Review of Parasyte: The Maxim
Parasyte is one of my favorite animes I've had the pleasure of viewing in a while. I'll divvy up the main categories of the anime so that they can be fully digested as intended. SPOILERS AHEAD INCLUDING CHARACTER DEATHS! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED Story (9): The story was strong at first when there was a very intense level of mystery, paranoia, and danger. The characters were all clueless, including (surprisingly) Migi, seeing as he did mature quite a bit over the anime despite being smart from the beginning. However, I feel like the story dropped off a tiny bit after Tamiya Ryoku died, I really enjoyed hercharacter and the element she brought to the anime. The concept of humanity facing a doomsday crisis in the form of parasitic creatures that transform the nightmares we have into reality is not original, but done extremely well in this anime. I think, although not explored as much as I had liked, they did a fair job at introducing the idea of humanity struggling to feel justified when one of their own dies but hardly feeling anything at all when they take life from another creature, much less the Earth herself. This concept felt almost rushed towards the last ten episodes and only mentioned a handful of times. I think they left a healthy amount of the origin of the parasites up to imagination and your own interpretation though. I wasn't able to stop watching it, and my heart felt weird after ending it, so that's how I know an anime made an impact on me.
Art (8):
I would've given this section a lower score had they not animated the fight scenes so incredibly well. Seriously, most animes don't give two sh*ts about animating fights, but this one did. The character design is super simple though. I say that, but understand that I found their facial expressions and the way they animated the monsters to be chilling and terrifying. Their hair, clothes and general demeanor are all generic though, even Shinichi to some degree.
Sound (6):
Scoring low is the soundtrack. They reused the same three songs over and over again. I don't know what else to say other than they could've done better. But the intro slaps!
Character (7):
The girl characters were mediocre at best save Tamiya Ryoko. She was the only one with real, palpable character development. She transcended what she was when she became a living being into something completely different. Kanna and Satomi were boooooring. They brushed off Kanna's ability to sense parasites by saying she was clairvoyant and that was that. Satomi embodies the classic damsel in distress trope. Very little independent thought (also what was that random sex scene?? seriously what was that? they put it in there for absolutely no reason and after a very draining experience no less). Unfortunately a lot of anime falls into this with their female characters.
Migi and Shinichi went through tremendous self-discovery in comparison, Migi even moreso than Shinichi I'd argue. I felt Shinichi's pain through the screen in a lot of scenes. They did well with him. Again, their facial expressions in this anime really sold it for me. They committed themselves to a horror anime through and through with some much needed comic relief.
Overall (9):
What a great anime. I finished it in three days. Definitely worth watching, and it will stick with you afterwards, hoping for more but knowing you have closure anyways. I wouldn't say it's as deep as everyone thinks, but it definitely encourages the viewer to confront unsavory truths with a strong dose of horror. Commit some hours to this one, you might like what you see.