Parasyte Review

Pros: an unique premise and intelligent story; explores multiple philosophical and environmental topics with respect and detail to each; unafraid to throw its own opinions at the viewers;

The concept of one losing their humanity while mankind is facing a threat in the form of a new, hostile species is not something we've unseen before; in most cases, a young man gets into contact with what humans see as a monster, and from said encounter he is thrown into a chain of events in which he begins to question himself and whether or not he's still human or not.

In 1989, a mangka named Hitoshi Iwaaki confronted this concept with the release of his manga Parasyte, which has became since then one of the most acclaimed and influential manga of the 1990's that has been said to have even influenced other famous mangka such as Yoshihiro Togashi. Fast forward to 2014 and after two decades of waiting, it finally got an anime adaptation in the form of Parasyte -the maxim-, a somewhat fresh and modernized take on the acclaimed manga that got quite the hype when it was first annoucned. But does the story still hold up, even today? Let's find out...~

Story & Setting
The story of Parasyte revolves around the life of Shinichi Izumi, a young Japanese highschool student living with his parents in Tokyo. One day, multiple small, worm-like life forms invade Earth, taking over the brains of humans and proceeding to devour other humans for survival. One of these creatures, one night, attempts to take over Shinichi's brain, but fails and ends up taking control over the boy's right hand, eventually adopting the name 'Migi.'

As Shinichi was able to prevent Migi from taking control over his brain, both beings retrain their own personalities and intellects, making them a unique duo that co-exist with each other and able to slowly understand each other's race. On the way, however, the two encounter a wide array of enemies from both sides of the conflict, and have to work together to secure their, as well as Shinichi's family and friend's, lives.

So that's all you need to know about the plot before digging into the show, and chances are you will check it out yourself regardless of my opinion about the whole thing... Not that I'll stop you. Hell, Parasyte has one fantastic story full of thematic depth, action and suspense.

It's impossible to actually begin talking about the story without mentioning Parasyte's rather unique premise: well, it's not the first media work, or even anime, to portray a scenario where humanity is threatened by the appearance of a new species while main protagonist is confronted by their human nature. But Parasyte might be the closest thing that we'll ever get to an anime version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, as well as the little twist of two individual beings living in one body and have to work out together to survive impending threats, be it other parasitic creatures, or even other human beings.

Without a doubt, the strongest aspect of the story is its strong themes of human nature and questioning of mankind's morality, as well as its rather blunt messages and opinions on topics such as humans and their relationships with the planet and its other species, what can or cannot be considered a monster, is it wrong for the parasites to kill human beings, and etc. Parasyte bluntly confronts the audience about their opinions, actions and moral sense regarding what humans are to Earth, going as far as stating what it thinks and believes to be right and wrong; this is a rather unique and rare thing to see in shows of that kind, as most prefer to stay ambiguous when talking about their themes. While I won't say whether or not I fully agree with Parasyte's ideas, I do applaud its creators for not fearing to state their thoughts on such sensitive topics.

Another interesting and rather pleasant point here regrading the setting and story, is how rather updated and modernized it feels, with elements such as smartphones, computers, tablets and the more streamlined version of the internet; I haven't read the original manga, but I am aware its plot occurs during the 1990's, whereas the anime's plot happens in the mid 2010's; Despite this change in the story's time period, it seems to have not affected the story in any meaningfully negative way (although the die-hard fans of the manga will probably chew me out for this ;P). Hell, I'll even say that most people who will watch this series without any previous knowledge of Parasyte's origins won't be able to tell the original story took place nearly two decades before the time period of the anime's story.

That said, while the story is rather fantastic and well-written, the show's pacing, especially in some of its first episodes, can be a bit rushed at times, with some potentially important moments and scenes are given only a couple of minutes, or even just a few seconds, before moving ahead. This also results in disjointed or jarring transitions to new scenes, although the show slowly learns how to handle those better... Well, most of the time.

To end it in a rather positive note, I will admit that the ending of the show is rather solid; it's a lot more bittersweet and ambiguous, but then again, I have expected it from a story like this, and honestly, I feel like this is a good way to end Parasyte. Most people will probably feel like the ending will somewhat clash with the ideas of the story itself, but I feel it delivered its message well.

The Characters
Our main protagonists in Parasyte are the naive and initially aimless Shinichi Izumi and his parasite right-hand, Migi; Shinichi starts off as your typical, shy and somewhat nerdy and meek high-school student, the only notable thing about him being that he's the rare case of an anime character with two parents. In contrast to him, Migi is a highly logical and emotionless parasite with little understanding about human mindset and culture, concerning himself only with surviving as an organism.

The dynamics and development of the two are Parasyte's centerpiece and the heart of the story; throughout the show, Shinichi slowly develops into a capable and cynical young adult who manages to understand and relate with the parasites to some extent while losing his innocence and humanity. Migi, on the other hand, slowly learns how humans work and think, and gets more in touch with the concept of human emotions and morals, providing somewhat of an example of how a non-human organism (but possess intelligence equal to them) adapts to human society.

As far as supporting characters go, the most notable one is Ryoko Tamiya, also known as Reiko Tamura; a female, highly intelligent parasite who tries to understand her species' origins, humanity's ideas, and the connection between humans and parasites. At times, she is even more interesting than Migi and Shinichi; she is initially cold and ruthless, highly tactical and logical, but when a human baby enters her life, she --similar to Migi-- begins to develop and even understand human emotions. Honestly, as far as female characters go, she is also one of the strongest female characters I've seen in recent anime, relying only on her brains and skills rather than on anyone else.

The rest of the supporting cast split up into human characters and parasite characters; the parasites are portrayed as mostly emotionless and logical beings whose primary instincts tell them to devour humans and survive. Many of them attempt to blend in with human society via disguises and alternative food sources, while some choose to continue their cannibalistic actions. They vary in appearance and intelligence, and many of them end up challenging Shinichi and Migi.

As for the human characters... They are probably the worst aspect of the series; almost every human character Shinichi encounters is... Well, an idiot. Most of them are naive or dull people who end being caught in Shinichi's quest to survive the parasite attacks, and some of them serve as either an emotional boost for Shinichi, or a meat bag to get slain by parasites. This is especially notable with the supposed female lead, Satomi Murano, whose %50 of dialogue consisting of questioning Shinichi's identity; well, I will give her credit as she becomes pivotal for the series' finale and her arc gets the point and feel of closure by the end.

However, the rest of the human cast hampers the other excellent aspects of Parasyte, ranging from Shinichi's parents, to his classmates and even the police force. There are two notable exceptions among the human characters, who provide rather interesting viewpoints on the human-parasite 'debate,' but Erm... Those are spoilers, so you gotta watch the show yourself.

Animation & Art
Parasyte: The Maxim was produced by the almighty studio Madhouse, who have wrapped up the production of Hunter x Hunter around the same time Parasyte has began airing. In terms of visuals, Parasyte looks rather solid; it is obviously far from being Madhouse's best effort and you can see its budget was much smaller than usual Madhouse productions, but the show still looks very good, sometimes even great and amazing.

The fight scenes in Parasyte are very well done; most of them are incredibly brutal, fast-paced and thought-through; Shinichi and Migi are almost always at disadvantage against their opponents due to their status as a weak teenager and an underdeveloped parasite, and have to strategize and make up tactics to win in a struggle. Coupled with Madhouse's fluid animation, the fights are often beautifully satisfying and very exciting.

The rest of show looks solid most of the time with a few inconsistencies here and there, whilst the artwork is nothing too fancy and the art-style is a bit of modernized mixed the manga's original, sharp art-style. The parasites themselves can look pretty freaky and horrific at times, and while a basic model exists, each is given some unique style and features when they unfold their true forms.

The one thing that really bugs me as far as animation is concerned, is the usage of jarringly-looking CGI in the anime. Usage of CGI to fill in background details and features in anime is pretty much a given by now, and many anime use them nowadays... But, Parasyte's animation style makes it far more noticeable and distracting than I would've expected. Like, the show uses (and reuses) CGI models for crowds and vehicles and buildings, and while this is far from being a deal-breaker, it's still somewhat annoying to the eye.

Audio & Sound
The soundtrack for Parasyte was composed by Ken Arai, a rather new name to the anime medium who hasn't done anything before to this series, but is now also known for composing the soundtrack for Starmyu; Arai's work for Parsyte has been highly controversial among fans due its rather odd and unusual style: it's dubstep music.

As weird as it may sound, the dubstep music fits very well into Parasyte's narrative and scenes, bringing a lot of energy and tension into the series while also giving off a feel of alien touch. The tracks themselves are very catchy and enjoyable to listen to even outside the show itself, with action-ish tracks such as "I Am", "Kill the Puppets" or "Complex" alongside more melancholic and pleasant beats such as "Next To You". Hell, Parasyte might end up being one of my favorite soundtracks ever.

Parasyte's opening theme, "Let Me Hear" by the well known Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas is a rather chaotic and strange kind of beast that fits perfectly into the series. The ending theme, "IT'S THE RIGHT TIME" by Daichi Miura, is a far more slower and somber song that is used to calm down the storm in the end of each episode, and sometimes it can be even heard during the show itself; it feels very contrasting to the other pieces of music in the show, but I feel it makes only more effective.

As far as voice acting go, I won't mince many words on the Japanese dub as it's mostly the standard fare, although praise should be given to the voice actors of the parasites, who give them the much needed cold and emotionless tone to make them convincing as actual beings, with Aya Hirano being the perfect choice to voice Migi's high-pitched yet threatening and logical speech. As for the English dub... By the time I'm writing this review the show is only halfway through the dub, but I think that as far as Sentai Filmworks dubs go, this is one of their best efforts to date; Adam Gibbs does a mostly decent job as Shinichi with a feel of naivety and uncertainty in his voice while Brittney Karbowski nails it as Migi. She simply nails it, as good as Hirano does in Japanese.

The Conclusion
Pros: intriguing premise powered by interesting themes and opinions; modernizing the original work without feeling too jarring with the changes; incredibly good main protagonists; Reiko Tamura is like... one of the best female characters I've seen in a while; solid animation and excitingly brutal fight scenes; excellent soundtrack and fitting musical themes; solid voice acting in both versions Cons: a few jarring pacing issues throughout the series; human characters are incredibly useless and idiotic; background CGI effects are a little too noticeable The ugly point: So what happens if Shinichi wants to be intimate with himself?

Final Verdict
Parasyte is a rare kind of work nowadays; a "blast from the past" who attempts to teach its younger competitors a lesson or two in storytelling and thematic depths; it is packed with an intriguing and powerful writing, an amazingly relateable duo of protagonists and is very solid in terms of production values. Not everything works here and the show is by no mean a flawless masterpiece, of course, as it does struggle a bit with its pacing while the exprience is hampered a little by the existence of subpar supporting characters, but those can barely stop Parasyte from being an excellent piece of work.

One can clearly feel the influence Parasyte has had over the years on multiple works of a similar concept, including the highly-regarded Chimera Ants arc of Togashi's Hunter x Hunter, and even American products such as James Cameron's critically acclaimed Terminator 2: Judgement Day. The anime adaptation is by no means a shallow copy of the original manga and stands tall as a brilliant piece of work with a well-written story and bold opinions. Parasyte -the maxim- is one of the best titles to have been released in recent years and should be remembered as a modern classic.

The conclusion

 * Pros: Interesting concept and intriguing story; thought-provoking themes; great main characters; gruesomely awesome fight scenes; excellent soundtrack
 * Cons: A few pacing and subplots hamper the otherwise great storyline; supporting characters often fall flat; awful and noticeable CGI background aspects
 * The ugly: