Parasyte - the maxim

[Kraco]

In a fight, to hesitate is to lose. It's worse than not hesitating and making the wrong choice. Kiritsugu didn't hesitate at any point, even if he was every now and then caught by surprise by the new developments. But you could clearly see in this episode that many of the grunts didn't possess such mentality. You can say they should be pros after a fashion, with international cooperation training and whatnot, but did it really look like that? Besides, training is just training. It can never replace real experience. There are things you can't train, at least not fully, like the mentality of a killer. Still, like you said, their pre-operation preparation could probably have been better. It didn't really look like the troops were appropriate instructed about what to do if Plan A fails.

[shinta|hikari]

Rather than the writing, I think it was mostly a direction/production issue. There were a lot of parts where there are pointless stills, as if they were running out of budget or something.

[Kraco]

Episode 21 - HS



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Yamagishi should have pulled off a Leon there. If only he had had a few hand grenades. But then again, his limits became evident when he didn't reassess the level of danger when his men started dropping dead. Instead he just decided to push forward with the exact same methods that had led to the deaths of the earlier men. He didn't have what it takes, even though he looked promising in the beginning.

Quite nice LSD addict scenes with Shinichi afterwards. I kind of liked him more during the mid-phase when he was like a robot.

[Buffalobiian]

I didn't feel like this episode flowed well. From Shitting-his-pants Shinichi to revitalising-sex-with-Satomi it all felt kind of forced. I too am so used to seeing a fearless Shinichi that this reverting back to himself seems bizarre. I get the whole "reverting to your instincts" thing, but the hallucinations were simply over the top.

[MFauli]

its so frustrating to see all these special forces guys go down like flies, simply cause they dont follow basic tactics. Yeah, please everyone line up in a half circle in close vicinity of the monster enemy. sigh

[shinta|hikari]

The last two episodes were horribly directed. I'm betting budget issues, or the director got sick.

[Sapphire]

I didn't feel like this episode flowed well. From Shitting-his-pants Shinichi to revitalising-sex-with-Satomi it all felt kind of forced. I too am so used to seeing a fearless Shinichi that this reverting back to himself seems bizarre. I get the whole "reverting to your instincts" thing, but the hallucinations were simply over the top.

I wasn't a fan of the random-no-build-up sex with Satomi (who he seems to have a pretty bad relationship with lol) either but once you live in Japan or watch real Japanese couples for a while it makes perfect sense.

I feel like Shinichi's emotional arc is really great. An "emotionless" parasyte is the one who brought him back to humanity? The combination of his "weaker" emotions flooding back, realizing he's not indestructible after all and seeing that that threat is DIRECTLY after him, and having 4-whole hours of being totally vulnerable sound like a great recipe for pants-shitting to me.

[Buffalobiian]

I wasn't a fan of the random-no-build-up sex with Satomi (who he seems to have a pretty bad relationship with lol) either but once you live in Japan or watch real Japanese couples for a while it makes perfect sense.

Wait, is that true? I need to get one of these.

I feel like Shinichi's emotional arc is really great. An "emotionless" parasyte is the one who brought him back to humanity? The combination of his "weaker" emotions flooding back, realizing he's not indestructible after all and seeing that that threat is DIRECTLY after him, and having 4-whole hours of being totally vulnerable sound like a great recipe for pants-shitting to me.

The thing that pisses me off about freaking out is that Shinichi should have the combat experience now to know that "freaking out" doesn't accomplish anything and he needs to take the next logical step.

That said, I forgot that revenge was a bit part of what made him robotic/logical before, so if that's out of the way now and he's back to pants-shitting-mostly-human mode, then so be it. :s

[Kraco]

Episode 22



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I miss the Shinichi who one-shotted the parasyte who killed Kana. At least he now decided to fight again. But the Shinichi back then probably could have killed Gotou as the operation would have been much simpler for Migi as well. Now Shinichi could do nothing but throw the spear from far away. And then run crying like a little girl.

But I didn't dislike the latter portion of the eps, so it's fine.

Edit: I guess I should ban myself for missing the episode number despite writing the rule myself... But instead I'll blame Bill whose "Today" post wasn't referring to today's episode at all.

[MFauli]

episode 22 is out
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So .. what´s the big idea, Shin-chan? You barely stood a chance teaming up with Migi. Now you´re on your own. What is there to turn the tides of fate in your favor? :>

Also, super sudden emotional Migi. See, it was kinda noticeable that Migi got softer before this episode. Buuut it was still uncalled for how truly emotional Migi was now. If only he had been like that earlier, lotta things would have played out differently.

And Im not sure what to think of Migi´s situation now. So ... is the main Migi dead? If so, what´s with thos Migi-cells inside Shin-chan´s? Assuming they´ll grow enough to regain capability of speech and such, what kind of Migi will we see? A clone of the dead Migi with his memories up until the dead Migi separated from Shin-chan´s body? Weird.

Oh, and fuck, why didn´t Shin-chan at least take some fire-based weapon with him? sigh

[Buffalobiian]

Migi did make sense this episode considering his development so far. If their only chance of victory was to act together, once that failed then it's about avoiding casualties. Migi's prioritising Shinichi's life as much as his own now. Shinichi in his old form would have been able to finish beheading Gotou with his superhuman speed and reflexes, but right then and there I'd say he had no chance despite how much I felt he was best to commit to that plan instead of letting Migi die.

As for 70% Migi's fate, I feel that Gotou would have absorbed him. He's already got another 4 parasytes under his control. He'll probably feel that controlling a reluctant parasyte is within the power of the "ultimate lifeform". Migi might not even be all that reluctant given that it's a chance to survive.

That theory fits the idea that Migi is still alive and that Gotou is somehow even less human-looking than before. This development would also give Shinichi a winning chance since Migi can now corrupt Gotou's control through will/consciousness.

Life and Oath makes even better sense this way. Too bad this suggests Migi will have to die with Gotou in the process unless Shinichi is able to salvage him somehow. From memory 30% of concentrated cells is enough to have a talking Migi.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 23

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That was a pretty believable battle overall. Two things that really pop out though, is the fact that 30% Migi is able to come out now despite not having the other 70% calling in close proximity. The other thing is that Shinichi has better senses than Gotou somehow.

[shinta|hikari]

The latter one makes sense and has been mentioned several times in the series. Even Migi was impressed with Shinichi's senses. The parasytes can sense each other but don't have amazing sensory abilities otherwise.

[Kraco]

Yeah, I'm quite satisfied the battle wasn't decided by one-armed Shinichi miraculously defeating that monster in an honest contest of brawns but rather by using a poisoned piece of iron. Although I didn't like how he was ready to give up a few times and then finally even did give up, as if it suddenly didn't matter anymore that the monster would likely still be around to slay the villagers mere hours later.

[Buffalobiian]

The parasytes can sense each other but don't have amazing sensory abilities otherwise.

That was what I was referring to. I gave "sentient muscle" more credit than it deserved.

[shinta|hikari]

I didn't think he could be sensed. I mean, when Migi was asleep, parasytes couldn't sense him properly, even with all the cells spread in his body.

[MFauli]

it was okay-ish. He won due to sheer luck. Finding himself inmidst of a waste dump that coincidentially features highly poisonous substances and parasites miraculously being weak to poison. Come on, parasites, even in Pokemon, poison is usually worthless!11

And I´m not sure im fine with Shinichi even being able to land that stabbing hit. Gotou was portrayed as faster imo.

But. again, given the circumstances, it was a competently handled fight.

[Kraco]

He won due to sheer luck. Finding himself inmidst of a waste dump that coincidentially features highly poisonous substances and parasites miraculously being weak to poison. Come on, parasites, even in Pokemon, poison is usually worthless!

Luck is a skill as well. It also makes sense there could be toxic substances among the waste because that would be more profitable for the mafia to get rid of illegally. Charge a good price for handling hazardous waste, then just dump it somewhere out of sight. Very classic. It doesn't matter whether a parasyte is immune to that particular poison or not, because the human organs wouldn't be. If you find poisons worthless, then you are a lousy poisoner. Poisons are biochemistry; any living thing can be poisoned. Why, even some non-living things can be poisoned as well: Pour something nasty in the fuel tank of a car and the engine will be poisoned!

And I´m not sure im fine with Shinichi even being able to land that stabbing hit. Gotou was portrayed as faster imo.

The parasytes certainly were very fast individually, but Gotou had an extra layer between the head and the limbs. He basically had to command the aggregate parasytes to move as he wished. Once they already move, sure, they are fast, but the initial reaction time would suffer from lag. He somewhat compensated by growing extra eyes to see in every direction to avoid being surprised, not to mention he was a good fighter.

[MFauli]

outside of role playing games, luck is not a skill :P

And you just pulled that one out of your ass, regarding Gotou´s "initial reaction time" lol

But I admit, the poison being effective against the human parts of him makes sense. Although Id have thought the parasites would have a way to neutralize it somehow - afterally, Migi freaking repaired a heart!

[NeoCybercoin]

Migi didn't repair a heart simply by using part of himself. Took a long time to do plus he needed the nutrients in order to do that. Or at least plenty of glucose.