If the show’s going to be less psychological body horror, and more standard action fare these days, then it really needs to step up in the animation department. After all, the former is potentially thought-provoking enough that I can look pass the poor animation. That’s not so true for the latter. Since there’s nothing to occupy my mental faculties, all I can do is stare intently at the animation and thus notice all of the unsightly blemishes. Even the supposedly triumphant moment fails to look badass, so there’s no real payoff. The whole thing is just cringeworthy; I couldn’t wait for the battle to end.

Plus, it’s one of those anime battles where Migi drones on and on about his opponents. I get it. No, really, I do. They’re trying to figure out their opponents. And Shinichi’s not an experienced, instinctual fighter. He needs Migi to guide his hand in more ways than one. All that makes sense story-wise, but here’s the thing: it doesn’t make enough sense for me to look pass the fact that it’s still really boring to hear our little alien buddy prattle incessantly about their battle strategy. No matter how much it makes sense, it’s not engaging. And sometimes, being realistic is not always the best narrative course of action.

Anyway…

Stray notes and observations

— The episode starts off with Kuramori coming home to find that his family has been killed. It’s just too bad it looks like the animation dropped the ball here as well:

But more importantly, this seems kind of dumb on the parasytes’ part. He has information on them, after all. By killing his family, you pretty much give away any leverage you have over the guy. Once he’s got nothing left to lose, there’s no reason for him to hold back and keep his secrets to himself.

— After the OP, the battle between Shinichi-Migi and Miki starts in earnest, but like I’ve said, the poor animation just takes me out of the moment.

— Miki is legitimately surprised to see that Shinichi-Migi can be such an effective duo. It also takes him by surprise to learn that our heroes confer with each other during a fight. It’s a long-running theme that humans are more dangerous than the parasytes believe.

— The gist is that Miki has a really hard time coordinating his body’s moments, so our heroic duo simply has to decapitate him to get the job done… or so they think.

— It turns out that Gotou and Miki are one and the same. They just take turn controlling the same amalgamation of parasytes, but Miki is Miki because he can’t unify all five of them. Well, that’s nice. In other words, the bad guy just took on another form. Yaaaaay, shounen-tastic!

— Watching Gotou jump from tree to tree at super high speeds, I almost feel like the anime has jumped the shark…

— Thanks to Migi’s ingenuity — at this point, I’m not even sure what Shinichi is contributing anymore other than his ability to run away — our duo manages to lose Gotou.

— Plus, his blood levels are low or something, so he pauses and eats some unsuspecting humans. I’m surprised they didn’t freak out when they looked at him and his tentacle-like arms. Maybe they think the car accident is what caused his arms to be like that, but even so, that seems unlikely.

— Shinichi has to stay away from home for now, but luckily, Migi swiped some poor trucker’s money and hid it in himself. That’s a neat trick. Migi reiterates the fact that Shinichi shouldn’t apply human morality onto him, but it’s weird to think like that. But then again, I think some moral values are universal, and as a result, everyone — human or otherwise — should abide by them. But we’ll just leave it at that.

— Our hero calls home to warn his dad. After all, the parasytes might go after him in order to get at Shinichi. Luckily, Kazuyuki actually listens to what his son has to say. See? Anime parents aren’t so bad. We should stop killing them off or sending them to another continent.

— Apparently, Migi has been meeting Shinichi in his dreams in an attempt to communicate with the 30% of himself that he had given up when he saved Shinichi’s life way back then. Since Migi’s failed (I assume) sixteen times on that front, he’s going to now give up on that venture.

— Elsewhere, Reiko confirms the fact that it was really fucking stupid to kill Kuramori’s family without killing the guy as well. She then goes on and on about how humans are more dangerous than the parasytes believe. This revelation, however, seems to enrage her peers. It’s like they’re in a cult, and if you don’t toe the company line, you will incur their wrath. Instead of just engaging in Reiko in a vigorous discussion on what she means, they instead become paranoid and suspect that the mother will betray them. Welp. Migi gave the impression that the parasytes were smart, but he and Reiko are probably the exception. The others seem to exhibit a hive mind-like mentality, and not a very rational one at that.

— We then cut to Satomi, who wonders why Shinichi hasn’t been to school lately. What’s the use anyway? She’d just give him the silent treatment or freak the fuck out if he tries to talk to her. But you know how it is. If Shinichi’s dad isn’t going to be dumb enough to himself into trouble, then perhaps the girl will. Shinichi can thus save her life yet again for her to act all bitchy about how he’s sooooooo different.

— No, I get it. He’s changed in a really short time. But I’m a little more pragmatic. Unless he or she becomes a bad person, I don’t really care how much a friend has changed. And no, putting a dead dog in the trash does not make someone a bad person.

— At the end of the episode, Reiko runs into three parasytes, and they intend to eliminate her because she’s different.

Meanwhile, it looks like Kuramori’s going to sneak into her apartment and probably do something to her baby. Well, until next time…