Review of Parasyte: The Maxim

There are a few categories of anime that tend to gain mass appeal simply because of what they are. Examples include run-of-the-mill Shounens, Key adaptations, “Oh no I’m trapped in a video game!!” series, and action-horror anime that are filled with gore for good measure. Due to the recent disaster known as Tokyo Ghoul, I initially brushed Parasyte to the side dismissing it as another horror clone. For the first 12 episodes or so, I held my pinky in the air and avoided Parasyte like the plague. However, I finally caved to the hype. After marathoning the first halfof the series, I realized oh how wrong I was.

Story (7/10):

The story of Parasyte is fairly simple. One night, a bunch of parasites float down from the sky and attempt to enter a multitude of human bodies by taking over human brains. They do this in order to control a host because without a host the parasites themselves cannot survive. Enter our main protagonist Shinichi Izumi, a young high school boy who lives a hilariously average life. Do you remember the nerdy guy from the movie The Breakfast Club? Well that’s pretty much Shinichi in a nutshell. This all changes when a parasite attempts to enter his body one night; however, Shinichi holds off the parasite and contains it to only his right hand. Enter Migi, the parasite who now lives in Shinichi’s right hand and allows Shinichi’s hand to morph into a whole slew of weapons *insert obligatory masturbation joke here*. Now that parasites have begun to invade the human race they have to feed by eating other humans. Shinichi, being the Good Samaritan that he is, takes it upon himself to protect the human race from becoming human happy meals while still hiding the fact that he himself is a partial parasite.

In my honest opinion, the story itself wasn’t really all that intriguing. However, what are intriguing are all the different themes that the story sheds light on. Instead of focusing completely on villain after villain and attempting to create a premise without any depth, Parasyte poses some very interesting questions. What does it really mean to be human? Are the parasites really wrong for acting on instincts? Who are the true parasites of Earth?

Characters (6/10):

Parasyte really only has two “main” characters; however, they have a few supporting characters that, in my personal opinion, really shine and add depth to an otherwise standard cast. Obviously we have Shinichi, our main hero who wants to save world! He has really generic motivations but he’s still a well-written character. He develops throughout and goes through experiences that alter his view of the situation at hand. Is he really that interesting? Not to me personally, but I didn’t hate him so that’s a win. Then we have Migi, a character who shows a lot more development and growth than Shinichi ever does. I wouldn’t want to spoil how our tale with Migi concludes, but I did feel he was the more interesting of our two leads.

The supporting roles of Parasyte were very hit or miss. Satomi is about as bland of a love interest that ever existed. Her sole purpose is to constantly nag Shinichi over how he has “changed.” She adds absolutely nothing to the story and only serves to act as a damsel in distress for Shinichi to save and then nag and cry to him later about how Shinichi has just changed so much recently. Satomi is clearly one of Parasyte’s misses; however, for every miss they have a couple successes. The two other characters I want to briefly mention are Ryouko, the parasite soccer mom, and Kuramori, the residential detective. Ryouko is interesting because of how well she develops and grows. She poses many of the overlying questions in the story and really forces both Shinichi and Migi to question what the meaning of humanity is. Kuramori seems like a bland and boring character that is in far over his head. It almost seems ridiculous that someone would actually try to be involved in such a horrific case until we see his motivations. The scene where it flashes his bedroom filled with detective books gives a true sense of character motivations without saying a single word. At that moment everything comes rushing to you. All of his dreams as a child, where he would read the stories of these great heroes and long to achieve what they did, come forward. Its characterization that adds meaning and it was extraordinarily well displayed.

Art (8/10):

As for animation there really isn’t much to say. The animation is spectacular with well animated action sequences and a dark color pallet to fit the dark tone of the anime. This well-done animation is something I’ve really come to expect from Madhouse studios.

Sound (7/10):

Sound is highly dependent on taste. The opening theme is different. I can’t say I’m fond of the full version, but the cut version used for the opening was two thumbs up. The ending theme was the polar opposite in terms of presentation. The opening theme is very loud, electronic, and scream-y, while the ending theme is very relaxing and tranquil. Both the opening and ending are songs I would download so that’s always a good sign. The background music didn’t really do much for me. Nothing I would go out of my way to download but nothing that distracted from the show.

Overall (7/10):

Parasyte sure seems to do a lot right; however, I do think that it’s important to note that after my 12 episode binge I never quite got the same feel from Parasyte while watching it week to week. Whether this is because I missed some of Parasyte’s shortcomings in the beginning or because the show took an overall dip halfway through is up in the air, but I definitely preferred Parasyte’s earlier episodes to its later ones. Another important note about the latter half of Parasyte is that the themes of the show will begin to feel like they’re being shoved down your throat and up your ass simultaneously. Usually, I don’t have a problem with a writer being obvious with the themes because I’m not a huge fan of vagueness as vagueness usually leads to pretentiousness. But damn, this writer really and I mean REALLY wanted you to know what he was going for. Eventually, it did get a tad annoying and by the end it definitely felt like the horse had long been beaten.

Overall, Parasyte is a show that I feel most everyone would enjoy. It has all the qualities of a binge-able show: stellar action, cliffhangers, and intriguing questions. It also has many qualities for critics to enjoy: strong themes, some interesting characterization, and unique twists. Some people might argue that the show begins to be a bit preachy and takes itself too seriously by the end, but I felt this didn’t detract from the story that strongly. The ending itself could have been stronger, but it certainly wasn’t awful.

Parasyte was certainly a fun watch and deserves a full recommendation to check it out!