Parasyte ruins Christmas for all otaku.
What They Say:
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.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Parasyte has finally arrived at one of my favorite arcs, the Kana arc. Before I detail the episodes, though, I wanted to note how pleased I am at how popular Parasyte seems to have become. On the episodes’ premiere day, Parasyte is listed as the most popular anime on Crunchyroll, and the manga series has now been reprinted by Kodansha. I can’t help but hope the anime brings a new appreciation to the classic series. Regardless of whatever I thought of the adaptation, I knew Parasyte could be popular, and I’m happy to see that potential realized.
In regards to the adaptation, my reaction is somewhat mixed. How that Hideo Shimada has been dispatched, Parasyte has moved on to two new villains in Goto, an ultra powerful parasyte we see going on a rampage at a yakuza den, and a politician running for city council on a pro-environmental platform. When the series is doing action, or interplay between Shinichi and Migi, it’s at its strongest. The scope of the Parasyte’s ambition continues to increase, and the growing bond of trust between Shinichi and Migi continues to evolve. Aya Hirano’s voice work continues to be a standout.
Where the adaptation fails most is in the adaptation of female characters. While I’m not completely sold on Hana Kanazawa as her actress, Murano has survived the transition mostly intact, although she seems far more timid than what I remember from the manga. The main problem is the addition of what could be considered Shinichi’s harem of sorts. The glasses girl, Yuuko, and completely new girl Ahiko are introduced as having a crush on Shinichi even in his early, nerdy form. In reviewing the manga, I realized Yuuko did not have a crush on Hideo Shimada in the manga: Quite the contrary. She thought his face was strangely unemotive, and even referred to him as “mask boy”. She started investigating him not out of besotted love, but out of suspicion and unease. While she remained quite capable, and was still willing to fight Shimada, it helped to create the impression that for some reason, in this series, being a Parasyte drives women WILD.
And now getting to Kana. Kana was my favorite character in the original Parasyte. Originally a sukeban, with the end of that character archetype in the 2000’s, she’s been changed in the adaptation into kind of a delinquent class rep type. This is more than compensated for by the choice of her seiyuu, personal favorite Miyuki Sawashiro. In episodes 10 and 11 of Parasyte, we explode Kana’s attraction to Shinichi, and the unfortunate consequences of this relationship. The adaptation of Kana’s ridiculous dream sequence, starring Shinichi as a kind of white knight defending her from mysterious alien attackers, is kept faithfully intact, but the series otherwise takes her obsession to (even more) unhealthy levels.
Part of it is simply due to the episodic structure of the Parasyte series. With two episodes more or less dedicated entirely to her character, all of her development, exploration of her Parasyte detection abilities, and declarations of love for Shinichi are crammed into forty some minutes of animation. It makes her seem completely desperate.
However, the other part is due to some unfortunate choices. No longer quite the devil may care rebel, Kana doesn’t toss her phone number at Shinichi, or make light of her feelings to throw him off guard. Worst of all, she plucks one of Shinichi’s hairs, and keeps it with her like a stalker totem. In a moment that perfectly highlights the stalker tendencies of this version of Kana, she decides to wear the hair like a ring around her finger, and use it to guide her to Shinichi’s side. It really makes a lapse in judgement in the manga turn into a demented death wish in the series.
As might be expected, sadly, Kana’s power leads her right into the lair of a feeding Parasyte, and she is killed trying to escape. Shinichi fails to rescue her, and her dreams never come true. The episodes’ concluding combat sequence is masterfully done, but I saw far too many viewers claim Kana deserved her awful fate. I appreciate the talent Sawashiro brought to the role, as she made Kana human and relatable, despite the script. I just can’t help but wish the women in Parasyte weren’t written as being so lovestruck and flighty. Hopefully the return of Tamiya-sensei will fix this problem.
In Summary:
A tragic end comes to my favorite character, serving nonetheless as a great bookend to the first half of the series. The horrible consequences of the Parasyte invasion and Iwaaki’s willingness to kill his characters is now fully established. From here on out, things grow ever more tense and horrific.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony VAIO 20″
Only watched the anime and wasn’t aware of any changes from the manga. I assumed that there would be none (no notable ones anyway – mobile phones and the internet seem like a fair modernisation) as it finished decades ago.
Even prior, I sensed something amiss with the characterisation (Three waifu? Really?) and the tone of the series but fortunately, the show does have strengths in the action and Migi moments and in general so it’ll probably be an interesting alternative to the manga though not show off the best of some characters by the end.
I had the chance to read the manga way back when, but I didn’t. I’ll be glad to later on, because this is one of the shows where the writing talent of the author shines through the adaptation.
I can understand someone not liking that everyone is hot for Shinichi. They give a decent excuse for Kana to think she’s in love with Shinichi (she knows nothing about the parasyte invasion, so sensing another person feels like a destined attraction) but if she was just fascinated by him, that would work fine.