Shinichi Izumi

Shinichi Izumi is the main protagonist of the Kiseijuu anime and manga.

Shinichi is a high school student whose right arm was infected with a parasite he named Migi.

Appearance
In the manga, Shinichi is of average height with a small build, with short black hair and black eyes. In the anime, his hair and eyes are brown, and starts off wearing large square-rimmed glasses.

He usually wears his school-uniform, consisting of a white shirt and a blue blazer, while in the manga he wears a Gakuran, an all-black, old-style japanese school uniform, with a white shirt underneath. He also tends to wear T-shirts with strangely appropriate words written on them. For example, when he first meets Migi, he has a T-shirt that says "Misery Confusion". This repeats throughout the manga.

After Chapter 12 of the manga, or Episode 5 of the anime, Izumi is left with a scar on the center of his chest and back. He becomes more muscular, and in the anime he removes his glasses, since he no longer needs them. After Chapter 17 of the manga, or Episode 7 of the anime, Shinichi begins spiking his fringe upwards. He claims to like the new look because it "looks more balanced" - symbolizing that he is no longer merely a human, and also referring to his newfound calmness and mental fortitude.

After a confrontation with Gotou, he gains a new smaller scar over his right eye.

After the one-year timeskip, he reverts back to his original hairstyle.

Personality
Initially, Shinichi is a thoughtful and nice person who cares a great deal for those around him. However, he is also considered a bit of a pushover and a wimp, due to his awkwardness and paralyzing fear of bugs. All of that starts to change after being formally introduced to and acquainted with Migi, though he is understandably horrified at first. Shinichi then becomes more aware of his surroundings and excels in sports like basketball. He also overcomes his fear of bugs, due to Parasites being much scarier, much to the confusion of his mother.

When Migi proposes that they work together by "cooperating and coexisting", Shinichi initially shows great reluctance, scared of both working with an alien symbiote and the thought of killing in order to survive. He is disgusted by the Parasites killing humans senselessly, though Migi speculates that this is because it's his species that's being eaten, and points out humans eat many different lifeforms in order to survive, and that, in a way, that makes them even worse than Parasites.

After his mother's death and his subsequent rebuild by Migi, Shinichi gains significant resolve and resilience, and is willing to risk his own life to protect his friends, family, and the public from harm. He becomes very calm and cool-headed, taking horrific events in stride without so much as flinching, a sharp contrast to his former awkward, timid self. His father even asks him outright if he's made of steel. However, he is not immune to anger, as he also shows a very vengeful side when he attempts to track down and kill the Parasite who killed his mother and took over her body, saying that the thought of such a being walking around freely makes his blood boil.

As a side-effect of fusing with Migi, Shinichi becomes somewhat distant and unsympathetic. His bond with Migi becomes stronger and he occasionally begins to think like a parasite, as how he described a dead dog's body as 'a lump of dog-shaped meat' (Migi even notes that that sounds exactly like something he would say). This change in his behaviour starts to worry those around him, especially Satomi, who often speculates if it's really him, or someone else entirely. This is made worse by the fact that Migi often threatens to kill anyone who finds out about him, and so he is unable to tell people the truth about what has happened to him.

Shinichi also gradually loses the ability to empathise with others and even his ability to cry. This is shown when he comes into his father's room at the hospital, speechless with grief, but unable to shed a single tear. It is also shown during the death of Kana Kimishima and her subsequent funeral, as he is still unable to cry despite feeling responsible, much to the disgust of Mitsuo, who speculates that he doesn't even care that she's dead. It is after this particular incident that Shinichi seriously starts to question exactly what he's turning into. After the death of Reiko Tamura, however, Shinichi reverts back to his former emotional state, finally accepting his mother and Kana's deaths and gaining the ability to cry again.

Shinichi's opinion of Parasites changes a lot over the course of the series. At first, he considers them to be monsters, due to them being responsible for the 'Mincemeat Murders'. Migi, however, points out that his kind are simply doing what is necessary to survive and speculates that Shinichi is simply disturbed that his own kind is being eaten. His belief that Parasites are monsters only strengthens after the deaths of his mother and Kana, believing that they must be wiped out and being frustrated by Migi's refusal to co-operate. After being saved by Reiko and encountering Uragami, he admits to Migi that he doesn't know what's what anymore, and starts to wonder who the real monster is.

Abilities
Before his "death" and "rebirth", Shinichi is an ordinary human teenager who mostly relies on Migi to fight the parasites.

After being saved by Migi from dying, Shinichi developed his own powers, because of having 30% of Migi's body unexpectedly dispersed as cells throughout his body. Shinichi can hear, see, and sense better than normal humans. His physical abilities greatly exceed those of normal humans.
 * Enhanced Strength: His strength has grown to the point where he can easily shatter bones if he uses enough force. Another testament to his strength is being able to smash through a person’s ribcage and throw them through a concrete wall, all while ripping out said persons heart, with one arm.


 * Enhanced Leap: Due to his newfound physical strength, Shinichi can jump at a height over 20 ft. He can also drop several stories and easily land on his feet while carrying another person.


 * Enhanced Speed & Stamina: Shinichi has shown to be able run faster than a car driving down a road. He stated that he could easily run 100 meters under nine seconds if he really tried. He is able to run and fight for long periods of time and only needs minimal time to recover.


 * Enhanced Durability & Endurance: Shinichi is able to withstand injuries that would affect a normal human. He is shown to jump from the school building at a high height while carrying Satomi and land with little consequence, barely flinch from the attacks of a grief stricken Mitsuo, was still able to run despite getting multiple cuts from Gotuo in their first fight, and even withstood the pain of getting stabbed in the left arm by Uragami and retaliate afterward in the series finale. His most epic moment of durability and endurance was shown as he got punched in the stomach by fully transformed Gotou that flung him several feet in the air and onto a pile of trash, and survived.


 * Enhanced Vision & Perception: In the anime, Shinichi originally needed glasses, though after merging with Migi, he no longer needed them. He's stated himself that he can easily see a person's face from 300 meters away. His brain is able to process visual stimulation to the point where a normal human appears to be standing still, when they're actually attacking him. He can also see how a parasite's appendages morph mid-attack to form weapons.


 * Enhanced Reflexes: Shinichi has demonstrated incredible dodging skills and agility, most notably when he becomes scared, he uses said skills to create distance between him and his opponent(s).


 * Mental Fortitude: After merging with Migi, Shinichi gains a high level of mental resilience as he walked through a hallway tainted with decapitated bodies of students with little discomfort.

Trivia

 * In the anime, Shinichi starts off with large square-rimmed glasses, but later discards them. This is most likely because when Migi enhances Shinichi's senses his eyesight is improved resulting in Shinichi no longer needing glasses.