Review of Parasyte: The Maxim

Kiseijuu sends a chill from my spine to my whole body, some scenes might be gross or unbearable for some audience. This anime is banned in China. For me, those scenes do not shock me. (Please watch the attack on titan and Tokyo ghouls too) After several episodes, Migi seems cute to me. The studio did a great job on character development. You can feel how the main character changed every time after the tragedy. Shinichi Izumi is the guy who is half-human, half Parasyte so he had become a median for both human and parasites. The show portraits point of view from Parasyte as well as humantoo. At some point, the facts are true that human is the closest identical individual to the devil. Migi learned lots of things from books and the Internet. Migi often gives good advice and strategy to Izumi Kun. For Migi, he did all these to survive.

There is a lot of complexity in the relationship of Izumi with others. More people are died due to the man-eating Parasyte and he wishes to save them. Some struggles are made, the trustworthiness of true friendship and caring for others. I did learn a lot from this anime.

I watched it with three languages subtitles turning on. I could see how different fansubbers tried their best to translate the anime.

Next, I will discuss some plots in the story.
Plot 1: Izumi Kun suddenly become cold and ruthless
First, the parasite who killed Izumi Kun's mother return home and hurt Izumi Kun, and if there was no Migi, it would have killed Izumi Kun. That must have caused a great deal of psychological damage to Izumi Kun, although Migi saved Izumi Kun, there is some part of it that remained in Izumi Kun's body. Izumi Kun is now not a pure human being anymore, and he poses some parasite characteristics. Therefore, he has greatly changed in terms of psychology and physiology.

Shinichi is afraid of parasites, in the beginning, he began to change as he fights alongside his companion- Migi. He had become stronger. Even after the death of his mother, he still had a little fantasy about the cruel reality and refuse to accept the truth. He hesitated to kill the parasites after seeing the scar, a knife poked right through his heart completely broke his fantasy. After the incident, Shinichi showed some indifference in nature. Some of which may be due to assimilation with Migi, and also because of the death of her mother. Shinichi tried to suppress his tears.
On the other hand, Shinichi has been feeling very guilty about the death of Kana-chan. I think Shinichi's is also suppressing the love for Murano. He cannot tell anyone about the parasites-Migi as he may end up being an experiment material. Shinichi has to remain the existence of Migi as a secret as he fears that Murano will think that he is a monster. The burden he carried is becoming heavier and heavier. The reality is just too cruel for him.

Plot 2: Shinichi's return
Tamiya Ryouko's changed her mindset as she studied human behaviour and try to understand their existence. Even as parasites, they can have feelings for their children and are willing to protect their children from any harm. This is the same for Shinichi's mother, mother's love is so powerful. At that moment, Shinichi started to understand the parasites rather than hating them. Tamiya Ryouko's smile reminded Shinichi of her mother's smile. It's warm, soft. Shinichi finally burst out his tears buried in her heart. It's is very touching that Tamiya ryouko's will give her trust in Shinichi to take the baby as she used her baby as shields before. That is the last straw that has led to Izumi Kun's change.
The death of kana Chan, detective incidents, Murano's questioning and so on have paved the way for Izumi Kun to return to himself.

Now, in my personal opinion, I'll talk about why Migi chose to go into a deep sleep.
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Migi was living on Shinichi's right hand and they affected each other in many ways, especially after Migi helped Shinichi repair his seriously injured heart, more cells on Migi were integrated into Shinichi, which made obvious changes to him.
Migi's impact on Shinichi:
Shinichi's physical abilities, such as physical strength, speed, vision and hearing, are greatly enhanced. Besides, Shinichi's human emotion has changed. Even if he can't shed tears again, he will occasionally unconsciously show ruthlessness (for example, the dead dog is referred to as "dead body" and threw it directly into a dustbin, Murano also said Shinichi's eyes were not emotionally at all.)

Shinichi's impact on Migi:
Shinichi is a filial son and a kind boy before. Migi, who has no feelings and only cares about his safety, will gradually consider and help others (such as later fighting with the Yakuza gang in the school and with the man who likes kana Chan). The group fight started and Migi sensed the intention of killing. Although it would not threaten the safety of himself and Shinichi, Migi considered that Shinichi would be sad if he did not inform Shinichi to stop it, so Migi still "meddled in his own business" and informed Shinichi.
In the final, Migi woke up to save Murano, and when communicating directly with Shinichi's mentally, he said that at first, Shinichi, as a human, would be sad to see a dog die. Later, he felt that one of the great advantages of human beings was to help other people or creatures, sometimes even give up their lives). No matter what, influence is ultimately an impact, but the nature of human nature will not change. Shinichi has been a kind and gentle boy in his heart; Migi, though he will consider human feelings, will first consider his interests of the host.

And then, let's see in Migi's aspect about deep sleep:
As for what Migi is doing when he sleeps, it is very abstract for us. In Migi's words, "it feels very happy", "in a world different from the real world with Shinichi". Migi feels that the world he went to after sleeping might be a better and more comfortable world than the real world.
Migi first experiences the world after sleeping when he entered Gotou's body. Before in the real world, Migi was Shinichi's right hand and he was not an independent subject. Maybe since Migi entered Gotou and felt the new world, he compared the two worlds and felt that he was happier and comfortable in the world after sleeping than in the real world.
One thing is certain. When Migi and Shinichi are about to bid farewell, Shinichi's sadness is much greater than Migi. Shinichi is reluctant to leave Migi. On the other hand, Migi is a parasite and he thinks about his benefits first. He is more attracted to the world after sleeping. In Migi's mind, it is more than the attraction to live together with Shinichi.
Migi finally chose to sleep.

Another factor for the cause of Migi's deep sleep is that most of the parasites are either eliminated or have already changed their eating behaviour and blended into human society. Migi assume that they will no longer threaten Shinichi's life. Shinichi also can protect himself as he excels physically than others (of course, Migi will wake up when Shinichi encounters a crisis that he cannot solve, so Migi will rest assured to sleep.)
ps. Did migi wake up to save Murano?

Let's see why Migi sleeps at the end of the story, from the author's point of view.
I think the author wants Shinichi to live a normal life. When the story happened, Shinichi was only 17 years old. At such a young age, he has to bear the suffering of his mother's death. He has to hide such a big secret about the survival of human beings. However, no one of his relatives and friends could tell. Although she could tell Uda-San, Uda-san is far from him and not easily available. His feelings were inadvertently influenced by the parasites and became indifferent, but they were misunderstood as "ruthless" and "distrust" by the most beloved girl-Murano. This is Shinichi's unspeakable pain.

The author is a little guilty. To make Shinichi live a normal life in the future, the author will let Migi sleep.
Can't Shinichi live a normal life without Migi sleeping? Isn't Shinichi so reluctant to sleep in Migi? Yes, from Shinichi's point of view, he is still young and can't afford to lose this friendship with Migi. But from an objective perspective, Shinichi will go to college, find a job, marry, have a son...If Migi does not go into a deep sleep, except for the four hours daily sleep every day, he is inseparable from Shinichi. Normal people need a little time to be alone. Even couples sometimes need to have a little space for each other. In the story, Shinichi said that when he and Murano are together, he hopes Migi can sleep deeply. Although Migi will not disturb their two, Shinichi will always be a little uncomfortable. Isn't it strange for people who often speak to their right hand? Migi also wants Shinichi to live a normal life. In conclusion, the author will make Migi sleep in the end and let Shinichi live a normal life completely, as a pity and compensation for Shinichi.

People who love this anime series, whenever they see the end of the story, Migi says goodbye to Shinichi in his dream, there will always be a sense of inexplicable sadness, some sentimental watcher will even shed tears, including myself.
You can think more about the reasons for Migi sleeping from the above two perspectives. Maybe it won't be so sad to accept it.

Imagine the following possibilities in the future:
1. The author has explained in the end that although most of the parasites no longer eat people, there are still a few who continue to eat people. In the future, in case Shinichi is threatened by these eating human parasites, Migi will still wake up.
2. Soon after the end of the story, Shinichi will tell Murano what he and Migi had experienced before. After their marriage, Murano will often grasp Shinichi's right hand and say Migi, Migi, wake up and let me see you. Can I talk to you? You are my Savior!
3. Migi said that he will be sleeping for several years, decades, or a lifetime, this means that Shinichi may wake up early a few years later, and Migi will say "Hi!"