Before I get into the work itself I will use this part to somewhat set the tone of this review and give an insight into my mentality writing it. As of the time I am writing this in the drafts it has been exactly 2 weeks since I had finished reading Sugaru Miakis Koisuru Kiseichuu which I will be referring to as Parasite in Love from now on to make this easier for me. I had already decided I would make a review on this light novel weeks before I had initially read it as I had already read the manga adaptation prior in which I fell in love with it. I had struggled trying to handle my emotions in preparation for this review because this became a very personal work for me. This work became a piece of comfort and somewhat of a hardtoswallow pill after I realized how similar the situation in it was to a recent event I had experienced. I feel if it wasnt for said event which had left me in despair I would not have been able to love this work to the extent I do now as I would not have been able to truly understand how both the protagonists in this story feel. I pondered on how to approach this review whether it be from a purely objective thirdperson view or a more emotional and personal stance. I wondered if I should make comparisons to the manga adaptation or strictly keep it light novel. Well I think Ive managed to find a balance in that. A main goal of this review is to make it comforting for the target audience of this novel which is something personal favorite reviews of mine succeed in doing hence I would take a more emotional and personal approach. So in a way this review will appeal more to those who have already read this and had consequently fallen in love with it. Hopefully those looking for an emotional and heartbreaking tale to read will be persuaded by these words to give the light novel a chance. With all of that out of the way what mindset are you in going into this work? And for those that have read it how was your mindset after? Being aware of your own abnormality is a feature of this disorder. Those who have it dont try to make others understand. Because they acknowledge they wont be able to have peoples understanding. Have you ever fallen in love? Chances are you have. Did you at one point ever feel the love had control over you or in better words did you feel that chemical reaction in your brain became the only thing keeping you alive? Still a good percentage of people experience this but how does such a feeling come? Parasite in Love is a tragic story stemming from such a question. Two individuals isolated from people from their family from society are brought together and are able to paint each others lives. These individuals suffering from depression find unison in such and give each other all those joys they had missed out on all their lives. This brings the question why did it have to be him/her? Could have another individual not sufficed in bringing them both their respective joys? Well no. Its still something I cant fully understandeven if its something I had recently experienced but it could not have been just anyone. It had to be someone just as broken as them. Someone who was just as isolated as misanthropic someone who had been dealing with despair daily all their lives as it had to be someone who could from the bottom of their heart understand sympathize and always be there for the other. Opposites do attract but not in this case. It had to be someone who was also stuck in a hole all their lives a hole they had given up all hope of on climbing out. When this person would find another person stuck in a similar hole they would enjoy the view from the bottom of the hole together. Frankly all of Miaki novels Ive read so far follow this premise of unison in depression but Parasite in Love was the work I had felt that the most and resonated with Miaki uses parasitology to paint a picture and symbolize this depression and misanthropy that went on in the novel hence the naming Parasite in Love. It being a purely artistic choice or it being a way of getting the idea better across to readers is something Im still not sure of. It symbolizes how these isolated individuals got in unison it shows how this depression could pass on from one loved one to another and in the climax it shows how once this tragic bond is broken can completely devastate the individuals involved. The two individuals Kengo Kousaka and Hijiri Sanagi are characters you start to understand throughout the story. From the thirdperson view Miaki uses predominantly throughout the novel to the occasional firstperson view to make you understand how these two characters think and feel at a moment helps the reader to connect with these truly broken individuals they make the reader understand why theyre feeling this way at a certain point or why they commit certain actions most normal people would not. These two become support pillars for each other for integrating into society. They make the other person be able to bear with society more as they now have someone that truly understands and can resonate with them. Theyve become closer than normal couples due to this mutual brokenness and one cant help but envy such a warped bond but also root for said bond to prosper. The novel also proposes what I consider is the main focus of this work if there exists such a love between two mentally ill individuals because of said illness and they are treated will the love still stand tall? Was the love even genuine in the first place? Miaki illustrates the answer to these questions through these individuals in a way that you cant help but feel the author himself has been through this. So what if its an illusion?Whats wrong with a sham of a love? If I can be happy I dont care about being a puppet. Sugaru Miaki has not only succeeded but in my personal opinion has excelled in writing a 9chapter emotional masterpiece. A tale that had to have been backed up by research on parasitology and a personal understanding of depression a tale that wont fail to keep the average romance reader entertained with something deferring from the norm and a tale that wont hesitate in making the readers heart wrench. What I consider to be the pinnacle of his beautiful hole analogy illustrated in the Afterword to his work Itai no Itai no Tonde Yuke Parasite in Love shows you how two broken individuals find happiness in themselves and how they could always smile no matter how deep the hole is as they would have each other. Well in the end at least Im able to have this beautiful sight all to myself 220https://i.ibb.co/0y1y0hg/swan.png