First of all, I took my time thinking and reading
all previous comments about the whole thing after whole day binge finishing this.
To be fair, I picked this up in my Kodansha hunting for old aesthetic to study about, as for this, it won 1993 general Kodansha so I thought it was 1990s manga (I'll explain later). Sci-fi, action specifically shounen or lovey-dovey roundabout romance of shoujo aren't my cup of tea. But upon reading this, expecting the contents to be as bad as the cover (still classic horror 1990s poster lmao), it naturally took my most attention and joy reading it. A few things to elaborate:
Plot wise, it's really tight in most areas I couldn't think of plot holes except for some which I, too, will elaborate later here. Unique storytelling, sorta reminded me of E.T (1982). I freaking love bits of laugh I got from this series thanks to interesting characters. Loose ends: the baby, the military operations because it felt like too stereotypically messy unlike the whole story.
Character wise, let's just say everyone played well. I love bromance btwn Shinji and Migi which was why I stayed in first place. A few who drove me nuts up to the end: Satomi the most because of her being too sensitive and nosey despite all humanity parts on her, slightly irrelevant but her hairstyle and her overall mom like personality, got me mistaking her for a mom as some commenters have pointed out previously, the nosey detective who didn't listen and messed up so bad.
In the other hand, who got my most interest aka my fav characters whom other commenters also said same thing: Tamura, she was the femme fatale who gave noir vibes of this story, every single of her scene never failed to intrigue me, too bad she uselessly died. Migi and Shinji themselves, Shinji reminded me of Jung from Cheese in the Trap (manhwa) with him slowly turning into a nice psychopath. The realism in this whole character development was outstanding, he was different to most shounen characters I've observed. To the point I fell love with him, sob sob. Kana, her sharp sense, humor, a bad girl, and carefree she was, indeed lotsa better compared to doubtful Satomi who would have slowed Shinji. She could be useful but too bad Kana didn't listen to Shinji's advice at all, she got it coming. But still, she should've survived it. Mori Udo and Parasa, they were second the most who got me good laughs as they were cute. As for the bad parasite, I think it was that expressionful guy who was after Shinji as he was that typical villain but he possessed somewhat 1980s-1990s villain characteristics. And lastly but not the least, the baby. I kept wondering whether the baby turned out. If only Shinji took him under his wing because Tamura gave him to Shinji after all, it would have made a whole thing more interesting. This baby is the loose end I wanted to know the most. The village girl second, idk whether she died.
Aesthetic wise, it felt like 1980s drawing from their face and good fashion but 1990s feel too, so I did my research here. Apparently it was released in 1988 until 1996, so it explained why. The cover, they could have done better. Crystal clear drawing, realism. Panels easy to follow. Solid.
In short, it hit all the marks. Worthy to be one of best sci-fi mangas, specifically best 1980s-90s to highlight for. Great opening (like that dog's wonder on the parasite), it got loosened midway thru the story because of the deaths of favourite characters, and the ending was cool and all philosophical but I honestly didn't care about Satomi much so meh.
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