KISEIJUU: SEI NO KAKURITSU

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ActionKiseijuu

REVIEWS

• 

  KaizokuOtaku

  77/100
  Parasyte explores some deep brain aching questions, then gives you a rich, memorable and beautiful display of them

  This review will contain spoilers!

  The first I time I watched Parasyte a very long time ago, I was not in the right place for judgment or appreciation. I was still wet behind the ears and didn't understand the full picture of what Parasyte is trying to convey to us. To the noobie me, it was a full-on action anime with a war between humans and this sentinel organism from outer space. I did understand it was trying to tell more, but I was unable to put it into words and feel a sense of security in what I am saying. But rewatching once again, made me realize Parasyte is whole more than meets the eye. It's a story that relies heavily on the philosophical aspect to tell both a deep and complex story. It asks questions that would make your brain hurts under normal circumstances. You know, things like what are humans, and what does it mean to be one? Who are the real devils, the parasites or the humans? When is it right to take another life? What really is right and wrong?

  These are some of the core questions that are brought up through our journey in Parasyte. It throws one into a deep state of thinking. It makes you whack your brain to a point to see an actual logical, satisfying, and fair answer can come to mind. Even if it does not, since of course, it's a rather heavy topic that not mere words and deep thought can give your resolution to. In Parasyte, we see such examples on display both with the actions of humans and the parasites themself. It explores these erudite issues in-depth and shows it to you in a way you can understand both sides, the parasites, and the humans. We see both of their evil and likewise the kind side that shooks you to your very core with emotions. Parasyte first stars Shinichi, who is just your average boy who doesn't excel at anything. He is rather timid, shy, and easily scared of bugs. One day by pure coincidence, he gets attacked by a snake-like alien creature who tries to take over his head but ultimately fails. But Shinichi loses his right hand to the snake, and the arm is no longer his own.

  Parasyte uses both Shinichi and his companion Migi to explore all of the questions I've mentioned above and so much more. Migi starts out with somewhat a bland personality, lacking any emotions, empathy, and is only focused on his own survival. But since Shinichi is bounded to his life, they both must learn to live together. As Shinichi and Migi overcome multitudes of precarious situations, even close life-death calls, they start to develop a bond of friendship. At one point, Migi saves Shinichi from a certain death situation sacrificing 30% of his own being. When that happens, Shinichi slowly starts to lose his humanity. He can't even mourn for his losses and becomes emotionless unable to exhibit any kind of feelings. This is the result of Migi becoming a part of him. Since Migi already lacks those kinds of emotions, so it starts to affect Shinichi. The Migi, which is part of his heart anyway since the Migi on his hands, is beginning to develop an understanding of things and a sense of humanity.

  While Shinichi loses himself as his mother is killed and gets driven by vengeance and anger to the point, it affects him negatively. Shinichi's path to ruin as he slowly loses himself is executed so brilliantly, and you learn to really understand him. He also knows both sides, the parasites and the humans, and where both are coming from. This was only possible through going hell and back and experiencing, witnessing many sides of both sides. When it comes to deep questions, Parasyte brings up. There is one in particular that never ceases to make me into a sobbing mess. I am talking about Reiko's growth going from a parasite to a human and then finally into a mother. That scene where she is getting gunned down as she walks to Shinichi as she is protecting her child is absolutely beautiful and very meaningful. Who are the real devils, humans or the parasites? In my case, this goes to the humans since they were fully aware of the child and still gunned Reiko down without batting an eye. It's such an awful, tragedic moment, but it runs deep with symbolism, and it makes it so much more impactful when you realize that's the moment Shinichi comes back from the abyss.

  It's where he finally regains his humanity and can mourn for his mother. That whole scene doesn't only show the supposed enemies can be gentle too, but it also adds much-deserved respect to every mother out there. For those reasons alone, I have no qualms in saying I consider that episode, especially a masterpiece. Another proof of where the humans are the bad guys are during when they intervened in the conference building. At first, they used a sensible approach to differentiate humans from parasites. Before shit went to hell, and they gunned down anyone who was in their vicinity. It didn't matter if they were humans or not. They just wanted to completely destroy the parasites off the face of the earth without a damn trace. That's, of course, the logical course of actions, and I am not saying the humans are wrong to think that way. I am just saying surely there could be a different way? Just like humans, the parasites also have both the bad and the good guys when they get to mature to that level. The best example we saw by far was Reiko, Migi and of course Joe. Parasyte is honestly naive and children-like. They don't know what's right from wrong, like Migi said.

  They are just now coming into life and are just now tasting all forms of situations, emotions, actions, consequences, and so forth. Compared to humans, they are terrifyingly strong children who can easily kill you. I hope anyone gets what I am implying with this reasoning. It took Reiko a while before she became a genuinely good person. We remember how she had that funny time where she was going around laughing in a crazy voice? Now that's comedy gold. Just think if you saw a human with teeth of a head running around laughing in that kind of voice? Yeah, now that I think about it would be terrifying. She first realized these sensations when that dorky investigator slipped and fell in the restaurant. Afterward, she went on a lecture on the human psyche and experimented on her own time. This leads to a great change in her gradually over time. Then she started to also care about the child to the point, she sacrificed her life with not an ounce of hesitation. Reiko could've escaped since it clear she is among the strongest of her kind. But It makes the moment that more impactful.

  Just like how, when a child is born first, don't know what's right or wrong. They learn that from their parents or through experience or realizing that there are consequences for their actions. For instance, when a child calls you some words, you rather not say. It's not untill much later when they are older that they realize how awful it is what they are saying. How much it hurts their parents and the people around them and so forth. There are many examples, but this should hopefully get the point across. So what does it mean to be humans? For me, that's to be happy, depressed, sad, angry. To love or hate someone. It's a connection like family or experience pain from an injury, stress from school-life not treating you well, and to put simply to live. It's more or less our entire being, the yin, and yang. This could also be said for the concept of life itself. Of course, people might have some different viewpoints, but here you have at least my.

  Regardless of the things I have explained about, Parasyte tries to explore and show. There is more it adds beliefs to, like how fragile the humans are because of emotions and concern. But to cut to the chase, for me, that's an advantage since it means we can be flexible when it comes to feelings, and that once again makes us human and really alive. No humans are the same either, because of the concept of empathy and the broad topic of personality to mention some. As you can see, Parasyte has really made me question a lot of things, and thus it's been a genuine pleasure to experience it once again. It was on a whim, but I couldn't be happier to see all these things I couldn't see before and actually put words to the ideas it's trying to show and tell. Parasyte is arguably one of the few stories that I would say has the qualities of a masterpiece. It would not be wrong to call it that either since it has more than enough proved itself.

  Sadly, Parasyte is not without flaws. First off, what was the point of Kana besides making Shinichi realize he can't feel emotions? And also, add fuel to the fire to make sure Shinichi gets thrown even further into the deep abyss? When his mom died, he only experienced anger and longed for vengeance and ultimately lost himself when he was forced to kill his mom, wearing the mask of the devil. It was not before Kana's death he got the time to realize he is not crying, even a lick. Anyway, for me, Kana was honestly a waste of potential. Sure, she is lovely and a sight for sore eyes. No doubt, my best girl of Parasyte. Still, you can't deny she set up for her own death and was way over her head. That said, it does not make the death any less impactful. I cried when Kana died, and I am still salty about how they handled her story. I saw potential in how Shinichi and Kana's relationship could grow since both had an understanding of the unknown in some way. Plus, Shinichi felt more secure about telling Kana of his secret friend than Satomi, who was all over the place.

  When I first time saw Parasyte, I didn't even care about Satomi, and I was all about Kana, and honestly still am. But I can also understand where Satomi is coming from now. Regardless of what Shinichi went through, she had no idea. That was honestly her fault and our main male, who felt insecure about telling her the truth. There where multiple times where her behavior changed at the drop of a hat, from wanting to know to not wanting to know Shinichi's predicament. On top of that, there is that thing with the whole romance side plot. It was not as fleshed out as I liked, and it moved way too fast for my liking. In fact, Parasyte might be one of the best shows I have seen. But I won't deny the pacing did feel awkwardly timed at certain moments throughout the course. In other words, some things felt appropriately paced and executed like Shinichi's path to doom, before liberation and maturity. On the other end, there was not as much Shinichi and Migi interactions as one would like. It felt slightly thin and I would love to have seen it more of that. Now, don't get me wrong I still love the relationship between those two.

  Migi is easily one of the best friends anyone could ask for, no doubt. I just want to tell you all my feelings on both the good and the not so good sides. Then there is the final villain, Gotoh, who started out with a rather complex, deep, frightening personality. Someone you wanted to learn more about. Then regressed back to a state of one-dimensional, boring, and mediocre villain who tried to kill Shinichi for being bested by a human. Now Reiko was a great example of how to write a villain character and then truly make you fall in love with her. Although, in the end, she became a good person. No, I am not trying to excuse her wrong decisions in the past. I am looking at the result and not the path she took to get from A to B. In that way, Gotoh also had the potential for greater things. It would make more sense to actually live up to her creator's values and beliefs in some way. Now Reiko learned to value human connection, understand what's right and wrong. What it means to be human. What it means to be a mother.

  So how about Gotoh instead of going that path could try to better the life of his kinds and indeed seem like a caring leader who wants a better future for his brethren? That would honestly make for a better story than what we ended up getting. It would put emphasis on what Parasyte is trying to showcase and deliver a more satisfying conclusion. This is just a basic scope of my idea, and I have more to go on, but it should tell you more than enough to know where I am coming from. That may be what they were going for actually, now that I think about. But, the author decided to sadly cut the story short, so that story direction didn't get across as profoundly as the other themes of Parasyte. Not to mention, the ending left more to be desired. I would love to have seen how the parasites stopped hunting humans for food and went on to fully live amongst the humans without spilling an unnecessary drop of blood. We still don't even know the full origin of them either, but that's probably intentional. Since the philosophical and character-driven aspect is the heart of Parasyte. The parasites are among others, just there to prove a point and to explore, assess, and justify the elaborate questions.

  Let's discuss shortly the production of Parasyte, which is as you would expect from Madhouse top-notch. The animation is damn fluid, and the action scenes are depicted with the utmost intensity and emotions. It makes the experience even better with that gorgeous, and absolutely masterpiece of a soundtrack, which blesses our ears and the show to a greater height. All of the action scenes are so amazingly choreographed, are fast-paced, and gives you an adrenaline rush of excitement. Not to mention, those with dialogue. To put it into perspective, that beautiful last episode of Reiko was breathtakingly executed and direction. As a result of the passion, the staff put into the scenes they worked rigorously for, probably to the point of exhaustion to make sure to deliver an ultimate experience and burst of emotions. Art-style is beautifully drawn, and Madhouse can genuinely convey any forms of emotions without a hiccup to the viewers. There is also a ton of gore, and Parasyte is not for the faint of heart. Expect to see dismembered bodies, intestines in full view. It's very violent, bloody and is not afraid to show some horrifying and scary sights. Lastly, I just wanna say the OP is very catchy, addicting, and immensely bop inducing. While the ED is so soothing, beautiful, and it gives you a sense of comfort as the episodes come to an end.

  Overall, I would like to say that Parasyte definitely is one of the few shows I can consider having the qualities of a masterpiece and not feel as insecure about it. It asks tons of difficult questions and adds support for them by showing and telling. Shinichi is a great example of how a real person might change in attitude as they experience hardships and more. Plus, he goes to show us how fickle, fragile, and even flexible the human race is who can change for the better or worse if given the time. I would honestly say Parasyte, for me, falls in the category of must-watch at one point in your life. It's truly a very memorable, meaningful, thought-provoking, exciting, heart-crushing, and a liberating journey you can't miss out on, or you'll be doing yourself a disservice. I highly suggest Parasyte to everyone and can't recommend it enough.

  Continue on AniList
• 

  LiLEfan

  100/100
  Parasyte review essay, there are spoilers in this review, this review is entirely subjective.

  Parasyte: The Maxim(the anime) review essay

  Want to start with that this anime is hard to explain in sections unlike other anime because everything flows together so I will do my best.
  —Plot/setting—
  -Non-Spoiler Section
  •The show is only 24 episodes yet nothing felt rushed, the sequence of events line up exactly how it feels it should.
  •The show never feels slow, so much intense sections, action set sections, drama, and sections that make your heart bleed.
  •Basically the pacing of the show is really nice.
  •The Story is told amazing well, this is genuinely one of the best stories of of a show, not just anime, but a tv show I have ever watched. Shinichi’s and Migi’s story arc were bitter at times and sweet at other times.
  •It has aspects of slice of life(which I’m usually not a fan of) but it plays it off so well while still having a consistent story line.
  •The show consist of mainly good characters such as Shinichi, Migi, Ryoko, Murano, Kuramori, Goto, Detective Hirama, and the serial killer.
  -Spoiler section
  •Hard to talk about spoilers because it’s going to be mainly in The characters section.
  •The massacre of the people that was caused my by the inspector director and his men from the police department/agency really showed that the humans can be just as cruel as the parasites without a shed of sympathy due to panic rather than hunger. The message was loud and it was heard.
  •Goto is a beast whenever he is showed in action, like the Yakuza bit, the fight with Shinichi etc.
  •The mayor being Human was a real twist and impactful.
  •The serial killer was a good character and showed how evil humans can be.
  •
  —Philosophy —
  •The whole premiss of the show is what does it mean to be human and goes deep into that thought using fear, love, relationships through friendships, parenthood, significant other, etc.
  •Also shows grief through death and life, as well as enlightenment through death and life.
  •Also expresses the differences between animals and humans the boundaries of thought and emotions.
  •I’m keeping this section short because this section alone along with the others I could spend days explaining, it does that deep.

  —Characters—
  -Shinichi and Migi’s duo interactions
  •The two reflect off of each other negative and positive, one point Shinichi starts talking, thinking, and acting like Migi with human traits and vice versus with Migi but with like Shinichi and with parasite traits.
  •These two start as enemies that have to work together to survive/co-exist into friends and trusted allies.
  •Their bond is heartfelt and feels natural and realistic, like Shinichi calming him down during a fight before he completely changed it was to keep himself alive but after he completely change he did it to support Shinichi.
  •Shinichi even explain to Kuramori that Shinichi went through so much and he’s only 17 years old.
  -Shinichi’s character development
  •This falls under Shinichi’s and Migi’s character interaction section.
  •Of course Shinichi starts changing when Migi enters his hand fails to reach Shinichi’s brain, but he drastically changes when his mother turns into a Parasyte/dies in the process of course and stabs Shinichi in the heart and when he kills her after Migi heals him, also his father ends up in the hospital.
  •After 30% of Migi enters the heart wound of Shinichi, he physically gets stronger, he can run fast as 40mph, jump up to 30-40meters, he has insane amount of endurance and stamina, his sense became stronger as well. He can heat up to 4 blocks to even people talking, he can hear Murano’s heartbeat when she was walking next to him, he can smell very well although they don’t portray this aspect as much in the show compared to his other senses, his taste and touch aren’t even portray only implied, he can see pretty well as well, he can see the blades of the parasites move which were fast enough to cut bullets.
  His mentality and personality also changed, he lost all phobias, he can calm himself in matter of seconds even when he has panic attacks, he can maintain his composures 99% of the time even when people get mutilated around him, he didn’t lose his sympathy but he became way colder as a person, he tries to save people but when they die he doesn’t cry, he cares but he can’t seem to express it which causes him concern that he’s no longer human. He blurts out comments like “That fucking bitch!!” Or “I will kill you, you piece of shit!” When he’s angry which he never did before his mother died, he also would say shit calmly like “Don’t fight me, wont go like before” very calmly unlike before when he would nervously plead not to rely on violence.
  •Shinichi gains PTSD, and they express this very realistically and not edgy and anime-like how cough Tokyo Ghoul cough did.
  •Shinichi is finally able to cry in episode 20 when Ryoko(a very intelligent parasite) dies and hands him his baby before talking about how she changed and started to use human emotions which Shinichi wasn’t able to cry until now and Murano was there to see it after always questioning the Shinichi she knew was gone and how he changed and her seeing him cry she knew he was back. Beforehand Shinichi couldn’t cry that the fact his mom died, that Kana died, and his friend died. Even afterwards he always had a calm constant emotion.
  •At first he hated the parasites but eventually he recognize them as beings that are similar to humans and killed only for food, he obtained sympathy for them, he event thought he was not much different from them before he had that whole understanding with parasites.
  •Shinichi went through so much obstacles that would break any human in reality but he went through these and got stronger, but he also became more understanding with death, life, parasites, animals, humans, and the environment through his journey and grew as an individual in general.
  -Migi’s character development
  •Migi was very intelligent almost from the very start since he doesn’t most of his time reading books and looking up information in the internet in his free time(when Shinichi was sleeping).
  •Migi started out as an emotionless being that would do anything to keep himself alive without hesitation to a being that called Shinichi is friend and was scared of dying alone, and couldn’t even kill his own race. This change was visible throughout the show despite how slow it went unlike Shinichi’s(fast change). Shinichi’s change wasn’t rush even though it was fast.
  •Also anytime I call Migi “he” I just make it simple but technically he’s neither since he doesn’t have male sexual organs nor female because she never reached Shinichi’s brain.
  •Migi also went through a journey with Shinichi and grew as an individual.
  •When Migi decided to go into deep sleep so Shinichi could live his life despite Shinichi didn’t want him to and wanted Shinichi to forget him(Shinichi didn’t), showed how much he grew, and saving Murano despite it didn’t affect Migi’s existence was truly amazing character development.

  -Murano
  •Murano is a reminder to Shinichi that he’s human and that he’s vulnerable whenever Shinichi went through that drastic change, she’s also a reminder that he had someone that cares for and someone to look after. Murano is his support and helps him through the toughest decisions and vice versa for Murano, Shinichi saves her multiple times and takes care of her. They are a package how Shinichi and Migi are a package just in a different tone.
  •Murano’s and Shinichi’s romance is beautiful and natural, the ways they were feeling through tough times felt realistic, they lacked communication by default but Murano started understanding to an extent that was implied.
  •This character is important for Shinichi to cope for the shit he’s been through, she makes Shinichi feel safe, when he was frightened he went to her, when he was hurt he went to her.
  •Since she reminded him that he was human he buried the dog after he threw it in the trash.

  -Reiko Tamura
  •This character is vital for the bridge of parasites and humans just like Migi and Shinichi are vital for the bridge between humans and parasites except for instead of having a bond of co-existing she has curiosity which eventually develops into having a child that she cares for and loves but lies and says it for research.
  •She’s also vital for Shinichi to gain the ability to cry again and to recover from his PTSD.
  •She was very intelligent but also became a true mother and became an unfortunate loss.
  •Going to leave this character short because like I said earlier I can spend so much on each section and each character but I’m trying to keep this review compact.

  -Kana
  •A tragic character that puts a toll on Shinichi after her death.
  •She believes the two are connected and she can sense but she thinks it because that’s her true love, but in reality she can feel brain waves and later on send out her own so she can sense parasites.
  •She’s one of the few that know Shinichi’s situation and about Migi.
  •Shinichi is always trying to protect because she accidentally always finds trouble.
  •Another important side character.

  -Kuramori
  •Keeping this one simple, pretty much Kana’s role but not obsessed with Shinichi because of love but because of his mystery and bridge between humans and parasites, he’s a good guy that dies and loses his family yet when he lost his family and when he was dying he protected Shinichi’s true identity.
  —Soundtrack—
  •In my opinion sometimes the music can bring you out of the mood, but this case is on the contrary, the soundtrack brings you into the scene and really feel it out.
  •The soundtrack is diverse with different music, dubstep, a trap/hip-hop beat mix, slow lofi, sci-fi mystery, opera intense epic fighting music or opera intense dramatic scene music, and it’s all original soundtrack, 90% of the music very good and 100% of it is appropriate.
  •The song ‘Next to You’ this song is the most recognizable or most popular song in this anime, I call it Murano’s theme even though they play during any sad or emotional scene, but it becomes a trend later on the show when it only plays when Murano is around or when Shinichi is talking to Murano in the park. It’s a bitter-sweet piece of music.

  —Animation—
  -The animation is pretty good, it’s not dogshit and it’s no Violent Garden or Demon Slayer(pretty much god tier animation, sometimes they use CGI to blur out the background to gain focus on the main characters and main situation which is affective or sometimes express how ugly and disturbing the parasites can be, and despite that it’s cgi it never looks awful like Berserk 2017 did.
  —Memories I have with this show—
  -Nostalgia, I have so much nostalgia with this show, I first watched it with my best friend 3-4 years ago back when I was in high school, a sophomore, not that anyone cares but we are best friends still, in fact we are roommates and we have been friends for 15 years now, but anyways he introduced me to the show and the first episode I fell in love with it. It was so good I showed my ex(my girlfriend at the time) a week later and rewatching so quickly after my first viewing of the show didn’t make it worse for me at all, I loved it. I then showed my young er brother who’s 3 years younger(we are pretty close, he’s like my other best friend) 4 days ago and it’s already nostalgic to me.
  -Coping. The ex I mentioned earlier, I dated her all throughout high school for about 3-4 years and when we broke up my teenage heart was destroyed(end of junior year), so I put on Parasyte and watched it, it helped a lot, I couldn’t watch shows, movies, or play games only way I could cope was hang out with my buddies and get high or just hang out, go on long walks, or watch Parasyte. 2 years later I lost my grandmother who adopted me, she died from age so she lived a good long life, but her and I were very close and I was devastated, I didn’t get high or drunk like I did in high school to cope with my breakup because I matured but I was still very sad, she was like my mother, but when I put in Parasyte it distracted me and temporarily made me better until I fully recovered which I don’t if I did yet but I’m doing a lot better, when I saw Shinichi lost his mother it reminded of me losing my grandmother since she was like my mother and it hit me hard. The soundtrack especially next to you was a great way to cope or to sleep.
  —Conclusion-
  •Why am I explaining this useless review well its fun and I thought I should share my love for this show. It’s a beautiful show with horror, philosophy, gore, action, consistent story line, romance, slice of life, and great memories.

  Continue on AniList
• 

  NickCrouton

  0/100
  Bad. Bad Bad Bad Bad. Boring and Pretentious. Bad. Bad Bad Bad.

  I cannot explain how much I despise this show. This show had interesting characters with interesting personal struggles and problems and then the dude loses his heart and then the show becomes a shitty version trying to talk about the human psyche and It is so fucking pretentious and boring. I could not explain to any person how horrible this show is and I would never in my life recommend this boring, pretentious, drawn own, flaming pile of garbage to anyone.

  This show attempts to explore what it means to be human and if people who do not understand emotions can be able to feel. This is the only good part of the show and the adult female alien (This show is so bad I forgot everyone's name) And I do enjoy this part of the show. But SPOILER ALERT! She gets fucking killed. They killed off the only point of interest in the show. It then becomes a shitty slasher where the main character constantly questions his own humanity over and over in the same way and never comes to the most basic of conclusions and it is so fucking frustrating to watch.

  The end fight and villain are essentially dropped out of nowhere and are almost pointless and add nothing to the story but to add another fight to Migi's battle reel. This show also has insanely boring and basic fight scenes that are essentially just flurries of swings over and over and over that have no interesting commentary.

  I will never understand that someone can actually watch this show and not force themselves to finish. The characters are basic and boring and show that is meant to question the psychology of humans should add unique commentary. It is the same thing over and over, the main character says, "why don't I have emotion" over and over. The commentary this gives is not commentary at all because it doesn't apply to a situation that would exist. No human becomes replaced with alien parts and loses their emotions. Shows like Evangelion actually make you question shit and have a meaning behind it, commentating on how escapism can throw you farther into your issue instead of confronting it, but this show just questions what emotion is but the way they do it wouldn't actually apply because while Eva is set in a fantasy world with human stories, Parasite is set in a human world with completely ridiculous and non-human possibilities. If you want to question the human psyche, do it where you can relate to the character or understand their struggle. This character is almost flawless and the only flaw is a lack of emotion. If that Is the only flaw, at least make the character interesting or have interesting dialogue instead of making them boring as fuck.

  If you see this review before you watch the show, please, save yourself from this dumpster fire of an anime and go watch something else.

  Continue on AniList

SIMILAR ANIMES YOU MAY LIKE

• ANIME

  ActionTokyo Ghoul
• ANIME

  MysteryDEATH NOTE
• ANIME

  ActionAjin
• ANIME

  ActionTerra Formars
• ONA

  ActionDEVILMAN crybaby
• ANIME

  ActionInuyashiki
• ANIME

  HorrorShiki
• ANIME

  ActionKokkoku
• ANIME

  ActionAjin 2
• ANIME

  AdventureJigoku Sensei Nube
• ANIME

  DramaShinsekai yori
• ANIME

  ActionKemonozume