Parasyte

(Volume 4)

by
Hitoshi Iwaaki

Del Rey, July 2008, 298 pp.
ISBN: 978-0-345-49825-0

Genre: Comics
Subgenres: Manga / Sci Fi / Horror
Reviewed: 12/6/2009

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Manga Page

Parasyte manga page

 

Synopsis

Kana awakens from a rather vivid dream about parasytes and is rescued by Izumi. She wakes up and is shocked and embarrassed by the dream. Meanwhile, a parasyte walks into a building owned by the Yukuza and kills every last one of them as an experiment.

While walking down the street with Murano, Izumi finally gets up the nerve to kiss her. Later, while Izumi is about to hop on the train, Migi warns him that there are two parasytes on the train. When they get off the train, Izumi follows them to a political rally. Migi informs Izumi that the six people standing on the platform talking are all parasytes. One of them, Hirokawa Takeshi, is running for mayor, which is unusual because parasytes don't really seem to care about humans and what they do all that much.

One day, Kana appears outside Izumi's school and informs him that she can sense parasytes. But she lies and tells Izumi that she can tell the difference between him and other parasytes. Using this power, she keeps going out looking for Izumi and pretending to run into him. During the four hours Migi is asleep, Izumi informs Kana about the parasytes and that he has one in his hand. She doesn't really believe him.

One night, Kana goes looking for Izumi and finds a parasyte feeding on a human instead. The parasyte kills her just before Izumi shows up and he ends up killing the parasyte. Mitsuo, a big high schooller, who was in love with Kana, blames Izumi for her death.

While investigating the location of Kana's death, a person takes a picture if Migi. Migi deattaches himself from Izumi and tries to kill the fleeing guy with the camera. The camera is dropped and Migi is forced to return to Izumi. But the damage is done as someone knows about Izumi and his parasytic hand now.

Parasyte: Volume 4 is written and drawn by Hitoshi Iwaaki. This story was Translated and Adapted by Andrew Cunningham and Lettered by Foltz Design. This manga book has the following chapters: 

Chapter 26: A Girl's Dream

Chapter 27: Maneuvers

Chapter 28: A Calm Day

Chapter 29: Kana

Chapter 30: Power

Chapter 31: Red Tears

Chapter 32: Tamura Reiko

Chapter 33: Witness

There are also some sections in the book for: A) Honorifics Explained, B) Translation Notes, and C) Preview of Volume 5. The book reads from right to left and back to front, just like a book from Japan. This manga book is intended for readers ages 16 and up.

 

Review

Parasyte: Volume 4 is another wonderful chapter in the Parasyte manga saga. Hitoshi Iwaaki is a wonderful story-teller and his artwork is pretty darned good. I really like the way he draws the parasytes. There is a lot of drama in this book compared to the previous books because of Kana. She is really in pursuit mode of Izumi and she will stop at nothing to have him. When Izumi  finally confides in her about the existence of parasytes, she doesn't believe him. He even tells her that he has one in his hand. What's up with that? If a person is infatuated with someone, that person could tell the other that the moon is made of cheese and the infatuated person would believe them.

I was bummed when Kana was killed because I really liked her as a main character. Izumi and Kana could have been a wonderful super-powered team, but now that is not going to happen.

The translation into English is respectable and I have no real complaints about that. After taking a break from manga for a year and a half, it is good to pick up some of the series that I really enjoyed again. Parasyte is one of my favorite manga series and I love the macabre nature of the books.

Overall, Parasyte: Volume 4 is an excellent addition to an awesome series that I absolutely love reading. Now, with Migi exposed, I cannot wait to find out what happens next in Parasyte: Volume 5.

I rated this book a 9 out of 10.

This site was created and is maintained by Conan Tigard
2009