Review of Parasyte: The Maxim
So, the concept of this anime sounded like my cup of tea. A monster show, a horror show, some action, but more character focused with a little bit of romance, while also bringing up ethical questions. Everything from the get-go seemed like it was easily going to make its way into my top 10. But I don’t know. It just never really hit the mark for me. It’s not a bad show by any means. I wouldn’t tell anybody not to watch it and I wouldmost likely recommend it to almost anybody. It’s just nothing special, which disappointed me because everyone I had heard talk about it said it was really good.
The story is decent. There are sections where it feels like it drags, but the pacing is fine for the most part. There were a lot of annoying sections where the police would find Shinichi in what seems like a compromising position and then it just fade cuts to him a while later with that having no effect on his life. Some of my favorite scenes in anime ever are the ones where someone has a hidden power/agenda and are being questioned by someone else trying to uncover that. It feels like a cop out (no pun intended) to just cut away from these scenes, even though I want to see how he got out of it.
Some positive aspects are that the concept is very interesting. Although it could have been expanded upon more, I didn’t finish the anime thinking the story was a disappointment. The build-up is pretty good. Each episode ramps up the stakes more and more and you feel like it’s building up to something big. Although, I have to admit that some plot lines forced you to just accept that what they said is true and happening instead of showing it happen or occur. The mayor plot line specifically, but some others too.
The art in my opinion is alright. It’s not bad, but it’s not jaw dropping either. The parasite design was a bit of a disappointment. Although when they first appear, it looks awesome. Having clever and creative ways to have each parasite appear from the hosts head was my favorite part of the animation. But once they’ve appeared and start fighting it’s just muscle tentacles with a chopper at the end of it. Is this more realistic? Probably. But I was really hoping for some really cool monster designs as monster movies and shows are some of my favorite.
Sound is the weakest part of the show imo. The intro for instance, to me, is very generic. After around 3 or 4 times watching it, I wound up skipping it. There’s a lot of dubstep and edm during fights, which isn’t my favorite genre. That not to say it was bad, as it didn’t take from the overall experience, I just wished it had been more memorable. The other songs throughout the show aren’t breath taking either. Except this one piano piece, which was so recognizable that every time it played, I got slightly annoyed.
The actual sounds the parasites make was very disappointing. It sounds like someone trying to imitate Galaga or Space Invader noises with their mouth, which is really jarring from these (sometimes) horrible looking (in a good way) creatures coming to kill you. That's not to say I want the generic stupid squishy noises a lot of other body horror anime do, but honestly, it would better than the mouth *whishes* the parasites get.
The characters were enjoyable, but nothing special. Shinichi has some decent development throughout the episodes and I though he was a decent protagonist. Migi on the other hand had no discernible development until literally the last 3 episodes. Without giving spoilers, there’s one episode where Migi looks like they’re starting to question themselves and their existence. Then it’s never mentioned again until that 3rd to last episode. It felt very jarring to have such a sudden change of character all of a sudden. Everyone else excluding Ryouko had their personalities and that was that, which is fine. I don’t personally mind if shows don’t have character development, as long as the characters are fun or interesting to watch, which for the most part, they were.
One thing that I want to mention is that the show got really preachy towards the end out of the blue. It had brought up a couple ideas before, but the message by the end didn't even fit with what the rest of the show was showing us as the message throughout. It's not even that it wasn't philosophical or made me think about the world, it was just almost laughable going from the intensity of the final episodes to almost an entire episode being dedicated to the (what felt like) ham-fisted message. It wasn't so bad it took away enjoyment, but it was somewhat jarring.
Overall, I enjoyed it, but it was a disappointment to be sure, especially with all the great things I heard about it. I was waiting for the episode that would hook me and make me completely invested in the story, ideas or characters, but it never came. It was just okay throughout.