Parasyte

I have always been a fan of gore and bloody films; seeing Parasyte live-action with real looking effects made it even better. I’m actually fond of anime and I’ve already watched the series but the live-action movie did not disappoint at all.

Taken from Wikipedia, “Parasyte” is a science fiction horror manga series written and illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki, and published in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine from 1988 to 1995. The manga was published in North America by first Tokyopop, then Del Rey, and finally Kodansha Comics USA. The manga has been adapted into two live-action films in Japan in 2014 and 2015. An anime television series adaptation by Madhouse, titled Parasyte -the maxim- aired in Japan between October 2014 and March 2015.

It starts with a 17-year old boy named Shinichi Izumi, who lives with his mother and father in a quiet neighborhood in Tokyo. One night, worm-like creatures called Parasites appear on Earth, taking over the brains of human hosts by entering through their ears or noses. One Parasite attempts to crawl into Shinichi's ear while he sleeps, but fails as Shinichi is wearing headphones, and enters his body by burrowing into his arm instead. In the Japanese version, it takes over his right hand and is named MigiBecause Shinichi was able to prevent Migi from travelling further up into his brain, both beings retain their separate intellect and personality. As the duo encounter other Parasites, they capitalize on their strange situation and gradually form a strong bond, working together to survive. This gives them an edge in battling other Parasites who frequently attack the pair upon realization that Shinichi's human brain is still intact. Shinichi feels compelled to fight other Parasites, who devour humans as food, while enlisting Migi's help.

The plot itself is so typically fiction-like; with his mother and dad dying and leaving him to fend for his own, still, its story contents are actually very good as compared to others. I also liked the relationship and bond formed between Shinichi and Migi. Their relationship had some symbolic significance too; as a human , they’re made with a sense of urgency to protect themselves from harm from the likes of Migi’s kind, yet he still chooses to stay with the said parasyte. Migi on the other hand feels strongly for Shinichi; seeing he didn’t fully take over Shinichi’s human form, he developed human senses from Shinichi’s side. Both sides had a strong bond which was tested out when Migi was offered to join his kind as one, but declined and killed the other parasyte in order to protect Shinichi.

Parasyte has a lot of corny and predictable plot twists and turns but nonetheless, the content and flow is just right for a gore fan like me.