Manga I'm So Confused
Parasyte is obviously supposed to be more horror and action, what with alien parasites invading and taking over human's minds - basically Body Snatchers.
The manga includes thought-provoking questions, like why aliens, who eat humans, are terrible when humans eat various meats to survive themselves.
And Shinji's personality changing, as he is slowly merging with the alient Migi, and how this affects his personal relationships with his girlfriend, parents and similar, can be quite tragic.
My personal problem is, I am never sure if I'm reading a horror manga or a comedic slapstick! Perhaps this was done by the mangaka on purpose, perhaps it's my own mind just seeing it as funnier, but several of the most horrific scenes of humans being eaten, stabbed or similar, just look hilarious to me. Like I am supposed to laugh and see it as a comedic scene, rather than something horrifying.
Manga Not bad for the most part. But the age shows
Parasyte is a perfect example of a manga that was developed in old times. However, it does its job establishing the setting. To have parasytes roaming about in the world fits in almost flawlessly, and the main character goes through Character Development pretty quickly, so it comes across feeling pretty fresh. Migi makes for a fun character as well; making for a fun duo to watch between the two leads, and you'll want to see them make it through this.
If there's one complaint that I have for this series, it's regarding most of the characters outside the leads. Particularly, the women, which feel more like plot-devices rather than genuine characters.
-Murano comes off very one-note and annoying, channeling what seems to be this story's version of Orihime from Bleach where she only ever has one thing to say over and over.
-Kana isn't much better. And comes off more as a satellite romance where she exists only to try to get with our main lead. She hardly has a character outside going gaga whenever he's around that not even her special ability to sense parasytes goes anywhere.
-Did I mention that there is a minor school-girl who had an idiot moment that got people at her school killed to a parasyte? No doubt you will be raging at how stupid this girl was acting here.
Considering how old the original manga of this series is, it's not surprising that the women aren't as well established given how small their role IRL was back hen.
Manga Has some rough edges, but still good overall
Parasyte is a anime that tries to do many things, and for the most part, succeeds in the areas that it needed to. But it also ends up leaving some problems in its wake as a result.
Shinichi and Migi are what really make this story work, their interactions with each other are pretty fun to watch. It also helps that Shinichi develops rather early on, and continues on changing throughout the series. Going from this cowardly teen into this emotionless monster who begins to worry about losing his own humanity when he can’t even express himself in the same way that other people do. It comes off as genuine and tragic without turning wangst that makes him annoying, and it’s easily the best part of the series. Aside from him though, most of the other side characters such as Uda don’t get much development and are underused. The worst examples of this are the love interests, Murano and Kana. Who don’t really have much of a personality other than wanting to be with Shinichi. Resulting in the romance being rather weak and uninteresting compared to the rest of the series, thankfully it starts to go away by the halfway point.
Another thing is that certain questions like where Kana’s power came from or how the parasites came to be on earth are never answered at all. There’s never a clear explanation for how it happens and it just ends up being unsatisfying by the end.
The visuals and Ost do a great job of selling a lot of the shocking moments, raising the sense of tension or just helping to enhance the despair of a scene. Though most of the fights are just people flinging their arms around the room. Which can be ridiculous at some points and takes away some impact in certain parts of the story.
However, it's the bond that Shinichi and Migi have that truly holds the story together, during the entire show I couldn't stop watching because I was already so invested in their characters. Which is not something that many series do for me. It could've great, but as of now, it's still an interesting anime.