Parasyte -the maxim-

Episode 10

I've had some minor complaints here and there over Parasyte's run. The music has occasionally worked against the show's drama, and the execution has sometimes been more by-the-numbers than anything that truly elevates the material - Parasyte's always been a strong show, but it's not always felt quite as good as it could be. Well, this week I don't have a thing to complain about - this episode was basically perfect. Concluding the Shimada arc in dramatic fashion and opening the door to a much broader-scale future conflict, this week's Parasyte featured the show at the strongest it's ever been.

We started off right where last week ended, with Shimada on the verge of murdering Yuuko. I was somewhat worried the show was just going to end up using Yuuko's death to inspire dramatic action from Shinichi, but fortunately, the show resolved this conflict in the best way it possibly could have. Yuuko fended off Shimada with the acid, slipped out the window, and then made a crazy leap for safety, establishing herself as the first normal human to actually trash a parasite in a fight. It was really, really satisfying seeing someone other than Shinichi take initiative for once - the show was almost verging on harem levels with the number of girls interested in him, so it was great to see his platonic female friend show she's very capable of taking care of herself.

From there, the drama escalated to vicious heights as Shimada went on a rampage across the school, indiscriminately killing teachers and students in his blind rage. The direction really stole the show in this sequence - Parasyte's always been very good at implying awful violence without resorting to overt censorship, and these scenes ably conveyed a bloodbath in ways far more evocative than overt gore would have. There were also a number of fantastic single shots that used lighting to great dramatic effect - both darkness (Shimada's long sickle-arm casting a shadow across a bloodstained wall) and light (Shimada's inhuman profile outlined against searing window light) were used to create frames that were both beautiful and horrifying. Even the music stepped it up for once - though the show has sometimes relied on misplaced electronic tracks in the past, here, ominous strings and low chants provided just the right tone of building horror.

On the Shinichi side, there were all sorts of nice details in the school sequence, with virtually everything we've learned about Migi and Shinichi coming into play. Migi offered the first nice character moment of the episode, with his offhand remark that there are "too many students here for combat" acting as a direct counterpoint to his first “strategy” from when A-san attacked. It's a small thing, but moments like this are a very graceful way for the show to demonstrate how much Migi's learned about Shinichi's value system. And then Shinichi got a number of strong opportunities to demonstrate that value system himself, with his fear of losing Murano and breakdown at the sight of his dead classmates providing resounding evidence that he is still the empathetic, emotional boy he once was. That point came to a head with his final resolution to fight Shimada - his declaration that “we knew what he was, and did nothing. We're partly responsible for this” was so very reflective of his old moral code that it even prompted a “you're saying peculiar things again” from his alien companion.

The fight with Shimada ended in very satisfying fashion, with Shinichi and Migi once again using their combined abilities to demonstrate the unique power of their human-parasite nature. From there, we finally got the reveal of just how widespread knowledge of parasites has become with a welcome peek into the government's anti-parasite task force. The reveal that you can discover parasites by pulling out one of their hairs seems kind of silly at first, but it actually builds perfectly off all the experiments Migi has been doing regarding separating himself into multiple selves. Once again, something that seemed like natural information at the time comes back to cleverly ground a necessary dramatic twist. Parasyte has always been a smartly plotted show, but this week stepped up the tension and execution to pull off something truly remarkable.

Rating: A+

Parasyte -the maxim- is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.