What a perfect winter novel, chock full of self destruction and melancholy. I’m a huge fan of the liberty that Light Novel authors have when it comes to expositing their knowledge on things. As the name suggests there’s a running parasite analogy which represents the internal struggles of the main protagonists. They theorize that deep down they’re being controlled by parasites which causes their flaws to manifest be it through social ineptitude or obsessive compulsive disorder. There’s an entire chapter dedicated towards explaining the intricacies of parasite behavior, a level of detail which is maintained when describing medical terminology and technology. This feels like amore mature take on Welcome to the NHK which is fairly lighthearted in it’s presentation and a less outwardly facing ill heroine. I felt it worked much better than NHK, the novel anyway, because neither character is overwhelmingly flawed (in the sense that they don’t feel a compulsive need to be saved) and their relationship feels much more natural than the one presented through Misaki. The two protagonists are mostly licking each others wounds, easing each others suffering through their self destruction. It’s a much quieter and somber story and eases the reader into their environment rather than bombastically making them unable to take their eyes away like you would treat a brutal car accident. Different but similar stories intended for different audiences.

I only wish it were somewhat longer, chapter 6 in particular sticks out as the longest in the novel as a whole and a major halt in the pacing of the story. A bit more time with the characters and their process of rehabilitation would have been appreciated rather than subjecting it almost entirely to a singular chapter. Even a 10% increase would have been appreciated, just to build that little bit more connection and a less sudden push into the climax (although I do think it fits given the suddenness of it all).

I really appreciated that despite the themes this never felt like a pity party. Their issues aren’t thrown in your face and it’s left primarily to the atmosphere and writing, allowing the reader soak it in. As I said before they don’t hang up on the prospect of being saved (in fact Sanagi has sunk so far into self destruction that she rejects the notion) but rather it’s a natural process which slowly envelops them through their interactions. It’s a very mature take on their issues which is surprisingly rare nowadays, especially in the west where this same sort of thing would have made everything abundantly clear and removed any sort of nuance or care. Great novel, looking forward to reading the rest of his work.