Rating: 
Summary: Munch, Munch...
Review: "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.
Rating: 
Summary: surprisingly perceptive, extremely creative
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A shonen manga for all of us.... ^_^;;
Review: For those of us who enjoy all types of manga! With plenty of action (ok, a little violence...*sweatdrop*), and plenty of personal relationships and drama, the story will take you on an insane ride through the life of Shin (and, yes, he's cute!) who's left hand was infected by one of the strange Parasytes... now he and Lefty are on a hunt to find other parasytes. Be sure to look for the second book... It's a shonen manga even girls can enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: If you like macabre stories and dark comedy...
Review: Get this! Parasyte is my favorite manga. It is very dark, with lots of violence, but the author has a great sense of humor and a talent for making you care about his characters. This is one of the few comics that had me so inthralled at one point that I almost cried. I'm not kidding. If you like stories with a heavy science fiction/fantasy influence, like Aliens, The Last Starfighter, Enemy Mine, and even the new Farscape TV show, you will probably love this. But I'm warning you, don't take the picture on the front cover lightly, this isn't for the faint of heart.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Manga!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Yeah...
Review: I do think that I need to say to start out with that certain people need to remember that "manga" is as broad a category as "novels" in America, that there are all different subjects and USUALLY one is not a reader of "novels," but a reader of "horror novels," or "fantasy novels," even getting more specific. Americans should remember that each manga is written for a specific audience, not for everyone in general, and that they are not eexpected or even encouraged, as a reader of manga, to like ALL manga. It would be akin to liking "TV" meaning ALL tv. That said... this is definately a good example of manga for an older male teen audience. Though, it does boast many fans in other categories, as well. I myself first read this as a 14 year old girl and enjoyed it for its strong, realistic style and story that the author works hard to make believable. If you don't mind violence and want to read something good, try this.
Rating:
Summary: Not so good start for an incredible manga....
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: I was so dumb...
Review: I thought they ended the series once Mixxzine went away. I bought all 12 books in the mail and I was not disappointed. I have never been so excited about a comic series before. This stuff may be gory and whatnot, but as you follow Shin (the protagonist) through the chapters, you empathize and find yourself thinking about what you would do in his place. This series capitalizes on the questions about our all too mysterious human condition, but twists it with the idea of losing that and what it means. Unfortunately, the climax of the story is sodden with silly environmentalist propaganda and emotions.
This series is one of the best stories I have ever had the pleasure of viewing. With possibilities endless and another being relying on his survival, Shin is the best, most human hero I can think of. Get the whole series now!!! You owe yourself this!!!
Rating:
Summary: Somewhere on Earth, somebody wondered...
Review: 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..... :)
Rating:
Summary: Somewhere on Earth, somebody wondered...
Review: 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..... :)
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