A strong blend of action and provoking social commentary that is for once done well. There aren't many mangas I have read that successfully pull off both an exciting and thought provoking story, without erring on one side. Where Parasyte succeeds is in its strong and likable characters that you can't help but root for. There's tons of character development and the conclusion is a very satisfying one that finishes off a very solid story that has few flaws.

The concept is clever: a school kid gets infected by an alien who then becomes symbiotic, giving the teen unusual powers, but gradually transforming him into something less than human. This is not the only alien however, and the kid is one of the lucky few who becomes symbiotic rather than dying and being taken over by the alien, creating the conflict present in the plot. This story has many highs and lows for the protagonist, and for once I found myself rooting for and relating to his struggle. Mostly when high school characters are involved in a manga, you'll get all sorts of terrible angst or melodrama, but this manga has a good amount of subtlety.

The hits come fast and hard at certain points for the protagonist who has a horrible life as a result of the Parasyte and the other aliens. The alien becomes a character in its own right as it develops a personality and befriends the main character. You get some pretty funny wacky humour at the start, and there's always some comedy despite all the serious plot going on, except for an extremely tense conclusion that is an absolute nail biter. The other side characters, some alien and some that are school friends, all serve a good purpose in development for the main character. I'd like to have gone over a few specific moments I loved here but I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone who wants to read this manga.

As far as action goes, this series doesn't have the flashiest of fights or anything. It's not a fighting series but the action is fun enough to keep you interested. The Parasyte gives the protagonist certain powers like massive stretchy limbs or very precise aim, and the predictable superhuman strength, but mostly the fights come down to him having to outsmart his opponents. This can require some ingenuity on his part or teamwork with the Parasyte and the stakes are always high and at the same time, realistic. As the story has so many tragic poignant moments and no filler, suspension of disbelief actually works. Again I wouldn't want to spoil any of this specifically, but there's not nearly as much plot armour as you'd think, it's refreshing after so many supposedly mature series that follow the same set of clichés,

The art is one area I may want to criticize slightly as it's not the greatest art. It's of its time, this is a fairly old manga now, around 30 years. It's pretty simplistic and while it has its moments, such as awesome detailed gore and other great bits and pieces, especially in the first few chapters, the simplistic 80s style of the humans can become a little tiresome. There aren't any good human designs, though it's par for the course compared to the average modern anime and there's at least great designs for the aliens and so on. (Off topic, the anime adaptation really manages to impress me with how it changes (see: ruins) several of the human characters by modernizing them to look like sissy losers because it's set in current day Japan.)

As far as complaints go, this is a very solid manga with little negative to say. There were a few moments that made me go "Huh?" Namely one of the plot twists about the corruption sub-plot's major players, and some of the wackier parts can be a bit too silly. The villains aren't too numerous, what is there is well done and I loved the final major alien confrontation. Even the very last confrontation had me second guessing what might happen. The plot is not that riveting and definitely could've done more with the corruption sub-plot. What is bad is merely stuff I feel could've been done slightly better, but overall this is simply a great manga that I find hard to imagine anyone wouldn't enjoy.