A strange and strangely enjoyable episode of Parasyte this week. We got the expected Gotou fight, and that was… pretty alright. But then the rest of this episode diverged into a side narrative with a little old lady in the woods, and that was actually quite a nice time! That material felt like it had more grace and energy than the show’s possessed for a while now, so even if it was a diversion, it was a welcome one.
My full ANN post is available here. Notes below!
Starting off already being chased by Gotou
“I have a favor to ask. Please go somewhere with as few people as possible.” “Very well.” They respect each other to some degree. I really wish the show had actually gone further, though. The development of both of them feels like a missed opportunity – if their two philosophies had actually met to some greater degree on a personal level, that would have made this current material much more inherently rewarding while not really betraying the idea that overall peace would take a much longer time
Well that was the least visually interesting car crash I’ve ever seen
Migi advising Shinichi how to calm down
Migi strategizing. This is engaging enough
They split up entirely so Gotou can’t detect Shinichi and goes for Migi
More unexciting blade spam
Migi’s plan is pretty good! Execution isn’t that exciting, but I’ll take what I can get
“Run, Shinichi! We don’t both need to die!” DAMN
“I’m glad I didn’t take over your brain when we first met”
And Migi is left to die
Honestly, it’s still a bit hard to buy their friendship
“Some people in this world do terrible things”. I like this old lady
Mitsuyo is the lady. She doesn’t have any children, which in this show is relevant. Her kindness is not related to motherhood
People are dumping garbage at the edges of the lady’s village
And she convinces him to stay for several days. Migi also reflected on loneliness in his last moments of life. I like where we’re going with the show’s final nod towards optimism
“Migi is a true hero!” Aw, Shinichi
“Isn’t it always outsiders who commit crimes?” say the panicked villagers
A monster lurking in the woods. Good premise
“I just wanted to keep myself alive. But I can’t keep running away on my own.”
“Why not live? Why not run? Run if it’s to save yourself. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Use your life? How dare you speak so lightly of your own life!”
“Even if it’s a stranger, once I come to know someone, I can’t just abandon them. That’s what it means to be human.”
“If you throw everything away, that’s the end. Don’t give up, no matter what.” A life is precious
I’ve sort of temporarily dropped Parasyte (I plan to pick it up later because geez, I only have a few more episodes to go, but I’m watching way too much stuff right now to stick with something that’s boring me). But the fact that they address Shinchi and Migi’s relationship and how the former has changed the latter (and not just the other way around), does make me eager to start it up again. Even if it doesn’t go as far as I would like.
But today’s my Two Reviews Day, so….ehh, maybe later.
Yeah, the relationship has definitely shifted, fortunately. And good luck! Think it’s about time for me to watch Shirobako myself, my feed was going crazy about it earlier…
From the beginning of this show, I had expected Migi’s development of human-like affection for Shinichi to be one of the climactic moments of its plot. The fact that it did come so suddenly and in such a low-key way actually left me feeling kind of robbed. It would have been nice if Shinichi had done more to meet Migi in a philosophical middle as well, but at least he had some other somewhat cathartic moments of personal development with Murano and whatnot. But where the heck was Migi’s character arc?
Wish I could feel more of whatever it was you got out of Mitsuyo’s part in this episode. Her introduction just felt a little too sudden and awkward for me to buy.