Kiseijuu
Premising that I like science fiction, and the related mangas make me crazy, I can only begin with a comment more of a fan than a reviewer: LEGENDARY!
Kiseijuu (released in italy as Kiseiju - L'ospite indesiderato) is the one that impressed me the most for two reasons: the first is the remarkable story that is very reminiscent of Cult - Movies; the second is the output cadence : ... smile! You do not understand? But yes, come on, it has the same cadence as 'Legend of Mother Sarah'! What did you say? Is that also from Phoenix too? Mmmh... but isn't Phoenix the publishing house that has indefinite deadlines?
Well, apart from these reader considerations let's move on to the analysis of this work. "One day someone on earth thought ..." (and this is already science fiction, if you will!) "... if the world's population were halved, a few fewer forests could be burned..." (yes, the request of toothpicks and matches would drastically decrease!) "...if the population of the world were a hundredth of the current one, the quantity of poisons discharged into the environment could be a hundred times lower..." (wow, what do you mean? If we eliminated all people with bad breath and gas in their stomach ... ooops, why are you looking at me like that?) "'one day someone thought of giving a future to the earth and its creatures".
This, aside from my silly comments, is the creepy beginning of Kiseijuu. We see the deposit on the earth of strange 'spores', the size of tennis balls, from which strange creatures emerge, similar to snakes, with various antennas on the 'head' and a kind of drill on the 'tip'. These little animals enter houses and, penetrating the ears of the sleepers, slip into their heads devouring their brains and replacing their 'guest'!
But one of these enters the house of Shinichi Izumi, the usual high school student, who is listening to the Walkman! But, while the 'snake' is trying to enter through the boy's nose, he unconsciously grabs it and throws it away, frightened; having thrown himself in search of the alien organism, the latter jumps on Shinichi entering his arm, who blocks its ascent by tying his arm with a rope!
And so Shinichi finds himself living with a strange creature: his left arm! Well, these creatures can modify the structure of the organ they possess at will, making it extensible like a rubber band and very hard like steel; moreover, a not superfluous little detail, they tend to feed on human beings!
Mancy, this is the name of the being that lives in Shinichi's left hand, is still an intelligent, curious creature, and immediately learns to read, write and speak, in order to provide useful information to understand where it comes from. But most parasites aren't that kind, and neither is Mancy, since she has to live with Shinichi whose blood she feeds on!
Each parasite, in fact, thinks only of feeding on human beings and can commit all kinds of cruelties, as it can easily change its face and not be recognized.
However, even the parasites are not immortal, since if the host body dies, they die with it (as evidenced by some fights between Mancy-Shinichi and some of his ilk!). During the first volume we will be able to learn numerous things about the parasites, for example the fact that it is impossible for them to reproduce, that they manage to detect the presence of other companions through their brain waves and, absolutely singular, none of them remember where they come from, or where he was born from, which leads the protagonist to assume that the nature of Mancy and company is alien; however Mancy doesn't think he's from outer space...
Well, that's enough, I've told you too much! I am of the opinion that we are dealing with a very good work! The line is a bit old-fashioned (it's a 1990 manga), but absolutely functional! The story is fascinating, even if a Science Fiction purist might turn up his nose saying that he doesn't introduce anything new into the landscape!
Well, that doesn't interest me, as I find that one of the strengths of this manga lies in the relationship that develops between Shinichi and the alien, which can vaguely recall the one between Ushio and Tora, only that, in this case, Mancy comes across as more of a cold scholar, not Shinichi's enemy but not his friend either!
The edition is very good: no plates cut with the Cleaver (like Berserk!), laminated cover with accurate graphics. Recommended to everyone.
