Parasyte -The Maxim- [Episodes 8-9]

What’s this, a double post? Did i fall behind a week? No, all my Parasyte posts were totally on time so this just means…DOUBLE FEATURE! Two episodes for the waiting price of one? How could anyone argue with this?
Well a lot happens in these two episodes so let’s get right down to it.

In the start of episode 8 we see Tamiya Ryoko asking another parasite to keep tabs on Shinichi without killing him. So we introduce our new character, Shimada Hideo or Hide for short. However, it takes about half of the episode for him to become important, first the show has a need to rip our hearts out and throw them on the ground, stab them and throw salt in the wound.
Yeah that’s pretty much what this entire dog scene felt like. On his way to school, Shinichi hears a dog hurt in the middle of the street. He runs in to help it but it’s too late, the puppy has about ten minutes left to live. He takes it to a park and holds it as it’s dying. As if this isn’t sad enough, the dog dies in his arms and he just…throws it in a trash can and can’t understand why this upsets his would be girlfriend…Murano? Is that it? I think thats her name.

“It’s dead, it’s nothing more then a dog shaped lump of meat.”

Because, YES, we did need another reminder that he is becoming less and less human. Murano runs away upset about how he’s changed and he can’t figure out what he did wrong without asking Migi about it.
I didn’t NEED my heart, thanks series. You’re wonderful to me. Jerks.

Anyway, at school he meets up with Hide and they talk off to the side during gym in which Hide tells Shinichi and Migi that he is working on a way of trying to sustain on human food alone so that they could better intergrate into soceity. Migi and Shinichi are generally pretty suspicious and say they’ll have their eyes on him.

This entire Hide plot blends into episode nine as this girl, uh, who is she? Ah alright, some breif research and i’ve found her name is Yuko. Yuko develops a crush on Hide and draws a picture of him, a really good one in fact.
Wow, can you sense the death flags flying up around this girl? Because I can, such a minor character getting involved like this. I’m all kinds of worried.

Anyway, we find out that Shinichi’s father is working with the police/Goverment to investigate the Parasytes and that he does actually remember and believe what he saw that day up on the cliff. He tells Shinichi flat out that his mother is dead in this episode.

MEANWHILE, Yuko finds out more things that she shouldn’t slowly. After someone mentions that Hide’s face looks fake, she starts watching him from afar. Then she sees this….

and this…

and then goes and talks to her brother who we see is the sketch artist that was taking the picture down in the scene with Shinichi’s father. She finds out what he’s investigating and instead of you know, talking to her brother about it. She goes to confront Hide!
Woah, okay, stop for a second. If you even slightly suspect that your crush in a flesh eatting monster wouldn’t you know…tell someone? Even if you wanted to confirm it first, just have some kind of back up or someone who knew what you were doing? IS SHE STUPID? LIKE, I’M WATCHING PSYCHO-PASS WITH OKI AND I THINK HALF THE SHIT MIKA DOES IS STUPID BUT THIS IS AN ENTIRELY NEW LEVEL OF STUPID!

Gah fine, whatever. I mentioned I had a feeling she was going to die anyway and if she’s going to go out. It might as well be because she made a dumb ass mistake. So she summons Hide to a empty art room and asks him flat out if he’s a flesh eatting monster.

….Well uh, yeah, you can imagine how well that goes over. Shinichi senses what’s going on and bursts out of his seat screaming about Hide being an idiot and that’s the end of the episode.

The deteriation of Shinichi’s humanity is also a large over arching theme over these two episodes, it’s shown primirary through his interactions with Murano. Multiple times over these episodes she asks him, “You are Izumi Shinichi, right?” At first he answers her with a smile and a “Yeah.” Though the final time she asks it, he screams “SHUT UP” at her.
This scene is made even more powerful by a previous flashback of how they met shown earlier in the episode.

I can’t stress enough that i’m only glossing over the events of these episodes, there is also an intense moment with the gang that beat up Shinichi before. There is a lot of stuff with Kana. I have to say that I was on the edge of my seat for both of these episodes. Hide is certainatly one of the more interesting parasites we’ve met so far next to Ryoko. I really like the idea of them evolving to a higher intelligence.

Also, this  one scene with Ryoko or whatever name she is going by now…Who is this guy? I never trust shadowy figures, i’m concerned about what kind of role he is going to play in the series. I can’t find the scene to grab a proper screen shot, but their talk about the parasites and humans as toxins is rather interesting.  This is one of those series I might grab my friends later, sit them down and marathon the entire thing.

For now though, i’ll wait for episode ten. I like this two a week thing, can we keep this up? Please? Please?

~Dream on sweet dreamer, dream on.~

-Midnight