Review of Parasyte: The Maxim
Parasyte the Maxim is perhaps the most entertaining, yet disjointed show I have seen over the past year. The premise is simple; one day parasytes turn up in Japan (or across the globe, it's not known) taking over human bodies and using their human hosts to feast on other humans. Shinichi, our 17 year old protagonist, has his right arm taken over by a parasyte, Migi, and must learn to survive and co-exist with the parasyte while fighting other parasytes. This is a great premise, however the execution of the story that follows is flawed. There are two things that are consistent in Parasyte; the youngfemale characters are stupid and plot points being forgotten. Murano, the female lead, is both annoying and useless. Most of her interactions with Shinichi involve her creating drama for no reason or simply being stupid. There's one scene where Shinichi carries Murano, jumps three stories and lands on his feet unscathed and she doesn't question whether anything supernatural is occuring, instead only looking back on that moment to remember that Shinichi is actually a caring person. Kana isn't much better, being hopelessly in love with Shinichi for no reason other than being able to "feel" his presence, something that is never explained.
The general public in Parasyte are also quite stupid. There are hundreds of murders occuring frequently and yet there's no panic or change in the way the public behaves. After the mass murder at Shinichi's high school, the school is open the very next day as if nothing happened. The police are mostly clueless about what's going on, especially during the raid later in the show where they carry out one of the worst plans to attempt to discover hidden parasytes, leading to most of them being killed.
As for plot points being forgotten, this leads to the show feeling disjointed. For a while Shinichi is under suspicion by the police, but that ends up being forgotten. His father appears to be a part of the investigation but that is also forgotten. Tamiya Ryouko's whole plotline ends up going no where with her concluding that the parasytes are weak, when the whole show up until that point has shown that parasytes are, in fact, the opposite of weak. This makes the show feel like it lacks direction and makes it unclear what the end game is. When the ending does come around, many of the issues of having parasytes existing amongst society aren't solved.
The take home message from Parasyte is that humans are the same as animals and that we should treat animals with respect. There's nothing inherently wrong with this message. However, the method Parasyte chooses to deliver this message is awkward at best. Characters would monologue this message multiple times throughout the show, or the show would create characters to prove this point, for example, Uragami. The only points where the show attempts to explore these ideas come from the discussions between Migi and Shinichi, but these discussions don't really test the idea well.
Nevertheless, Parasyte is an entertaining show. The dynamic between Shinichi and Migi is captivating and holds the series together. The way both characters grow together feels natural. Seeing how they overcome great odds to survive is incredibly thrilling. The action scenes, while hard to relate to due to the blades moving at hyperspeed, are full of tension since they have real consequences that are felt by Shinichi. It also helps that some of the side characters, such as Uda and Kuramori, play their part well and are easy to empathise with, while Gotou is a fearsome villain.
The technical aspects are worth a mention. The gore is depicted well in Parasyte, however I hear that the manga has even more gore. The animation during the action scenes are satisfactory, but there isn't anything unique. The use of dubstep does put some people off, however it doesn't seem out of place. The voice acting is high quality, which is expected considering there are some big names in the cast of Parasyte.
If you wish to watch an anime which involves nice action scenes, gore and are able to tolerate moments of stupidity, this show will be great entertainment and I definitely recommend it. The journey that Shinichi embarks on is memorable and should leave you satisfied.