Last week, Wraith pointed
that Parasyte is a bit more Venom than Spider-Man, and that’s absolutely right.
After all, a ‘symbiote’ is but a nicer
name for a parasite, no? Shinichi’s still more like Peter Parker than Eddie
Brock, but the added comparrison brings up another angle I’ve wanted to talk
about…
For me, the parasite’s more ‘benign’
manifestations in Shinichi’s hand and this new fella’s jaw are actually more
disgusting than the flashier transformations when the blades start flapping
around. There’s something about seeing human skin rearranged like putty like
that that’s… just… gross.
And it seems more alien to me
because it’s probably more specific to Japan’s collective imagination. Western
fantasia bases its monsters on how demons have been portrayed in classical art
- - basically recombining animal features. Snake tongues, bat wings, goat hooves,
and what not. Think of our pal, Venom.
There’s the same conceptual lineage
in Japan, I think, but the key difference is that Japanese demons have always
seemed more like distorted humans, with features that’re creepy for how they’re
only incrementally different from normal
people’s. You know, a forehead that’s too high. A neck that’s a little too
long. Eyes that are bigger than they should be, etc. You’ll see it in the ways
the Titans in ATTACK ON TITAN are rendered, as well as the various ghosts in
HOUSE, and so on. The aliens in this show are very much of that strain.
Anyway, I don’t feel too bad
about harping on the superhero comparisons, because this whole first arc has
felt more like than an extended origin story than anything we ever saw in TIGER
& BUNNY. A big chunk of this episode is devoted to explaining the weakness
and limitations of Shinichi’s new powers even further. At this rate, I’m
expecting him to be getting some GUYVER-esque alter ego...
Watch "Dark Night's Passing" and decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode.
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