    Parasyte (originally Kiseiju, meaning "Parasitic Beasts") is an action/horror manga by Hitoshi Iwaaki that ran from 1988 to 1995 in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon. It's a story about a young man named Shinichi Izumi who, one night, wakes up in the middle of the night to find that a "weird snake" is attempting to invade his body; it gets inside his right arm, but fails to get any further, as he ties his arm off with a makeshift tourniquet. The next day, he discovers that his right arm is now a shapeshifting alien creature that lives off of the food he eats; in other words, a parasite. An odd friendship develops between the two as they battle other parasites and uncover a vast conspiracy. Parasyte -the maxim- is the 2014 anime adaptation of the aforementioned manga, by Madhouse. It began airing on October 8th, 2014 and is seemingly a faithful adaptation; as of the first episode, it's modernized several bits (such as giving Shinichi a smartphone, giving his father a tablet, and acknowledging the existence of Google), shuffled around one major plot point to much earlier in the story, and gotten into the action aspect of it a bit earlier than the manga did, but other than that it's rather close. The series is expected to run for 24 episodes (or two cours) and airs on NTV in a late-night spot, meaning that fortunately none of the gore is censored. Characters Shinichi Izumi VA: Nobunaga Shimazaki (Haruka from Free!, Itsuka from Date a Live)  Shinichi is every single high schooler protagonist ever, basically. He's a compassionate, thoughtful, slightly dorky young man who happens to have a shapeshifting alien for a right arm. Migi VA: Aya Hirano (Haruhi Suzumiya, Dende from DBZ Kai, Misa from Death Note)  Migi is a parasitic alien that embeds itself into Shinichi's right arm. It's kind of a dick (  ) and doesn't understand human emotions very well, but eventually ends up with an odd sort of friendship with its host. It can shapeshift between many different forms, including weapons, stretch itself huge distances, and attack other creatures with almost absurd speed, strength and precision (it rips a dog alien's heart straight out of its chest at one point).Satomi Murano VA: Kana Hanazawa (Black Rock Shooter, Anri from Durarara!!, Rize from Tokyo Ghoul)  Shinichi's best friend. We don't see very much of her in the first episode, so there's not very much to say about her at the moment. Staff Director: Kenichi Shimizu (Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher, key animation on a lot of things) Series Composition: Shoji Yonemura (Glass Fleet, Guin Saga, episode writing on Berserk and Fairy Tail) Music: Ken Arai (...background art on End of Evangelion? I think ANN is crediting the wrong person, this doesn't look right) Character Design: Tadashi Hiramatsu (Kare Kano, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, RE: Cutey Honey) As you can probably see, the staff consists of mostly unknowns- the director has never done a TV anime before, the head writer is a veteran episode writer but has only headed two entire series (both of which are widely considered mediocre), the soundtrack composer is a complete unknown who may or may not have done background art on a bunch of Gainax shows, and only the character designer (a Gainax veteran) really has any significant, good credits under his belt. That said, though, the first episode absolutely knocked it out of the loving park, so I'm entirely willing to see if they can land it properly for the rest of the series. Spoiler Policy If it's in the current episode, use spoiler tags for those of us without a CR subscription. If it's in a future part of the manga, use spoiler tags and make it clear that it's manga spoilers. Otherwise, don't tag it. There's a fair chance that this is going to end up diverging from the original in parts, since some of the modernizing changes (like the ubiquitous smartphones) would logically have an effect on the plot. If Parasyte -the maxim- and the original manga don't line up and you want to point it out, tag it. This would be a bizarre thing for me to ban discussion of, as I can't reasonably assume that everyone else in here is going in blind, and the quality of the adaptation is an important thing to note. That said, I don't want anyone unfamiliar with the manga to be spoiled on it in the event that the two works end up being significantly different. Of course, this doesn't go for minor things like pointing out modernization- feel free to do that without tags.
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Oct 9, 2014 10:34
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I don't usually seek out anime but the premise for this sounded interesting, gave the first episode a watch and really enjoyed myself, the only thing I didn't particularly like were the opening and closing themes but other than that it was solid entertainment.
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Oct 9, 2014 10:55
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I genuinely love the character redesigns and think they're better than the original, though a lot of that may be just because of how it better fits modern tastes. He just seems more conventionally nerdy which was always what I felt the MC was like pre-parasyte whereas his manga design just made him look generically main character-ish.
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Oct 9, 2014 10:59
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Aya Hirano in a show like this  , very interesting.
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Oct 9, 2014 11:50
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This was fairly interesting, I'll probably watch the rest, but that opening theme was probably the worst I've heard in a long while. I like how despite the original material being old, they've modernized some elements of it and it doesn't feel weird or out of place.
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Oct 9, 2014 12:00
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A Meat posted:that opening theme was probably the worst I've heard in a long while The Parasyte opening theme is just so lacklustre but in saying that I have to remind myself that my bar for anime themes was set by Cowboy Bebop so everything is probably a losing battle.
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Oct 9, 2014 12:04
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The manga source material is fantastic. Very human and touching. As is Iwaaki's work in general. Kubla Khan fucked around with this message at 12:15 on Oct 9, 2014 |
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Oct 9, 2014 12:12
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I have read the manga years ago and I loved it. Still, I will avoid posting spoilers. Well, very solid first episode. Intriguing premise, a good ambivalence with the alien hand (he saved the kid and he seeks cooperation, but he really wanted to absorb his brain and didn't have empathy for a fellow alien), some funny scenes, some body horror, some development in the character, and good animation that sells you on the co-protagonist, the hand. The music in the opening horrible. Thanks god it was only the opening which can be skipped... that was I thought at first, then the modern music attacked again in the end part, agh! I didn't care for the boob grab, context is everything, and unlike 99% of other anime where it would be a stupid moment, here there is a reason supported by the plot. There were nice new moments well integrated in the story, like the hand using the smartphone alone and the dad reading the news on a tablet. Let's remember the original manga was done in 1990. Ah, and not loving censuring yeah! Eat that Tokyo Ghoul, JoJo, Terraformars and others. As I predicted, it seems it can be one of the best of the year.
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Oct 9, 2014 13:42
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Anime seems good so far. Might be due to me having forgotten everything about the manga, though. Here's the trailer for the upcoming live-action movie based on Parasyte: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY7tdZAdZd4
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Oct 9, 2014 13:52
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The faces and poses are extremely impressive so far. Parts of it remind me of Denno Coil, but I can't quite place why. The inbetweens are standard TV, but the good compositions and nice keys more than make up for it. There were even vowel-specific mouth shapes at some point! Holy poo poo!
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Oct 9, 2014 13:54
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I was looking for a thread for this last night and didn't see one, glad to see somebody picked it up since I was just going to do it myself. Having only heard of the source material, I'm really excited to see this play out. Also, everyone needs to stop hating on FALILV 
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Oct 9, 2014 14:51
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Not interested in the original manga (yes, I know...) but the anime itself looks to be unique compared to the last few seasons. Character designs are modern/simple but not overdone reminds me of seinen actually. The total number of episodes is encouraging for a more complete story than just 1 season at least. Is it just me or his parents extremely indifferent to their son?  Here have a spider!
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Oct 9, 2014 18:08
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Alder posted:
His manly father is trying to toughen up his son!
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Oct 9, 2014 18:18
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That was rad. The music is loving terrible though.
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Oct 9, 2014 18:39
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So glad it's at least 24 episodes, I was half expecting a Zetman style randomly cut out huge bits of the story to cram it in 12 episodes kind of deal. Hopefully that's just enough episodes to fit the whole thing in without losing too much
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Oct 9, 2014 18:59
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Still not struck on the new character designs. I understand why they would feel the need to update them and I realise they could be far worse, but the art just seems boxy and uninspiring to me. I love the animation on the aliens though. The transformation scenes are spot on and Migi looks great in particular.
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Oct 9, 2014 19:26
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Watching the first episode prompted me to marathon the manga, absolutely looking forward to seeing everything animated now.
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Oct 9, 2014 19:29
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I'd heard good things about the manga but I never read it. Watched the first episode and loved it. Aya Hirano really nails Right Hand's voice. I wonder if it'll be explained where the parasites come from. "Aliens" might be the most likely explaination at this point, but considering (episode one spoilers) the final part: "Someone on Earth had a thought - life must be protected" I wouldn't be surprised if they were some sort of genetically engineered thing that escaped from a lab or, maybe, was set free on purpose. On the other hand, I'm not sure if I want it to be explained. It would be interesting if the whole thing was never explained, and it was left for the reader or viewer to wonder about. By the way, I'm seconding OP's request to tag and label all manga spoilers, since this looks really interesting and I'm going in blind, without knowing anything except for the main premise, so I'd like to avoid knowing anything in advance.
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Oct 9, 2014 21:12
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I really enjoyed that episode, there was some great animation and I feel like it could go to a lot of interesting places with this premise. What was the plot point that came up later in the manga?Emalde posted:Also, everyone needs to stop hating on FALILV
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Oct 9, 2014 21:37
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About Parasyte being a "Horror" manga: It's funny, because at it's core, Parasyte is really just following the same story as a battle manga. The protagonist gets weird powers, then meets other powered individuals and usually there's a fight. Repeat. Of course its a little more conplicated than that because there's usually a part where they have to discover if the new parasyte is actually a threat and there's a big heap of gore, body horror and tension going on that the audience gets to see that the characters do not. Seeing the wound on the mother's hand in the first episode reminded me of a lot of what I had forgotten about what happens to his parents, for example.
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Oct 9, 2014 22:14
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Chas McGill posted:That was rad. The music is loving terrible though. Dubstep is an artistic tool and shouldn't be judged as something you would sit down and listen to by itself.
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Oct 9, 2014 22:21
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I am loving pumped. I feel like a ton of new shows snuck up on me; this fall is going to kick rear end. No Parasyte no peace.
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Oct 9, 2014 22:25
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Dubstep being used in intense moments/fight scenes or whatever is pretty sweet (see: jojo battle tendency) but I'm not so sure I'm a huge fan of how it was used in episode 1. The one time I noticed it was in a pretty subdued moment, and it was fairly soft in the background. I'd much prefer it if dubstep was just blasted at you as the new parasite of the week opens its face up to reveal it's new hideous form, not so much for when Shinichi and Migi are talking to each other.
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Oct 9, 2014 22:26
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Irony Be My Shield posted:What was the plot point that came up later in the manga? Honestly not sure what the op meant there either, the only thing I can think of that wasn't in the manga until later was the shot of the burn scar on his mums hand and that's more early foreshadowing than an actual plot point.
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Oct 9, 2014 22:26
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I, for one, like the opening theme.
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Oct 9, 2014 22:38
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ninjewtsu posted:Dubstep being used in intense moments/fight scenes or whatever is pretty sweet (see: jojo battle tendency) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXT9IZvwi7g 
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Oct 9, 2014 23:07
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Shinjobi posted:I am loving pumped. I feel like a ton of new shows snuck up on me; this fall is going to kick rear end. No Parasyte no peace. The next thing I know I'm suddenly following 19 shows this season.
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Oct 9, 2014 23:13
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Sakurazuka posted:Honestly not sure what the op meant there either, the only thing I can think of that wasn't in the manga until later was the shot of the burn scar on his mums hand and that's more early foreshadowing than an actual plot point. (Manga spoilers) The serial killer they bring in to hunt parasites shows up at the very end of the episode. It's been a while since I read the manga but I don't seem to remember him showing up there until over halfway through.
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Oct 9, 2014 23:31
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Potsticker posted:About Parasyte being a "Horror" manga: It's funny, because at it's core, Parasyte is really just following the same story as a battle manga. The protagonist gets weird powers, then meets other powered individuals and usually there's a fight. Repeat. Of course its a little more conplicated than that because there's usually a part where they have to discover if the new parasyte is actually a threat and there's a big heap of gore, body horror and tension going on that the audience gets to see that the characters do not. Seeing the wound on the mother's hand in the first episode reminded me of a lot of what I had forgotten about what happens to his parents, for example. I never considered a body horror manga, though clearly has punctual moments about it. But it isn't a Junji Ito horror manga, it isn't really scary nor is focused in being scary. It's more a... thriller? a dark scifi adventure?
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Oct 9, 2014 23:35
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Turin Turambar posted:I never considered a body horror manga, Maybe I'm misusing the term, but tiny snakes that can take over your body and especially scenes like in the beginning where the guy's entire face splits into a giant alien maw are both the sort of things I think of when I see the term "body horror."
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Oct 9, 2014 23:43
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wait whatSALT CURES HAM posted:Shinichi Izumi Haha, this series is going to have some really hosed up fan art.
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Oct 10, 2014 00:58
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If you feel that the fan art is not to your satisfaction you can always generate your own.
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Oct 10, 2014 04:19
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Irony Be My Shield posted:What was the plot point that came up later in the manga? I thought it was the bit about him picking up the spider and throwing it away. In the manga that doesn't happen till much later I think when he's starting to worry about whether or not he's being affected mentally
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Oct 10, 2014 05:10
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I really like the new character designs particularly "serious mode" Shinichi from the OP and I'm really interested to see how the show handles (manga spoiler) all the random, quick deaths of characters. The manga, as I recall, had a lot of relatively bloodless but sudden and gruesome deaths that were basically "parasite whips out bladed appendage, poor girl you've known all this time's head falls in half".
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Oct 10, 2014 05:12
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I never would have given this a chance if it wasn't for my friend describing it as "The Thing + Prototype" but I'm glad he mentioned it. The parasite is really freaky and Shinichi isn't obnoxious, so it's not like it's a pain to watch. Interesting as gently caress. The end of the first episode hooked me completely. I thought that there was gonna be a big, flashy anime battle with the flying dog thing, but nope. Just SPLORT, HEART'S GONE. It was really effective and made a lot of sense to just go for it. I wanna see more.
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Oct 10, 2014 05:28
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ReiDuran posted:I never would have given this a chance if it wasn't for my friend describing it as "The Thing + Prototype" but I'm glad he mentioned it. The parasite is really freaky and Shinichi isn't obnoxious, so it's not like it's a pain to watch. Interesting as gently caress. That's the nice thing about Migi, he is very to-the-point and the battles aren't overlong in the manga for the most part because of that cold pragmatism.
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Oct 10, 2014 06:35
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Is there a legal streaming site for this anime yet? Or it hasn't been licensed outside japan?
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Oct 10, 2014 06:59
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papasyhotcakes posted:Is there a legal streaming site for this anime yet? Or it hasn't been licensed outside japan? Crunchyroll has it right now in the US.
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Oct 10, 2014 07:01
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Awesome, I will check it out, thanks! I loved the manga when I readed it originally and this thread reaction to the anime has made me hopeful that it will be equally as good.
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Oct 10, 2014 07:05
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Neeksy posted:That's the nice thing about Migi, he is very to-the-point and the battles aren't overlong in the manga for the most part because of that cold pragmatism. "He was negligent in his studies. That is why I was victorious." It's so good.
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Oct 10, 2014 07:19
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