Review of Parasyte: The Maxim

In depth review #7 - Parasyte: The Maxim Parasyte, without a doubt, was an amazing experience. Anyone who had watched the anime can agree with me in saying that this show was very entertaining. The brief but appropriate action scenes, the frequent cliffhangers at the end of every.....episode, and the amazing character development kept me coming back for more every week. However, the way the anime concluded left me a little disappointed. A show literally oozing with potential in the beginning of the show, felt rushed towards the last 7 episodes. Its also worth mentioning the scope of the story was very isolated. They couldof done so much more with this story, and answer so many more unanswered questions, but what can you do. It was good for what it was.

Story: 7.75 (Good)

A story about alien organisms taking over to the bodies of humans sounds awesome, but how exactly did this anime execute this premise? Well, to put it simply, it was ok. Yes, the journey, our main character, Shinichi, experiences was great, and the struggles between the duo and other parasytes where also well executed, but the scope of the story was just too small. The story is about Shinichi, but the anime is essentially about an invasion of organisms taking over humans in a modern society. The story could of had been so much more expansive and robust. Also, it's worth mentioning that the anime was heavily rushed around episode 18. One minute there's a fight, then the next minute there's scene with the government , then there's a sex scene. The pacing during this part of the show was just too haphazard for my liking. If i hadn't bashed the story enough, the ending was kind of lackluster. Not because the ending didn't make sense, or that it was bad or anything. What i didn't like about it was that there wasn't enough closure. One of the biggest questions i have about this anime was where did the parasytes originate from? I would of had thought that would be an obvious topic to cover in this show, but apparently i was wrong. At this point, you may think i hated the story, but i didn't. It was interesting, and a breathe a fresh air. I just had unrealistic goals for this anime since it was just so good in the beginning.

Animation: 6.75 (Fair)

The animation for this show was also average. Nothing more and nothing less. Most of the animation wasn't memorable but there were a couple of scenes where they used some interesting facial expressions to convey serious emotions, and drastic tension. These scenes either had me lean back a bit in my chair and say WTF is wrong with your face, or made me widen my eyes a bit and say Shit's getting real. The fight scenes between parasytes where also animated nicely. The blades clashing into one another, and the slight blood splatter was realistic and pleasing to the eye. Besides these entities however, nothing really stood out. I'm currently trying to think of a couple of scenes that i can put in this section but nothing is coming to mind. I guess this fact explains what i am trying to get at more accurately.

Sound: 8.5 (Very Good)

I admit it, i am a sucker for dubstep in anime. I personally listen the liquid dubstep and other dubstep variations, so i am extremely biased on this subject, but the music was amazing. The fact that i tried to find certain tracks after i watched to anime should give you a sense of how good the music was. If you don't like this type of music, this aspect of the show probably wont mean as much to you as it does to me, but regardless the music fit well with the anime. It was subtle, but it complemented the action, and stressful scenes very nicely. I honestly couldn't imaging certain scenes without the dubstep in the background. This anime is proof the edm can be properly implemented in anime successfully, and won't completely suck like most failed attempts did in the past. Other than the music, the voice acting was on point. I loved Migi's melodramatic tone of voice throughout the anime. Shinichi, Murano, and the other supporting characters voice actors also did a great job of realistically portraying their characters voices. I came to this conclusion after hearing there characters speak during the emotional scenes. Hearing there broken speech while crying, or while scared adds the element of realism which isn't always present in certain anime. The same can be said while characters where arguing with each other. There tone and the intensity of there voices made things seem as if i was watching an argument in real life.

Characters: 10 (Outstanding)

This anime has the best character development i have ever seen in an anime to date, hands down. It's almost shocking seeing how much a character can gradually change, and grow in only 24 episodes. All of the characters in the cast experience some magnitude of character development in the show, but the stars in my book go to Shinichi and Migi. The show introduces an interesting bleeding effect between these two characters. Since Migi and Shinichi are living in the same body, certain aspects of each other is inherited between each other. What this means is that as the show went on, Shinichi started acting more like a parasyte, and Migi started inheriting emotions like humans do. The way they introduced this and how the changes got more noticeable every episode was perfect. This was definitely the best thing that this show accomplished during its run. Something that annoyed me though was how Murano didn't stfu about Shinichi's changes for about 15 episodes straight. She was so annoying in the beginning omfg, but she did a 180 towards the end which was an improvement. Besides the main characters, there was clear character development between both species in the show (human, parasyte) which had unique changes for both. Quick examples could be seen in Shinichi's dad, and in Tomea Reiko. Overall great cast, a lot of variety, and unique character development techniques.

Enjoyment: 9 (Great)

I really enjoyed watching this anime. It wouldn't be a stretch in saying that this was one of the best anime to come out during the winter 2014 season. A lot of people can agree with me on this to. Just go on any forum or video are read the posts explaining how Parasyte > Tokyo Ghoul. What got me hooked on this show was that it kept me on the edge of my seat literally every episode. No, i don't think you fully understand. There was a cliffhanger every episode. Sometimes i was left there huffing and puffing since i came to the realization i had to wait an entire week to watch what would happen next. I really enjoyed watching this anime. The only thing that was wrong with it was that it wasn't ambitious enough, which really isn't a flaw, just my imagination running rampant. Either way, MUST WATCH anime right here. It was a roller coaster, i would recommend anyone who enjoys good anime to ride it.

Score: 8.4/10 (Very Good) - Must Watch