Review of Parasyte: The Maxim

Exists as an allegory for the toxicity of humanity to Earth, and focuses on the hypocrisy and lack of logical consistency of anthropocentrism, most specifically in regard to treatment of animals and general exploitation/pollution of the environment. The writer very clearly wanted to design a shonen masque around this central idea, and created 3-4 major plots points to continue engaging the viewer so they could eventually express their ideas. Aside from these few points, most of the show exists either in a lull, or in a state where the main character has no influence or part of the events taking place. Even when these majorpoints are hit, the author could have had better understanding and clarity when expanding his thesis and examining human society.

The idea of altruism deconstructs most of the characters "motives", and is only barely touched on at the very end of the show. Feels like something they found out or finally thought about 15 episodes in when they touch on it, realized their mistake, and just pushed the story into a place where altruism no longer would be a character motive.

Many character lines are simply repeated over and over again, as if the writer had no understanding or willingness to further flesh out any of the supporting characters beyond what bare minimum role they had to play. The few main characters though do develop well and transition with decent seamlessness. Some main character lines are awkward or misplaced, but all in all pretty consistent.

Sound was fine. Some of the random dubstep tracks distracted from the medium, and some of the battle foley certainly were not selected or produced correctly. Animation was Madhouse (great). Enjoyable enough to be recommended.