This episode felt kinda unfocused, with a bunch of general plot movement taking the place of one focused conflict. The plot movement was decently engaging though, and it’s nice to see basically all our principles continuing to evolve – Shinichi, Migi, and Ryouko all exhibited new wrinkles in their evolution this week, and it’s always pretty great seeing Ryouko handle her baby like a sack of potatoes. Parasyte chugs along.
My full ANN post is available here. Notes below!
“The Selfish Gene” is the episode title. LEAVE ME ALONE DAWKINS
Welp, we’ve lost Murano, it looks like
“I have come to realize just how much you reject the notion of killing other humans.” Aw jeez Migi, you shouldn’t have
“So we should table killing for now.” Yesss
Oh god, them turning into that guy’s head
A parasite named Joe
Tamiya Ryouko fires her private investigator, who’s kinda losing it
Tamiya’s being preeetty weird
“This is the first time I felt a natural urge to laugh.” Tamiya’s evolving, even if it’s, uh, in an evil way
OH GOD THAT LAUGH
“There’s nothing to gain by sticking your neck into things that’re beyond you.” So I guess PI is a character now
“You’re a small-timer. Stay small, know your place.” So we’re getting to know him a bit. And he’s got tons of mystery books. He wants to be somebody. Does that reflect on the big themes in any way? It’s certainly not a rational instinct
Explaining how parasites can use signals to make simple communications through their sensors
Shinichi’s a badass! Capturing that detective – he really can’t afford to give any fucks anymore
“The doubt never left his eyes, even at the very end.” Really emphasizing how other humans no longer see Shinichi as human
“If you really care about what’s best for humanity, you should come forward, even if it means being a lab rat.”
“You should sacrifice yourself for the sake of humanity! Isn’t that what it means to be human?!” This detective, who dreams of being a hero, can easily say this
“Let’s just off this guy.” “Yeah.” haha
“Self-sacrifice, my ass. If you have the right to live, so do we.”
“He’s only a child from your perspective, right? But his mother’s been murdered, he’s stepped over a pile of corpses, and endured so much more. He’s still trying his hardest to live. Where is your pity? Compare his life to yours. Could you have endured what he’s endured?” DAMN MIGI
And he learns about his own client. Is he gonna confront her, too? That’d be pretty dumb/heroic!
Talking about altruism at the university – “altruistic behavior has been observed among a number of animals.”
Sacrificing yourself for the good of your species – it’s often an animal instinct, but the PI framed it as a human one
“The Selfish Gene” – all love is in fact a biological act designed to propagate a creature’s genes
Ryouko just holding her baby like a sack. Yes, excellent
“We are evolving as a species. We have to consider how to coexist with humans.”
“It’s the humans who make grandiose statements like ‘all life on earth must coexist.’”
Ryouko’s acting kinda crazy – much more emotional than she used to
“Out of the way, humans!” Alright Shinichi
He’s pissed off about how she treats her child. Hm
“I killed that person.” SHINICHI
“He wants to be somebody. Does that reflect on the big themes in any way?”
I’m not sure it reflects the human/animal theme exactly, but rather another big theme people have taken from Parasyte.
A lot of people have pointed out that Parasyte resembles a Western superhero story, Spider-Man especially, and they’re not wrong. The way Shinichi lost his mother and attained his less human characteristics resembles a superhero origin story. He struggles to balance his social/school life and Fighting For Humanity while maintaining something of a secret identity. He has a reoccurring arch-nemesis with characteristics of a cackling mad scientist in the form of Reiko/Ryouko. We even had a sort of Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy moment with the mother and Kana. Given a certain line that pops up later, a chapter title in the manga, one of Shinichi’s final takeaways, and the fact that (according to Jason Thompson, at least) there’s a scene mirroring one in Ikegami’s Spider-Man manga, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were completely intentional.
And if you look at it through this lens, it starts becoming increasingly apparent (especially in later events) that it has something to say about this sort of heroism, questioning its motives, methods, goals, and actual consequences. It uses a superhero narrative to, in the end, tear down the idea of a superhero. With the detective, we’re currently examining motive, both through his own aspirations (he wants to be a hero to feel significant, not because he’s concerned with humanity at large) and the accusations he throws at Shinichi.