dragonballk

 It doesn't take too long to get right into the good stuff in this anime. Shinichi Izumi is infected by a parasite who's intentions was to take over Shinichi's brain. Unfortunately for it, the parasite fails and is only able to take control of his hosts hand. As a result, Shinichi and Migi now have to find a way to co exist for the sake of both of their survival. Unfortunately Migi is not the only parasite to appear, and the ones who successfully take over their hosts brain, want to eliminate humanity, and it isn't long before the duo find themselves in the midst of the turmoil with Shinichi's world turned on its side.

It's an interesting story, but here we have the classic, "High School kid is Earth's Last hope" Plot that usually drives me nuts, and can sometimes ruin a really good story. I have a hard time with stories that want me to believe some 16 year old who's never lifted anything heavier than a text book is the most likely Hero in this environment. I'm expected to believe theres no navy seal, no mixed artial artist, no firefighter, not even just a grown man of any kind that isn't a complete wimp that was capable of fighting off a parasite like Shinichi did. I call Bull. 

 It's also got some minor, but pretty weak plot holes scattered through it. The best example is when Shinichi is confronted by his mom (Don't worry, it might sound like a spoiler, but its really not, it happens in like, episode 5 or something) and she goes all parasyte on him.  Migi sais he can't do anything to defend shinichi because his OTHER ARM IS IN THE WAY. This is a being that can spiral and twist and generally do whatever it wants in whatever direction for whatever distance it wants, not to mention is more then capable of just moving the other hand and the knife thats in it out of the way, but nope not this time.

 I was also not impressed with the ending. I mean the second last episode is fantastic, and if that had been the final episode, it would have been a great ending to the story, and possibly salvaged some points from me. However they added a whole extra episode of philisophical meaning of life crap that was already overly abundant in the whole series. It just didn't seem like a good way to end it for me, although I'm sure there are people out there who are in to that sort of thing so, to each their own.


 ANIMATION: I can think of quite a few anime that came out a decade or so before Parasyte, and still have better animation. Its not complete crap, but it is definately below the standards of its day.

SOUND: Iv been getting in the habit of not mentioning Animation or Sound in my reviews unless they really stand out for some reason. This anime certainly did stand out, unfortunately, not in a good way. I would have to say the biggest problem for me is the background music in the episodes. They make use of techno, dub steppy stuff in the background at some points that can  completely distract the viewer from whats actually going on in the story and doesnt really fit with anything at all.

 CHARACTERS: The most redeeming aspect of this anime for me was definately in the character department, specifically the character development. Even despite the high school hero plot that i ranted about earlier, I still give it high marks in this category.