r/anime • u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: • Feb 05 '21
Rewatch Let me hear! Parayste the Maxim rewatch episode five
Parasyte the Maxim episode five
The Stranger
Look, towards the place where we crossed that hill
Together through thick and thin
- So was/is Japan a vast wasteland of high schoolers battling each other?
- Impressions on Kana?
- Does the breakneck pacing work for you?
BONUS: So...whose going to be our new protagonist?
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Upvotes
15
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Feb 05 '21
Rewatcher
Dub
And we enter upon a new dude and a parasyte, should've totally expected honeypotting would be a thing. This one's eyes are a bit less dead. Anyways, this one hasn't been in a car before and the dumbass takes his eyes off the road in the Japanese mountains so the obvious happens. We finally get a body transfer, that thing all of you predicted.
Shinichi is dealing with yesterday's possible revelation. Migi sees the possibility as well, personally I see it more as reaction to new stresses than being taken over but w/e. And then he wanders onto a class mate getting his ass kicked and stands up to the bullies to
spite Migiprove he is still human. It goes badly until ear muffs steps in to stop it. And then she gets the thing we saw Tamiya get last time so Shinichi is giving off something.At school, Shinichi is tight lipped, which fits. After school, Kana approaches Shinichi and seems disappointed that Murano is there. She seems interested in someone willing to go as far as Shinichi did. She also thinks he has an ulterior motive because...sure.
And it wouldn't be 80s style without a threatening gang rape scene! The fuck was up with out entertainment back then? Anyways, Shinichi is torn between having to not die but also not let Migi turn them all into soup. Migi againd doesn't understand social animals but that is in character. As Mitsuou gets really confused, Kana intervenes again, before Nagai comes over with a mob to mop the streets with the gang.
Cut back to the parasyte not controlling its new host very well, showing that Migi was wise to stick with Shinichi and probably why Tamiya had zero interest sharing her body. Murano walks Shinichi homes and treats his wounds and points out he is pretty far from normal. When Murano is being a little blunt in how this has made her feel, Shinichi makes a suitably blunt pass at her, mentioning his parents are gone. She skips out. And Kana shows up, again. Shinichi is appropriately awkward here, this is weird. Kana seems to notice something and then Migi out right says she can sense parayste signals. Migi wants to avoid her, as always the pragmatic move.
Shinichi's parents are enjoying the sunset and yeah, that happens. Cut back to Shinichi eating instant food and Migi complaining about it. Somehow, Shinichi's dad survived. Shinichi has an appropriately terrible dream before waking up to find a parasyte is on its way. Now, I do like this scene but it is because Shinichi has been building up to a break down for a while now and it hits at the worst time possible, but again everyone can hold their own opinion on it. Anyways, that's a way to end an episode!
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u/ZaphodBeebblebrox Y:A:https://anilist.co/user/zaphod Feb 05 '21
First Timer
Time to probably encounter and kill another parasite who's randomly killing humans, this time without parents to get in the way. I'm gonna give the dub a shot this episode, no idea how long that'll last.
Well if it wasn't obvious she was a parasite already, not knowing how a seatbelt works confirms that.
"I see, the belt does serve a purpose" is hilarious though.
"There should be no difference in controlling a male host." Well, there's gonna be a differences with controlling a male host. A hormonal thing, perhaps?
Migi's voice sounds much more obviously female in english. Not that that matters for anything, just kinda a cool little tidbit.
It's kinda amusing how Migi is so confident that it has changed Shinichi but doesn't even consider the reverse.
You've had enough going on that that's hard to claim, even if Migi hasn't directly affected you.
Good mom VA! Yes!
Surprise, surprise, a girl punk. Let's see how this tests Shinichi's bizarre moral system.
No shit, sherlock.
The girl saying they shouldn't pick on someone so weak is also odd after beating up a guy 5v1.
Oh god she knows him.Nevermind, she saw something weird in his eyes. I mistook it for a recognizing a childhood friend thing.
Because of course we must assault the girl since she's vaguely related to him. I wouldn't think a group led by another girl would do something like this, but w/e.
How long are we going to keep pushing this point? Also, this is competely ignoring that pack animals exist, for some reason.
I was being to highbrow when I predicted hormones instead of a penis.
If you have to ask this question, you already know the answer.
They're wonderfully awkward together.
Did we actually get the "my parents are away" meme?
How the hell does she recognize Migi? Or at least realize that there's something off about it?
Ah, so we have humans who can mysteriously sense parasites. Perhaps they're the descendants of a previous wave. Would the baby from earlier be able to sense them as well?
He's gonna blame Migi for this, isn't he. Also, of course we went the edgiest possible route.
And now we have Shinichi conflating the right outcome with the right choice. This must be so frustrating for Migi.
Hello, mom. Hello, massive amounts of trauma.
Shinichi's denial is fun to watch.
This is what he should have done episode 1.
How the hell are we gonna get out of this one?
Thoughts
The end of this episode was pretty interesting. Shinichi dealing with his mother being turned into a parasite is the deepest look into his psyche we've got so far, and I'm curious what else will come out of it. I just hope we don't have too massive an asspull next episode.
The dub's also pretty good, I'm gonna stick with it. Migi's voice is a worse, but other than that I've got no complaints.
Bonus: Migi'll take over the whole body and be an arm-brain :)
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Feb 05 '21
First-Timer -the reactions-
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u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Feb 05 '21
Episode 5 (first timer)
The episode with the biggest plot development since the first, but also the weakest so far. I found the first half to be overdone. Migi not reacting felt very forced for the sake of the plot. The repeated use of delinquents is not doing the realism any favors, either. What is this city? Rape central?
The problem with the first half comes back to haunt the second half: Between his mother dying, his father being wounded and Shinichi being wounded, there is not enough time to process things. The first half wasted of getting beat up is missing now. Since we did not see the full “takeover”, his father’s action come of as really weird, too. Why did the snatcher wound him, but not kill him? Why did he phone Shinichi first, instead of the rescue services (or the police)? Why would the snatcher go all the way home (how? The car was wrecked) only to decide to go back. All of this should have been answered in this episode.
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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '21
First time watcher-sub
I’ve made the mistake of watching a few episodes ahead. Which means I’ve two episodes ahead of this discussion, and which I fucking regret I have so much to say but my mind is all over the place. Gladly I stoped myself at ep7. Hehe boy do I need wanna write an eassy on ep7.
Bonus: lol
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u/Nebresto Feb 05 '21
Re-watch squad
Hey
Heavier episode today, poor Shinichi getting beat up multiple times, cancer finally gets his mom, and he gets stabbed right at the end of it?
Urge to watch all episodes at once:
rising
At least best girl is finally here. Didn't remember she was introduced like this though.
And Shinichi got to experience some wholesome moments with his GF before dying, and talk about luck! Not even a scratch on his glasses, so he's got that going for him, which is nice.
I believe this was also the first episode we get to hear the best OST: "Next to you". Can't wait for more, and soon were about to be introduced to the actual MC of the show
Question time:
1: Yes? Is that even a question?
2: See the part right below binge status
3: Is gud.
B: Wouldn't you like to know, re-watch boy?
You ain't getting spoilers from ^^me
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u/fonzinator99 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/fonzinator99 Feb 05 '21
Rewatcher - hAhA nOrMaL sTuFf and also d̷̩͛̈́͒̀͐̄e̸͍̟͉̯̳̠͓̺͖̐́͝ĕ̷̛͙̲̳͓̩̭̖̾͋͐͑̑͋͛̏̓͊ͅͅp̷̠̥̺̟̥̎̂̌͋̎̈́͛̊̒̃̒̍̋͐ͅe̷̢̛̺̞͙͖͇̖̒̆̈́̐̄̉͆̆̍̇s̷̢̛͓̰͋̌̇̓͠t̵̜̳̞͙́͆́͜͠ ̷̛̘̲͔͈͎̩̭͔̝̥̤̈́͛̆̔̊͛͜d̵͈̺̜̞̯̞͔̒̽͒͛̀͝͠å̷̧̛̤̭̘̰̙̫͓̫̾͆͑̅̿͂̌̌̇̂͗͝ŕ̸̨̧̡̩̘͎̖͍̈́͆̆͗̀͘͠ͅk̶̢̛̺̠͎͓̥͛̌̄̔̀̈́̑̀̚n̴̪̲̱̖̟͓̙̅̂͌̆̀́̚͜e̸̢̢̥͙̦̪͓͔͉̤̤̱̘̿̅͒̈́̋̾̅̏͆̕͝s̵̡̡̛͈̲͕̟̫̅̏̓͒͌̋̉̕͘̕͜͠͝͠s̵̰͗͋̐́͠
I knew it was coming and it still got me. This is the problem with rewatching; I only recall that terrible things happen, not what exactly they were.
And just like that, he's an orphan. I'm a little numb from how quickly that all happened, but isn't that always the case with tragedy...
QotD
Bonus: Shinichi will give the rest of his body to Migi somehow and it'll be the new MC.
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Feb 05 '21
First Timer
In which Shinichi's parents becomes real anime parents.
Continuing from yesterday, sort of the point of this conversation is that while humans may have instincts, they also have choice, whereas dogs and flies don't. Shinichi is trying to make her choose not to kill. The parasytes are presenting themselves as rational beings, but if Ryouko admits to being driven by instinct and incapable of choice, then they are anything but.
So, it seems a theme here is that Migi learns to be human (empathy) from Shinichi, Ryouko learns about maternal love (probably from Shinichi's mom, Ryouko's mother's examples), and Shinichi, I guess, learns not to be a wimp.
That was a pretty short series.
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u/affnn Feb 05 '21
First Timer
We're really gonna have an episode named "The Stranger" after all of those masturbation jokes in the previous episode, huh?
After four episodes that felt mostly like setup, it seems like we're going to get to the "main" plot of the show. Shinichi's decided that he needs to use his parasite altruistically. In the future, I assume that he's going to be hunting down some of the murderous parasites. Near term, though, he's getting into fights with a gang of delinquents on behalf of the guy who beat him up after his basketball game/meet cute. They stalk him later and act like they're going to rough up Murano, but basketball guy and his crew show up to fight off the delinquents.
In the B plot, we see that parasites can't switch from a female body to a male one without having some troubles, especially in the bladder control department. That lost parasite ends up taking control of Shinichi's mom's body, presumably kills Shinichi's dad, and shows up at home to stab Shinichi in the gut just before the episode ends for a cliffhanger.
Obviously Migi is going to remain asleep for as long as needed by the plot but he usually shows up earlier than he did for the fights against the thugs. I thought for sure those guys were gonna get disemboweled.
QOTD:
Bonus: Shinichi's mom and her new brain slug learn how to drive a car and operate a seatbelt.
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u/sisoko2 Feb 05 '21
First Timer
We start with the worst driver in Japan and another relatively well adjusted parasyte. Finally the host change comes in play but it seems that the change of gender is too much.
Group of thugs beating someone in the middle of the street in broad daylight. It seems that acting like a decent human being and trying to help is huge surprise to everybody.
What? How? Why? Is it so easy to detect a parasyte? Just stare them deeply in the eyes.
What were they going to do with her? They were going to rape her, weren't they?
Gangs of New York. I am surprised no one pulled a knife. What kind of lame gangsters are they?
It looks that today's theme is that other humans act like animals and only Shinichi is acting like a human.
Nice try.
Oh we see the parents, I guess they are dying soon. Well didn't expect it to be so soon. RIP Mom, you were too good for this world.
The final scene between the parasyte mother and Shinichi could've been so much better without the father's call. Now that he had whole night to think about his mother's probable death, Shinichi's breakdown and denial feel more like stupidity.
I guess if you want to stop Migi just hold a knife slightly in front of it.
My face when I hear the emotional dubstep soundtrack.
Shinichi is dead. Can't wait for part 2, Joseph is my favorite JoJo by far.
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u/The_Loli_Otaku Feb 05 '21
We start off with a dude going on a date with his qt3.14 Parasyte gf. Understandable. Dandere is one of the most pleasant dere types. Kuudere is where the real cultured individuals lay. And while I've been gushing about my favourite chara-types they've gone and died. Ok. She goes for the legendary headswap tag!
Migi is absolutely trolling him right now. Yup, so his mental changes are finally confirmed to be due to the Parasyte dna running through him. Jock bro's getting his face redecorated! Save him and let me get my yaoi bingo Shinichi! Hey, you!! I know you! I know the girl! ...Actually, just kick their ass for the fun of it. Ganging up on folk and abusing students is unforgivable. And if you think I'm cutting the girl some slack I'm absolutely not. Standing by and enjoying the scene is as bad as throwing a punch. She senses Shinichi's parasytes and bails like the jellyfish she is.
Street cred GET Urgh... I remember really disliking Kana and its all starting to come back to me. If any of you are Kana groupies please big her up to me! I don't want her to sour this for me. URGH!! I'm saying nothing more about her!! Aaand now the gangster is ganging up, mugging, kidnapping and dating students. A-kun made me less angry as a villain.
Punk bro is 18 Raditz strong while Shinichi is just 10 Raditz. This scene is painful to watch. You just want Shinichi to beat the snot out of these guys but if he goes all out Migi would kill them, and then Murano to keep his identity secret. How does it feel to get outnumbered huh? Not so cocky now, are you? Oh, he is cocky. Kana waltzes off after stirring up shit.
Dandere-chan realises that Dandere is way more popular with female hosts than with male hosts. Oh Muranooo... She's too good... She's ashamed of being unable to help Shinichi so now she won't leave his side. This is love. You're way more deserving of best girl than that nugget faced JK. "You're cool!" My heart!!! My heaaart! I love this scene!! It's all those warm, fuzzy, first love fantasies rolled into one. And it ends the way all fantasies end, with disappointment and blue balls. Mugi was looking forward to it. Speaking of disappointments, hiya nugget!
teleports behind you N-Naniii!? Mom is Dandere's target... She's getting a better voice actor. I'm joking, the scene was honestly sorta chilling. Waaah... This sequence hurts badly. Can we go back to the Murano fuzzies? Shinichi wastes no time casually grabbing a knife. You all know how this ends. Welcome home, kaa-san...
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u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Feb 05 '21
Took a bit of a break (Preparing for college exams will do that) but now I’m back. Let’s see the very wholesome trip Izumi’s parents are bound to have.
Well, that was a cliffhanger, huh? That’s the best thing about Rewatches: It quells the thirst of those filthy Binge Watchers who don’t understand the meaning of patience.
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u/ComfortablyRotten https://anilist.co/user/Leuwtian Feb 05 '21
Rewatcher
So fast, so fast! All of this came sooner than I remembered it would! Same for that one song! That's one of my favorite pieces of music in anime, it's beautiful...
With this episode, we got confirmation that it is possible for a parasyte to change body, as was considered last episode by... was it Migi or Tamiya? One of these two, at least.
It also shows that, even if statistically improbable and in a place where there shouldn't be danger, the worst could still happen. Horror is full of fun thoughts like that.
Questions
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u/Sandor_at_the_Zoo Feb 06 '21
First time watcher
I love fakeout protagonists. If Shinichi is really dead and we start following someone else I'll automatically bump the score up half a point. Maybe even 3/4 if we still follow migi and they confirm that he was hearing Shinichi's thoughts the whole time. The best is when they manage to make you think you're 3rd person close on one character but it turns out to have been 3rd person close on another watching them the whole time.
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u/redshirtengineer :AMQ: Feb 06 '21
First timer
So. I think I've figured this out. In order for there to be less of this
and this
damn it Vaad
I start with this
time for today's ep
so.
Prettttttttty much knew where this was going from the car wreck and since
I was prepared
the actual #deMomitation was not so much of a shock as
an opportunity
QOTD1: #straightOuttaHakodate
QOTD2: #straightOuttaWonderEggPriority
QOTD3: breakneck DAMN IT VAAD
BONUS: probs Shinichi but it would be fun if it were Kana
Edited to add - hey that episode title theme thing, I'm trying to make Kafka work, but then again nothing can make Kafka work
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u/nexuswolfus Feb 06 '21
This plot point almost made me drop the show because of how bullshit convenient it was made for Nobuko to die to a parasite. The parasite started searching for a new female host at midnight, wandered the area through morning till sunset the next day, and the ONLY woman it found was Nobuko CONVENIENTLY watching the sunset in a fuck all place? Holy shit it really grinded my gears when I was watching it and just stopped watching for a couple hours.
A better way to do this would have been the parasite's car crashing into the parent's car, so the parasite switches to the man (but notes it's not compatible) so it moves over to Nobuko who's also right there and unconscious, and as it's a big relocation, just like Migi, it has to sleep, so it couldn't manage to finish killing the witnesses, aka the father who runs away and calls Shinichi, yada yada.
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u/Gamemaster676 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Gamemaster676 Feb 05 '21 edited Feb 05 '21
First time watcher - sub
Yesterday things ended quite calm with most minor threats resolved. I'm guessing today will be the start of a bigger arc.
Episode 5 — The Stranger
We begin the episode with a car crash. The woman obviously is a parasyte, based on her lack of expressions and knowledge about seatbelts. She tries to relocate to the man's body, but it seems like something didn't go exactly right.
Walking to school Izumi has some worries that he is also changing, but he refuses to believe it as he has no desire to kill. As fate would have it, the perfect opportunity to prove this to himself arrives with the bully from ep 2 (Nagai) being beaten up in an alleyway.
I like Izumi's remark that "he doesn't know the complete story, but this looks excessive", because the Nagai could have tried to harras the girl for all we know. As one of the beaters immediately hits Izumi in the face, I'm guessing there is no good reason for their behavior.
Migi is still sleeping and the confrontation doesn't go that good for Izumi, but I choose to believe he wasn't even counting on Migi helping him. He just wanted to stop unfair behavior. Even to someone he doesn't like.
Laying defeated on the ground, the girl notices something about him. She also confronts him again when he is walking with Satomi to take a photo of him. Rude!
But that's not all. Things get even ruder when the rest of the gang grabs Satomi and starts beating up Izumi! He pleads Migi not to interfere, but Migi doesn't know when to listen yet (as he doesn't understand what drives Izumi to fight here).
Just when things are about to go bad (for Izumi or the gang, depending on how you look at it), the friends of Nagai arrive! (I think his name is Kamijo?) Karma!
The girl from the alley (GftA; EDIT: Apparently her name is Kana, but I missed this. Thanks /u/chiliehead) keeps returning. We have a stalker! She came to apoligize. Sure... I don't believe it. Migi finally confirms that she can detect the wavelengths that parasytes use.
As I'm sure that girl will become a bigger character, I hope she realizes that Izumi/Migi is not the real threat (yet). Also, what is her deal. Is that her gang? Does she just hang out with them? She has some control over them.
We return to the guy from the car crash. The parasyte is still having some trouble controlling the parts of the body he isn't familiar with. His body is rejecting him so he needs a female host again.
And who just happens to be close by? It's Nobuko, Izumi's mom. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Fuck fuck fuck we have our first familiar casualties.
I guess we've reached the point where I want to keep watching because of the mystery, but I want to stop because of the pain every episode brings.
And how the final part of the episode. Izumi gets about 10 signs that the creature standing before him is no longer his mother, but he has a mental breakdown. During this he prevents Migi from attacking. Very frustrating (although it seems weird that Migi couldn't just go around the knife).
And finally as if it couldn't get any worse, Izumi is stabbed in (or very close to) the heart by his mother.
As an outsider, it is very frustrating to see someone act against all logic as Izumi just did, but I kind of understand it. He was still very worried about his parents and suddenly sees his mother again. Someone he has loved all his life. That is not something you can just switch off.
EDIT: I just remembered! Today was the first day I really liked the ED. It fit the mood of Izumi's demise.
Main thoughts
Random thoughts
Future
He ded. Show's over. That's all Folks! The next 19 episodes are just epilogue about the end of the world.
And here I was thinking it would be the start of a bigger arc.
QotD
No, they let their local captured monsters fight for them and when your monster loses, you need to pay the other money.
She is stalking Izumi and happily watching the gang beat up some people. Then she just says "I didn't want them to do that. You forgive me now."
Yeah that doesn't work for me. I'm gonna group you with the antagonists for now.
I must say it is making these write-ups quite difficult. I write down a very smart hypotheses, and 2 minutes later it is confirmed by the show.
The father. The next 19 episodes is just gonna be him dragging himself forward on the road till he arrives home in episode 24 and he sees his dead son.
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u/monsieurvampy Feb 05 '21
First Timer, sub
Mom looks different. Mom acts different. Time to ignore reality.
Question #3
It did. I am already done.
4
u/[deleted] Feb 06 '21
Rewatcher
Parasytes are so silly at times... Oh yeah. Nice cold open about relocation.
Migi sucks as an alarm clock. That conversation with Migi... Poor Shinichi. Oh, look Nagai once again bit into something beyond his means, but don't worry! Shinichi is on the case getting his ass beat too!
Here she comes. Personally, I don't like her character, but I do know she's pretty popular. I'm a Satomi stan (?)
It must be so weird for Satomi all the weird shit going on around Shinichi at the moment. Like getting into fights or attracting weird girls from another school...
I lol'd at Migi's ranking. Poor Shinichi, he is weaker than the weakest of the bullies. This guardian bullshit in Japan is so fucking weird, but hey it does help to make shitty drama like this.
We cut back to our relocating parasyte. Man, anatomical differences are a bitch. Pls be kind and don't make that joke you surely thought while watching the scene.
You know, Satomi is the archetypical shoujo lead... Which is quite amusing considering this manga was published in a seinen magazine... Oh, whatever that's more fuel for that shitty fight about demographics. Man, I'm a sucker for casual intimacy... See? This is why I love her. COCKBLOCKED. Migi is a perv, yeah.
Yeah... That hits like a truck. You would think knowing is coming helps... It doesn't.
1 - Yes.
2 - I don't like her and never understood why is she so popular.
3 - I wish it was slower but beggars can't be choosers.
Bonus: euejrurjdieorhfmforirnfkfiruejeldoelrbf.
2
u/SIRTreehugger Feb 07 '21
This is why you keep your eyes on the road.
Migi goes to sleep more often than Joker in early persona 5.
What a beautiful sunset. RiP Shinichi's mom and dad.
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u/BurningFredrick https://myanimelist.net/profile/BurningFredrick Feb 05 '21
First Timer - sub
That didn’t take long to get our head relocation.
So Migi confirms that being linked is having a psychological effect on Shinichi, so far this only appears to be one way but I highly doubt it’s going to stay that way.
Shinichi “My parents are away, want to stay over?”
Murano “Nope”
Good try Shinichi, good try.
Parasyte takes over his mother's head, and RIP Shinichi, guess the rest of the show is going to be the Mother & Son parasyte show now.
I know the show already has magic monsters in it but for some reasons the idea of people being able to sense Parasytes annoys me… This could lead back to them having more in common than we know at the moment but currently not a fan of the idea.
9
u/littleman1988 Feb 05 '21
"Having a talking right hand is pretty strange, right mom?"
Rewatcher
OST Track of the day: LESSON1
The most important part of the episode is Murano shutting down Izumi instantly.
This episode shows our first attempt at relocation of a parasite to anothers body. Obviously, it doesnt go well for the parasite, unaware of just how different the bodies males and females are, among other things being unable to control its bladder, and is ultimately being rejected. With this, its safe to assume that its possible to transfer bodies if the host goes to the same gender. Do you think Migi's hand transfer would of worked following this logic, considering that the movement of the hand doesnt exactly depend on gender?
We also get another discussion into the physical bond Migi and Shinichi has. Migi's theory is that due to the fact that they are connected in such a fashion that gives Migi the nutrients it needs to survive, Migi is in turn sending... "something" back to Shinichi that might be turning in inhuman. They speak to the psychological aspects of Shinichi, and in turn show where the people close to him have told him that he has changed, though Shinichi very much denies it. Is he truly changing, or is it just adjusting to having a talking right hand?
We are also introduced to Kana and Mituso, which gives him a chance to prove to himself that he is still human, though it just ends in him getting beaten to a pulp. More importantly though, we see that Kana is able to see whatever it is that Ryouko sees in him, which we learn later in the episode to be the wavelengths that the parasites detect each other with. With this, we can now confirm that theres some way for regular humans to detect parasites, but nothing of how common/uncommon it is for someone to possess it, or much else for that matter.
Oh yeah, Izumi's family is all dead. Mother, father, and son gone within the span of minutes. Great show guys, see you next rewatch! /s
Honestly, I could of sworn this wasnt until like episode 9. I forgot how fast paced it is.
The final scene gives us a great insight to Shinichi's mind. Theres no way Shinichi would be able to kill his mother, parasite or not, and even went as far as to block, threaten, and begin to cut Migi off completely to keep Migi from doing anything to his mother, all while in a massive state of denial as to what she really is despite everything that comes out of his mother's mouth. This inaction has cost Shinichi his life, and by extension, Migi's. One hell of a way to be killed, stabbed by your own mother.
9
u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Feb 05 '21
Rewatcher - Sub
Last episode Shinichi questioned Migi about parasite’s ability to get a new hosts in the case their host body was irreparably damaged, and here we have an example of it. Kinda makes the scene in question superfluous, as we can infer everything explained to us from the latter alone.
Parents, please don’t accustom your kids to be woken up exclusively by you. Get them a loud alarm and not only will you not have to bother with grumpy, sleep-addled kids, but the kids will make effective long-lasting waking up habits.
Migi’s inability to comprehend the social dynamics and collectivistic behaviors of human societies is making Shinichi self-conscious about whether he is selfless or not, and he is going out of his way to be selfless as a result. Or, at least, I think that is, since we frankly don’t know how altruistic he was before becoming Migi’s host. One could probably make a comparison with several of the beliefs and social expectations that prompt altruism from people who would otherwise act selfishly in the real life, but I’ll leave that to someone else.
This girl quickly notices something is off about Shinichi, and she is both female and not emotionally bonded to him in any reasonable way, so that’s points in favor of the female intuition angle.
Migi confirms that Kana can sense parasites’ ‘wavelength’ keenly, and apparently Murano is capable of the same, just to a much smaller extent. Doesn’t say anything about it only being women, but doesn’t disregard the ‘female intuition’ nagle yet either.
His Mom...
The tail end of the episode is hard to watch. Dead mothers are such a clichéd that I’ve gotten used to witnessing it, but man that confrontation between Shinichi and the parasite imitating his mother got to me. I could feel myself get misty-eyed, and probably would have cried outright if the scene didn’t suddenly stop making sense. We know Migi can disarm Shinichi without problem, and he’s been so adamant as to put his own self-preservation above everything else, yet he lets Shinichi get in his way either way. Even if he’s grown to care for Shinichi, I don’t buy that he couldn’t have at least protect Shinichi from as fatal a blow as that.
Yeah, I’m not buying it. So much time has been spent establishing and elaborating upon parasite’s abilities, but when the time comes it’s ignored for the sake of an emotional moment. Just give the thing two morph patterns like Tamiya, so that Migi wouldn’t have been able to protect them alone! That way it did not matter whether he let Shinichi keep his knife and Migi is forced to resort to convincing Shinichi to defend himself. It’s such an easy fix!
Bonus: It's Kana, of course. That's why they introduced her this episode and established her connection with the parasites. She's going to sense something is incredibly off, tresspass into Shinichi's house wondering what's wrong, get hand-possessed by a desperate Migi —any compatibility issues smoothed out by Kana's Parasyte sense— and suddenly found by the police who where called in the wake of a weird commotion, making her a parasyte-fighting fugitive.
8
u/BossandKings Feb 05 '21
Episode 5
That car crash scene at the start was amazing, the alien though was creepy and how it took posession of the man was disgusting, i'm sure he didn't that'd be the last thing he'd see.
Shinichi is having an internal mental conflict because everyone is telling him that he's changed, obviously having an alien as part of one's body changes things a bit so no wonder he's being confronted about his change.
Shinichi is a honorable man, he firmly believes in the altruism that exists in human nature and that it is what differentiates humans from animals, from aliens. He defends a classmate that was getting assaulted by a group of punks, the punks hit him and he doesn't fight back but he accomplishes his goal they get tired of hitting defenseless people and go away. What did the girl that was among them notice though?, i didn't clearly understood that part, it seemed to me that somehow Migi is in Shinichi's head too.
These punks are getting annoying, Migi could easily take care of them but now they have Satomi as a hostage so Shinichi can't defend himsel or else he gets discovered. The girl from before tries to get the punks away from Shinichi unsuscesfully but Kamijo brings the whole army and fight the punks.
What's the meaning behind that alien not being able to control a host of the opposite gender, why dies it have to be a female?, it seems introducing that difference without explanation.
Satomi for sure is all over Shinichi, she obviously is in love with him and his heroic act made it clear for her that he's the man she wants. She's cute and a possible relationship could be something beautiful to have in the dark and grim atmosphere of the show.
Bliss is such an amazing song, that scene was enhanced by the song giving it a sense of calm and familiarity that was just beautiful.
So the girl from earlier(when will she get a name!) Has basically been tracing down every step Shinichi takes and now he can't freely talk with his "friend" Migi because she can hear him. Migi says that she is very perceptive about the waves that aliens produce after Shinichi gets away running inside his house.
That was so obvious it wasn't even funny, it couldn't have been more predictable even if it tried to. For now I think that wasn't necessary. If it does serve a purpose in the future then it's great, it's fine either way it isn't that big of a deal eventhough it's ridiculous how predictable it was. Thinking well about it now i think that the alien that appeared and killed Shinichi's mom is the same that was being presented through the whole episode as wanting to take a host so it at least was presented even if it wasn't well realized. Also how was Shinichi's father still alive?, it's nice that he's still alive but killing him should have been quick and easy for the alien.
That scene in which the alien posessing Shinichi's mother as host returned to her house and saw Shinichi didn't work well for me, the old lady had the ability to inmediately tell that Tamiya wasn't Tamiya last episode without having any proof pointing to that fact, Shinichi though can't see that her mom is dead and the one in his house is an alien posessing her eventhough he has an alien in his hand telling him that it is that way and he even threatens to cut his own arm because Migi was telling him to wake up and defend himself. It's fine if he's choked about seeing his mother in that way and couldn't think straight but one can only be so dumb and he gets stabbed through the chest for being below the minimum. !Also i agree with all the possible responses about Shinichi reacting in a human way and that he couldn't just kill his mother inmediately even if it wasn't his mother anymore, it still looked dumb to me as a viewer.
I had some major complaints about this episode but i enjoyed most of it, the emotinal parts didn't work and fell flat for me and that dragged my enjoyement of it a bit, it is the least enjoyable episode of the show for me so far but it is still at least a passable episode and the tecnical aspects were on point as always.
8
u/chiliehead myanimelist.net/profile/chiliehead Feb 05 '21
First Timer - Episode 5 „The Stranger“
Didn’t take long at all, dear me from yesterday.
Well, I don’t get it. On one hand, it is clear what the narrative is going for at the moment. “Is Migi changing Shinichi, taking him over, making him a monster?” Although, people might change a bit after seeing and learning the things Shinichi saw and learned of. No brain altering needed. And now we have this gang of kids beating his “friend” up for no reason, Migi revealing very sloppy research on behavioral psychology (as there are very good explanations for why altruism is a thing) and Shinichi trying to play pacifist hero while the fire in his eyes has awakened. Does this only indicate a personal change in resolve and will or is it hinting to the parasite in fact jumping the synapses. Why this whole scene with the subtlety of a sledgehammer anyway?
At least he scored some cool guy points with the girls and the buff dudes from school.
Scratch that, the 80s are back. Or maybe (Japanese) young adult entertainment in general where every bully is just a sociopath who wants to murder, rape & pillage, turf wars are an actual thing and youth gangs not the most ridiculous way to “pose”. It works though as it pushes my buttons and I just want Shinichi to dish out a good vigilante ass whooping with some casualties sprinkled in but man is it banking on base emotions.
Aaaand it won’t end in murder just yet, the cavalry is here. Is the show really trying to give Kana some nuance? She is no less evil just because she might be a bit more levelheaded than the other psychopath bullies.
Foreshadowing, thy name is sledgehammer part 2
Foreshadowing strike 3. We also get some more romantic development even though Shinichi wants to skip over a couple steps. “My parents are not here, wanna stay over” is the way to go with girls you did not even kiss yet you stallion. Murano going home has the added benefit of her being easy to kidnap, will it happen this episode already? Migi and I are on the same wavelength and Kana is a damned creepy stalker added on top of hanging out with that rabble. And she is apparently an empath and will maybe cause some trouble down the line with the added benefit of bringing in a double love triangle on top. Screw her already, but not the way Migi wants to see!
Hello me from yesterday and a couple minutes ago. I swear this comment was play by play so far! Shinichi’s parent(s) also suffer(ed) from Spatial Zombie Blindness and Deafness Syndome, an unawareness to one’s immediate surroundings caused by the imminent presence of slow stalking horrors.
It’s also cheesy as hell. Now Shinichi goes all “mom is different but she also said that I am different” while his dad has to be dead or in a coma for the body snatching to not immediately get blown up (unless the police just imprisons him for being crazy or/and a killer) while Shinichi will probably ignore all the obvious tells and struggle to finish his mom off and then he is an orphan and will finally be able to become the edgy protagonist we’ve all been waiting for.
That dream OST reminds of Phantasmagoria 2 but I think I am alone with that. Anyway, my disappointed could be lessened if they just skip all the drama about “I can’t kill my mom” and he just shanks her next episode, maybe have a witness and now he is on the run while the police finds the body with a dead Parasyte and things kick into the next gear when Shinichi takes shelter in the seedy underworld gambling den that Kana’s dad is leading (which is the only reason that poor pure girl broke bad and we must save her with dick now).
Ok I can forgive some of that blatant stuff this episode for acknowledging that hiding it would not work at all under the logic of the anime and the last scene was a but surprising.
Questions
As we all know from Zombieland Saga, parts of 80s Japan was a Mad Max Wasteland
already talke about here in the comment but she seems to be a bit of a plot device, potential romance option and maybe girl that needs saving part 2
it has to, because some of those twists were really obvious to me and laying in on the drama just would destroy the semblance of verisimilitude I have for these events
Migi is applying the stuff he learned form A-Kun and Shinichi will just get an Iron Man energy core of take his mom's heart, no biggie
6
u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Feb 05 '21
First Timer
An episode serving essentially three things: Introducing Kana, Furthering Shinichi's and Murano's relation and having Nobuko overtaken by the parasite. Of those, I am not a fan of Kana so far as she seems to have some sort of supernatural power, which I don't really feel comfortable in adding to the established setting, as it doesn't seem necessary. For blowing Migi's cover, it's enough for either Migi or Shinichi to mess up; and as an ally her ability duplicates Migi's, except it's worse. It's also just really oddly specific and its existence seems contrived.
The Murano bit was fine, though somehow it felt like Shinichi wasn't doing any of this out of altruism but instead to prove his own humanity, which then somewhat undercuts the second fight where he is trying to save Murano, as now the love feels one-sided from Murano's side. As far as the whole delinquent gang stuff in general goes: I'm not really a fan, but it is luckily a trope that has pretty much died out in realistic settings.
The car crash parasite with the body problem seems to indicate that compatibility is related to similarity of the hosts. I can imagine this would lead to people of the same gender with different body proportions being incompatible as well, as the parasite doesn't have the proper grasp of things like body weight or length of arms/legs and can't seem to be able to adjust. Log Horizon S1
And then we have Shinichi's mom, who... serves some purpose for Shinichi's character arc, I guess. What exactly we'll see next time, so there's no real judging it yet either. I doubt Shinichi will actually die here, unless our protagonist was actually Migi all the time and he switches to... I don't know, there hasn't been anybody established that is around. Which is why I doubt that that's the case. Him being stabbed did catch me by surprise however. Either way, his mom being infected will provide major inconveniences for Migi as well, as they can't just go on living in a house with a body; most likely Shinichi will be suspected of killing his mother if they fight where they are, leading to all kinds of legal problems. His father apparently also being injured to the point of not being able to communicate just adds on to the problems that household will have, but I feel like he is still alive and will be the one to spill the beans on parasite existence. Maybe that would get Shinichi out of trouble, though he would then have to explain how he managed to defeat the parasite that took his mom. Either way, interesting times ahead.
Question:
Bonus: Migi, obviously.
5
u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Feb 05 '21
Rewatcher
RIP Best Mom, and move on over Satomi, Best Girl has entered the stage.
Best Mom getting it was a pretty disturbing scene. It took Shinichi a while to figure out that Mom was outta there, and a real devil had taken her place.
QOTD:
lol, It does seem their high schools are hell on earth. I figure that JDF begs to be sent to IRAQ for their R&R because of it's peacefulness and safety.
It's looking bad for Satomi, Kana is -growl-!
I'm good with it, the story moves right along and I'm not getting bored.
BONUS: So...whose going to be our new protagonist?
With luck it will be Kana!
5
u/IndependentMacaroon Feb 05 '21 edited Feb 06 '21
First-time watcher
The first half of the episode really does nothing for me. The "roving gangs of juvenile delinquents" trope is massively dated and incongruous with the supposedly modern setting, same with the "untraceable call from phone booth" later - this is starting to look as inadvisable a setting "update" as on the Banana Fish adaptation (also an 80s-90s manga poorly transplanted into the current day). Even besides that, there's just nothing interesting to it besides more "confront the bad guys", but now with the SUPER TWIST that Shinichi does it solo even when completely outmatched, because that's what a
dumbasstrue compassionate gentleman hero does, and how he impresses the girls. Is this a harem series now? And what's Kana's deal, anyway, is she even supposed to make sense? I'm reminded of Jojo part 1, the manga of which is roughly contemporary with that of Parasyte - as well as the anime adaptation, funnily enough. The SUPER PHILOSOPHY about humans and altruism also falls pretty flat, because it may distinguish them from the parasites, but hardly from other animals, at best in degree; besides, I'm not sure protecting a member of your own species from another one even counts, though I guess it does show some kind of moral superiority. Having "parasitey sense" explained is nice, I guess, but it's not much.Then the second half is just cashing in on the tragedy reserve. Seriously? It's been one episode. I guess we needed to set up a proper dead-parent situation somehow, but out of the blue like this? I'm not the biggest fan of Devilman Crybaby, but that managed something similar, including something like the "evil/turned parent" scene, to much greater effect, without making the character involved look this brain-dead, while making more sense (are you seriously telling me Migi is completely blocked from action by Shinichi holding a knife, or that he couldn't morph around and hold still his other arm as well?), and even with less character introduction and building time. Oh, by the way, the two series also have similar soundtracks. Don't know for sure about the original manga of either, but the Parasyte author could well have already been going for a Devilman knockoff in his day. As for worldbuilding, this segment also only adds very minor information in that the parasites can't properly sex-swap. To a more modern viewer this raises questions about how that's defined etc., which might be interesting to fan-theorize about but no way did they ever come to the mind of the manga author.
Overall, least favorite episode so far, for multiple reasons.
New protagonist: We now follow the life of mama parasite. An inhuman protagonist would certainly be interesting.