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Parasyte: The Maxim
A Parasite I’m fine to have
Series in a Sentence
High schooler Izumi Shinichi is thrust into a battle against body-snatching alien parasites after his right hand is infected with a parasite of his own.
What I liked
I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the character development and growth in this series, and I’m talking about more than the writing. What I’m talking about is that I loved both the writing and the representation through visible changes. Shinichi, for example, goes form a shy, timid, and scared glasses-wearing teen to a strong, cold, and hair-slicked back fighter. Detailed changes like this show actual growth in the series that is absent from others and really goes a long way in showing how carefully the series was handled. Writing-wise, the theme of internal growth and the ways various characters deal with learning about themselves and accepting certain realities about themselves was extremely interesting. Again, Shinichi’s struggle with his humanity was an amazing journey to watch, especially with the different tragedies he faces, but perhaps more interesting were the journeys of side characters. Kana’s belief in her own power to identify Shinichi that ultimately gets her killed, for example, is an example of those people that blindly follow what they believe in and serves as a warning to those that don’t look within. Likewise, Reiko’s questioning of what it means to be a human despite being a parasite mirrors Shinichi’s journey in an interesting way. Ultimately, the nuance in character development more so than anything else hooked me into the show. Don’t get me wrong, the action was spot on, but the smaller details in writing are what makes this series shine.
What I Didn’t Like
The biggest thing that I didn’t like about this series was the music. Yes, there were some cool tracks that reflected the intensity of the moment, especially surrounding interactions with Gotou, but for the most part the decision to stick with dubstep did not sit right with me. With the series being based off of a 90’s era manga, a lot of things were done to make it feel modern (see character designs and the use of cell phones) but the choice of dubstep felt like a huge overstep. You know that “hello fellow kids” meme? Yeah, that’s the impression that I got from the music.
Overall Feelings
Parasyte: The Maxim was a series focused on portraying all of the aspects of change that one can feel throughout their life through alien action scenes. From Shinichi having to confront a Parasyte-controlled mother and literally break free from his childhood in order to become a more hardened adult to Kana’s blind belief in fate, introspection is brought up throughout the entire series. Coupled with actual visible character growth, the story beats and writing were truly special. I loved Parasyte when I read the manga, and I loved the anime when I watched it weekly. I hesitate to call this series a modern masterpiece because it is at its core an old one, but I feel it is right to say that this hidden gem of a manga is a must-watch anime. As you get older you see the coldness of the world: don’t let it define who you are.