The Official MSBS Anime Review: Parasyte -the maxim-

I really need to catch up on these anime reviews... Anyways, it's nice to finally be back in business, happy people of TheTopTens! So before I start doing anime reviews for Aniplex's August Lucky 7, where I will review 7 anime series licensed by Aniplex of America, I will review the anime series Parasyte -the maxim-, which is also known in Japanese as Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu. For this anime review, I will be reviewing the anime series as a whole, being that it's only one season consisting of two halves: the first being The Beginning/Monster Twist and the second being The Endgame/Alien Nation. Now I decided to choose Parasyte -the maxim- for my third anime review since my first anime review was of an anime licensed by Aniplex of America (Sword Art Online) and my second anime review was of an anime licensed by Funimation (Soul Eater). So now I want my third anime review to be of an anime licensed by Sentai Filmworks. Now without further delay, let's get infected now, shall we?

Parasyte -the maxim- takes place in modern-day Tokyo, Japan, where creatures known as Parasites have suddenly descended upon planet Earth in the dark of the night. These Parasites have come to invade and take control of the brains of their human hosts in order to be able to shape shift into various forms to feast on human flesh. No human knows about these Parasites except 16-year old male teenage high school student Shinichi Izumi, One night, a Parasite attempts to try to take over his brain, but fails and instead takes over his right hand. Unable to find a new host, the Parasite must now rely on Shinichi for survival. Shinichi names it Migi, where the two then begrudgingly form a friendship and coexist with each other as they get caught up in a war of the survival of the fittest between humans and Parasites and must now defend themselves as they are threatened by hostile Parasites who see them as a threat to their own species.

As usual, I will first analyze the animation, art, and music of this anime series. The animation is handled by renowned animation studio Madhouse, whose most well-known and credible works they have done for animating anime series include Death Note, No Game No Life, Hunter x Hunter (2011), One Punch Man, Black Lagoon, Hellsing Ultimate, Claymore, Trigun, Monster, etc. Being able to animate anime series like these so well, Madhouse does an impressive job of making sure the animation in Parasyte -the maxim- stays consistent, smooth, and fluid throughout the series. The animation for Parasyte -the maxim- by Madhouse also shines in its fast-paced fight scenes, where the movements of the Parasites shape-shifting to attack their targets are very well-choreographed. Plus, most of the blood and gore shown in this anime are uncensored. That's pretty great for an anime series in the horror genre, since some anime series such as Tokyo Ghoul and Deadman Wonderland have their blood and gore scenes blacked out and censored. Now as for the art, although not quite as extravagant as the art for Tokyo Ghoul, another anime series similar to Parasyte -the maxim-, it's rather quite solid and decent. Nothing too impressive, but not bad in any way. In addition, the character designs may not be too colorful or distinctive, but they did suit the environment and setting that they were placed in for the anime, so the character designs aren't bad either. However, I did like the designs of most of the Parasites and their various forms. I also want to point out that I liked how Madhouse adapted the original Parasyte manga's decade in the early 1990's and updated it to match today's decade in the 2010's, right down to every smartphone and laptop shown in the anime, probably to appeal to the modern-day audience. Finally, for the music, I really liked the opening and ending songs for this anime. The opening song Let Me Hear by Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas made for quite a great intro to Parasyte -the maxim- with its auto-tuned lyrics that give us a feeling of what our main character Shinichi has to go through in the anime. The ending song It's The Right Time by Daichi Miura is not only a pleasant song to listen to at the end of every episode of Parasyte -the maxim-, but I also feel it provides a great and smooth transition from the electronicore style of Let Me Hear to a feeling of peace and harmony after 23 minutes of tension and violence. I also want to give a shout out to the OST for this anime. Not only do the tracks that were used for the anime suit the scenes that they were used in perfectly, but I also enjoyed some of the tracks by themselves such as Hypnotik and Cream Soda. Seriously, I usually find myself addicted to listening to those tracks whenever I play them!

Now I shall analyze the story of Parasyte -the maxim-. The first 12 episodes focus on how Shinichi now has to coexist with Migi now that his right hand has been taken over by him. Over the course of those 12 episodes, we see how Shinichi's life begins to be heavily impacted and changed by his coexistence with Migi, as now he is practically a Human-Parasite hybrid, leaving him open to danger by Parasites who see them as a threat to the existence of the Parasite species. Many scenarios such as having to fend off hostile Parasite threats and even going through a few losses of people Shinichi knows happen in this first arc. As for the second arc, the last 12 episodes further advance the main story as Shinichi now struggles between thinking if he's a human or a Parasite and becomes more involved with the war between humans and Parasites. Now let me tell you, if it's one thing I loved about this anime's story, it's Shinichi's character development. To me, Shinichi is one of the most well-developed characters I have ever seen in anime. Same thing goes for Migi too, as he also happens to develop along with Shinichi as well. Overall, the story is very intriguing and perfect for anyone who likes seeing character development of the main characters!

Speaking of characters, let's talk about them right now. Shinichi Izumi happens to be your average teenage high school student. He's quite thoughtful and is a nice guy, but is weak. However, later on in the series, his physiology and mentality significantly change over the course of certain events, as he gradually becomes more distant and unable to display sympathy, but stronger in the process as he starts thinking like a Parasite more than a human. I would go on more about his character development, but that would risk going into major spoiler territory. Now as for Migi, as he's a Parasite, he's emotionless and cynical, only caring about keeping his host Shinichi alive so that he may stay alive as well. This changes as Migi begins to act like a human, being able to show human traits such as respect for others. Now what really makes Shinichi's and Migi's character development so intriguing is that they act as character foils to each other. Basically, Shinichi begins to act more like a Parasite while Migi begins to act more like a human. As for some of the supporting characters, I really enjoyed seeing Mamoru Uda and his Parasite named Joe, as I liked how they interacted with each other and how they also acted as a foil to Shinichi and Migi, being that they easily got along with each other and were static characters in contrast to how Shinichi and Migi weren't exactly friends with each other at first, but were dynamic characters who changed over time. I also really enjoyed the English sub for this anime, as I felt that the original Japanese voice actors did a really good job of portraying their character roles accurately, especially with Nobunaga Shimazaki's voice of Shinichi Izumi and Aya Hirano's voice of Migi. Not to mention that all the sound effects for Migi's movements are done by Japanese beatboxer Rinka. All I can say is that I would have never expected that all of Migi's sound effects were done by a human rather than a machine! Damn, Rinka has some pretty wicked beatboxing techniques. Also, the English dub is pretty legitimate, which is pretty phenomenal considering that Parasyte -the maxim- is licensed by Sentai Filmworks, whose English dubs haven't really been considered that good in comparison to other English dubs from other companies such as Funimation and Aniplex of America. Finally, I liked a lot of the antagonists that they had in this anime, whether it be the cold and unempathic Ryouko Tamiya/Reiko Tamura (if you already watched the anime, you'll understand why I put the two names together) the enigmatic and insane serial killer Uragami, or the ruthless and nearly invincible Gotou.

Alright, so while I still think Parasyte -the maxim- is a pretty well-written masterpiece, after taking into consideration about what the TopTenner SelfDestruct and the YouTuber Black Critic Guy said about the flaws of the anime, now I know that there are some minor flaws that I need to point out about Parasyte -the maxim-. First, let's talk about some of the female characters. There's Satomi Murano, who is a female teenage high school student and is Shinichi's love interest. Now while I don't think she's necessarily a bad character (and I do ship her with Shinichi), there are a few things about her that make her character flawed. Put simply, it just feels like that the only reason that she even is a supporting character is because she's just meant to be Shinichi's love interest, not really doing anything to contribute to the plot. After all, I kind of felt like that another female supporting character named Kana Kimishima was more interesting as a character rather than Satomi. Then there's the popular opinion among fans of the anime being pissed off at her repeatedly asking Shinichi if he really is Shinichi. However, at least for me, there are some things that I do like about Satomi other than shipping purposes (because I'm not going to act like one of those stupid Amourshippers who just like Serena from Pokemon simply because they ship her with Ash Ketchum), such as her relationship with Shinichi and how Shinichi's fear of his non-human nature and Satomi's fear of why Shinichi is acting so differently than what she used to remember and how he is going through mood swings in his struggles in life is conflicting with their relationship. Basically, I felt like Satomi helped to highlight Shinichi's internal conflict. Unfortunately, while female characters like Kana Kimishima and Ryouko Tamiya/Reiko Tamura were interesting, the same can't be said for most of the other female characters. To me, they usually had little screen time and didn't really feel like they did anything major to the plot or they were just oblivious background characters. For example, one character named Yuuko Tachikawa had only one major role for a few episodes, but was then completely set back to the side after it was over! Second, speaking of little screen time, other characters such as Mamoru Uda didn't really get much screen time either. Third and lastly, the anime does suffer from being a bit too preachy at times about its themes of what it means to be a human and how they affect the world they live in.

Overall, even with those minor flaws, Parasyte -the maxim- is still a great anime nonetheless. Besides, in exchange for not giving enough screen time to supporting characters, it does allow for our protagonists Shinichi and Migi to be able to go through tons of character development throughout the anime series. If you're looking for a well-written anime where the main protagonist changes over time and you like some good old uncensored bloodshed, suspense, and epic fighting scenes, Parasyte -the maxim- would suit your tastes just perfectly. Now without further delay, here's my final score for this anime:

9.0 out of 10.0 stars

Next anime review: The Official MSBS Anime Review: Fate/Zero

Until then, peace!

Comments

Good review, I have now forgiven you for stealing my truck boat truck lol. - Skullkid755

Thanks. - visitor

Wait, you didn't steal my truck plus boat plus second unneeded truck! It was Early Cuyler! Now I know how he obtained it! - Skullkid755

I'm pretty much one of the only people on TheTopTens who's watched all of Parasyte -the maxim-. The only other user I know who has watched all of Parasyte -the maxim- would be SelfDestruct. I'm starting to be more lenient on him now and I wonder if he'll read this anime review. - visitor

Describe Parasyte in 4 words - 'Happy Mother's Day, Shinichi'

PS I really enjoyed the anime - styLIShT