English: Parayste: the Maxim
Story/ 9
Who knew that a story centered on a gooey, talking arm could be something other than silly and gross? On the contrary, Parasyte was something that held my attention and remained exciting throughout all 24 episodes. In short, the plot followed a 17-year-old named Shinichi who was only partially taken over by a parasitic creature. Basically, the goal of a parasite was to get into a person's skull and eat the brain before essentially becoming the body's brain itself. In Shinichi's case, the parasite only made it into his arm before it was stopped by Shinichi. Maturing quickly, the parasite started to eat and therefore gained control of only Shinichi's right arm (hence the parasite's name: Migi). Overall, the anime was excellently paced. It was not too fast or too slow for me and ended at a point that was satisfying. It had a few extremely similar scenes, (i.e parasite battles inside the the high school) but the story never became painfully repetitive. However, the ending did feel a little overly preachy to me like it was trying to beat me over the head with a moral. The eventual reason for the parasite's existence ended up being extremely cliché and didn't fit with how Migi described parasites to be: only concerned with their personal survival. Though, I wouldn't say the story ever entered major plot hole territory. My problems with the plot of this show are not major. They are like annoying little bugs. The pros far outweigh the cons. Finally, I completely recommend this title for fans of Tokyo Ghoul as there are many similarities.
Art/ 8
Loved it. The style was one that's nice on your eyes if that makes sense. The color palette leaned on the more realistic side (for an anime) and I can only recall one character with unnaturally colored hair. Despite that, the art was by no means boring. The anime does use computer generation for crowd scenes which threw me off as the CG contrasted a bit too much with the hand drawn parts but nothing looked horrible.
Sound/ 9
The opening is going down as one of my favorites! I watched it almost every episode and had it on replay for a week. "Let Me Hear" gets the viewer in the perfect mood for the show. The soundtrack for the rest of the anime was also very well done. The main theme was a melancholic number that was gorgeous and smooth. There is an electronic number for action scenes as well as a few bouncy background songs. This anime did not slack in the OST department.
(Fun fact: the opening is in English. Who knew?)
Characters/ 6
This gets my lowest rating for the simple reason that the only characters I cared about at all were Shinichi and Migi. I was really invested in both of those characters, but not a single other person or parasite in the show. Even the final villain was a generic, seemingly OP baddie out to crush the main character to dust. Character deaths only made me upset because they made Shinichi upset. In general, the protagonists were wonderful and they made me empathize with them. But, beyond the two main characters, no one else was memorable.
Enjoyment/ 9
Kiseijuu/Parasyte is an anime I was glad I found. It was the kind of show that makes you go "bed after one more episode" and then finish at 4am.
Overall/ 9
Good anime for anyone who enjoys action, doses of gore, and shockingly lovable talking arms.
