Parasyte, by Hitoshi Iwaaki
Genre: Horror/Sci-fi | Chapters: 64
Volumes: 10 (original) / 8 (Kanzenban) / 8 (Del Ray) / 12 (Tokyopop)
This is actually a rather old manga series, though it's apparently still in the process of being republished by Del Ray Manga. (It was originally published by Mixx/Tokyopop.) In any case, I just finished reading it myself, and feel it deserves a thread. As usual, I'm curious if anyone else here has read it before. (I know I got Death to read it already, and I believe TED has read it in the past...) And for those who have read it, what do you think of it?
For those who haven't read before, here's the gist of things:
Shinichi Izumi, a Japanese high school student, has his hand infested by an alien creature referred to as a parasyte/parasite. The creature assumes control over Shinichi's hand/arm, but they come to an agreement to coexist. Elsewhere, more of these "parasytes" invade others' bodies -- most of these ones being more successful in assuming control over their brains. These others become very dangerous beings, slaughtering and devouring others, using them as a their source for food. This said, Shinichi (along with his infested hand) finds himself not only trying to fight these creatures for the sake of mankind, but simply trying to survive in this battle against the parasytes.
Of course, there's a bit more to the story than that, but you'll have to read to find it on your own.
I assume most of the members of this board are of age to be reading this, but just to be safe, I'll warn you now that there is a LOT of blood/gore in this series, as well as other potentially disturbing material. Oh, not to forget a good amount of swearing, and a little bit of nudity. If none of these pose problems for you, though, I definitely suggest giving the series a shot sometime.
By the way, Del Ray's version of volume 3 is being released at the beginning of next month.