Review of Parasyte: The Maxim

Kiseijuu (I'm just going to call it "Parasyte" from now on) is an adaptation from an over 20 year old manga by Hitoshi Iwaaki. The premise of Parasyte is nothing new by today's standards of anime or science fiction in general, but considering the source material's age, it's quite impressive and I think Madhouse did a pretty good job bringing it into animation form. One of Parasyte's strongest aspects in my opinion was the great dynamic between the two main characters, Shinichi and his parasitic "buddy" Migi and how they have to start co-existing with each other after the plot kicks in. Said plot flowspretty well for the most part and our two heroes always have something to do. This starts from Migi learning how the modern world functions by reading books or even surfing the web, to roaming the streets and interacting with other human beings at school, to fighting other Parasytes who - unlike Migi - have taken over their host's complete brain and body and start killing and eating people all over town in a not really subtle way.

But of course the threats get bigger and the stakes are raised quite often as the story progresses and this leads to some well-done character development for Shinichi and even Migi, who at first only has his own survival in top priority. The character development really feels natural and there weren't any parts which stroked me as odd or forced, except for the characters suddenly having to spout preachy monologues near the end of the show. But sadly the praise in the character department pretty much ends there, since the supporting cast is rather lacking to say the least, especially the female ones. Shinichi's somewhat girlfriend and her friends take the cake, their personalities are rather flat and one-noted and they seem like plot devices serving to Shinichi unfolding as a character and occasionally driving the story along. Not to say that they are terrible, but it just seems ironic to me that the Parasyte Migi feels more human than some of the actual humans in the series. There are some other stand-out characters as well, especially the Parasyte called "Tamura Reiko" who has an interesting character arc and makes for an intriguing sort-of antagonist from the beginning to the mid-portion of the plot, she was a good addition to the cast and allowed the alien Parasytes to be seen from a completely different light.

One thing I particularly liked about the show was that it didn’t fall apart at a certain point; it practically stayed true to itself and even took some time to introduce us to the protagonist’s daily life world before everything went more or less to shit. It also didn’t go down the wrong path and turned into a mindless fighting Shounen in which fan’s most discussed topics revolve around power levels and how cool the masks look (I don’t care about how the manga is) instead of themes or characters. It sadly took some head scratching detours at times and even became a bit preachy near the end. The ending wasn’t exactly what I would call a satisfying climax either, but the writing stayed consistent, the pacing was solid with hardly any downtimes and there was barely any filler content, if at all.

Parasyte also has its fair share of action bits and Studio Madhouse did a good job at them for the most part, but you can clearly notice that they spread their budget too thick in the beginning and the quality of the animation dropped noticeably after the first six or so episodes, which was very disappointing, but they’ll probably fix the biggest issues In the Blu-Ray release anyway, which I am not reviewing right now, though. While there were some really detailed and very fluid bits of animation in some fight scenes, the character models became quite inconsistent as the show went on and there was quite some detail put into some scenes, but others were plain awful. Character models also look rather plain and they often use cheap 3DCG to animate non-important pedestrians or crowds of students for example, which looks jarring. It really looked downright average at some points, which is not understandable considering they often delayed episodes for a week or so. The general directing and presentation of the show felt a bit underwhelming as well at times, but to the show's credit it used some well made visuals effects in some fights or dream like sequences of Shinichi and others.

In terms of sound many people’s first complains were “The dubstep sounds like shit”, and they weren’t completely wrong, but the soundtrack does have its moments and when it wants to shine, it definitely does. Not all tracks have this dubstep tunes to them and are quite beautiful to listen to, even on their own. The Opening and Ending Themes are a mixed bag as well. While I think the Ending Theme – while not being bad - was quite out of place in the beginning, it fit almost perfectly near the end of the show. But! And that’s a big BUT; I found the Opening Theme to be really atrocious. In terms of music AND vocals, I couldn’t even recognize if they were singing in Japanese or English, it was definitely a mood killer at some points.

Thankfully the voice actors did a great job on all fronts, from Shinichi and Migi, who were voiced absolutely brilliant, to some of the shorter appearances as well. All the needed emotions came across believable and the voices matched their looks nicely too. No complains there.

Now it’s time for the final verdict:

Parasyte is a nicely written show with a great duo of main characters which mostly stays true to what it initially sets up and some really gripping moments, it was a master of tension at some points. The presentation might be a bit lacking, the show's budget was mishandled and the soundtrack mostly consisting of dubstep and the rather lackluster appearing ending might not match everyone’s tastes and expectations, but it remains a well done Sci-Fi thriller with some interesting ideas, a well fleshed out and natural setting with only a few loose ends. If you like these types of stories or especially if you’re a fan of shows like Tokyo Ghoul, but don’t mind the lesser focus on action but more on characters and plot, I can definitely recommend this show to you. It’s one of the better shows to come out of 2014 and even 2015 so far for sure.

RATING:

STORY SECTION: 8/10
Premise 2/2 (interesting)
Pacing 2/2 (fast with no real downtime and basically filler free)
Complexity 1/2 (not much)
Plausibility 2/2 (set up its world and mechanics very well)
Conclusion 1/2 (a bit underwhelming, but solid)

CHARACTER SECTION: 8/10
Presence 1/2 (except the main two fairly generic)
Personality 2/2 (some are strong, some are weak, but well founded)
Backdrop 1/2 (there is some far and few in between)
Development 2/2 (great and natural development on the main characters)
Catharsis 2/2 (solid)

ART SECTION: 6/10
General Artwork 1/2 (basic)
Character Figures 1/2 (rather samey with mostly no distinct features)
Backgrounds 1/2 (rather generic but solid)
Animation 1/2 (good in the beginning, got weaker later on)
Visual Effects 2/2 (some nice touches here and there)

SOUND SECTION: 7/10
Voice Acting 3/3 (pretty good performed all around)
Music Themes 2/4 (I didn’t like the dubstep, some other tracks were good to great)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok, I guess)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 6/10
Art 0/1 (looks fairly generic)
Sound 1/2 (songs are a mixed bag but the voice acting is good)
Story 2/3 (presented nicely for the most part and was engaging, meh ending)
Characters 3/4 (great main characters but mostly forgettable side characters)

VERDICT: 7/10