As we get ready to move into the second half of the series, VAP has announced the details of how Parasyte – the maxim – will be released on home video. The show is getting two DVD and Blu-ray box set releases that will each cover half the show with twelve episodes each. The first set is landing on March 18th, 2015 with priced at 18,000 yen for the DVD set and 24,000 yen for the Blu-ray set. The second set will arrive on July 22nd, 2015 using the same pricing structure.
The release is expected to come with some storyboard material, original stickers and a booklet with interviews and the like. On disc extras are lighter at the moment with only an audio commentary listed, but not for how many episodes it will run for or who will be involved.
The series is being directed by Kenichi Shimizu at Madhouse with series composition put together by Shoji Yonemura. Tadashi Hiamatsu is handling the character designs for the series. Nobunaga Shimazaki is playing the lead role of Izumi while Aya Hirano is tackling Migi, the alien parasite itself. Kana Hanazawa has signed on to play Satomi Murano. Additional casting includes Miyuki Sawashiro as Kana Kimishima, Atsuko Tanaka as Ryoko Tamiya, Hiroyuki Yoshino as Uragami, Kiyono Yasuno as Yuko Tachikawa and Rena Maeda as Akiho Suzuki.
Parasyte was created by Hitoshi Iwaaki and ran for ten volumes in Japan during the 1990′s with over eleven million copies in print. The adaptation comes as the property is being done as a pair of live action films as well that are in development, which the anime series is inspired by. The manga has had a varied life in North America as it was originally serialized in Mixxzine and later found its way to Del Rey. It was released in Japan again fairly recently which led to Kodansha Comics bringing it out as well in North America once more.
Plot concept: They arrived in silence and darkness, descending from the skies with a hunger for human flesh. Parasites – alien creatures who must invade and take control of a human host to survive – have come to Earth. No one knows their secret except high school student, Shinichi Izumi, who’s right hand has been invaded by an alien parasite. Shinichi and Migi, the parasite in his hand, begrudgingly form a friendship and find themselves caught in the middle of a war between humans and parasites.
[Source: Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu (Parasyte -the maxim-) BD-Boxes & DVD-Boxes]
