Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu

Whenever I try to describe this anime to someone else, it just sounds so awful. "A guy gets a parasite in his hand and has to kill bad guys". The anime summary even sounds mediocre, and to be honest, no summary can do this anime justice. This is one of the best anime I've seen, it's a roller coaster of emotions, and once it gets rolling, it doesn't stop. Each episode has something new and exciting to offer, there was seriously not a dull moment. The story was 10/10 to me. It was just unique and outstanding. It combined plots of thriller and suspense with some emotion and slice of life aspects. Like I said before, once it gets going in the first episode, it doesn't really stop from there. There was no slow episode, you know, those episodes so full of dialogue that it's hard to concentrate and you end up losing interest? There's none of that. It weaves in elements to the story through actions and plot line. The story just keeps going and it's full of action and new things to look forward to. It also gives you something to think about as you watch: how human emotion relates to other living things. The story contains times when you can relate to a character, and it really pulls you in. Art was 8/10. I mean, it really wasn't bad, but it did no justice to the original manga artwork. The manga had some of the most detailed, scariest art, it was stunning. Due to animation, most of the parasytes don't look as scary as they're supposed to. Nonetheless, the art was easy on the eye and quite well drawn with high detail and attention to littler things. Sound is a 7/10. The background music was energetic and mood fitting, and it especially helped put the emotion in. It had some dubstep in the background for some of the more actiony moments which wasn't bad. However, I disliked the opening of the anime, I felt that there was a lot of autotune and the likes. The voice actors and sounds really fit their characters. All the parasytes sounded monotone and emotionless like they should, and the main characters really had a lot of emotion and inflection that was well done. Enjoyment is 10/10. Each episode contained something new and exciting, so I knew that looking forward to each episode as it's released was worth it. It always kept my attention. Each episode kept you wanting more, and it was always exciting to watch things come together. It contained much suspense and action for enjoyment. Overall is 10/10. I'm trying so hard to write this without spoilers and do it justice. The anime just sounds so bland and cliche when you read the synopsis and stuff, but it really takes you for a ride. It's unlikely to find an anime like it, something with suspenseful thrillers and captivating life moments. I cannot do it justice. Even if you don't care for suspenseful, thrilling anime, this is the kind that includes many other elements as well to appeal to all senses. There's new things at each episode so there's never a dull moment, and I've said that like 8 times but it's true. The anime ties together sound, art, and story so artfully together that it takes you for a unique, outstanding ride.

This show was great! I just finished today, and the series amazed me. Throughout the show there was action. The last episode caught me by surprise because I had not read the manga before watching. I have since went back and read certain parts of the memorable scenes and seen that they did a great job portraying the actions as described in the manga. My favorite part of the show was the music. For each scenario, be it action packed or even a romantic part, the music was on point. I did feel like it was slow at some points, but after seeing the whole series through, I was amazed. Not only was it great to follow as the episodes were released, but the show also has very high rewatch value to see some of the fight scenes and see some of the interactions between the characters. Although I have only watched a small amount of anime, this show is going to be one of the best that I have seen.

This anime excels with its very unique story and progression of the characters, plot, and the anime itself. The story is well written, that creates a lot of suspenseful situations that leaves me on the edge of my seat. It had amazing music tracks that are queued in at the right time and great use of sound effects with some generic ones. The style and art of the anime can be seen being evolved and shows the artists in the production being increased in their skill, not saying the art was bad at first but you can really notice the effort and precision put into the later episodes. It puts a nice polish to the ending. The ending of the anime does seem a bit rushed, it could have been extended with more detail, but it is understandable since it is a 24 episode series. Not sure if there will be a sequel soon, but I can say that there will be an OVA for sure because there is a high demand for this anime. Overall it is a great unique story, and very well directed and co-ordinate help from the producers and is a must watch for any anime fans of horror/action anime.

Are Humans really superior? Are we the only ones who are at the top of the food chain? Or are there some beings which can even manipulate us; the so-called superior beings? If you want to know more about this view then Parasyte is your ideal choice. Story: 8/10 This anime's story is about a teenager boy named Izumi Shinichi, who gets his right hand taken over by a worm-like alien known as Parasyte. The story then follows this boy's adventure which eventually turns out to be a horrific one. This story may seem a bit similar to other anime stories (like Tokyo Ghoul) but the fact is that this anime was made from a manga which was released in 1990. So it has quite the original story. The concept of Parasyte isn't complicated (though being philosophical) so it's quite easy to grasp on. The only lacking is the ending which didn't really make sense because I thought they were going to solve the Parasyte problem rather they stopped at a place where things remain unanswered. Except for that, the story was rather good and kept its uniqueness till the end. Characters: 8/10 Parasyte's character development seemed a bit sluggish because they didn’t really develop the side characters as they did with the main characters. They introduced quite a many characters but didn’t actually develop them well enough. As for the main characters like Shinichi,Migi,Reiko they were quite good. So, I’d give credits to the script writer because the dialogues were spot on and voice acting seemed pretty good too (especially the dubbed version). Sometimes the characters created a sadistic environment which matched the anime genres really well. Shinichi is a pretty likeable character but I would go for Tamura Reiko as the most decent (likeable) character in Parasyte. Animation: 8.7/10 The animation of Parasyte seemed quite realistic from my point of view. The characters were not overly beautiful and handsome rather it pointed out the reality (Unlike other animes where pretty much every character is Dashing or Hot). Madhouse did an excellent job as to make the animation quite neat and well-polished. The sceneries were also quite detailed. The gore part of the anime was really good as it influenced the mind of the watchers to a great extent. The animation certainly fits with the theme of the anime. However, the action scenes didn't really depict the reality. The parasytes were fighting in a bulletlike speed where you can barely see what's happening. As this Anime tried to put effort into making the show realistic they certainly made the action a BIT (not too much) unrealistic. Soundtrack: 9.5/10 As for the soundtracks of Parasyte, they were Awesome. The opening really goes with the main motif of the anime and I think the lyrics were also the type which fitted the anime. Here, you can get the feels right in the spot with the help of the soundtracks. The fighting scenes' soundtracks really enhance the enjoyment among the audiences. You can also get the gloomy type of soundtracks which point out a particular environment of Parasyte. So here ''Ken Arai''(The Music Director) did an outstanding job. Frankly speaking, the soundtracks made me more eager to watch this anime. You can try out "Next To me" to know what I'm talking about. Enjoyment: 9/10 Now this is one of the strongest parts of the anime because the anime was really paced up. The first 15 episodes were really good. It kept me waiting for another episode quite eagerly. I really enjoyed the anime as it really kept its environment top-notch. Those who have interest for psychological thriller, this is the anime for you. But the ending may (or maynot) disappoint you. The fighting scenes were mostly strategical and it kept me glued to the screen. I didn't really like the romance in here but some viewers may like it as it pointed out another perspective of Parasyte. Talking about perspectives; the show features some deep things like: Are the parasytes bad because they kill or manipulate humans or Are the humans bad as they kill each other for no good reason? These questions are must to pop-up in your head while watching Parasyte & these gave an extra enhacement to my watching experience. Overall: 8.5/10 This anime is quite good judging from the aspect of its genres. The episodes were executed well enough to eager the minds of the watchers. Though not having an expected character development and ending, the anime was really worth watching. You will find immense thrill watching this anime. I’d recommend this anime to those who have curiosity in thrillers & don't have any problem with gore. The environment may seem quite gloomy but I assure you this anime is worth your time (at least for the first 15 episodes). About the ending, I’ll let you judge it by yourself. Now here's a philosophical quote which kept me thinking : ''Upon researching the concept of demons, I believe that, among all life, humans are the closest thing to it.'' - Migi

Be wary of spoilers. Just finished the last episode. This anime is just so good. The animation style might seem a little wierd at first, but as the anime goes you can see that it is the most fitting for the anime due to the dark atmosphere it has. For me the best thing about this anime is the story; There was some observations i wanted to do regarding the development of some characters but i can only think about how awesome the plot is. It makes you think, it makes you interpret and create ideas of your own about what could be happening. A great example of that is that military operation, that shows that even tho the parasytes have a very logical way of thinking, they learned it just now. Humans have logic completely mastered and refined along the years at their side (personal opinion). Parasytes tend to think in different ways depending on how they were "grown" in the first days and i think that is also awesome and says a lot about us. Soundtrack is great, highlighting the use of "action" eletronic and dubstep on tense scenes. The gore is so good to look at and the movement in battle flows beautifully. The anime kills characters and shows blood with no fear and present moments where there's not a single character in scene, but the scenario is so dark you can feel something bad is going to happen. The main character growth is one of the most important things in this anime, and goes off the cliche road of forever innocent and pure protagonist. You can also notice how he physically grows as the anime goes. Also a huge thumbs up for the desperation scenes, period. I devoured this anime and i suggest you guys to do the same.

(Review is spoiler free) All I wanted out of this anime was for Migi and Shinichi to become besties, and fight crime. But instead I got meandering plot cul-de-sacs, characters tossing around idiot balls, lamp-female protagonists, flailing knife pool-noodle arm fights, and a very dated message about the ‘environment’. Most frustrating is the entire pace of the show would screech to a halt at the beginning of almost every fight for a dialogue dump. It literally felt like a magical girl transformation scene before battle. Just tedious and most of the time it was completely unnecessary. This had so much potential. I really enjoyed the small moments of Migi and Shin trying to understand one another, and trying to adapt to their predicament and the danger they were in. Glasses Shin was a real adorkable sweetheart and Shin’s parents were also really cute-- so I knew this show had the ability to be good, and I would have liked to see more of those moments, but when things got ‘deep’ around the halfway mark it never recovered.

To keep it short, a good story ruined by pathetic characters. Character: While the show did handle quite successfully the character development of, namely, Tamiya Ryouko, and Izumi to some degree, my main problem with the show is that most of other side/ supporting characters are either underdeveloped or just completely pointless and idiotic. We need to consider the general public of this "artificial world" as a whole, viewing this show does remind me of Mirai Nikki, and in that show pretty much every single character has something called "stupidity" to it. Parasite falls victim to the same issue, words along can't describe how idiotic some random characters in this show are shown to be: There is a girl called Tachikawa, upon discovering one of her classmate is a parasite, instead of calling for help, as every single "sane" person would do, she confronted the parasite on her own with the concentrated sulfuric acid she somehow obtained, just to be injured and irritated the parasite into causing a massacre. Another girl called Kana, who developed a crush on Izumi, who had this superpower of detecting parasite around her (Never explained). After being warned by Izumi that her power is entirely unstable and can't distinguish Izumi from the rest of the parasites, she completely ignored the warning just to be killed by a parasite she ran into. Love, you say? Now this is a thing I dislike about many animes in general, that the writer tries to justify everything with love. Now love does make people do irrational things, however, if a character's only purpose is to love someone and you try to justify that fucking stupid of a decision, I can't take it seriously. Tachikawa is even worse, falling love with a guy that has no facial expressions, no emotions whatsoever (what a convenient plot device LOVE is!) The entire purpose of kana's existence is completely pointless because her entire trait in the show can be summarised as love Izumi, as with murano also. Kana is just a random character just to add to the tragic nature of the story, her role can be easily replaced by any other character. I'd be surprised if someone can tell me anything about her apart from she loves Izumi and has a superpower. How am I suppose to feel anything for her death if I know so little about her? What is her background? How did she know mitsuo? Where did she obtain this superpower? Nothing. And then we have Izumi's father, who appeared randomly in the story whenever the story needs him to show up, and when Izumi is on his trip to other places for like several days, his father's existence is completely forgotten. Added to that, his father does what I hate about this show in general, that whenever some character discovered a shocking truth (parasite), he or she tend to doubt if it is a dream due to the inability to accept reality, the same case with Tachikawa and the private detective. This plot convenience is so overused in the show so as to make you question whether the half of the main characters are just completely idiots or not. And there is also a guy called Mitsuo, just your average street punk, whose entire purpose in the show is to show up, started a fight out of nowhere and move the story forward. Keep in mind that the these examples of idiotic characters are the ones that manage to gain atleast some screen time and survived for more than 5 episodes. More pathetic, however, is the fact that most of other characters never appeared more than 3 episodes, so there is no weight to any of the characters. As for villains, they simply come by waves, after one parasite is destroyed by Izumi, the show conveniently introduced another parasite just to cover several episodes and died whenever the story needs to move forward. These parasites contribute literally nothing to the entire show one of them might as well have the name of "A". The two parasites that invaded Izumi's school served nothing but to point out the fact that "parasite kills people". And about Hayase, a girl Izumi met in his trip to another town, who developed a crush on him (not even sure why), and never showed up for the rest of the story. Why the hell bother to give her those "love" plot when you know she is just a plot device character that no one will ever remember for the rest of show? The same issue goes to literally every other side character. Uragami, for instance, had the ability to tell parasite from human, as if he is the only serial killer in the world; tried so hard to escape from the police just to be another plot device that pushed the show to its finale, not to mention despite he tried so hard to escape, him saying "it's no point to escape, they'll capture me anytime soon" is a god-tier contradiction right there. The general public of the world the story takes place in is also beyond stupid: there is a guy who stand up just to be killed when the police warned them not to stand up, they give a serial killer freedom without putting handcuff, a detective who kept following a "parasite" after his arm been cut off. I'll say this: in this psychological story, 50% of the character are pretty much idiots with other 30% being underdeveloped and/or plot devices. And it is what ruined the show for me. How am I suppose to take it seriously if most of the characters are irrational? The romance between murano and Izumi is also nothing to be applauded. Their relation is in this constant cycle of trust-Izumi becomes inhumane-distrust-parasite attacks-Izumi save the day-goes back to trust. I can not feel anything because their relation is stagnant for the entire first 20 episodes. What makes it worse is that we, as audience, know what the conflict is, whereas Murano, as a "person", despite discovering everything wrong about Izumi, about him meeting another girl and that girl got freaking killed, about his superhuman ability, about all the stupid tantrum he threw out of nowhere, still gives everything to trust him just because he saved her, as if it is normal to keep a mountains of secrets to your girlfriend in relation. This is so cringy to watch. However, there is a reason why this show excels at all parts compared to shit like Mirai Nikki. Izumi and Tamiya Ryouko received satisfactory character development. As a parasite, Tamiya had a curiosity towards human society and gradually developed a feeling for human. Now I want to ask this, is that something so unique that while watching, you'd be like "WOW"? Certainly not, Tamiya's character development is not a masterpiece tier of development, the reason why she seems so unique in this show is because the way the show handles all other parasites. Now parasite is a organism that possess super intelligence, (migi can learn Japanese in one day, for instance). However, in this show, EVERY SINGLE villain parasite apart from Tamiya are such piece of stupid organism that every thing they do is killing human without even considering the consequence of such bold moves. Do you think this is what a "highly intelligent" species should do? It is really pathetic that the reason why Tamiya Ryouko is so surprising is that every parasite of her kind is pretty much unicellular organism of IQ lower than 10. Izumi, on other other hand, received drastic development, from a timid, shy guy to a mature men capable of taking responsibility and his experience shaped his view of the world and life in general. However, what bothers me is that by referring to development, Izumi's change in personality isn't natural, it was the result of a inner biological mutation therefore it is ambiguous as to whether he would be like that without Migi's part inside him. However, this is not say a development from humane to sort of inhumane then goes back to humane upon the final realisation isn't a good development, it is satisfactory in my opinion. However, the main problem is that the show focus too much on Izumi's development so as to make everyone else look like stupid characters. Stor…

[6.0/10] _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Exploring existential themes in any series marketed towards a more "mature" audience has become trite at this point. There can be so many explorations of what makes people humans and what makes the earth neat. That doesn't stop from industry executives pointing towards a potential adaptation and saying, "That one." Then proceeding to throw a few hundred thousand at a studio who just so happens to enjoy drawing cartoons and then you get a show. Not just any show, though. An edgy show. With blood, existential themes, and very vague sex scenes. There are monsters that have sharp teeth, too. What you get is one of many. There are plenty of shows that have everything I listed. As it has been proven time and time again, criticizing something due to a base set of tropes that it uses is like criticizing a piece of beef for having too much beef.  Tropes are the lifeblood of any kind of entertainment. Whether you like or dislike the idea of a trope, you will need to use them to tell your story. The problem is, pretty much every conceivable kind of story has been told before. So what you, as a creative, are left with is the thousands of tools left behind by previous storytellers. You eye these tools and find the best way to put them together. Now don't be hasty, make sure that the configuration of these tools is nice and original or you'll get something we call "unoriginal". Because honestly, that is all stories are now a day; An amalgamation of different elements smushed together to create something that might be unique. Out of the thousands of tools, there must be a combination that hasn't been done before.  Parasyte isn't one of those combinations. I haven't seen much anime, however, a lot of the archetypes and patterns in anime have become really apparent to me for whatever reason. Maybe it's because the industry lacks an incredibly diverse pool of entertainment, maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. All I know is that there are an abundance of overlapping tropes and clichés being used in many different series' that undergo virtually no changes. Which is inherently bad. Every show, as I’ve said, uses a certain set of tropes. However, it is how that show utilizes those tropes and puts that extra little bit of spice into them that makes them stand out and surprise you. This is what separates generic with exemplary. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ [Stage 1] An idea infects you. It wriggles into your bloodstream and tries to permeate throughout the entirety of your body, but not before accessing your brain. Overriding every key piece with thoughts about said idea. That is what a great show can do. It introduces concepts that you may have seen before and presents them in ways that interest you. They make you question ideas that you’ve encountered before already by introducing concepts that you haven’t thought of. Parasyte attempts this respectably. Most late-game episodes include heavy motifs and themes that resonate with just about every character in the show. While it is not immune from the infection that is forced thematic drivel which, unfortunately, a lot of anime is plagued with. You do get a clear goal with Parasyte’s thematic narrative. That isn’t the impression the show gave off at first, though. The beginning was unquestionably existential, but that existentialism was quickly undermined with some generic school setting in a generic little suburb with generic happy-go-lucky school characters. Our protagonist, Shinichi Izumi, a spiky-haired boy that is shouldering the weight of all the archetypical clichés he must project. Shy boy who’s bad around girls. Is kind of just “there”. It’s all something we’ve seen before, even in western projects. We know these kinds of characters because, well, it is a superhero backstory. If you know anything about me, too, I dislike superhero’s and their backstories. It isn’t my kind of story. Hearing that this is pretty much just edgy Spiderman turned me off the show before I even began watching it. That being said, the first episode left me in a more intrigued state of mind that I expected. Expecting nothing, I was left semi-impressed. Shinichi of course gets infected by an alien parasite, one of the many that lands in Japan. This plays as an interesting gray situation for him. On one hand he can retain his humanity and not become some bloodthirsty creature, on the other hand, he literally has a parasite. It morphs into an oddly cute little guy by the name of Migi, or “hand”, in Japanese. A creature that can also morph himself into various kinds of weapons and generally any shape he wants. He is also an uncompromising and fully-logic-oriented monster that’s entire purpose is to survive, and since he is now viewed as a “failure” for only being able to capture a single part of a human host, and not the brain, Shinichi and Migi are off on a journey of survival. Like many anime before it, Parasyte doesn’t shy away from moralizing and over-explaining simple themes. This bogs down the first half of the show. I found myself constantly getting beaten over the head with easy-to-grasp motifs which are obvious on their own, not even considering the monologues we need to endure to “understand” what these characters are thinking. Throughout the first half there is also an obnoxious focus on school-life that does nothing, in my opinion. The class-threats are so hollow and the different characters introduced within Parasyte’s first twelve episodes are generally just uninteresting. There is also an infuriating love triangle that left me ripping my hair out. I despise melodramatic love-triangles and this one was just about as melodramatic as they can get. The protagonist only likes the main girl in the show, however, she thinks he likes another girl that clearly likes him because she keeps seeing them at inopportune times. It is so clichéd. There were three separate scenes where the girl he isn’t interested in talks to him and the other girl overhears and just so happens to be standing around that area. One is already bad, since that cliché is as bad as they get. But three? With the aggressive moralizing as well as blunt thematic narrative, you are left feeling kind of beaten down by this show for quite a while. Similar to something like Your Lie In April, a theme is brought up, obviously explained in a stilted way, and then addressed directly the characters not two scenes after it happened. The idea of losing your humanity has never been this unengaging simply because it doesn’t feel like a person is going through this. I saw metaphoric checkboxes being ticked every time this theme was addressed. They followed the, “existential dread of losing your humanity” trope to the T. With that trope there is also the enchanted love-interest which, thankfully, has a nice little subversion towards the end of that arc. Although, there are also these “psychics” introduced within the story that can sense the presence of the parasites. These abilities never were explained. To sprinkle even more frustration over all this, the habit in anime to make their girls too childish is prevalent within Parasyte as well. A lot of the female characters are just a mixture of blushes, compliments, and tears. I’m not even asking for depth at this point. Just make them act their age. This inherent need to market characters while still restricting yourself within a realistic color pallet makes for this odd juxtaposing characterization within the narrative. None of them are overtly cartoony looking, yet they act like cartoons. I’m using “cartoon” in the colloquial sense, don’t read into that. With all that said, Parasyte still managed to have an engaging main story. All of these issues could be described as a secondary story to the main shows plot and thankfully, the mo…

The first reaction after watching this anime is "DAMN! this is the best anime ever!" However, with reflection this anime (while being great) has many weak characters that flood the screen for far too long. This anime could have easily cut out the fluff and made it into 12 episodes. That being said this anime is still and will remain one of my favorites of all time. The internal struggle Shinichi Izumi undertake throughout the series. You really feel for him and his parasytic partner Migi. Without spoiling the end, I will say that the growth of those two characters together is eye watering. I cried tears of both sorrow and joy at the end of this series. The main problem with this show is a problem that plagues other anime. It's the random harem of girls syndrome. Female characters with no depth or characterization apart from the fact that they are in love with the protagonist. One of the more interesting characters in the series (or so I thought) plot went absolutely nowhere! You waste time seeing this character for many episodes with no real closure leaving this time suck feeling in your head. The main love interest of Shinichi Izumi doesn't really go anywhere either. She loves him more or less the same throughout the entire series with no growth really as a human being. You do see how bothered she is by the struggle that Shinichi goes through and you do grow to care bout her in that respects. But apart from that she has no character of her own. The show would have done better with more emphasis on the dynamic between Shinichi and Migi instead. Overall: Great series with an intriguing plot and well done protagonist. But otherwise has weak and mindless female characters that dominate the screen. The Music is astounding and leaves you breathless in the most emotionally gripping sections of the show. I do recommend a watch. But to give it any higher than an 8 would be an insult to other anime that properly give attention to all characters.

Some stories are written to illustrate an idea. This anime tries it's very best to express something profound and interesting. It succeeds.. for the most part. I am editing this a few weeks after watching the show, and I want to add that the ecological message it delivers is quite effective. The idea that we are the ultimate predators, that the old law of survival of the fittest no longer applies to us because while we may be weak as an individual, we wield devastating power as a society, that we are focused on our definition of survival at any and all costs is compelling - because it is true. This verse from the opening theme illustrates this perfectly: A human baby When will they find out [When will they find out the true fact yeah] that at the point they were born, we are [we are winners] (the) winners of Earth I am more impressed with this show now that I have put some time between myself and the last episode. Watch this anime. Enjoyment: 8 Overall, a good show to watch. It is an emotional and thought provoking ride that I was happy to be on. Story: 8 The story tries to talk about what it means to be human and what it means to live as an organism in a complex ecosystem. The ideas presented in it are worth thinking about and even if the story doesn't convey everything it wants to as well as it wants to, there is plenty of food for thought. The plot follows the traditional high school hero and throws in other one dimensional characters to help him along or offer advice. There are some very interesting elements such as the episode titles [Crime and punishment, The selfish gene], the serial killer who wears a T shirt with 'REDRUM' on it, that hint at a greater philosophy driving the story than simply Monster Battles. This makes the world well fleshed out. The first half seems to see things from the human perspective and the second from that of the parasites. It is interesting to see how valid the arguments from both sides are. There is also, unfortunately, the annoying feeling of having the writer try to consciously pull on my heart strings. That is well and good when I agree subconsciously to go along with the ride, but not so much when the audience knows exactly what they are trying to do, and it ends with a bogus emotional pay off. There are also some plot holes, but the story moves at a pace that prevented me from dwelling on them too much. Characters: 6 Character development is sketchy. One character - migi - is the only one who gets well fleshed out. Shinichi is someone I grew to dislike over the course of the show. He is the voice of exposition in some cases and coming from him, it doesn't seem believable. Migi on the other hand definitely gets the short end of the stick and still manages to stay awesome. There is more of the casual misogyny that we have come to expect from anime. Art: 8 Quite good. There are a few glitches here and there but the fight scenes and movement in general is good. Sound:9 The opening and ending themes are atmosphere appropriate. I liked them a lot. The sound track is pretty good too. The voice actors are serviceable. I watched this in a marathon session without having read the source material.

My abridged review of Parasyte (Kiseijuu), one of the best anime in years... *Plot: 10/10-* Parasyte is paced to near perfection. Every episode moves the plot towards its ultimate destination with even the slower episodes providing greater insight into the characters and plot. Constantly throughout the series, plot twists are thrown at the audience to always keep you on the edge-of-your-seat. Countless times I would catch myself holding my breath due to the amount of suspense the anime creates. This tension is able to be built up because early in the series you are shown that anyone can die, and yet it never overplays the death-card to the point of exploitation with just enough characters dying to always keep you on your toes. Despite the thrills, Parasyte is often genuinely emotionally impactful. Thematically, Parasyte portrays various thought-provoking ideas without ever allowing the themes to overshadow the story or characters (read the full post for a further discussion of the themes). If a negative had to be stated, it would be episode 22. It slows down the story before the big rush towards the conclusion, which some viewers might dislike, although I had no issue with it. The only other minor issue is that the environmental message is overstated ever so slightly, although it is one of the better uses of said message. *Characterization: 10/10-* Shinichi Izumi is the protagonist of the story, and he starts out as a likable and compassionate guy. As the series progresses, he slowly begins to lose his humanity, thus turning into the one thing that is trying to kill him: the parasites. His journey is a compelling ride that makes you feel for him as character, especially when his actions cause conflicts with his family and girlfriend. From beginning to end, Shinichi transforms into a different person with a very organic sense of growth, which is reflected by the series’ themes. Migi is one of the most unique anime characters in recent years. He is literally a hand that can morph into deadly weapons, and yet, his development is a minor image to Shinichi's transformation. The characters symbiotic relationship is rife with conflict and distrust as neither side wanted to be in this partnership. As the series continues, their relationship slowly changes as each one begins to understand the other, which makes for compelling drama and thought-provoking material. *Overall: 10/10-* Virtually flawless, Parasyte: the maxim (Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu) effortlessly balances riveting suspense, emotional character drama, and thought-provoking themes without ever allow one aspect to overshadow the other. No other anime has ever been able to execute all these aspects to such an effective and mature degree in the past. Undoubtedly one of the best works of fiction in years, not just anime, Parasyte receives my first ever 10 out of 10 as an anime that is about as close to perfect as an anime as can be.

Parasyte was an Anime I had picked up and put down quite awhile ago. Out of simple curiosity, I had went back to it and re-watched what I was up to, and then the newer episodes. It was amazing. It was one of the first series I had ever kept up with, (the second being Jojo's) and WANTED to keep up with. The story of Parasyte is quite good, the only complaint I have being a few things I wished they elaborated on further. The art in Parasyte doesn't have much need of elaboration. It's Madhouse, so naturally it's phenomenal. The sound is also stellar, the dub step style opening for a modern feel and the soothing piano ending. The voice acting is also phenomenal in this series. Despite the fact most of those watching don't speak Japanese, you can really feel the emotions they put into the characters. The characters of Parasyte, at least some of them are episodic. Besides the core cast, depending on what we are tackling different characters will appear in different episodes. Some don't stick around forever, however. Some characters I wish, (even though it's an adaptation) had more screen time. Though, it's a bit understandable as the main characters are Migi and Shinichi, and Shinichi's struggle to keep Migi hidden and maintain a normal life, as well as protect those he cares about from the Parasyte menace. However, despite the fact that it gives most of the spotlight to Shinichi and Migi and not others, it's worth it. Both of the characters go through astonishing character development that needs to be seen to be understood. Overall Parasyte is one of those good series that should be a standard in the Anime Industry today. I enjoyed it, and if the synopsis interests you, you probably will as well.

What a great story, looking at the human existence from the eyes of another creature, eyes of a parasite, a creature that shares not the most important thing that the humans own, Emotions: love, hate, affection, fear... And that's all experienced by a high school student who's still developing, as for his age, his moral and ethical principles, and moreover he struggles even harder when the part of the parasite which replaced his right hand at first as a fully conscious parasite, was forced to emerge with his heart, and mind later when the young fella was at risk of death, so he starts to lose his human features, most importantly the empathy towards his mankind, and as for his parasite companion, it's all good, because this will only lead to more logical decisions. So the story goes through that point, our friend will struggle fighting parasites with their great physical and thinking power, and fighting himself trying not to lose what he has left from his human nature. The Art in the manga is amazing, the author made a great work making all scenes look so real, vivid, and alive. As for the Anime, they did a great work too, no less than the original manga, though as a start if you read the manga first, you'll for sure feel it's better than the anime, I think it's because you're still a prisoner of how charming the manga was, but later on you discover that the anime charms no less than the manga, especially in the fight scenes where our hero is trying to save someone or himself from a parasite. It's just one thing, I always wondered why did they change the way the characters look in the anime from the originals in the manga, it's a confusing change for me, and I remember how I felt nostalgic to the originals once I watched a remake of the opening theme with the original characters looks with no change. The sound in the anime is also great, hearing the blades of the parasites fighting is so pleasant. The opening theme is one of the most haunting themes to me. As for the characters, I always wished that the main character isn't a high school student. though being that is better for the plot and it's too interesting, but imagining a grown up with a nihilistic point of view was the one who's merged with a logical parasite wouldn't be that interesting to most people, I think it will bring more destruction to the story, but it will explore another side of the human nature.

I will probably get blamed because i'm about to "attack" one of the recent "BEST ANIME OF ALL TIME". Well there are some anime that i just can´t understand their rate and how the hell they got so well rated... this is one of them. I will try to explore this "thing" as well as an objective review because most of the times when a review starts by saying: It is a perfect 10.. well probably it will be just some fanboy. Well where do i start .. is this anime good? Yes it is ... does it worth it's rate at this moment? No. I think people are just forgetting some parts to praise this anime and i understand that, i do the same with some other anime. Story: 8/10. The story starts to be really interesting and engaging. The problem is that it just gets silly with the time. There are a lot of things that bothered me as well as PLOT HOLES. Yes because it seems that no one knows the true meaning of "having no feelings". I won´t tell you much more otherwise i would be spoiling, but just pay attention to what i just said, and see if i'm not right. About the pace of the plot, it's fine. It's not to fast neither to slow. Personally, after the 14th episode, this anime went way down below it's usual quality until the end. In the first 14 episodes, this anime only explores Shinichi and how hard was for him to live his new life. But then .. i don´t know what happened but i do now one thing: It was no longer Parasyte. Then you have tons of people that says : THIS ANIME IS INTELIGENT. Well .. i must be the only one who already knew about all the things that this anime explored (believe me or not, some of the things explored in this anime were already explored by myself. Yeah i didn´t found it so "inteligent" as people say.) There is one sentence that i would like to quote: "The man claims to be racional but he destroys his own place to live .. how can that be called racional". Srsly people .. did you never get to that conclusion by yourself? At least i did .. I think this anime plays around with some things and apparently it worked out because almost everyone that i know says that Kiseijuu is just too damn well made and so it's a 10/10. Not really.. So don´t get fool by those who claim that this anime is too "inteligent". For me .. this is nothing. Philosofical themes? Non-existant. Let me tell you a little bit about philosofy: It means from the old greek, philos + sofia, which means "Love knowledge" or "Love knowing more and more". Of course this is a really simple definition but you get the idea. Is this anime philosofical? Not even close. It just picks some facts and says clichê things. For me, an inteligent anime is that anime who manage to create an alternative reality where they explore the "if". "What if there was society where crimes could be judge by a machine? This idea was taken from Psycho-Pass. This is an inteligent anime for me. It makes us think about that society and how it would be living like them. Here on Parasyte .. we already know that reality for god sake. IT IS OUR REALITY ! So, the sentence that i quoted " The man claims to be racional but he destroys his own place to live .. how can that be called racional" is not so inteligent as you may think it is. It is just a fact. Nothing more than that. There are other things to talk about but i just can´t tell you otherwise i would be spoiling. The last thing i would like to talk about is how this anime desperately tries to make some suspanse with the action, how desperately this anime tries to make some cliffhangers .. how this anime tries to make some drama .. HOW THIS ANIME TRIES TO BE INTELIGENT. It fails at all of those levels. It even tried to have some plot twists .. big big surprise it didn't had them. I predicted successfully every single on of them. So i don´t really know how this anime can be a 10/10. Art: 8/10. The design is fine. I personally loved the character's facial expression. Just truly well made. The background is fine for the most part. If there is one problem with the art, is the movement. The action is static. Let me tell you how a fight looks like in Parasyte: THEY LITERALLY STAY STILL. Yeah they only use some kind of arms to fight, the rest of the body doesn´t even moves at all. Oh but wait, they use a trick to try to make it "OP" which is the same trick used in One Piece. They speed up those arms so fast that we can´t see them. BIG BIG SURPRISE DO YOU KNOW THAT HAPPENS? It is a really useful trick to save money. Yeah people action like that is really easy to make. Check out any anime from 1980 and you will see they do better than Parasyte lol .. really disappointing. Sound: 7/10. Well they use dubstep for the action. Please kill this anime already. The opening is great. Personally i loved it. The majority of the OST are OK for their purpose, but really none of them stands out. Pretty much weak. Character: 8/10. Well well .. okay i admit it: Izumi Shinichi is a brilliant character in the first 14-18 episodes. I found in this character everything. Nice development, nice dialogues, nice reactions. It seemed so natural, they way that he reacted to his new life. The rest .. ah there is no rest. I mean really we only have Shinichi as the main character, and then for the supportive characters Temura Reiko, Migi and Murano, While Temura Reiko was .. PLOT HOLE. Murano was more interesting to watch but still to repetitive. She pretty much says the same shit throughout the entire show. About Migi .. i would say that he somehow does nothing in the story. Besides changing Izumi life, after that he acts like a plot shield for Izumi. I mean you will understand if you get there. Migi got some development but it was not interesting for me. Remember guys, this is a 24 eps show. Only 4 characters? Congrats. Anyway, Izumi carries this anime to the victory with his great development. I would say the best aspect in this anime. Enjoyment: After all what i said, i think you can understand what i felt about this show. Overall: 7/10. I reccomend it ! It is a nice show with some interesting themes .. BUT .. don´t get hype or you may get disapointed. It is interesting but not great. It is good but not brilliant.

Parasyte starts with a genuinely interesting premise: a mysterious invasion, body horror, and the uneasy coexistence between Shinichi and Migi. Migi himself is easily the best part of the show – his design, his cold logic, and the initial tension of having a parasite literally attached to the protagonist all suggest a story with enormous potential. For a while, it feels like the series might become something sharp, strange, and memorable. Unfortunately, almost everything around that premise collapses. The writing is painfully weak: the characters rarely feel like real human beings, the dialogue is stiff, and the relationships are so artificial that they often seem written by someone observing human interaction from behind aquarium glass. The romance is especially terrible – awkward, shallow, and emotionally unconvincing. Even the soundtrack, while containing a few decent tracks, often feels bizarrely mismatched to what is happening on screen, as if someone shuffled the playlist and simply accepted the result. The final stretch only makes things worse, piling up contrivances, illogical choices, and a clumsy attempt at “deep” philosophy. The show throws around grand statements about humanity, Earth, morality, and existence, but most of them either contradict each other or lead nowhere. At times it feels like Parasyte expects blood, cheap emotional manipulation, and vague philosophical slogans to trick the viewer into treating it as an ambitious story. Sadly, judging by its reputation and absurdly high score, that trick worked on a lot of people. For me, it was mostly wasted potential.

I happened to make a report on "Parasyte" in an intensive writing on comics book class. Citations below. Enjoy. Maxim of Man: Our Natural Order Great stories go beyond entertaining people. Stories can be used for encouraging people to think for themselves and provide insight to how people think. Parasyte-The Maxim provides insight on how people act as an individual and as a collective. This series can be watched passively and absorbed as an action series. However, the true meaning of the show is a psychological thriller that constantly reminds you of humanity. We are all under the influence of media. Everyone is networked in ways that public messages stretch across the country and change our behaviors. Othering groups is a way that people have united. The humans and the parasites in the series view each other as the inherit opposition because they are different and do not understand the thoughts of the opposing species. Fantasy stories are open-minded and do not follow a straight line of any ideology. Parasyte shows viewpoints from an omnipotent view. You are forced into the minds of different characters with different motives. There is a left-wing politician who is a bit overboard in his conservationist ideology. Although he seemed borderline psychotic, there were a few points in his last speech that had a nugget of truth to it. We are all familiar with being human and acting as what we perceive to be normal. Deviance from our social dogma is infringement on a social contract. We have all signed this contract with our first breath and this contract is applicable to the day we die. There is an underlying duty for all of humanity to behave in ways that validate what it means to be human in terms of ethical behavior especially. Everyone knows that that there is an invisible code of conduct that we must abide to. Dr. Zuleyka Zevallos, PhD in sociology, says that this creed is created by the “[s]ocial institutions such as the law, the media, education, religion and so on hold the balance of power through their representation of what is accepted as “normal” and what is considered Other.” (“Defining Otherness”). Parasyte-The Maxim covers power of both the media and law. People often think about how the media refers to music and movies and how these sources of entertainment shape our culture. People overlook the power of the news and how information is processed and given to the public. Lies and distortions of news has caused numerous deaths. Captain Carl Otis Schuster, NAVY intelligence officer during Vietnam, wrote an article in Vietnam Magazine regarding the Tonkin Gulf incident. Capt. Schuster wrote, “There were 122 additional relevant SIGNIT products that the Phu Bai station had misinterpreted or mistranslated many of the warnings…These mistakes led U.S. destroyers to open fire on spurious radar contacts, misinterpret their own propeller noises as incoming torpedoes, and ultimately report an attack that never occurred” (Case Closed: The Tonkin Gulf Incident). It took forty-four years for this information to come into the public view. This “incident” was a lie that got the USA involved in the Vietnam War. This war led to the deaths of over one million people. Parasyte covers how the media is guided by the government, and they are allowed to release censored content that is government approved. When the parasites first landed on Earth they were embedding themselves in humans. If these parasites took control by fusing with the brain, they would become the human and the life that inhabited the body before the hosting is no more. The parasites were cannibalistic. There was a sudden flux of humans killing other humans and eating them. The media was not allowed to cover the subject until there were too many murders to overlook. The murders were then said to be committed by a serial killer. Understandably, some people were paranoid by these deaths that they chose to stay inside and parents kept tighter surveillance on their children. It was intriguing to see how the supposed actions of one person, according to the media, would terrify people to the point of living in fear. The media had an element of control over people and when they left their houses. The media then made it further into everyday life when they learned the nature of the parasite. The government allowed the media to tell people about the parasites. If the parasite took control of the brain, it would have complete control over the host and every piece of the host was an extension of the parasite. There was a silly public trend that was encouraged by the media by having people walk up to their friends and pulling out a single strand of hair as a part of a greeting. If you happened to pull the hair of a parasite, the hair would shrivel up and die. This greeting was a way of finding out who has been infested. We can look around today and see dumb things people are doing because it is popular. Twerking is a public trend that has worked its way into the dictionary. On a darker note, people have died taking selfies. The media is as strong as the law when it comes to social forces. Laws define what is acceptable behavior and differ depending on which borders you stand within. Laws are in place to make sure that people follow a social construct that is beneficial to themselves and to the government. Electing representatives that believe in similar philosophies is one way of pulling the societal norms towards your beliefs. If you have enough representatives in a country that believe a certain way, you can relieve the stress of the “Otherness.” Dr. Zevallos said, “Dichotomies of otherness are set up as being natural and so often times in everyday life they are taken for granted and presumed to be natural. But social identities are not natural – they represent an established social order” (quoted in “Defining Otherness”). Otherness is clearly seen in gay rights of the British Isles. The battle for gay rights in Great Britain has worked in steps because the people elected representatives that leaned in their social views, away from wanting to govern homosexuality. Homosexuality was punishable by death in England from 1533-1861. The Buggery Act of 1533 was passed under the rule of King Henry VIII and was a civil sodomy law that grouped homosexuality and bestiality in the same group. Even though the act was repealed in 1828 they continued to hang people for homosexuality for another three and a half decades. Doctor Rictor Norton believes this medieval law to be a basis for modern law. (The Medieval Basis of Modern Law). It took until 1967 for homosexuality to be decriminalized to a mental disease and homosexuality was legal for people aged 21 and up. Homosexuality was equalized with the age of consent, 16, in 2001. There is still a bit of a stigma of homosexuality and residual thoughts that still lie in modern Britons. The kingdom has evolved towards being more open as a whole. These changes happened because people wanted these social standards to change. In the universe that Parasyte took place in, humans saw the parasites as the others and wanted a complete eradication of the species. They did not think for one moment about how the parasites may be able to benefit mankind. The parasites were an alien race that saw only logic and had no feelings. They saw eating one type of food to be far less barbaric than eating a variety of lives to sustain their own life. The humans and the parasites shared a similar goal because they were the only two races to seek evolution that were known about. They could have worked together but reactionaries saw this as an immediate threat to humanity and wanted to kill the aliens without hesitation. Upon finding out that there were parasites that had taken politicians as hosts, the government had launched an attack on the parliamentary building and faked a mad shooter. The military created a scenario where they were able to lockdown the entire building and scan every person …

Sigh... I'm not good with this kind of stuff. I mingle what I want to say, and don't properly put what I had thought about a single show into a review. It's hard to get my point across since I'm terrible with expressing myself in this fashion with words. I'm afraid that my words won't truly bring out how good this show was, but oh well I'll try, and hopefully you will watch it. The actual review starts now: Hmmm lets see, this show starts with Shinichi Izumi. I think that's his name, who gets infected by a parasite. He was once human, but now he's somewhere in between, kinda. This is their tale. So basically, imagine Tokyo ghoul. But instead of just fighting, it adds a huge psychological impact onto the story. About how these two species mingle and "co-exist." The purpose of their life, and honestly, much, much deeper and many other subjects spoken from both the human and parasite's perspective. How they change and how these species not just live but how they think as well. This is all just becoming repeated words at this point. So I'll just summarize it "clearly" with this last sentence. This show is definitely not just about fighting and getting stronger, it actually gets you thinking and puts out some very deep thoughts. The impact that a new species on this planet was and the turmoil from the two. It's like as if there's actually two different sides to the story. You also get to see one person's standpoint upon all this, with all his traumatic events and all his turmoil. There's one episode that's very heart warming and touching... for a multitude of reasons.... but basically. This show is more than just fighting, it's adapting to new life and how Shinichi deals with the turmoil of all this. Since he's somewhere in between, you get to see the human and parasites side of all of this. The statements that they make are easy to understand and are thought provoking. Maybe that's because they're blunt and direct with their statements rather than going around the bush like how some shows have done before. So anyways, that's my "Review." Hope you enjoyed, and I definitely hope you watch this show.

I would like to start by saying that this show was wholly entertaining and really enjoyable. But there are a few flaws that i think weigh down the show. the first twelve episodes are good, now doubt about that, they make sure to establish the characters and the situations well. But they had a habit of debating the line between human morals and animal instincts. Now I would like to note that when your enemy is dead before you and slowly regenerating, that is not the time to discuss your morals, and try to cling on to humanity. This is something that you have worked out prior to the battle. If you're going to show mercy. Please do not waste an episode discussing it with yourself. That is an episode that could be used for much better things. Another battle per say. I give this show overall, a high seven, maybe a low eight.

If you are going to watch this anime you should love a horror action anime because thats what this is all about. The story is one like never seen before because of the unique way of becoming an monster from a human. fulltime I was deeply enjoyed every single moment of the great tension at every episode. This story really is an good one because it doesnt only have a great action horror story but it also has great characters with relationships all the way to loving each other to not trusting each other. This serie has the best background music ive ever heard on an anime which makes the fights much more tremendous. This anime also has one of my favourite anime openings and endings which makes me keep wanting to watch even more. I can tell you that in my opinion this one is worth watching and i wouldnt change anything of the story. Story: 10 definitely worth a 10 because it doesnt only have an epic horror action story with a great tension but also has great characters with relationships from loving to not trusting that makes the story even better. Art: 9 The art in this anime is absolutely well done in my opinion. Especially the fight scenes because of the fast good looking movements of the monster characters. it could be even better so ill keep it at a 9. Sound: 10 Like i said before this anime has the greatest background music ive ever heard because it makes every single fight way cooler and gives it an big amount of extra tension while they're fighting. Character: 9 The characters are really good. The main character starts as a shy boy and ends totaly different. His friends notice his change of behavior and change their minds about him which makes this story even better with Drama. Enjoyment: 10 Every single episode enjoyed me the from beginning to the end especially because of its great tension and music at fighting scenes, but also because of the really good drama. Thanks for reading my review :)

I loved this... Thought it might be a silly horror attempt that couldn't pull it off when I first saw the commercials, but I was pleasantly surprised. Unrelenting action and plot twists kept me satisfied the whole series. I didn't give it a perfect score on story just because a couple of episodes did seem a bit lazy. For example- their were a couple of battles at the main characters school where a lot of people died. However after the events, the school reopens a couple of weeks later and the students quickly mention their distraught and then move on. It just seemed like it was addressed very minimally and I had a hard time believing the setting could just go back to where it was. I could overlook this largely though, because it is a story about aliens and one must suspend some sense of reality obviously. Also, it introduced me to one of my favorite characters of all time: MIGI. The bond I felt with this character was almost as strong as the bond I share with my own right hand in real life and that's saying something 😬. Also I should note the soundtrack. I really enjoyed all of the music, especially the OST "Next to You." All of the music fit the scenes perfectly.