Shin Izumi

"You can't just walk away now."

-Volume 08, page 167

   Shin Izumi. Devoted son. Avid reader and  hard-working student. Host to murderous alien

creature. Killer of his own "mother". Stalked by a private detective and quite possibly the

savior of all humankind.

     Now tell me--what's not to love?

Shin is hard-working, loyal, honest and good-hearted. He's strong, both mentally and (since the arrival of Lefty) physically. He's clever, he's intelligent and though he tends to think more with his heart rather than his head, he usually gets the job done in the end. In the beginning of the series, Shin is a normal, slightly unpopular Grade Elevener like you or me. Little does he know that his world is about to collapse, explode and metamorph into something even a Parasyte could never dream of.

            So why does Shin have all these self-doubts?

Shin begins to doubt his humanity seriously after the Infamous Dead Puppy Incident. After walking through a park, Shin comes across a stray puppy which has been hit by a car and left to die. Lefty informs him that the animal cannot survive in its weakened state, and the creature's heart will soon give up its hopeless battle. Shin waits on a bench with the puppy in his lap, and watches it die.

"You're not human!"

Perhaps throwing the puppy's carcass into a trash receptacle wasn't the typical human response in that situation, now was it? Shin realises that things aren't all right in Shinville when he feels no emotion for the tiny life. He buries the body, but cannot bury the doubts that are beginning to grow.

            But, uh, Shin's human, right?

Define human. Shin has a heart that was created by Lefty to save his life after being impaled through the chest by the living body of his mother inhabited by a Parasyte. The more that Lefty joins with him, the less sure anyone is. What is a Parasyte anyway? What is the line that divides human from Parasyte? You might ask the same question of Lefty. Is he truly a Parasyte any longer? Does it make a difference?

            - Watch your back -