2014 was a great year for anime.So much wonderful shows like Ping Pong: The Animation, Kill la Kill, and my personal favorite, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders. But there wasn’t really much horror anime. Which is why I am so thankful to say that one of the best anime and most beloved by the anime community was a horror anime. That anime being the series known as Parasyte: The Maxim.
Parasyte: The Maxim is an anime based on the manga by Hitoshi Iwaaki… all the way back in 1988… You’re telling me that you waited until 2014 to make an anime of this series?! Oh well. The anime follows a young high school student (Because anime) named Shinichi Izumi, a boy who survives an attack from a Parasyte getting into his head. Parasytes are small alien lifeforms that recently came to earth and feed on the human brain and take over their bodies, transforming their bodies into whatever shape they want so they can eat humans. The Parasyte that attacked Shinichi didn’t manage to take over his brain, and instead, took over his hand. This Parasyte comes to be known as Migi, an emotionless Parasyte who doesn’t see no value in any other life but his own, and must protect Shinichi from attacks from other Paraystes, as Shinichi’s body is the only thing keeping him alive. And Migi… Looks weird… I like it.
Besides Migi, other characters are Satomi Murano, Shinichi’s main love interest who I will get back to later. Then there’s Kana Kimishima, a crazed stalker who's in love with Shinichi. There’s Reiko Tamura, a Parasyte who's taken over the body of a woman who knows of Shinichi’s secret as a Parasyte carrier and promises to kill him if he gets in her way, also having one of the best character developments in the show. There’s Shinichi’s parents who are not important until a few episodes later. There’s Gotou, the main antagonist who carries more Parasytes than any other host, making him stronger than any other Parasyte. There’s Mamoru Uda, another Parasyte carrier with a Parasyte in his neck who tries to help Shinichi find Parasytes to protect others. There’s Uragami, a serial killer who can sense the Parasytes. And then there’s two of Shinichi and Satomi’s friends that have little to no purpose whatsoever so don’t bother with them. Now, the minor character’s aren’t the best in this show, but I can assure you, one thing that this anime has that makes it stand out from any other enemy. The Parasytes. And how are they different from other monsters… Well. Look at them.
Look at them!
What the fuck!?
If there’s any genre that I had to choose I like in a horror, you’d be surprised that I like body horror a little. Not as much as psychological, but still enjoy it. It gives people lots of ideas to turn the human body into something grotesque and inhuman, and Parasyte: The Maxim does just that. The monster designs are so good. Sadly, if there’s one thing I didn’t like about it, it’s that they use the tentacle bladed head transformations too much. Seriously, you got giant mouths and dogs that grow head wings, but all you choose is tentacle heads. And their not even original ideas either. Resident Evil 4 did that already, and it was scarier there still.
But, that’s only a nitpick. But then there are the things I don’t like about it… Like the soundtrack. Now, the soundtrack isn’t completely terrible. It has some nice tracks like Next To You… But why, in a horror anime, are all the battle themes dubstep. I think it’s silly that they use dubstep in a horror anime. It just doesn’t fit if you ask me. But what I think is the worst part about this series is the romance between Shinichi and Satomi. All Satomi does is say that she doesn’t like Shinichi but goes on a date with him and stops talking to him for a while and then pretends like nothing happens and then it all happens again in another cycle. She just never sticks to one thing, and it gets REALLY annoying if you ask me. She just doesn’t ever wants to stick to one thing in the relationship and it gets so annoying. Honestly, Shinichi would have been better off with the stalker girl.
But, though the romance takes up literally 30% of the anime, the remaining 60% is amazing. Some of the best fight scenes, monster designs and character development ever to be put into an anime are incredible. People compare Parasyte to Tokyo Ghoul and that Shinichi is like Kaneki. Now, I love both Parasyte and Tokyo Ghoul, but Kaneki is nothing like Shinichi. Yes, Kaneki was treated badly, but it’s like I’ve said before. Liking a character and sympathizing with a character are two different things. You can feel bad for a character, but if they have no other personality besides crying and hating their life, like Kaneki did, then there’s no reason for me to care. The only development Kaneki gave was that he turned from an emotional crybaby to an emotionless edgy emo… No, wait. That actually is worse than the crybaby. What am I supposed to like about him again. With Shinichi, he is actually different. His character developments are believable and what you expect from a person who is dealing with all this chaos and violence and loss around him. He changes emotions fast, yet even he can’t do much, and feels terrible because of it. That is what makes Shinichi a great character. He has flaws. He’s not perfect and he can’t do everything, and he needs to try his hardest to achieve anything and survive the onslaught of the Parasytes. That is why I love this anime so much. It’s character development. And like I said before, Reiko’s development is just as great, and I dare not spoil it here for you. Parasyte: The Maxim is easily one of my favorite horror anime and I urge you to watch it. It’s worth it all… Just don’t get too attached to the soundtrack much. Take care.
Parasyte: The Maxim is an anime based on the manga by Hitoshi Iwaaki… all the way back in 1988… You’re telling me that you waited until 2014 to make an anime of this series?! Oh well. The anime follows a young high school student (Because anime) named Shinichi Izumi, a boy who survives an attack from a Parasyte getting into his head. Parasytes are small alien lifeforms that recently came to earth and feed on the human brain and take over their bodies, transforming their bodies into whatever shape they want so they can eat humans. The Parasyte that attacked Shinichi didn’t manage to take over his brain, and instead, took over his hand. This Parasyte comes to be known as Migi, an emotionless Parasyte who doesn’t see no value in any other life but his own, and must protect Shinichi from attacks from other Paraystes, as Shinichi’s body is the only thing keeping him alive. And Migi… Looks weird… I like it.
Besides Migi, other characters are Satomi Murano, Shinichi’s main love interest who I will get back to later. Then there’s Kana Kimishima, a crazed stalker who's in love with Shinichi. There’s Reiko Tamura, a Parasyte who's taken over the body of a woman who knows of Shinichi’s secret as a Parasyte carrier and promises to kill him if he gets in her way, also having one of the best character developments in the show. There’s Shinichi’s parents who are not important until a few episodes later. There’s Gotou, the main antagonist who carries more Parasytes than any other host, making him stronger than any other Parasyte. There’s Mamoru Uda, another Parasyte carrier with a Parasyte in his neck who tries to help Shinichi find Parasytes to protect others. There’s Uragami, a serial killer who can sense the Parasytes. And then there’s two of Shinichi and Satomi’s friends that have little to no purpose whatsoever so don’t bother with them. Now, the minor character’s aren’t the best in this show, but I can assure you, one thing that this anime has that makes it stand out from any other enemy. The Parasytes. And how are they different from other monsters… Well. Look at them.
Look at them!
What the fuck!?
If there’s any genre that I had to choose I like in a horror, you’d be surprised that I like body horror a little. Not as much as psychological, but still enjoy it. It gives people lots of ideas to turn the human body into something grotesque and inhuman, and Parasyte: The Maxim does just that. The monster designs are so good. Sadly, if there’s one thing I didn’t like about it, it’s that they use the tentacle bladed head transformations too much. Seriously, you got giant mouths and dogs that grow head wings, but all you choose is tentacle heads. And their not even original ideas either. Resident Evil 4 did that already, and it was scarier there still.
But, that’s only a nitpick. But then there are the things I don’t like about it… Like the soundtrack. Now, the soundtrack isn’t completely terrible. It has some nice tracks like Next To You… But why, in a horror anime, are all the battle themes dubstep. I think it’s silly that they use dubstep in a horror anime. It just doesn’t fit if you ask me. But what I think is the worst part about this series is the romance between Shinichi and Satomi. All Satomi does is say that she doesn’t like Shinichi but goes on a date with him and stops talking to him for a while and then pretends like nothing happens and then it all happens again in another cycle. She just never sticks to one thing, and it gets REALLY annoying if you ask me. She just doesn’t ever wants to stick to one thing in the relationship and it gets so annoying. Honestly, Shinichi would have been better off with the stalker girl.
But, though the romance takes up literally 30% of the anime, the remaining 60% is amazing. Some of the best fight scenes, monster designs and character development ever to be put into an anime are incredible. People compare Parasyte to Tokyo Ghoul and that Shinichi is like Kaneki. Now, I love both Parasyte and Tokyo Ghoul, but Kaneki is nothing like Shinichi. Yes, Kaneki was treated badly, but it’s like I’ve said before. Liking a character and sympathizing with a character are two different things. You can feel bad for a character, but if they have no other personality besides crying and hating their life, like Kaneki did, then there’s no reason for me to care. The only development Kaneki gave was that he turned from an emotional crybaby to an emotionless edgy emo… No, wait. That actually is worse than the crybaby. What am I supposed to like about him again. With Shinichi, he is actually different. His character developments are believable and what you expect from a person who is dealing with all this chaos and violence and loss around him. He changes emotions fast, yet even he can’t do much, and feels terrible because of it. That is what makes Shinichi a great character. He has flaws. He’s not perfect and he can’t do everything, and he needs to try his hardest to achieve anything and survive the onslaught of the Parasytes. That is why I love this anime so much. It’s character development. And like I said before, Reiko’s development is just as great, and I dare not spoil it here for you. Parasyte: The Maxim is easily one of my favorite horror anime and I urge you to watch it. It’s worth it all… Just don’t get too attached to the soundtrack much. Take care.