• Title: Parasyte –the maxim–
• Episodes: Season 1 – 24 episodes
• Where to Watch: Crunchyroll and Hulu
• Publisher: ntv

I always have misgivings about watching a well-loved anime. And Parasyte was up there. It was highly recommended. It has a 4.8 rating on Crunchyroll for crying out loud. The buzz was high when this anime came out. So there was an apprehension on my part. But my partner picked it so we watched it.

The premise is solid. We follow Shinichi Izumi who was partially infected by a Parasyte. However, these Parasytes that suddenly infect the world are also monsters that enjoy butchering and consuming humans to survive. We see Izumi navigate life in this as he learns to coexist with Migi so that he can survive in this messy world of carnage. For the most part, I loved the action sequences and enjoyed Izumi’s character development. It was good.

My favorite character, hands down, is Migi. There was a mishap when he tried to “consume” Izumi. Instead of entering Izumi’s ear to get to the brain, Migi had no choice but to burrow into Izumi’s arm instead. This led to an unsuccessful takeover of Izumi’s whole body. But he was able to control his right arm instead. From the beginning, Migi’s main focus was his survival. Nothing else. He was emotionless, logical, and smart. He learned the ways of the humans by reading and researching while Izumi slept at night. Migi’s character development was subtle. From just protecting Izumi to working with him to try and fight the cannibalistic humans taken over by his kind. This symbiosis between Migi and Izumi flourished when something happened that forced Migi to fully integrate into Izumi’s body.

Izumi’s change really happened after Migi’s full integration into his body. Where Migi’s changes were subtle, Izumi’s character development was pretty drastic. Complete 180. And I was there for it. I ate it up. It was so good. This boy has been through a lot so I was not surprised why the change in him was so severe and so palpable, visceral. I loved it. I enjoyed it.

There was also another character in this anime whose character development I appreciated so much. And that is Ryoko Tamiya. Oh she was heartless and calculating and scary. Again, these creatures’ main objective is to survive. She wanted to blend in with the humans. Studying their emotions, their patterns, their lives. And when she was introduced, yeah, she was murderous. I mean, they needed to consume humans to survive. But with her constant research, she found a way to coexist with the humans. She gained some humanity in the end. Also awakening Izumi’s humanity that he buried along the way.

There were storylines that I think are not needed. The love story for example. This could be attributed to the fact that I really think Satomi Murano is not a good character. I don’t understand why she was there. I honestly thought she was there to help Izumi to rediscover humanity but she didn’t even do that! All this character did was question Izumi’s changes. She didn’t like it when Izumi was cold and heartless. She didn’t like it when he changed back. I was very aggravated when she was on the screen. I almost wanted to drop the anime just because she was on the screen all the time. And don’t even get me started on the ending. To say that I was disappointed is a huge understatement.

Anyway, this anime was good. I mean, the execution for the most part was great and enjoyable. Like any other anime, there would always be characters and/or storylines that I would not like. Would I watch it again, no. I’m good to just say that I watched the anime.