Parasite is a show I had kind of high hopes for even though I had never read the manga, which was a mistake. Still, don't let the rating portray that this show isn't worth your time, it most probably is since it has a narrative that keeps you very highly engaged just to see what happens next. But there were some major problems for me which just held the show back so much that it lost its potential along the way.
Spoilers from beyond this point.
The biggest disappointment is the characters especially all the female characters barring one or two. If this show didn't have parasites, it would most likely be a harem show. Every female character seemingly falls for the lead on first sight and is of no significance in the story so much so that I was rooting for the obvious love interest (the worst character possibly) to die from the start. No such luck, I'm afraid. That might have made the main character a little more likable and given him some much needed direction. He meanders from one place to the next and I just didn't find him engaging at all. There doesn't seem to be any chemistry between them either. Come to think of it, there isn't any chemistry between most of the characters which seriously hampered my enjoyment.
The parasite in his right hand, on the other hand, was a lot more interesting but I think its potential was squandered as well. An approach where the parasite gradually inherits human emotions and Shinichi gradually turns into something more resembling the parasite would have been a lot more interesting, a change that could have been catalyzed by the death of previously mentioned obvious love interest. Still, it was a decent character and I sometimes enjoyed the conversations it had with the lead. I wish they'd taken this character in a different direction that what they eventually chose though.
Another decent character was that of the mayor. He was interesting given the fact that he was entirely human who had decided to cooperate with the parasites. His speech was one of the most compelling things I found in this show but he was used too little. Shame, really, a main character like him would have been much more engaging.
And here we have the high point of the entire show, Tamura Reiko. This entire show is worth watching just for her but after her death, it goes downhill. I had hoped she would be used more wisely. She should've been the main antagonist since she was the one actually somewhere in between human and parasite as she had such curiosity towards humans and the world in general that it would have made for a much better experience had she been there at the end. Her child also harbored a potential to take this show in most interesting directions but it was a dead end. Her demise was handled decently enough but it could have been done so much better. The parasites in the show are said to be equally intelligent as humans but they are far superior. Given time and the fact that parasites evolved and learned much faster than anything else, she could have become something so much more fascinating but they chose to dispose of her at her most intriguing. The second biggest disappointment in the show.
The actual antagonists, both human and parasite, are nothing special, leading to a rather dull ending. All the rest of the characters are just... there. They don't contribute anything meaningful at all.
The story is meandering with no real direction just like the lead. It puts forward many interesting ideas but fails to follow through on any of them effectively. The romance side of the story is so jarring and uninteresting that I facepalmed subconsciously almost every time they went in that direction. It's just so weak, there's no chemistry between any of the characters and the female characters seem to be there just for this incredibly stupid and ham-handed purpose. They were entirely useless.
The animation is nothing special either. It's decent enough and the fights weren't all that appealing, the gore was just there... I don't like gore so I kind of tended to ignore it. The character designs were decent enough as well. This show would have done well to go in a more philosophical direction than the shounen one in my opinion.
My overall enjoyment was seriously hampered by these issues (mostly the romance side) and the disappointment I felt is the reason I have rated this show as low as I have. It is most likely worth a watch but has no re-watch value whatsoever. The entire hook of this show is to see where things go next, nothing else. No relationships, no characters, nothing else matters. Such a shame since if they had decided to expand on any of the stronger elements of the show, it could have been a masterpiece.
