Tag Archives: Parasyte

Parasyte – Episodes 8-9

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Double-header this week, which gave the show enough time to weave in about half a dozen small conflicts. I thought the show over-told a fair amount during these episodes, but the stuff it was conveying was actually really interesting, so I couldn’t muster too much annoyance at that. It’s kind of unusual for a Madhouse production, but this show is really leaning heavily into the strength of the source material – the execution isn’t elevating it, it’s just a perfectly reasonable articulation of a very good story. I guess that means it’s not as strong as it “could have been,” but the show’s still quite good, so eh.

Parasyte

Fall 2014 – Week 8 in Review

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Anime got pretty heavy this week, you guys. Between Shirobako and KimiUso, things were altogether a little too real in the land of Japanese cartoons. That’s how I like it, though – the sharp stuff is what I watch media for, and you can’t depict earnest triumph if you’re not willing to accept the possibility of failure. Pretty much everything else is holding steady, but my favorites are actively climbing at the moment, and it feels pretty goddamn great. Here’s hoping they both turn out to be as good as this week would promise.

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Parasyte – Episode 7

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Shinichi found some new friends this week, and then set off to murder an old one. Parasyte’s pretty much just a smart thriller with very high-quality ingredients at the moment – its ideas are always simmering, but the base dynamics of its narrative and the way it keeps intelligently introducing new variables are what keep it engaging episode to episode. It’s a fine thing to see.

Parasyte

Fall 2014 – Week 7 in Review

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There was no Rage of Bahamut this week, but everything else kept up the year-saving tempo. KimiUso exchanged last week’s animation showcase for a more subdued but equally impressive character-focused episode, Shirobako gave us moe animation tsunderes, and Amagi pulled off another Haruhi-style triumph. But the real surprise this week was Sword Art Online – following on the heels of a fairly pointless filler arc and tedious exposition episode, SAO pulled out what was quite possibly its best episode of all time, and almost definitely its best fight of all time. Even if you don’t watch SAO, I might still recommend just checking out the second half of that episode if you enjoy fight scenes – the direction and animation were all kinds of impressive this time. You did good, Sword Art.

Anyway. Let’s run down the week!

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Parasyte – Episode 6

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Parasyte’s obviously been a solid show all this season, but it somehow felt like this episode was the moment when it really kicked into high gear. The pacing has accelerated, Migi and Shinichi’s relationship is gaining complexity, and Shinichi himself is becoming a more ambiguous and compelling character. Even the music was good for once! Hopefully the show maintains this standard going forward.

Parasyte

Fall 2014 – First Half in Review

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It’s that time again! Forget earnest textual critique, emotional reflection, or thematic exploration, it’s time to PUT SHIT IN A LIST WOOOO. This season has offered us a ridiculous bounty of shows, and I’ve responded in kind by ruthlessly punishing anything that fails to continuously dazzle my senses. I dropped Garo, I dropped Grisaia, I dropped Inou Battle… at this point, it’s pretty likely I’m even dropping Psycho-Pass (I’ve stalled on watching the latest episode, so I left it off the list). In spite of that, this season continues to offer a hefty pile of top-tier shows, all of them jockeying for that storied number one spot. Who gets the spot? Why, it’s motherfuckin

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Parasyte – Episode 5

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Yep, it’s finally time for that scene. I really enjoyed this episode, and am loving how consistently and intelligently this show is hammering on Shinichi’s simplistic morals. The brutality of animal nature doesn’t need to be expressed through the actions of the parasites – the humans are doing all that work for them. And hey, always good to see Miyuki Sawashiro again.

Parasyte

Fall 2014 – Week 5 in Review

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Not much to report – this season is very easily the best of the year, pretty much every show I’m invested in is putting out stellar episodes, and I’ve dropped almost everything I’m not enjoying. At this point, the only real hanger-on is actually Psycho-Pass – I feel kind of committed to finishing it, but I’m not really enjoying the stuff it’s doing. On the other hand, KimiUso, Bahamut, Shirobako, Parasyte – any of them could comfortably be the best show of another season, and none of them show any sign of falling apart. It’s a good time to cartoon.

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Parasyte – Episode 4

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Oh jeez Parasyte had a great episode big woop snore. This episode had tons of great small sequences and was smart as fuck, so there’s only really the one awkward thing to talk about – the music. I didn’t have much of a problem with it in the first three episodes, but it felt particularly obnoxious this week – the first fight and the dramatic music used for Ryoko’s scene with Shinichi were particularly poorly scored. The show’s still great though, so eh, I’ll live.

Parasyte

Parasyte – Episodes 1-3

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My catch-up article on Parasyte is posted, where I scratch at a few of the things that make this show so damn engaging. It’ll be nice to actually get to dig into a show with some thematic richness on ANN – I did that somewhat last season as well, but nobody was actually watching Shounen Hollywood and very few of Barakamon/SAO’s fans seemed interested in that stuff, so this might be the first time this stuff is actually welcome. Hurray!

Parasyte