Forum - View topicREVIEW: Parasyte -the maxim- Blu-Ray
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8468 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Hm, yeah, there is the odd decent performance here and there. But it's not enough to make it even decent. |
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Just-another-face
Posts: 324 |
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I find Migi's English voice to be quite fitting as it's neither trying to sound male or female, which is tough to pull off for any voice actor, and Brittney Karbowski definitely deserves props for it. A good majority of the voices are pretty good for the characters they're supposed to be for, so I don't really understand your blanket judgment of the entire dub being "bland, awkward and stilted". Which performances specifically fall under those adjectives for you? |
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4623 |
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Sooooo the fact that spoiler[pretty much every single known parasite is now dead, except for the super-powerful one who's hunting down Shinichi] doesn't count as "tipping the balance"? That arc almost singlehandedly wiped the slate clean, not to mention (as was previously noted) providing a gripping example of humanity isn't all that far-off from a group of body-slicing aliens in the department of monstrous behavior. It also provided a vivid demonstration of why Shinichi's ongoing waffling on revealing himself to the authorities wound up being very wise indeed. Even his limited involvement in that case turned into an utter disaster...can you imagine how things would have turned out for him if the suits had had full knowledge of the existence of Migi? Honestly one of the things I've enjoyed most about this series is that it stays almost strictly in the personal realm. Most shows would have wound up with Shinichi on some grand quest to hunt down every single parasite on his own, but for the most part it's held to the perspective of a normal high school kid trying to make his way through an awful situation the best he can and protect the people he cares about. It's a nice refreshing change from the usual tropes.
I couldn't disagree more; I thought the relationship between Shinichi and Murano was handled very well, and the periods of strained relations between the two of them throughout the series are proof positive of that. Shinichi starts off the series as every bit the awkward, socially-inept teen, and while his growing confidence as he fights with Migi provides the initial spark of his relationship with Murano, his subsequent growing detachment from normal emotional responses makes for some major stress factors. I mean look at it from Murano's perspective: there's a boy you like a lot, but he completely disappears for a few weeks without telling anyone and comes back fundamentally changed in personality. He spends a bunch of time hanging out with this strange girl but won't tell you anything about her. He takes you on a nice date, but then decides to randomly spoiler[pick up a dead puppy and chuck it in a trash can]. And yeah, he singlehandedly saved you from a horrific incident at your school, yet even though it traumatized the hell out of you, it didn't seem to faze him in the least. Oh, and then he just up and disappears on you yet again. Is it any wonder her feelings towards him are conflicted? And that's before you add in the standard fumbling awkwardness of any ordinary teenage relationship. No, I think they played this out just fine, and the little, erm, "moment" in the episode Toonami posted was a great example of such: Shinichi's at the end of his rope and desperately looking for any sense of comfort, and even after he comes on too strong to Murano at the start, she still cares about him enough to track him down and offer that comfort to him. |
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Maybe it's just me, but I pretty much tune out any anime opening and ending themes, so I don't really have any opinion either way about this one. It did feel out of place for the tone of the series though. But then again, that's what I thought about "What's Up, People?" in Death Note, but that's one of the rare memorable pieces for me.
There are also spoilers in that artwork. Not sure how well it conveys the entire series in one picture, but I think the box art as seen on the review would attract the attention of people who would like it.
That's a lot of anime in a nutshell, especially long runners. Personally, I don't mind so much, as long as the journey is at least as interesting as the destination.
Maybe I missed something, but I thought that the building they stormed was spoiler[just a particularly large gathering of parasites, not every single one even in the immediate area]. It's also hard to feel sympathy for the parasites when, except for the incomplete ones like Migi, every known parasite has been depicted as emotionless man-eaters, some of them becoming very good at acting like normal people as a ruse to get people to lower their guard. So when stuff happens like spoiler[the parasites on the second floor walking into the hallways, asking the SWAT team not to shoot, and them gunning them down anyway, I couldn't feel bad for them because we've seen parasites behave that way before as a trick. If anything, I saw it as relief because this is the first time we see normal humans able to defeat parasites. That being said, the humans involved in that were also quite unsympathetic, as was seen with the captain's disregard for the lives of the humans in that office building once their plan went off the rails and his "shoot them before they shoot us" mentality, even if it was the only way to deal with some of the parasites. Well, mostly the captain, as his soldiers were simply doing as they were told and were still wiped out anyway.] I hope I don't come off as prejudiced based on how I feel about that arc, as throughout the series, I got the impression that nearly all parasites could not be trusted and they could curb-stomp any humans by sheer speed. Maybe if spoiler[some of the parasites on the second floor were attempting to run away, we see that some of the ones in the office building are genuinely scared for their lives, or we saw more sympathetic depictions of parasites prior, I'd feel bad for some of them.] But I just couldn't when the overwhelming majority of parasites in the series are depicted the same way and no reason is given why we should feel bad for any of them. |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 6043 |
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I honestly felt that there was no chemistry between them it's like the writers basically decided let's just have these two get together without actively developing their relationship because Shinichi has monsters to kill and some angst and fear to deal with. At least that's how it feels watching the first 8 episodes or so. And then what doesn't help is when the series tries to flirt with giving Shinichi a harem, before attempting to settle on a love triangle, which one can easily tell how it's going to play out without reading the source material or even watching the opening credits. |
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Top Gun
Posts: 4623 |
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The impression I got was that spoiler[the vast majority of the parasites in the immediate vicinity were involved with the mayor's group, which is why targeting them was such a huge priority for the police. At some point several episodes ago it was mentioned that there weren't really any mutilated corpses being discovered anymore, since the group in question had set up their "feeding sites" out of the public eye. If there were still a decent number of unaffiliated parasites out there, the police presumably would have kept discovering more corpses. I think by that point the parasites had realized that acting as a group was in their best interests as far as self-preservation was concerned, since if they were all off doing their own things it was only a matter of time until the police managed to track them down.] I will agree that the parasites pretty much never came across as sympathetic (well maybe Ryoko Tamiya, to a small extent), but I think the show was trying to make us see that humans are quite capable of treating other humans as completely disposable when it suits our purposes.
I think they made a cute couple when they were allowed to be, but given Shinichi's situation those moments were few and far between. I certainly didn't see any signs of a harem myself, and I hardly think that one could call a totally one-sided infatuation a "love triangle." |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16941 |
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How about next time you actually provide some sort of actual opinion and reasoning behind it. Not just simply post a trollish flamebait comment. Thanks. |
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Themaster20000
 Posts: 864 |
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The bigger issue other than the chemistry was Murano. She's not all that interesting of a character(pretty bland for the most part). The other love interest had a little something to her,but she really has no point in the story other than to spoiler[get killed so we could get so more development for Shinichi]. The series is great until the ending when it becomes heavy-handed about it's themes in the way possible(have some trust in you to understand the themes without spelling it for them!). |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Hmm, that must've been the thing I missed, spoiler[the notion that the mutilated bodies had pretty much stopped, though I would've thought there'd be a rash of mission persons. Maybe there are some parasites within the police who are covering up the missing persons from the media and from the public. I guess you're right then: The parasites must've banded together in that building.] I thought there would be more parasites, but maybe I just got that idea by how easily they find Shinichi and how a couple of shots in the intro show Tokyo with what looks like hundreds of parasite pods falling like snow. As far as the show demonstrating that humans are not completely innocent either, yeah, that arc definitely got that notion across, between spoiler[the military captain, the mayor, and Uragami all being quite monstrous themselves, though in very different ways.] |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 6043 |
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The girls in Shinichi's class, Kana, and the girl Shinichi meets on the ferry suddenly being into him didn't set off any alarms?
One sided infatuation or not Kana's still there......much like most of the supporting cast that simply didn't feel fleshed out enough. |
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Takkun4343
 Posts: 1521 Location: Englewood, Ohio |
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Oh, I dunno... because some of us might actually think otherwise? 
The fact that Shinichi has much more personality than your average harem protag was probably what kept it from bringing up any comparisons to lawlharem. |
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Just-another-face
Posts: 324 |
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Don't see how it was a "trollish flamebait comment" when I was just making a generalization. I wasn't naming anyone in particular nor was I was expecting anyone to care I pointed it out. Besides, there's always going to be someone who rips on dubs or complains about some aspect to them. |
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Top Gun
Posts: 4623 |
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Not really, no. I think something that could be properly labeled a harem needs to have multiple legitimate love interests for the protagonist, not to mention at least overtures of reciprocation by said protagonist. Parasyte has neither of these qualities. The only girl in his class who shows any interest in him is Murano herself: the girl with the glasses (whose name I never remember) is an old friend of Shinichi's and remains strictly platonic with him; in fact she winds up crushing on that one parasite who posed as a student. Her other friend (yeah I suck at names) maybe says that she thinks Shinichi's cute once or twice, but that's it. Kana definitely has a thing for Shinichi, but it's a misguided infatuation that's mostly brought on by her subconscious ability to sense parasites; Shinichi himself doesn't show any romantic feelings for her and is only really concerned with keeping her out of harm's way. The girl on the ferry was definitely crushing on him (which I admittedly rolled my eyes at a bit), but in the end it wasn't anything more than a small-town schoolgirl being attracted to the cute mysterious city-dweller who randomly showed up on her doorstep, and Shinichi didn't display any interest in her at all. No matter how you slice it, the main character being attracted to only a single person, and having maybe two or three people be legitimately attracted to him, does not a harem make.
Did they really need to be at all? In other words, would the story that Parasyte was trying to convey have been fundamentally improved if we'd been introduced to a whole bunch of Shinichi's classmates or the like? I certainly don't think so. A big part of good writing is knowing when to be economical in your scale, about what you can safely slice out in order to get your message across more effectively. There are some stories that benefit from having a large group of characters with defined personalities and backstories, but I don't see Parasyte as being one of them. It's very much a personal horror tale centered around the situations Shinichi is thrust into and how he reacts to them, and focusing on too many other characters would mean taking an edge off the story. |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 6043 |
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Which as I said Parasyte kind of flirted with but as those characters in question weren't developed very strongly if at all along with some other issues. They just opted to cut Shinichi's harem down to an awkward love triangle.
You can have harems with the main character being uninterested in the clique of girls surrounding him outside of "the one".
Which you wouldn't know given how she's introduced and with how the series portrays her as being conflicted with that interest due to Shinichi's involuntary actions.
I know it definitely would've helped to better establish/develop the supporting cast who just felt like they were there for the sake of being there due to the setting. Like that guy whose name I can't remember who tries fighting Shinichi because Murano's into him and who seems to exist for no other reason besides getting his ass kicked.
It's not like the series has tons and tons of characters though so all that split focus definitely wouldn't have hurt in the grand scheme of things. Last edited by BadNewsBlues on Fri Apr 01, 2016 5:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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louis6578
 Posts: 1868 |
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Toward the beginning, I found Adam Gibbs' Shinichi to sound less like a meek teenager and more like a druggie who just got his weed stash stolen. I listened to the sub and dub back to back for the scene when he finds his newly parasyte-controlled mother. The Japanese version sounded very natural and in denial while the dub... sounded tonally confused and kind of reminded me of Tenchi's old dub voice in the OVAs of Tenchi Muyo.
He gets a little better over time, but even in the last few episodes, he doesn't really sell the character to me. Weirdly enough, even Luci Christian's performance in this is a little off. I think I should blame the director instead of the actor. That said, the parasytes themselves sounded okay. Ryoko Tamura sounded decent. Greg Ayres' "Parasyte" was hilarious, and I'm on the Brittany Karbowski band wagon. She's an excellent Migi. Adam Gibbs just isn't a good voice actor from what I've seen of him in other anime. Overall though, I would say that this is one of Sentai's better dubs. |
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