Izumi High School
A quiet high school in Fukuyama, Hiroshima, where a senior student hides an alien in his right hand.
Izumi High School is the high school attended by Shinichi Izumi, a 17-year-old male student who lives with his mother and father in a quiet neighborhood in Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan. The school serves as the setting for Shinichi's daily life as he attempts to maintain his humanity while hiding his partial transformation after a Parasite, Migi, takes over his right hand. It is where he interacts with classmates and faces the growing threat of other Parasites who devour humans as food.
Quick Facts
- Primary location
- Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan
- Key attendees
- Shinichi Izumi, Satomi Murano
Lore & Background
Izumi High School is located in Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan, and is attended by Shinichi Izumi, a high school senior. The school represents the ordinary teenage life that Shinichi struggles to preserve after a Parasite fails to take over his brain and instead infects his right hand, naming itself Migi (from the Japanese word for 'right'). The halls and classrooms become a backdrop for Shinichi's efforts to hide his condition while dealing with other Parasites who attack him upon realizing his human brain is still intact.
The school also serves as a place where Shinichi's relationship with Satomi Murano develops, and where the contrast between normal adolescent concerns and the existential threat of the Parasite invasion is most stark. Teachers and students remain largely unaware of the true nature of the danger, creating an atmosphere of isolation for Shinichi as he navigates both academic pressures and the need to survive.
Reader's Guide
Izumi High School is the central location for Shinichi Izumi's daily life as a high school senior in Fukuyama, Hiroshima. It is where he attempts to maintain normalcy while hiding Migi, the Parasite that took over his right hand. The school provides the setting for key interactions with classmates and the ongoing struggle to survive against other Parasites. For fans, the school represents the fragile normalcy that Shinichi fights to protect, and the contrast between ordinary teenage concerns and the horror of the Parasite invasion. The series explores philosophical and psychological questions such as the meaning of humanity, humans' relationship to the environment and other species, the role of instinct and love, and the inherent anthropocentrism of morality.
Did You Know?
- Shinichi was able to prevent Migi from traveling further up into his brain, so both beings retain their separate intellects and personalities.
- The manga received the 17th Kodansha Manga Award for the general category in 1993 and the 27th Seiun Award for the best manga in 1996.
More in World & Setting
Elsewhere in Parasyte
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