Parasyte is not a good show. However, the anime community seems to believe that it is. Parasyte looks at several philosophical ideas, which are interesting in their own right, and does a reasonable job of addressing them. But a good anime has to do more than that. That being said, the positive reviews of this show don't seem to praise that and instead praise the story's pacing and character development. I just can't agree with this sentiment at all. The first word that comes to mind when thinking about Parasyte is 'BORING'. I would say that the show falters in pretty much every aspect. The story is poorly constructed, though that I imagine it improves slightly along the way. The art is below average, suffering often and having to maintain poor character designs and a dreadfully boring color palette. The sound is poor. And of course, the worst is the characters. Yikes. I can't even tell what this series is trying to do. It does nothing. Well, let's get into it.
[Rating]
Story: 5
Art: 4
Sound: 3
Character: 2
Enjoyment: 3
Overall: 3
[Story: 5]
To me, this is a generous rating. I expect the story to improve during the latter half of the series -- as most stories do -- but even in that case, I don't see myself enjoying Parasyte at all. The story completely lacks agency. The device by which the plot moves is Migi telling Shinichi that something is happening, and then Shinichi reacting to whatever it is. It does not feel like the protagonist, or really anyone, is moving the plot forward. Things are just happening around him and he predictably reacts to it by doing something heroic. There are villains that don't really seem like villains because they have no real attachment to Shinichi, they just exist in the world and happen to involve Shinichi for the sake of the narrative. The series tries to string along the audience cliffhangers, but even that isn't very compelling.
[Art: 4]
The art is close to average. I would say that it almost looks good, but the color palette is a big burden to uphold. Everything is muted and boring all the time. Look towards Psycho-Pass for something that has a similar style but executes much better. Beyond that, the animation just falters in general. Animation can be choppy and the characters flub pretty often. The character design is boring. If this series is trying to be action series, it fails. The action is just blades flying around. No punch. No choreography or engaging angles during fights. In my opinion, this should have strived to be animated like Psycho-Pass, and it is very far off from that.
[Sound: 3]
The voice acting is bad. Specifically Shinichi's mom, but several characters don't make the cut. There aren't really any character themes. There is maybe one good song in the score, but there are others that are just confusing. The show seems to often adopt fast-paced electronic themes in 'intense' moments, which doesn't mesh with the aesthetic of the show and just falls flat. My guess is that it tries for this direction because of the (first?) OP, which is pretty decent. But I think we should expect better of our anime than to base the show content off an OP track. The effects are lacking and don't provide any punch or excitement.
[Character: 2]
Are there any characters? The minor characters are all bad. I think Kana has some potential but that's just me hoping there is something redeemable about the characters. You would expect Murano to be a big character in the series but she is completely worthless thusfar. The villains are poor and really stick around Shinichi 'just because'. It seems many of the positive reviews seem to highly value the development made by Shinichi and Migi. From what I've seen so far, this is just misplaced. OK, Shinichi goes from a wimp to a manly man. That can be a great development, but the show doesn't execute well at all. Shinichi just goes from a boring baby (a shitty character) to AoT's Eren Yeager (another shitty character) overnight. Why is this exciting? It doesn't feel real because it just 'happens', and the outcome character is still beyond boring. Furthermore, he doesn't go through any emotional development like a normal human would to get to this point, something biological happens to his body. The audience cannot relate to this. I've read some plot synopses that indicate that Shinichi and Migi begin to understand their differences as species and begin to come to a more unified understanding on how they should value other people, and that sounds potentially good. But I have no reason to believe that show will execute it in a way that improves the characters at all, because it has failed to do so thusfar.
[Enjoyment: 3]
Cliffhangers are the only 'enjoyable' part. I thought the series was going to take a great turn at episode 6, but it disappointed me. Again. The show is just boring. Poor action, poor tension, and very poor drama and characters, which the show does devote a lot of effort into. I can't tell you what this show tries to be because it fails at everything. Serious, the best thing it does it cliffhang (poorly) and can't maintain that because the plot and characters suck.
[Overall: 3]
Boring. Do not recommend watching. Offers nothing of value from what I have seen. I don't know what this show is going for, but it isn't doing it well.
