‘Parasyte The Grey’ Captures the Best Part of the Original Anime

Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Parasyte: The Grey.

The Big Picture

• Parasyte: The Grey
  successfully expands on the original series with great acting and effects, focusing on themes of humanity and kinship.
• The series showcases emotional growth and complex characters, blurring the lines between aliens and humans in a symbiotic relationship.
• Parasyte: The Grey
  challenges assumptions about good and evil, demonstrating the capacity for growth and love in both humans and aliens.

When it comes to hilarious, thought-provoking creature features, no anime does it better than Parasyte: The Maxim. Based on the manga series by Hitoshi Iwaaki, this animation has entertained audiences for years with its depictions of the titular alien species’ interactions with the human race. It’s an effective blend of horror, science fiction, and action, yet throughout its many pulse-pounding moments the plot features some extremely complex themes. It subtly interrogates its own premise, granting the gruesome violence that drives most of its plot a surprising amount of depth that creates a well-rounded story, one that has engrossed readers — and eventually, viewers — for more than three decades.

Audiences may have been understandably nervous after hearing that Netflix would be creating a live-action spin-off of the successful series with Parasyte: The Grey, an expansion of the original’s universe that many doubted would be able to carry the same terrifying weight of its predecessors. Well, it did do that — and more. The series features some great acting and amazing effects, but by focusing on fleshing out the nuanced themes surrounding humanity and kinship from the original, it truly succeeds as an adaptation.

‘Parasyte’ Was Never Just About Aliens

While it’s seen different iterations and reimaginings over the years, the themes of Parasyte‘s original story explain why the franchise has become so legendary. It focuses on Shinichi Izumi, voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki in Parasyte: The Maxim, a high-schooler who faces the shock of having an alien creature fall to Earth and try to burrow into his brain. Shinichi resists, and the parasite instead takes control of his hand, the pair becoming forced to rely on each other as humans try to exterminate the alien and other parasite hosts come after them, wanting to kill what they see as their mutant brethren.

The series features some amazing fight scenes and terrifying gore, but it also shows a significant amount of development within not only Shinichi but also the aliens and humans who come to fill his life. As he and his parasite grow closer, the duo begins questioning the concept of humanity in itself, learning just how similar the two species are to one another and that neither one has the right to claim superiority.

The anime ends just as the plot begins to address how the government is evolving to account for these alien dangers, a development that comes to fruition in Parasyte: The Grey. It introduces viewers to a governmental group, the “Grey Team,” led by Choi Jun-kyung (Lee Jung-hyun), who is determined to root out and annihilate any parasite-infected human they can find. One of their latest targets is the embattled Jeong Su-in (Jeon So-nee), a traumatized young woman who, similarly to the original protagonist Shinichi, becomes infected with a parasite but manages to preserve her own mind, forced to share her body with this new alien creature.

Parasyte: The Grey immediately establishes its ability to mirror the original’s famous action by showcasing some sickeningly amazing special effects in one of its first scenes. But beyond its great visuals, where the show excels the most is in displaying the emotional impact of these beings on the humans they interact with and, through Su-In, how proper communication and understanding could actually create a world where both races could survive — together.

‘Parasyte: The Grey’ Goes Beyond Good and Evil

While Parasyte: The Grey presents an ample amount of the body horror and thrilling fight scenes that most love, it communicates its core message by focusing on the aspects of its story that anyone watching could relate to. Su-In is a young woman who has never known peace; an abusive father and a judgemental community made her feel like an outcast in society, and her situation is only worsened when a parasite, nicknamed “Heidi,” begins to live inside of her face.

While tumultuous, this human-alien relationship grows over the series and shows that most members of each species have the same goal of surviving and helping their communities do the same. By staying in a host that still retains her mind, Heidi begins to learn more about the human experience, recognizing how flawed her alien view of their world is and understanding that the bond she feels with Su-In is as valuable as a bond she would have with a being the same race as her. In its own twisted way, the series shows that both species are eerily similar to one another and that if each were more inclined to communicate rather than viciously tear one another apart, there’s potential for a symbiotic relationship that could ensure the safety of both their species.

Netflix’s adaptation continues breaking down the differences between parasites and humans with its exploration of Seol Kyung-hee (Yoon Hyun-gil), a parasite working with a larger group of her alien kin under the guidance of their leader, the infected pastor Kwon Hyuk-joo (Lee Hyun-kyun). The pastor’s goal is world domination, hoping to infect the entire world with parasites — and willing to kill some of his fellow aliens along the way if it means an easier path to more power.

Kyung-hee, as most other parasites are, is emotionless throughout the series, but discovering that the leader she trusted was willing to kill others in her community sees the extraterrestrial begin to feel betrayal, sorrow, and so many other conflicting emotions integral to humanity’s experience. She learns that her only directive in life — survival — isn’t worth it if it means losing those she cares for; the series demonstrates the alien’s capacity to grow and love just as humans do and challenges the assumption that beings as interstellar as these didn’t have the complex humanity of its human characters. Similar to the original story and anime, it refuses to paint the aliens as wholly bad or the humans as wholly good, instead showcasing the nuances that exist within each species and forcing the audience to question what humanity truly looks like.

‘Parasyte: The Grey’ Gives Humanity To Its Aliens

It’s always an uphill battle to adapt a successful franchise, and Parasyte: The Grey had a harder experience than most. Of course, the benefit of modern technology meant it was equipped to portray the same visual effects of its predecessor, but Parasyte: The Maxim was always so much more than its cool imagery. The seamless blend of action, comedy, and philosophical dissections of its premise, as well as a multi-faceted approach to storytelling, was what made the narrative so enjoyable. Well, luckily for longtime fans, this newest iteration carries all of that and more.

Through its main character Su-In and the myriad of other compelling individuals (human and parasite alike), Parasyte: The Grey features a thoughtful presentation of these beings’ complex personalities that few other projects would take the time to do. It takes the original’s concept of what exactly counts as humanity — and why certain things deserve it more than others — and allows this question to blossom into a scary but intriguing season-arching premise. This riveting gravitas drives the entire plot and adds levity to every fight scene and horrific transformation, and by focusing on putting the best part of the original story and anime alike on full display, it has easily become one of the best live-action adaptations of an anime ever.

Parasyte: The Grey is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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