Parasytes. Did I say gruesome? I mean GRUESOME. This guy makes the 'mincemeat murders' (aka the parasyte feeding grounds) look like childsplay. This put next to Tamara saving Shin, suggests that there are monsters in the human gene pool that are worse than any parasytes who are monstrous on the outside.

As far as the art goes, I love it. I myself am a fan of CLAMP and other such Manga artists, but I found the realistic, bold style of Hitosi refreshing, and it has influenced my own style greatly. The only problem, though, is that the characters sometimes seem stiff, especially the guys in suits.

As a last comment, I will say not to judge the series by the first book. I will put it bluntly, there are many better volumes than number one. If anything, read it to understand the rest. I've probably said it a million times, but volume #3 is possibly the best manga you could possibly ever pick up. No joke.

There's a review that says someting like "Go Parasyte! it's got blood!" Wow. Violence does not a manga make. Parasyte is very,very good, even with it's liberal amount of gore. The charicters are realistic and the art is good, although if really big, brightly colored hair is your thing you will be dissapointed. Parasyte is Great.Get it now! .

"Parasyte 1" was originally published in Japan in 1990, this particular translation is from 1998. I don't know anime, but I know what I like. I know even less about manga. Still, I was recommended this, since I'm a fan of sci-fi, and I quite liked it.

A Parasyte, possibly from outer space, invades Shin's home and tries to get into his brain through his arm, but gets stuck in his left hand, where he mutates. Parasytes have lots of special properties. They can talk, morph into all sorts of shapes, can sense what its host is feeling. A lot of the issue sees Shin and "Lefty" getting used to life with each other, while discovering what the Parasytes really are.

It's pretty exciting stuff.

This series clearly owes its existence to Nagai Go's classic Devilman. Whereas Nagai's work is a product of the cold war socio-political reality with its apocalyptic dualist themes, this one is more in a post-industrial globalist mode with its emphasis on ecological symbiosis. And as such it is a scathing critique of modern egocentricity, which is in fact just another name for rationalism. The ending is perhaps something of an anti-climax and borders on naivety, but it will no doubt make you think and ponder about what it means to "live" with others. Leaving aside all the gory scenes that the series contains, this could perhaps be used as a secondary-school textbook under the strict guidance of an informed instructor.

In this, the first book of the Parasyte series, we are introduced to the main character and shown how he came to share his body with an alien entity, the Parasyte. The unsuspecting Earth has been invaded, and there is major trouble afoot! Who will save humanity?

The Parasyte series is enthralling and astounding, full of awesome black and white drawings, cool plot twists, and shocking gore! Exciting and entertaining, heart wrenching and touching, this series will keep you up late at night, wondering if you're next..... :)