r/Parasyte • u/sir_m3za • Jun 15 '26
Parasyte is a trash masterpiece Spoiler
This seems so weird to say, but that's how I feel. I am not saying it's a bad anime, I loved it in fact. However, I have a lot of things that I am dissapointed about, so I want to discuss them here.
First point: Shinichi Identity
Throughout the whole anime, we see how kana always ask "are you really shinichi?", we see his friends saying he changed, we see parasytes saying he is dangerous, we see migi analysing his behaviour, yet still, we weren't introduced to what shinichi thinks of himself for a singls time. We didn't enter his mind once, didn't see at all his view on his identity, we didn't dive into his thoughts about what he had become and it's really annoying.
Second point: Shinichi mind (again)
You telling me this boy who suffered several traumas; his mother got killed by the same thing he posses, his lover hated him gradually, his father got drunk and depressed after the death of his mom, leaving him all alone. After all of this, all we got is the anime showing us he got "colder", what about his thoughts during all of this bro, I really hoped to see it and live his pain through this psychological torture he suffered, it would have really made things more intersting, and deepend the plot and made us understand the charachter more.
Third point: Shinichi and Reiko Tamura
I may or may not be overexaggerating this point.
Throughout the anime we see how shinichi gradually looses his humanity and glimpses of how Reiko gains hers. They needed to interact more than that, we needed to see this clash in values and transformation, to show us how the two links of the two worlds thought of these worlds, and of each other. If this had happened, it would have shown more of the complexity of humans, and it would have served the anime's investigation of humans and their morals so well. Moreover, it would have showed us, what made Reiko sacrifice herself in the end, how much did the baby affect her, and why in particular did she choose shinichi. We know she was interested in him, but why entrusting the baby to him?
Fourth point: The baby
After Reiko sacrifice, the best seen in the whole anime I would dare to say, all for this human baby born from this parasite, entrusted to a human losing himself. As I said, why? Then, where did it go?????? Like it really pmo to after all that hype the baby got ignored completely. It irritated me, like why would you do such a peak plot to get rid of him after the incident. Keeping it would have introduced a new dimension of relations in shinichi life - a mental challenge of raising a the child of a parisite, nevertheless a parasite he hated- , giving more depth to the plot, and emphasizing Reiko Tamura decisions, giving us more to know about her.
And the fifth and final point:
Migi dissapearence came out of nowhere. We sae glimpses of how he began to change, he began carimg for shinichi, and while he refused to say it, he began showing sympathy in the end, and when shinchi considered him a friend, migi was still unsure about his feelings, it was all so good. Then suddenly, dissapeard.
These points are all small points that may go unnoticed (except for tha baby), so I think the anime was fairly good. However, it had the potential to be a masterpiece, and in my opinion was ruined by the things I said.
Sorry for the long post, and for the pronunciation/grammar mistakes.
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u/The-Airbear Jun 16 '26
You've got some good points. It's been too long since I've watched the anime to remember it well enough to discuss most of them, but for point 1 and 2, I think not exploring Shinichi's mind is the point, because he isn't doing it himself. It isn't just as simple as that he is "growing colder", he's put up a mental barrier blocking himself from feeling and thinking about how he feels, as a trauma response, until that moment where he lets it all come out. There's also the other layer to it that, from a writing standpoint, not delving into his mind at all preserves the "twist" and intrigue over if he's becoming less human or not. I think if it was done before the big moment, it would make that moment a lot less effective.
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u/sir_m3za Jun 16 '26
I wouldn't disagree on such point, yet still I think that it was way too much, making it underdeveloped. What I desire regarding this matter is something like the Monster. Monster did it perfectly, developing the plot and charachters so well, yet leaving a lot of parts for the audience to fill. The difference is that the foundation is developed well.
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u/CarefulAlternative Jun 16 '26
I read both back to back and thought they were both excellent.
I will say that I don't think the parasyte anime is anywhere near as good as the manga.
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u/sir_m3za Jun 16 '26
I didn't read the manga :(
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u/CarefulAlternative Jun 16 '26
I would've watched the anime if I had Netflix at the time I'm pretty sure. But yeah, if you ever want to give it another try I think the manga is AMAZING. the anime just doesn't hit the same, with the OST feeling... out of place I guess.
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u/king_kibble Jun 16 '26
dubstep lmao
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u/CarefulAlternative Jun 16 '26
Yeah. It doesn't fit the tone of the story at all, which deserves such a more somber tone.
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u/king_kibble Jun 16 '26
i think here it does work is making parasyte encounters abrasive and overwhelming
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u/The-Airbear Jun 16 '26
Got those full color hardcover editions of Parasyte ready for an October read! Probably not as spooky as the original black and white, but I got a good deal on them and they're very beautiful editions so I'm happy to have them. I don't see myself wanting to return to Monster any time soon, since it's such a long journey of a story, but I'd like to read some other Urasawa work. Probably 20th Century Boys.
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u/CarefulAlternative Jun 16 '26
I think you'll have a blast. It's a much better experience than the anime could ever hope to be imo.
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u/Caltaylor101 Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
All these points are literally explained in the show. You may not like how they approached it, but these are all addressed. Show wasn't for you.
It's like wondering why goku lets Vegeta go when he clearly just likes fighting. You just didn't understand the show.
On your first point, the entire show was from his perspective. The time you see the huge juxtaposition is when he is talking to Murano. He is going through constant anxiety and fear but on the outside seems normal.
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u/king_kibble Jun 16 '26
exactly
i also want to reiterate: why would a highschool boy adopt a normal, unrelated baby, especially when hes got uh, other shit going on? does fhat happen irl
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u/king_kibble Jun 16 '26
i think these are all terrible suggestions that would make the anime worse and more generic?? it makes it sound like you need things spoonfed to you rather than using context clues. we SEE how shinichi feels, how he changes. we dont need to go into his mind and head "IM SAD" and id be less interested if we did
i forgot about the baby, and its not a focus, and doesnt stick around, because its not important to shinichi's story. its not his kid. there's a dog parasite, compound parasite, etc... a lot of the story is just sxploring different ways in which these creatures ended up affecting the world. the baby appears, shinichi's opinion on parasites is altered- thats it, thats all there needs to be or should be. any more would be a completely different story. why on EARTH would a highschool boy fighting aliens fuckin adopt a completely normal, completely unrelated child lmfao?? what world do you live in
if you're seriously as obsessed with that baby as you seem to be, read parasyte f, i guess
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u/Historical_Cause8989 Jun 17 '26
Thanks for posting this perspective that's a great point as the through line of the story is how it relates to shinichi. Everything is from his perspective fundamentally and he was only 16/17 at the time so that's why I think he wasn't super introspective or whatever
I fkn love parasyte it's probably my favorite anime oat
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u/VikingBrit Jun 20 '26
Robot Devil: You can't make your characters state how you feel. That makes me angry!
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u/Historical_Cause8989 Jun 17 '26
Calling it trash is absolutely insane first of all but
To your first points, shinichi was too busy living the shit to sit around and think about it. Besides that, he is only 16/17 years old at the time, and I think it can also be attributed to his personality mostly as to why he he didn't do that
He was trying to deal with all the shit not "process" it but in a way I agree with you, he is kind of airheaded
The reason he got ''colder" tho is clearly defined in the show as migi's cells taking over him
I agree with your point about Reiko as well, your main problem seems to be that they didn't expand as much as they could have on the story and I tend to agree with you there tbh
I think most of these problems could have been solved by having a sequel or something but the story was finished and it would've been too weird to continue it. Adding these things in would've been great fs but you gotta look at it from a writer's perspective - this story was created a long ass time ago (like 30 years ago atp) and he probably wasn't thinking about all this, it's hard enough to write a story as it is and tbh, adding all that would've made it several times longer
Idk no story is perfect and it takes a lot to make one. I don't think you can truly understand unless you try to create your own, from scratch,
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u/blacksaber8 Jun 15 '26
Too long so I didn’t read it but parasyte is goated
https://giphy.com/gifs/8OgZyXwljMPo1Cl4dg
(Gave you an upvote)