The first ball is the action and I would say is the dominant one. Before it’s a romance, or a psychological show, parasyte is a high-intensity action thriller. Most of its plot is driven primarily through its action sequences. The action scenes on their own are breathtaking. Throughout its entire run parasyte’s animation was fairly consistent and that kept the action from falling into mediocrity in the latter half, something that happens to a lot of shows in their 2nd half. Along with the animation, parasyte was heightened by its thrilling EDM OST. It’s quite rare to see an anime in this era with an OST of this nature, and I am not personally a fan of the music but parasyte nailed its use completely. Before action sequences were about to begin, the show opted to use more mysterious and slower paced soundtracks to build up the tension and heighten the level of danger. Once the action scenes themselves initiated, the soundtrack switched to a more fast-paced beat to capture the feeling of intensity that comes with parasyte’s action. Packaged in a great exterior by the animation and OST, the action scenes were further enhanced by the high stakes that came with them. There was no room for error, no room for breathing. With every mistake Shinichi made, he got punished for it, and even making one mistake in a deadlock battle with his enemies could have been the end for him. With every grating strike; the stakes only increased, and this is what ultimately makes parasyte’s action scenes great to sit through. When shit hit the fan; the adrenaline and tension were unreal.
The second ball is the character relationships. This wasn’t handled rather too well, with the cast being hit or miss as a whole. What was the highlight of this section is the dynamic relationship between Shinichi and Migi. Having completely different morals and ways of living that were consistently clashing is what made them such a joy to watch. Their character interactions were meaningful to the story, engaging and throughout the show they both grew as characters by understanding each other’s viewpoints. Furthermore, as individual characters their character progression was interesting, instead of progressing in a cookie-cutter manner, Shinichi and Migi slowly started to develop traits that were present in the opposites personality, with Shinichi becoming more like a parasite and Migi showing more human traits as the story moved along. Migi’s growth came as a result of furthering his understanding of human society and the social norms that comes with them. Shinichi’s case is unfortunately not as natural but nevertheless it was still engaging to watch his character progression as the plot unfolded. Both of the Main characters beliefs were challenged as the series progresses, but their ideals are never truly changed. This action plays positively into parasyte’s hands as it highlights one of the shows biggest messages; to never try and understand the mindset of a different species from your own, as it’s impossible to judge them using your own species standards.
The third ball is the romantic relationship between the two female leads. This is by far the weakest section of the show. Kanna and Murano were both very weak as characters and i would go as far as to call them useless. Their contribution to the story can be summed up in two lines. “ARE YOU REALLY SHINICHI-KUN?” and, “SHINICHI YOU ARE THE ONE”. Yes. That’s it. Murano is a classic anime plot device that only exists to forcefully let the audience know that Shinichi is not the person he once was like a propaganda tower preaching some third-rate ideology. Additionally, she was always a damsel in distress. She found herself on more occasions that one in sticky situations so Shinichi can have a girl to save. Other than that, she was only there to comfort Shinichi. Realistically speaking their romantic relationship makes sense as they knew each other for a long time, but the role that Murano plays in the story is stupid and trite. On the other hand, Kanna was completely retarded. Having being introduced quite early on in the story Kanna fell in love with Shinichi only a few episodes after they met and it was for the most stupid reason you could imagine; because she could sense his presence using some stupid unexplained sensing technique where she can feel a parasyte’s aura if one was nearby. First of all, why does that sensing technique exist? Second of all, why was she attracted to him for such a petty reason? And last but not least, which human being is stupid enough to risk their life to meet someone even after being warned? Serving zero purpose to the overall plot and proving to be more retarded than a 5-year old, Kanna only existed in the show to once again ham-fist us the point that Shinichi is not the same he once was.
The fourth and final ball parasyte tried to juggle was tackling a wide range of themes including identity, ecology, human nature and more all mixed into its story and characters. I will refrain from talking about its themes too much as it will get into spoiler territory, but the hot topic that was present from the very start and is the essence of parasyte is a study of ecology. Primarily about how different species interact with one another, both physically and mentally. Throughout its entire run, parasyte raises questions about whether different species should attempt to understand each other, the purpose of a species existence, the fundamental reasons on why a species behaves the way in which they do. Parasyte is filled with interesting ideas and concepts not present in many anime from this decade. Some of the themes explored are disconnected from each other, but that doesn’t stop parasyte from being an intellectually energizing work that will certainly leave an impression.
The character who drove the ecological developments of the show forward was Tamura Reiko. Her role in the story proved to be one of the most important as she was the main focal point for Parasyte’s themes. Her character progression was joyful to watch as she questioned the reason for her species existence as well as trying to empathize with human behaviour, particularly the significance of the maternal bond in later episodes. Identity was also explored through Tamura’s significance to the story. But not an identity crisis in the same sense as Shinichi, but rather the identity of an entire species as she searched for a reason that validated her breed's existence.
Another notable character is the main antagonist of the show; Goto. While not as interesting as Tamura Reiko Goto still has a role to play, and that is being a representation of the untainted beauty of nature. He in himself is an illustration of a wild animal simply on the hunt and following his instincts. Not influenced by outside sources or societal constructs. In a way, Goto is also an answer to one of Parasyte’s biggest questions; what are the parasites? Goto shows that no matter how strong a creature may appear on the exterior, internally they are just another life-form frightened by the mere fact of losing their life.
The anime preferred to only touch upon these themes rather than viewing them as a whole under the magnifying glass and can at times be a little forced due to the over dramatic nature of its cast, but what was impressive is that parasyte wasn’t sugar-coating its ideas or being idealistic in its thematic approach. It presented its themes through an unbiased lens, showing the darker sides to humanity when it could have easily played them out to be the heroes, and giving the audience an understanding of the parasite’s actions while it could have easily played them out to be the villains. It’s an accurate representation of the law of nature and the ecosystem that governs all the species that live on planet Earth, all while mixing in fast-paced action sequences. It is plagued by obvious drawbacks but it achieves a good balance between popcorn entertainment and insightful commentary on the nature of humanity and ecology as a whole. It could have very easily crumbled under the pressure of mixing so many elements at once or being too overly-ambitious in its thematic approach and as a result coming off as convoluted or over-bloated with unnecessary dialogue. But the show kept its composure and is all around a nice piece of work.
As far as the technical side of things goes, Parasyte was solid for the most part.The show could have benefitted from a grittier art style to match the sense of unease that the show was going for, but nonetheless the artwork and art style were nothing to write home about but worked well enough for its contemporary setting with both the character designs and backgrounds satisfactory. The animation during the action sequences was also quite fluid with only a few noticeable derps. However the show is bogged down visually with some immersion-breaking CGI on background characters multiple times.
There are also a few problems present in the plot that do make it a little difficult to take Parasyte a little seriously. Most of these problems do arise because the director is tasked with trying to adapt material that is set in a different time period. Keep in mind that this manga began serialization in 1989. As a result of the director’s poor translation of the material into a modern setting, the writing did come off as stupid at some points in the show. Another setback were some contrivances in the final two episodes which influenced the outcomes of the Shinichi vs Goto fight and the ending of the series which made it feel rather cheesy, a bit of a blunder for a show that was asking its audience to take the ride seriously.
But ultimately those drawbacks didn’t matter too much to what the show conveyed and achieved. Whether you are a diehard anime fan, a casual, a pleb, a critic, an elitist, a cat or a dog. It’s an anime i encourage everyone to try as it’s one of the only recent anime that is capable of providing something for everyone to enjoy. Romance, action, commentary, social criticisms and a grim reminder of what it feels like to not be on top of the food chain.
