First Impressions / Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu

“Stranger”


「異邦人」 (Ihoujin)

I feel like I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: Poor Izumi. The boy has no luck. He wakes up for school late, he can’t catch a break with his crush, and he even gets caught up in a mini gang war. Oh, and he has a parasitic right hand that lets him sleep in, causing all this mess (and more). Totally uncool. Jokes aside, this was a pretty sorrowful episode, as Izumi’s life continues to get worse by the second.

This time he tries to do the right thing by looking out for his fellow classmate who is getting the crap kicked out of him by some thugs from another school. Obviously this doesn’t end well, as Izumi rushes in despite being too weak to do anything of use. We get a flashback of Migi talking about how he doesn’t understand humans and their altruism; selflessness is clearly a quality that Migi and his race don’t possess, but I wonder if watching Izumi sticking to his principles will change that any time soon. Though it may be more likely that Izumi becomes more like Migi instad; more corrupt and less ‘pure’ as is brought up again with his paranoia over what Tamiya told him.

There’s signs of Izumi possibly merging with his parasitic counterpart, as we have another scene of his ‘inner space world’ (that’s what I’ll call it for now) as seen through his terrifying eyes when he’s unable to control his emotions. I think everyone is right about Izumi changing, as gradual as it may be; it’s just that he’s the last one to know it.

But tragedy strikes twice as Izumi and Murano walk home together, only to be caught by the same assailants as before. It’s rinse and repeat, but this time Izumi has much more attachment to the person involved, and so his emotions are whack, his punches are poor, and he can’t control his right arm. Migi tires to gauge the power levels of the thugs, questioning why Izumi is even pushing himself to fight a losing battle, and not trusting his animal instincts to get away. But Izumi clarifies that he is no animal – he is human. It’s yet another clash in opinion between this unlikely pair, and it’ll be interesting to see who will be the first to compromise.

Thankfully the fight ends as their classmates appears with vengeance, allowing Izumi to head off to the safety of his house with Murano by his side. She tends to his woulds, rests her head on his shoulder, and tells Izumi that he isn’t normal. Thankfully she follows that up with “Normal isn’t cool!”. Agreed, Murano. But it ends on an awkward note as Izumi offers her to stay the night and she point blank refuses. Ouch… and Migi was expecting to see some human intercourse as well!

We also have our new character introduced this week: Kana (Sawashiro Miyuki), who appears multiple times throughout the episode. At first I thought she was a part-parasite like Izumi, but I’m not so sure now. I actually don’t know what to think of her right now, but as Migi points out, there is definitely something suspicious going on. When Izumi and Kana cross paths again, I expect something to go down, for sure.

As for the beheading over the seaside cliff… I saw it coming last week – I think we all did, even if we didn’t want it to happen. But there we have it: Izumi’s mother has been killed by a parasite and is being used as a host body. Seeing her return was a sad encounter if I’ve ever seen on. Izumi had a knife ready when Migi warned him of the approaching parasite, but in the end all he used it for was blocking Migi’s path and threatening to chop off his own hand. I can’t blame Izumi for reacting like he did. All he can do is scream and hold back tears as he tries his absolute best to convince himself that it’s his mother he’s looking at, and not some alien within her body.

But then he’s stabbed. Right through the chest. While it’s obvious that he’ll survive the blow, I don’t want to try and predict anything else quite yet. One thing is for sure though: whatever happens from here on out, it will continue to be the consistent bundle of tragedy and entertainment that we’ve been getting so far.

 

 

Information Digest:

Synopsis:

  • Parasitic aliens have descended on Earth with a hunger for human flesh. They are everywhere – taking hold in the bodies of those unlucky enough to encounter them.
  • Once fused with a host body they can mutate in whatever way they please – except for the case of Izumi Shinichi, whose alien parasite, Migi, is trapped in his right hand.

Previously:

  • After Izumi and Migi fight off against A, Tamiya finishes him off. Afterwards she meets up Izumi as both intend to kill the other, before she lets him go, telling him that he is no longer ‘pure’.
  • Back at home, Izumi’s mother knows that there is something different with her son, but Izumi tries his best to hide the truth as he encourages his parents to get away from the city for a while.

 

Details Digest:

Chapters Covered:

  • Chapters 10 – 12 p.18

Always Wear Seatbelts:

  • Unless you’re a parasitic alien, of course. The first scene of the episode was certainly a shocker, but it might have been funnier if they adapted just like the manga, where it focused on the man wanting to have sex.

Swapping Bodies Gone Wrong:

  • Seeing that same parasite failing to successfully transfer into the new body ties well with what was mentioned last week about changing host bodies.
  • This time around, it seems to be that the new host body has to be of the same biological sex; which results in the parasite peeing itself…

Preview

58 Comments

  3. Most were expecting the mother to die from opening spoilers, but the stab to the chest completely took me by surprise. Great episode, 20 mins felt like 5 because of how entertained I was.

    ButterzBoy
    Reply

    2. I for get which, the OP or ED, but it shows Shinichi with a scar on his chest. Now I know how he got it. I’m guessing that Migi somehow solves that problem, but now I’m curious as to how.

      kushieda
      Reply

  5. That was quite an episode.

    I think Shinichi was trying to compensate for the change others are noticing in him by doing the most human and least animal-like thing there is: helping others. Although it realistically did get him trashed, it was nice seeing him stick up for others.

    I’m not sure what to think of Kana yet. She’ll definitely be significant, given what we’ve seen.

    The father seeing the mother decapitated was horrible. That would seriously suck. 🙁

    The ending scene wasn’t much better. Shinichi’s reaction was understandable given the situation. The dubstep felt pretty fitting here: For music that sounds rather alien and intense by nature, it really drove the point that this isn’t Shinichi’s mother anymore. It’s a stranger.

    That was quite a cliffhanger. Who knows where this will lead next? (Manga readers don’t count!)

    TripleSRank
    Reply

  6. Aw man. I was expecting Izumi’s parents to die at some point, but this was quicker than expected. And in such a gruesome fashion too. I really can’t blame our protag for breaking down at the end there, and that’s before getting stabbed and having to (most likely) subsequently kill this thing wearing his mother’s skin. Considering how he’s already changing because of the parasite contact as well, I wonder what kind of effect this’ll have on his mind.

    And Kana’s a strange one, and pretty much a wild card. Maybe she’ll figure out his secret or something, because she sure seemed to know something was up. I’m interested to see what kind of role she’ll have in the story.

    Gah, the wait every week is starting to become unbearable.

    Dvalinn
    Reply

  7. “…selflessness is clearly a quality that Migi and his race don’t possess”

    Sadly, most humans don’t truly possess it either, usually wanting something out of “services rendered”. I know a lot of people like to try to look at the world through rose-colored glasses or like to think that they would do the same good, selfless thing in a similar situation, but let’s face it, if the s*** really hit the fan to varying degrees and a person’s own self is at risk, most people would look out for themselves first and foremost (usually with the excuse that they can’t help others if something happens to them).

    That’s not to say there aren’t selfless people out there because there definitely are and I am very glad for that (even if it sometimes takes something extreme for that selflessness to be brought out), and I know it sounds really cynical of me, but really, there aren’t nearly the number of them that people like to think there are. Just because someone is nice personality-wise, that doesn’t automatically mean they’d immediately try to risk themselves for others.

    *prepares for the down-votes*

    I also feel that it’s not so much that Migi and the others don’t possess selflessness, but more like…I guess one could say the parasytes are like robots in a sense. They don’t apply emotion into their actions, planning, decisions or anything, but just cold hard logic, even if to us humans it comes off as “immoral”, “horrific”, “unthinkable” and such. Selflessness is something that they need to experience a lot and learn before they themselves could apply it.

    As I said last episode, it feels a bit like the parasyte in Ryoko could end up learning to care for the baby before she knows it, even if it merely starts out as curiosity.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

    1. I feel like most human beings can be inherently selfless if they’re not given the chance to think over what’s going on, say an emergency pops up, someone trapped due to an accident, etc. But the moment their mind has time to think and reflect, selflessness may begin to ebb away for some people where their thoughts and beliefs start to take over. Or they’ll just take out their phones and record the damn thing.

      Impel Down Hippo
      Reply

  8. This episode devastated me and affected me more then any fictional episode should…maybe because I’m such a momma’s boy myself.

    In fact, in an hour…it actually is my mother’s birthday. I miss her dearly, I will call her to wish her a happy birthday and hope to god she never gets taken over by a parasite.

    kondee
    Reply

  10. The director of Parasyte’s live action movie believes a mainstream Hollywood version of Parasyte would have less story impact, stating ‘simplify(ing the plot) for a huge audience…would particularly limit (areas in the film) where there are philosophical talks about human nature and the end of the world.”

    http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2014-11-04/live-action-parasyte-director-talks-about-potential-differences-between-his-film-and-the-scrapped-hollywood-version/.80674

    zztop
    Reply

    1. It’s super rare to see a “Parent” in an anime for some reason. Maybe it is just my luck. Here we struck gold and had what seemed to be a normal family. All other anime the parents are usually on vacation or the child lives alone

      But that’s obviously not going to be the case anymore with this show. ugh

      Rick Anime
      Reply

    1. The same way with the cliffhanger of whether Migi would kill Shinichi on ep 3 or ep 2. Of course he would not. But it doesn’t make the scene feel any less impactful to most viewers, as far as I know.

      The question is not whether he would survive, but how he would survive, and how whould he change after the experience. Would he hunt down the parasyte that kill his mom? Would he become a mass-parasyte killer to avenge his mother and lose his human heart?

      Now think about it a bit.

      Reika
      Reply

      1. Of course he will. Parasyte killed his mom, he will go on rampage in shiny white-knight armor sooner or later. Still don’t get.

        I think they just need to cut each episode 1 minute earlier, that’s it. I don’t see the point in exhibiting key events and leaving obvious for the next part.

        Name (required)
        Reply

    2. The cliffhanger for me wasn’t about whether he’ll survive or not. We know he’ll survive.

      For me, the cliffhanger was about if the stab will change Shinichi forever. He keeps on denying that’s changing from human to animal. One trait that separates animals from human beings is a strong sense of survival. Will Shinichi kill his mother in order to survive? And to kill his mother, will Shinichi abandon more of his humanity? That’s the real question for me.

      EamonX
      Reply

      2. im actually curious about how they’ll manage to keep him alive after an obvious fatal injury, will it be a lame scifi tropes? judging the series so far i think it will be anything but lame

        yuri
        Reply

  15. Finally caught up to you guys. This show is really good. Man our main character really went through shock at the end there. Which is understandable. It just got real.

    I’m in suspense. I want to know what he is going to do about the mother 🙁

    Rick Anime
    Reply

    2. Breakdown? I think next episode we´ll get to see the real breakdown, Shinichi will have to kill that parasyte that looks exactly like her mother, that´s something that´s going to stay with him for the rest of his life if you ask me. Plus now he can´t tell his father no matter what, he saw his beloved wife get killed by that monster, how do you he would react if he finds out his son has one of those monster in his body?.

      haseo0408
      Reply

  20. I’ve been disliking shows by MADHOUSE for a number of years because they had this moral narrative of “don’t be a douche, be a good person, otaku is bad”.
    To me personally it felt preachy and outdated, and sounded like criticism done from the POV of an outsider.

    Recent shows by MADHOUSE still have some of that moral sense, but the way it’s being told doesn’t feel outdated anymore.
    Now it feels like it’s being told by someone who has actually experienced those moral breakdowns in society, either as a victim or a perp, and now wants to say “humans shouldn’t treat humans like this. i’ve been there myself, and in the end, i wasn’t happy about people just doing whatever the hell they want in regards of treating others”.
    It sounds like a plea done from the POV of an insider, and it does NOT feel preachy anymore.

    I noticed this feeling with [No Game No Life] and now this show.
    And I like what I’m seeing.

    I was starting to get sick of the
    “everyone just do whatever the hell they want, we’re basically animals with instincts, and there are no morals there, winner takes all” notion of every show and movie that’s been coming out since around 2006 ~ 2008.

    Calorie Mate
    Reply

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