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Year: 2014-2015
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Horror, Psychological, Drama, Seinen
Episodes: 24
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Alien invasion storylines have been around for a very long time in film and television. What are some of the best alien invasion movies or films that you can think of? How about the classic film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? What about Alien with the chest buster scene? How about the action pack Independence Day starring Will Smith? Hell, even films like Slither and Evolution are alien invasion films. If I was thinking about TV, then I must mention “V,” where the race of lizard people come down and try to take over.
I can go on and on about alien invasion movies and name the great ones to the ones that will make you scratch your head and ask yourself what the hell is going on? Over the years, the invasions have been grand or on a quiet scale. Either way, humans have to figure out how to combat the invading extraterrestrial being and fight for survival.
Parasyte is an anime where an extraterrestrial lifeform comes to Earth and starts taking over the minds of the human race. When the parasite takes over, the human morphs into a deadly creature that feeds on human flesh. The main character must find a way to not become a host for one of these parasites and battle against foes with deadly power and skills.
Overview:
The world has changed without anyone even knowing it. An alien invasion has begun on Earth, and all species on Earth are at risk of becoming under their control. Parasitic aliens have descended upon Earth and quickly infiltrated humanity by burrowing into the brains of their targets. Once these aliens beings have burrowed in your brain, they take complete control of their host. They can morph into a variety of forms in order to feed on their prey.
Parasyte revolves around a high school student named Shinichi Izumi. Shinichi lives an ordinary but pleasant life with his mother and father in a quiet neighborhood in Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan. Shinichi’s life suddenly changes when one night, a tiny worm-like alien attempts to crawl into his ear, but his headphones are in. The parasite tries through the nose only for Shinichi to be wakened. The parasite manages to enter his body by burrowing into his right hand. Shinichi manages to stop the parasite from moving to his brain by tying off his arm with a belt. Thinking it was a dream, Shinichi moves on with his life. The only thing is that the parasite is very real and now has only the mission of its own survival. Shinichi names the parasite Migi and now must work together in combating other parasites while trying to survive in a world where humans and parasites look exactly the same. While one wants to survive, the other feels compelled to save the human race.
Review:
The story of this anime is freakin good and creepy because it makes you think. It makes you think because it has that alien race conspiracy about it like the lizard people. How do you know if a person is an alien or not? What I like about this anime is that it starts off in a big way. It sets the tone that the anime is going to be dark, bloody, and violent. When your opening scene is a person speaking to his wife, and it looks like her head has been sliced off only to show it’s an alien monster that bites off the dude’s head. That was my oh s**t moment right there because I had to strap in and get ready.
As the anime progresses, it brings into many questions like the meaning of humanity, humans’ relationship to the environment and other species, the role of instinct and love, and the thought that humans are the center of the universe. The questions are brought on by Migi and his emotionless and very logical nature with Shinichi. Migi believes in survival of the fittest, and that one’s own life must always come first than anyone else life. Migi also asks what it means to be human and what the parasites are doing are the same things humans do with eating other animals and plant life. Some other parasites in the show are highly ruthless and violent as they have no qualms of feeding on humans. Yet, some try to be accustomed to humans and start showing love and sacrifice. This example comes in with Reiko Tamura. Reiko is a person that becomes a parasite and soon wants to have a child. She sets out to have one. At first, she is emotionless and treats the child badly but soon loves her baby and wants to protect her baby at all costs. This is a complete turnaround for the parasite as they have shown they only care for themselves.
What I also liked about this anime is how the parasite could influence the human’s emotional state if their brain wasn’t taken over. Before Shinichi was stabbed in the heart, he was a kind and innocent person. After it, he took on many aspects of Migi’s thinking and philosophy. Shinichi became emotionless and seemed like nothing mattered. When the puppy died, he simply put it in the trash. When he fought against that bully, he was so strong from Migi’s influence that he seemed bored. He started to lose his smile along with the way he looked. He completely changed his appearance and way of thinking because of Migi’s influence.
The real fun of the show is the battles that Migi and Shinichi have against other parasites. It is incredible to see how the parasites fight each other by morphing themselves into blade-like weapons and then just slice at each other in an intense battle. Actually, the parasites are ruthless as they have no bone of cutting people in half and spraying blood all over the place. The battle in the school was intense as Migi and Shinichi had to fight against that one parasite that just murdered everyone while trying to search for the duo. How about when old girl could tune into the parasite signal only to be stabbed. When Shinichi saw this, he went on a berserker mode and literally through the killer through a wall. Now the final villain was awesome because he looked like an unstoppable beast with up to five parasites in his whole body. Homeboy killed the military and then seemed like a freakin terminator as he ran down the street.
The animation for this was quite fun to look at. It really got good when the fights happened. The battles looked fluent rather than clunky. I like how the anime tried to keep everything in a dark tone when it came to the parasites. They were drawn differently as their eyes were somewhat emotionless and looked like they were shifted. The person who was controlled by a parasite looked like the wiring in their brain was entirely off. When Shinichi looked at one, they had this dark aura about them.
As far as the characters go, there are two that really need to talk about. I could talk about the ones that were parasites and then the humans. Let’s talk about the main characters first. First, there is Shinichi Izumi. At first, Shinichi is a kind, innocent, and loving high schooler whose life is pretty ordinary until he is infected with a parasite. Rather than the parasite taking over his brain, dude managed to lock it in his hand. This is where hardships come because now he has zero control over his hand. The parasite, which is called Migi, makes life hard as it only believes in its own survival and keeps itself secret. When dude gets stabbed in the heart, Migi manages to save Shinichi’s life, but this causes dude to become emotionless. I like how the character tries to keep his human side, but the more he wants to protect his family, friends, and humans, the more he loses himself.
The next main character is Migi, the parasite that lives in Shinichi’s right hand. Migi was unsuccessful in taking over his human host as the brain was the target. Now, Migi gives zero f**ks about humans, nor does he have any desire to kill humans for sustenance. In the anime, Migi has zero emotions and tells it how it is, and moves on. If dude feels the slightest bit threatened or thinks something will mess with his survival, it has no bones in killing the threat and moving on. Migi is on that DJ Khaled, No New Friends vibe, as he doesn’t even trust his own kind. What is unique is that as Shinichi loses his human side, Migi seems to become more “human” as he comes to care about Shinichi and even risks his own safety. What I like about Migi is that its brain is always working and, in battle, seems to have absolute control and thought of the situation.
Parasyte is an intense and bloody anime to watch. It might make you think about what would happen if an alien species invaded the Earth. Would a person even notice? It also brought into question, what is humanity? The violence and intense nature really propel this series as Shinichi must fight against other parasites. This is a great anime to watch when you are watching alien-type movies like Alien or Predator.
