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Parasyte Full Color Collection 8
280 pages, Hardcover
Published October 22, 2024
71 people want to read
About the author
Hitoshi Iwaaki
166 books199 followersHitoshi Iwaaki (Japanese: 岩明均 Hepburn: Iwaaki Hitoshi, born July 28, 1960) is a Japanese manga artist, whose works include the science-fiction/horror series Parasyte. The Mixx editions of Parasyte romanize his name as "Hitosi Iwaaki", while the Del Rey Manga editions use "Hitoshi Iwaaki".
In 1993, he received the Kodansha Manga Award for Parasyte. He was a finalist for the 2005 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Grand Prize for Historie. In 2010 Historie took the grand prize in the manga division of the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival.
In 1993, he received the Kodansha Manga Award for Parasyte. He was a finalist for the 2005 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Grand Prize for Historie. In 2010 Historie took the grand prize in the manga division of the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 13, 2025
EN Shinichi proved that being human is about more than just DNA. The relationship between him and Migi was captivating and deeply meaningful.
A phenomenal conclusion to an exceptional series!
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PT Shinichi provou que ser humano é muito mais do que apenas ADN. A relação entre ele e Migi foi cativante e profundamente significativa.
Um desfecho fenomenal para uma série excecional!
A phenomenal conclusion to an exceptional series!
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PT Shinichi provou que ser humano é muito mais do que apenas ADN. A relação entre ele e Migi foi cativante e profundamente significativa.
Um desfecho fenomenal para uma série excecional!
October 24, 2024
This series was incredible, and I cried. Shinichi and Migi will stay with me for a long, long time.
May 9, 2025
This is a review for the entire series.
Amazing from start to finish. The artist/author set out to create something exciting and interesting from start to finish, and he accomplished that.
I love the characters. I love the characters' relationships. I like the light hearted moments, the serious moments, the suspenseful moments, the sad moments, even the romantic moments. I like the philosophical discussions of humanity and nature, and the nature of humanity. This series was a blast to read, I devoured all eight volumes in like two weeks. I was pacing myself at first, but the last three volumes were so good, I raced through them.
I cannot recommend Parasyte by Hitoshi Iwaaki enough, and I'm so grateful for my wife who gave me the first three volumes as an anniversary gift, because she thought it might be my kind of thing. It absolutely was.
Amazing from start to finish. The artist/author set out to create something exciting and interesting from start to finish, and he accomplished that.
I love the characters. I love the characters' relationships. I like the light hearted moments, the serious moments, the suspenseful moments, the sad moments, even the romantic moments. I like the philosophical discussions of humanity and nature, and the nature of humanity. This series was a blast to read, I devoured all eight volumes in like two weeks. I was pacing myself at first, but the last three volumes were so good, I raced through them.
I cannot recommend Parasyte by Hitoshi Iwaaki enough, and I'm so grateful for my wife who gave me the first three volumes as an anniversary gift, because she thought it might be my kind of thing. It absolutely was.
February 26, 2026
i’ve enjoyed my time with this series. parasyte: the maxim was one of the first anime that i ever watched so it has a special place in my heart. i adored the dynamic between migi and shinichi, and found myself laughing a lot at their interactions. after developing a taste for reading manga all these years after first watching the series, i wanted to experience the story again in its original format.
i have mixed feelings about the manga. i felt that the ending was quite sudden. i would’ve liked to have seen the impact of the parasytes on a larger scale, as this was only discussed briefly. however i do understand why the author may have wanted to end the story where he did. personally it just felt like shinichi was on a path for greater things, and that the main villain was defeated quite fast.
i would’ve liked to have seen migi’s eye on shinichi’s hand in the final panel. the creator explained that he had toyed with the idea, and i quite like it.
i have mixed feelings about the manga. i felt that the ending was quite sudden. i would’ve liked to have seen the impact of the parasytes on a larger scale, as this was only discussed briefly. however i do understand why the author may have wanted to end the story where he did. personally it just felt like shinichi was on a path for greater things, and that the main villain was defeated quite fast.
i would’ve liked to have seen migi’s eye on shinichi’s hand in the final panel. the creator explained that he had toyed with the idea, and i quite like it.
July 15, 2025
i'm not the biggest fan of the ending, but I love the series overall. I think it's an incredible commentary on humankind and the color version was stunning to see.
February 21, 2026
waaaaah this series was so good
March 3, 2026
Parasyte is hailed as an all time manga classic, but I feel like storytelling in manga has hugely improved decades later for this series to still deserve its flowers.
Firstly, for a premise this interesting, it never felt like it was properly utilised. Parasytes should be a GLOBAL issue, yet the major events all take place in a moderately large city that ISNT Tokyo, Kyoto, etc. America is offhandedly mentioned in some random police meeting, but is never explored. Thus the story moves really slowly and not enough happens for a premise of this scale. World building for a story like this should be way better. ALSO WHY DID THEY KEEP GOING TO SCHOOL LMAO
And while I actually liked the anticlimactic ending of the Parasytes quietly fading into the folds of human society, they still did not feel properly fleshed out before this conclusion. If their purpose is to cull the 'parasite' of Earth I.e humans, then why do they (or whatever sent them) care about Earth in the first place? You can argue that human's aren't born with an explained purpose - but Parasytes are literally born with the instruction to kill and eat humans. That's like if babies were born with the 10 commandments (or any other religion's equivalent) preinstalled in their brain. Its not comparable to the 3 F's either, because those are actually essential to survival. Parasytes, on the other hand, are shown to be capable of subsisting on sustenance other than human flesh. Overall the ecological angle of this story feels tacked on - a lot of interesting things are said, but they feel separate to the story and largely contrived.
Now the characters. Shinichi’s character arc is interesting, but do people genuinely believe his increased apathy is because of the Parasyte cells? His mother’s corpse was taken over by a monster and he had to watch it die - not before it stabbed him through the heart. If the idea that Migi causes Shinichi to PHYSIOLOGICALLY become more parasytic is true, then what a waste. I’ll assume it isn’t, since emotional stunting as a result of trauma better feeds into the idea that humans and Parasytes are more alike than we think.
On the other hand, Migi's character arc feels a bit cheap and unearned. You can argue that he was showing hints of his growing selflessness throughout the story through defending Shinichi and saving his life by restoring his heart. However, the excuses he provides for this behaviour (mainly his self-interest in keeping Shinichi alive) are technically true and entirely plausible. If a character's words are meant to betray their actions, then there should be some inherent hypocrisy. Instead Migi is cold, calculating, and inquisitive, until the end when he sacrifices himself for Shinichi and suddenly has a great insight into humans. I was mainly disappointed because I loved what he had to say in the final arc, but the development from the Migi we met to the Migi we leave didn't feel entirely consistent.
Finally, there is basically nothing much to say about the other characters. The girlfriend has no personality, Shinichi's dad gets sidelined hard after his mum dies, virtually all the Parasytes are boring (Ryoko Tamiya is definitely the exception, but she felt severely underused). The psychic girl character's involvement felt like a filler arc, as if we already weren't aware of Shinichi's emotional repression. At least his mum has an actual purpose (even if it is just to be fridged).
Overall an entertaining manga with enough twists, development and gore to keep you reading, but with lazy characterisation and thematic integration (even if the themes themselves have potential). Panelling and art is ok, but nothing more. Overly reliant on expository narration, with an ok MC duo and completely forgettable cast of side characters.
5/10
Written on 3/3, edited 4/3
Firstly, for a premise this interesting, it never felt like it was properly utilised. Parasytes should be a GLOBAL issue, yet the major events all take place in a moderately large city that ISNT Tokyo, Kyoto, etc. America is offhandedly mentioned in some random police meeting, but is never explored. Thus the story moves really slowly and not enough happens for a premise of this scale. World building for a story like this should be way better. ALSO WHY DID THEY KEEP GOING TO SCHOOL LMAO
And while I actually liked the anticlimactic ending of the Parasytes quietly fading into the folds of human society, they still did not feel properly fleshed out before this conclusion. If their purpose is to cull the 'parasite' of Earth I.e humans, then why do they (or whatever sent them) care about Earth in the first place? You can argue that human's aren't born with an explained purpose - but Parasytes are literally born with the instruction to kill and eat humans. That's like if babies were born with the 10 commandments (or any other religion's equivalent) preinstalled in their brain. Its not comparable to the 3 F's either, because those are actually essential to survival. Parasytes, on the other hand, are shown to be capable of subsisting on sustenance other than human flesh. Overall the ecological angle of this story feels tacked on - a lot of interesting things are said, but they feel separate to the story and largely contrived.
Now the characters. Shinichi’s character arc is interesting, but do people genuinely believe his increased apathy is because of the Parasyte cells? His mother’s corpse was taken over by a monster and he had to watch it die - not before it stabbed him through the heart. If the idea that Migi causes Shinichi to PHYSIOLOGICALLY become more parasytic is true, then what a waste. I’ll assume it isn’t, since emotional stunting as a result of trauma better feeds into the idea that humans and Parasytes are more alike than we think.
On the other hand, Migi's character arc feels a bit cheap and unearned. You can argue that he was showing hints of his growing selflessness throughout the story through defending Shinichi and saving his life by restoring his heart. However, the excuses he provides for this behaviour (mainly his self-interest in keeping Shinichi alive) are technically true and entirely plausible. If a character's words are meant to betray their actions, then there should be some inherent hypocrisy. Instead Migi is cold, calculating, and inquisitive, until the end when he sacrifices himself for Shinichi and suddenly has a great insight into humans. I was mainly disappointed because I loved what he had to say in the final arc, but the development from the Migi we met to the Migi we leave didn't feel entirely consistent.
Finally, there is basically nothing much to say about the other characters. The girlfriend has no personality, Shinichi's dad gets sidelined hard after his mum dies, virtually all the Parasytes are boring (Ryoko Tamiya is definitely the exception, but she felt severely underused). The psychic girl character's involvement felt like a filler arc, as if we already weren't aware of Shinichi's emotional repression. At least his mum has an actual purpose (even if it is just to be fridged).
Overall an entertaining manga with enough twists, development and gore to keep you reading, but with lazy characterisation and thematic integration (even if the themes themselves have potential). Panelling and art is ok, but nothing more. Overly reliant on expository narration, with an ok MC duo and completely forgettable cast of side characters.
5/10
Written on 3/3, edited 4/3
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 16, 2025
Hitoshi Iwaaki's "Parayste Full Color Collection 8" is a fitting conclusion to the series. The writing and plotting of the series is excellent. The artwork is fine. The colorization throughout the entire series is excellent. Although some readers had a preference for the original black and white. The saga of Migi and Shinichi has a logical ending to their relationship. A relationship which is fraught with the very basic divide of alien psychology and human psychology. With the final climatic battle between Gotou and Shinichi/Migi is well done. There is more to come. Like the Ripley/Alien Queen in the processing station there is more to come in Parasyte, too. This is series has it all. Great writing, pacing and plot twists, tragedy and serious philosophical questions to boot. The artwork is also well done and fits the writing. It has won awards when it first came out. The work has stood the test of time and has been turning into anime serie and live action movies.
December 10, 2024
A masterpiece that stands the test of time and fills me with longing for more. Such a complete story with perfect character growth for Shinichi and Migi. All fiction lovers should read Parasyte!!!!!!!
November 4, 2024
It's kind of a Stephen King-esque ending to the series. It just kind of stops. It's not the worst, but not the best. It's worth a library visit for at least one read through.
January 21, 2025
if ur reading this you should ready parasyte fr fr
February 20, 2025
This ending will stay with me for a long time.
October 28, 2025
Solid ending and some direct words from the author in the final chapter.
December 2, 2025
This volume was the conclusion of the parasyte series and I’m sad it’s over. I really enjoyed this series. It was so thought provoking and made me think in a new perspective. 10/10 recommended!
January 31, 2026
This series got stronger and stronger, finishing on a very high note.
January 31, 2026
What a really good story! Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews