Review of Parasyte: The Maxim
Parasyte: The Maxim has an awesome science fiction premise with a great electronic soundtrack to match it. However, the writing could and should be much better. The main character, Shinichi I believe, is unbearably trope'ish sometimes. I get he's supposed to be foolish and want to be heroic, but the way he acts frustrates me. I can't relate to him at all because of this, and I'm certainly not getting entertainment out of that character. The heroine isn't really much of a character. She's really just the main character's love interest. Also, the choice of dialogue for her goes beyond cliche at times ... leavingme scratching my head. The only character I was actually interested in was Tamiya Ryoko, and there are a few good moments with her. Don't expect much from the characters in Parasyte though. There are some good moments, but there are also too many poor moments in my opinion.
How a Parasyte comes to be and how it functions is the most interesting part of the show. By the way, this is inherently what makes Tamiya Ryoko interesting to me ... because she brings that interesting aspect to the forefront through her own interest. You should at least check out the first episode for yourself if you're interested in dark science fiction so you can see what the Parasytes are like (you'll have to forgive some trashy stuff if you're not in to that kind of thing). They're somewhat creepy to look at it while in disguise as a person and horrifying to look at it when they reveal themselves. Whoever came up with the art design for them did a good job. I also like how the show notes the differences between people and the Parasytes pretending to be people with the Parasytes not understanding the difference. Ironically, the Parasytes are better characters than the normal people in this show.
Fights between Parasytes are fun to watch but not the best. To be honest, the soundtrack is used to compensate sometimes rather than as a compliment. But other times, I'm eating it up because of the animation too. I really just wish shows like this would stop explaining fights. I can figure it out myself or you can let the visuals do the explaining for us without breaking immersion. The alien slaughter-fests are really the best action; there are at least three of those to look forward to if you haven't seen it. Although, if that's all that interests you about Parasyte ... you should look up YouTube clips.
I stuck around for this one because the premise instantly hooked me. And, I enjoyed watching for that alone. But, it's disappointing that the writer couldn't come up with a better story befitting of the premise. The main message this show tries to sell at the end is a bit too blunt and not at all groundbreaking. You're only going to connect with it if you have friends that are super gung-ho about preserving wildlife and complain about how you don't care as much ... or something of the sort, and that's a weak connection at best. I just cannot get behind the writing. It sucks that I couldn't; I really wanted to.
Give a watch if it interests you ... or don't. Whether you enjoy it most likely depends on what your priorities are in entertainment.
ADDENDUMS
6/20/2020 - Okay, I know that was a lot of criticisms for an show I apparently enjoyed lol. But, that's just how I feel about it. I still enjoyed it, but every time I think about the show I think about how it could have been so much better. Please understand that expectations vary between shows, and my expectations just happened to be higher for this one when I decided to re-watch it earlier in the year (I didn't remember anything from the first time I watched it years ago lol, had it at an 8 based on what little I did remember).