Parasyte

—by Michael Wieczorek

PARASYTE is a touching tale of a boy and his symbiotic alien parasite. Well... sort of. It all started when these mysterious spores from outer space came to Earth carrying an alien race known as "parasytes" inside of them. These aliens take over a human host by burrowing into the brain through the ear. Once inside, they take over the host completely and then proceed to eat other humans so that they can survive. Also, these parasites have the ability to change the shape of their human host's body.
Izumi Shin was going to be one of these human hosts, but when the parasyte went to burrow into his brain, the alien was prevented because Shin was wearing headphones. As the parasyte was trying to find another way into Shin's head, Shin woke up and the parasyte burrowed into his left hand. From this experience Shin learns about the parasyte threat and that the alien in his left hand can't leave Shin's body because if it does, it will die and Shin will lose that hand. So with the super human abilities he has gained by joining with the parasyte (who is not surprisingly enough named Lefty), Shin sets out to stop this alien invasion and protect those close to him from danger.
So what happens in the fourth volume of the PARASYTE saga? Shin's would be girlfriend Sara starts to notice a strange change in his attitude, which we know is because of his joining with a parasyte. Shin is no longer the sweet-natured boy he once was; he has now become more cold and aggressive. Also, Shin encounters another person, named Shimada, who has been taken over by a parasyte. But he seems different from other parasytes Shin has met because Shimada doesn't seem to want to kill humans. Later, we learn that Shimada isn't everything he says he is. Shin also comes across a strange girl who has the ability to sense if people are carrying parasytes. Also Shin's father finally learns about the parasyte threat from some friends of his from the police department.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect with PARASYTE when I first read it. At first glance, I figured that it wasn't that original and would only be mediocre. And I was right. Basically, PARASYTE is your standard "aliens invade Earth story and only one young boy with incredible powers can save us all" story.
In fact, PARASYTE reminded me of the classic Nagai Go epic DEVILMAN. In DEVILMAN a young boy has to be possessed by a demon so that he gains enough power to battle other demons that want to take over the Earth. And once he becomes possessed by the demon, he not only gains its powers but some of its personality. The boy changes from being innocent and timid to being aggressive and proactive. This is a lot like what happens in PARASYTE. Shin becomes possessed by a parasyte, which gives him the power to fight other aliens and in doing so, he gets some of the personality traits of his parasyte—namely becoming cold and aggressive.
Iwaaki's artwork for the book was adequate for the story he was trying to tell. It was good, but not great; just average. Like most manga, it ranged from having pretty detailed art to little detail and shading.
The dialogue for the story was all right, but I have always found the lettering for Mixx manga to be a bit odd. As opposed to comics released by other companies, which look as if their lettering was done by hand, Mixx comics look as if someone had a little too much fun with Microsoft Word. And the font size for the lettering in Mixx comics is the largest I have ever seen in any comic. Also, I don't think "?!" is a sound that people can make. Luckily, no one was shouting out the names of their super moves
Overall, PARASYTE is a fair manga. It's not great, nor is it terrible. The story isn't too original and the plot is a little predictable, but it wasn't painful to read. So if you have some extra cash lying around and nothing on the bookshelves looks terribly interesting, give PARASYTE a try.

English version published in North America by Mixx Entertainment Inc.
Vol 4 reviewed, (4 volumes released, ongoing)
178 pages; b&w
ISBN #1892213443
$11.95
Available now in the USA
Where to buy