Review of Parasyte: The Maxim

The first thing I'd like to say about Parasyte is that while the labels of horror and action are rightfully there, those going in blind may be misled by those tags, as this is not horror in the traditional sense. There's no ghosts, no jump scares, very little creepy suspense. The horror here is in the form of lots of body horror and plenty of blood, though it is notably less bloody and less graphic than plenty of other anime I've seen. It's easy to slap the horror label on Parasyte and call it good but ultimately this anime is, first and foremost, a socialcommentary with a hefty dose of philosophy sprinkled on top. And towards the end it lays it on really, really thick.

That is perhaps my overall largest gripe with Parasyte. The majority of the show felt well paced and like there were no boring or blatantly filler episodes. Early on episodes frequently ended on cliffhangers and kept me raring to watch the next episode but towards the end it really ran out of steam. The ending as a whole was unsatisfying and the final two or three episodes were, in my view, the weakest in the entire series, and it definitely didn't help that they went really, really deep down the philosophical rabbit hole. I haven't watched an anime since Ergo Proxy that shoved it's message down your throat quite this hard at the end. Laying off here likely would have been more effective, but regardless the ending as a whole was a letdown even if they hadn't been so pushy with their "moral of the story".

For the most part, Parasyte does a pretty good job about establishing rules within its own world and sticking to them. Suspension of disbelief is definitely required to some extent, but not nearly as blatantly as many other programs, and at times there were some conveniences for sure, but again this is not near the top of my list for most egregious offenders. My largest gripe in this department is the notion that our main character, Shinichi, could go the entire anime without ever being caught or identified by friends, family, law enforcement, etc. In the world we live in where everyone has their cell phones with them at all times, security cameras and recording devices are everywhere and even our doorbells record us there is simply no way in hell Shinichi would never be seen by anyone or anything talking to Migi, who honestly doesn't try particularly hard to stay hidden and is often poking out of Shinichi's body in very public places, such as in the middle of the street or in school. This is the biggest offender in the show when it comes to having to simply shut your mind off and roll with it.

I thought the voice acting in the English dub was fine. I'm a huge Luci Christian fan and find her to be one of the most consistent and reliable professionals in the industry and that's once again what I found here. Shinichi's voice acting was middling, sometimes sounding generic and uninspired but never blatantly bad, and I think the sometimes mediocre writing exasperated this. The music didn't stand out to me. My wife quite liked the opening and ending songs but for me they weren't memorable.

By and large, Parasyte kept me entertained and is a show worth recommending and worth watching, but it lacked that X factor to truly be among long-term standouts for me. This won't make any of my personal lists for all time favorite anime, favorite horror, best of the decade, etc but it's still a solid enough show with only a few relatively minor flaws. I liked it, even if I didn't love it, and I think fans of the genre, or those who find anything remotely philosophical to be profound, will enjoy this.

OBJECTIVE RATING- 7.5-8
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 7.5