Aaaaalright, now this is where I unwind after having just finished the story. Before I do so, let it be known that I like this show a lot, which is why how it ended pisses me off to no end. To begin with, my first admission is that this show should have ended at its eighteenth episode, the death of Reiko Tamura summarily also the death of the essence carrying this story.
Reiko was probably my favourite character aside from the protagonist because her circumstance proved the most interesting in the ensemble that the show offered. From the very get-go, she stood out as an explicit non-human entity while growing to bear a lot of human characteristics, this much gradually being echoed by others around her. Our protagonist was on the opposite end of this spectrum, being a human steadily influenced by the other side as the story's events carried on. This, I think, was the essence of the story; what is human?
This theme was expressed through the mutual progression of these two characters, each being born to one side of the terrestrial chessboard having their identities questioned at every point by the attachment to beings not of their side, with Reiko's baby and Shinichi's Migi. It was very interesting to watch, and even more interesting to guess where this clash of interests would lead to come the eventual conclusion of the story.
But then, out of nowhere, Reiko dies. Totally out of left field and seemingly without direct explanation. With that being said, I actually enjoyed the episode in which she made her departure. In fact, it was my favourite episode just because of how beautifully tragic her death was captured. In fact, I even had myself a cry. A big one. Lasted for like a damn half hour. Don't tell anyone. Anyway, from this turning point, the story fundamentally loses its essence and no longer feels like the same thing as what I had been watching on my screen for seventeen episodes prior. I'll tell you what it feels like, it feels like the storywriter died and an intern at his office had to cobble together an ending. It feels like Game of Thrones without the supervision of George RR Martin. It feels like a cake dropped on the floor and it's your birthday.
It's hard to articulate exactly what goes wrong, but much like a human body inhabited by a parasite, the soul just kind of dies off and all that is left is the physical form doing its thing. The events that take place following Reiko's death make hardly any sense and I cannot fathom why they were written up at all. Being a writer myself, the final six episodes of this show stink to high heaven of writer's block and a lack of interest in meaningfully finishing the story; just wanting to get it done.
A military stronghold against Parasite HQ erupts, the end result being the apparent defeat of them. This leaves a lot of questions, like; where are the other parasites? Were these the only ones left? Do others still exist, but their survival is effectively worth nothing if not for this subverted hippy political group?
Which then unfortunately exposes even more holes in this story, such as the viability of this species' capacity to reduce the world's human population. Like, if they can't even make do by themselves with what they have, how could they ever have been feasibly expected to take over the world? Don't they kind of suck if they can be merked by one assault squadron in a single prefecture in a single country? And this opens up even more concerns, like if they were spread worldwide or just locally, in Japan? I could go for hours.
Regardless, a single supposedly "invincible" Parasite makes it out alive and actually manages to confront our protagonist, whom he had a failed confrontation with a few episodes prior. For whatever reason, he doesn't kill him even though there is nothing preventing him from doing so. He gives some guff about "oh I'm tired lols, gotta take off", but that is writer language for 'I'm in writer's block and have no idea how to end this, send halp'.
As it so happens, this "invincible" Parasite ends up meeting his end at the hands of...GARBAGE. Not a joke, after the Parasite pussyfoots his way around merking the main character for like half of an hour, he gets a shiv stuck into his "weak spot" which was apparently coated in garbage juice. And thus, he goes to Parasite purgatory, I guess. I had to laugh while watching this unfold.
Oh yeah and before this all goes down, the Parasite attached to our protagonist's hand dies. How does he die? He and the protagonist attempt to deal with the invincible Parasite by taking him on separately. This fails, the two get separated and as opposed to prioritising his own existence as any parasite should, FOR WHATEVER REASON, Migi decides to ensure Shinichi the protag gets to live. Why? We don't know. I guess AN ACTUAL PARASITE who has made it expressly clear on multiple occasions that he lives only for himself has suddenly developed a moral framework and sunsets himself to save someone else, even though there is literally nothing in it for him because well, he dies in the process.
Not to worry though, as he comes back to life in the middle of Shinichi's final showdown with Big Chungus Parasite. Apparently, he got absorbed into Big Chungus but now is sentient and prevents his captor from killing Shinichi by literally bursting out of his body and finishing the job that Shinichi started with the magic of Garbage Juice.
Not sure what I'm more angry about, the fact that we clearly see Migi decompose and die with our own eyes or the fact that this show has the balls to pull a fake-out death on a MAIN CHARACTER with only one episode left in the chamber. Remember kids, fake-out deaths aren't cool, ever. They sever the viewer's emotional connection with the character irrespective of them being brought back. I thought the writer of a good story like this was above doing that but I was wrong, like when I thought I would give this show a good score. Sike!
Anyways, the duo defeat Big Chungus but before they actually kill the bozo, there's this weird pseudo-philosophical mumbo-jumbo they engage in where they share an impromptu debate about the ethics of murder. This is kind of an annoying trend that stalks the rest of the show. In fact, this final act really just embellishes every single bad thing that was underlying what could have been an overall good story. SHOW, DON'T TELL.
Migi doesn't want to kill Chungus because like him, he is a Parasite and thus opposed to committing what he sees as murder. This is obviously nonsense, so I will not bother talking about it too much. I think the writer was high on some good stuff during this point of the story and kind of forgot everything leading up to it, just like I forgot that this used to be a good story a number of episodes ago.
Shinichi also proves himself to be a rather large punk-a$$ and doesn't want to finish the job because it would be mean. JUST. So they agree on letting bygones be bygones and trod off home....right before Shinichi returns to tear the sucker a new one and merking Chungus, thereby regaining his street cred but losing me in the process. What....what...is the point of these absolutely mind-numbing philosophy lectures if you're just going to do whatever it is that you were going to do before haphazardly embarking on them anyway?
The story ends with Shinichi going back home, and Migi deciding somehow to "close up" and not really exist as a hand parasite anymore. He's not dead though, apparently he still exists. I...just...don't ask questions at this point, okay? Shinichi and Murano are together now. Oh yeah, they had mad $ex yo, like three episodes prior. Do you care? Nah, me neither. All is not tea and biscuits in the English sun though, as the serial killer from a few episodes ago who the authorities thought would be cool to release unto the public (again, don't ask) makes a grand return to maim Shinichi and his new gf, along with killing two other people. Almost kills Shinichi's gf (kind of wish he would tbh) but alas, she is saved by the power of boner. The end. I'm cancelling my Netflix subscription.
Like I said previously, the essence of this show was the conflict between what is human and what is not human, this essence being killed with Reiko in the eighteenth episode, the absolute high point reached in my opinion. The story really should have stopped here, and it would have made infinitely more sense to do so as the viewer is given far more closure. Okay so maybe you don't really gain closure on the nature of the Parasites themselves, the relationships between the main characters or even our protagonist, but then again you don't really get any of this in the actual ending either. The eighteenth episode would have been a nice, very bittersweet send-off. Reiko unfortunately succumbs to humanity, thereby securing the future of her child and curing Shinichi of his internal stress he has been dealing with throughout the whole story while also mending the strained relationship between Murano and Shinichi by reassuring him of his human identity.
Instead, the story carries on from this point and watching it do so felt like it was stuck in perpetual limbo with nothing meaningful carrying it forward now that such a vital character bit the dust. RIP Reiko.
Ultimately, I have to separate the story between episodes one through eighteen and all that remained afterward. To the former I award 8/10, to the latter 2/10, bringing my total score to be half-marks, with 5 stars out of 10. Here's to hoping that someone with even more time and energy than me commits to a total re-do of the final act.
