Hitoshi 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.
So this is a quite violent series, with more its share of both blood as it is wont with Samurai mangas. But still quite a sensible portrait of a young girl wishing death in a men’s world after loosing everything, and then regaining a zest for life by the kindness and example of people who both rely on, and cherish, her.