Kiseidžú: Sei no kakuricu

One evening, the country's inhabitants are attacked by parasites who try to take over their host by penetrating his brain through his nose or ears. One such parasite attempted to enter the body of the student Shinichi but was unsuccessful and had to take his right arm as a means of survival. Thus it happened that the unsuccessful parasite and its young host had to learn to live in symbiosis and join their forces to guarantee their mutual survival. Moreover, they are considered potentially dangerous by other parasites due to their coexistence. Therefore, any contact with another parasite usually leads to a struggle for survival... Yes, I guess it has its pitfalls (as discussed), even though the atmosphere, in my opinion, is good. The anime's creators had good source material to work with, so I am not surprised, so even if it has weaknesses, I somehow cannot imagine that I would award it only four stars after what I have seen because of the suspense, atmosphere, and plot and its depth, despite not reaching the scope of the original source material, make this show more than just an above-average performance, and I found it incredibly entertaining throughout. 9.5/10. (14.11.2014)

Ladies and gentlemen of Madhouse, you didn’t have to save the best until last! Poor Hromino almost stopped believing, sometime around episode 15, that anything more than the increasingly uninteresting travails of one loser with a Parasite and one severely irritating classmate would be wrung from an initially promising premise. He almost failed to believe in it at all, but with his head held high, he stuck with it and persevered to the end; and ultimately he was very pleasantly surprised on many levels. Shin'ichi's character finally undergoes some real personal development and becomes a likeable character I am not completely indifferent to, as has been the case up to this point (I was terrified that Shin'ichi would remain a poor-man's Kaneki). Murano not only ceases to be dull, irritating and jealous but turns into a likable, mature girl. The plot climax itself is clearly tuned more to the point of intimacy than epic grandiosity, which, in correspondence with the main hero's mental development, results in a sensible decision that deserves my appreciation. I would, however, quibble over the anime being terribly deep and heavily philosophical, as some here have mentioned; there are a few ideas to be pondered, but they are certainly not complex, unfamiliar, or groundbreaking. The predominantly electronic soundtrack is fine and fits the spirit of the season unexpectedly well, the artwork and animation were also quite good, the action sequences were mostly imaginative and interesting (although not always), the key moments were not lacking suspense, but the season was far from being a horror movie. So if, like me, you hesitate when watching it, and wonder whether it is worth persevering to the end, know that despite the weak middle part it is certainly worth it. A strong 3 stars. (06.04.2015)