User reviews

Plot

A group of humans wage war against the rising evil of unidentified parasitic life-forms that live off of human hosts and strive to grow their power

Cast

Written by Hotishi Iwaaki (As it should have been) and starring various folks who you'll recognize from various comparable shows and movies.

Verdict

We've had quite a bit of Parasyte, from animated series to live action movies and not one bit of it has been bad despite it not being a fan of the Manga. You know what else has consistently been great over the last few years? All things South Korea, I don't know what's happened but they've been on form for quite a while now and therefore a Korean Parasyte most certainly got my attention as soon as it dropped on Netflix.

Initially you notice it looks great, as it needs to being Parasyte. It needs fantastic gory visuals and it delivers, though arguably the gore is quite light here. It tells a story revolving around a person comparable with Shinichi but delivers a very different bigger scale story. The trouble is we only have 6 episodes so is it able to deliver?

Well, mostly but I still found it lacking. It looks solid, it has decent characters and the plot is passable but as with any 6 episode tv show it's difficult to really pace it correctly and get much character development done.

The Grey is enjoyable and a welcome addition to the Parasyte universe, I'm also looking forward to season 2. But something is missing, and it feels pretty integral.

Rants

I feel as though we need a Parasyte horror movie, no real depth, no real connection to the canon universe but a 90 minute movie that grabs hold of the horror elements of Parasyte with both hands and really delivers. Can you imagine how genuinely unnerving, creepy and intense it could be? Seriously, if they can do a horror movie with Bambi, Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh I'm pretty sure we could get a Parasyte one!

The Good

Looks great Solid character

The Bad

Plot could be better Feels rushed.

For those who loved the original "Parasyte" anime and movies, "Parasyte: The Grey" is a definite must-see. I recently binged through all six episodes, and I must say, I was hooked from the get-go. While the detectives may make some questionable decisions in certain episodes, it's possible the creator intended for us to see the story unfold from the unique perspective of the female lead - a half-parasyte and half-human girl - navigating the complexities of our human world. Despite these minor hiccups, the show remains a thrilling ride from start to finish, making it well worth a watch."

The cast delivered stellar performances, with a dash of humor courtesy of the male lead. What's great is that even if you're new to the "Parasyte" universe, you can easily jump into "The Grey" without feeling lost. The series cleverly introduces the alien invasion storyline through a detective's eyes, offering a refreshing take on the familiar concept.

While the aliens' goal remains the same - wiping out humanity - the plot takes unexpected twists and turns that kept me on edge. It's exciting to see the universe expanding in new and surprising ways. I have a strong feeling a second season is on the horizon, given the show's success and fan enthusiasm.

I accidentally started watching in Tamil, my native language, and it added an unexpectedly funny touch to the whole experience. The climax was a real nail-biter, blending action, suspense, and intrigue seamlessly. Overall, "Parasyte: The Grey" is a solid addition to the genre, offering a fresh take that both newbies and long-time fans can enjoy."

I would not consider myself a huge fan boy of anime, but I have seen my fair share of popular ones in my life. I have seen many live action adaptation, but never was compelled to write a review.

Here I am, this show reminds me of how I felt in love with Death Note decades ago. Things happen, and you are not entirely sure where the show will take you next. I would not say, you are on the edge of your seat every moment, but you are somehow leaning towards more sinical consequences every time.

All in all, this is absolutely worthy of your time, especially if you had somewhat favorable memory of the anime this is an extension of.

I came into this expecting a live action adaptation of the manga/anime, but they ended up using new characters and a new setting to tell a different story. At first I was just going to cut the show off, but I decided to give it a chance and honestly..

It's not bad. They stick to the rules that were developed inside of the book and show pretty well, the only thing that concerned me was the head swapping. There is 1 parasite that swaps bodies a lot but in the source material, swapping bodies was regarded as pretty dangerous. I also don't understand why they'd swap bodies when they had the ability to change the way their faces looked in the book/show.

I'm not a film critic and I am not going to pretend to be like other reviewers. The show is a decent watch for fans of the series. It's not as deep in terms of philosophy and character development as the book/show but it's a good time passer. If you've never seen the source material, the show might seem a little goofy.

I don't understand how this show can be averaging a 7.3 rating for how good it is. It does not follow the typical k-drama tropes, no cheesy humor, no sexy male anti-hero, no deaths just to squeeze some tears from the viewer. It's a smart, gritty, no-nonsense crime/scifi drama that wastes no time in moving the story forward.

The two lead cast members are extremely likeable. Neither of them are particularly charismatic but the viewer will naturally gravitate towards their vulnerability and their willingness of accepting their place among the bottom rungs of society.

Acting is consistently good throughout and avoids the typical melodrama you'd find in the same genre.

Filled with action and cliffhangers.

It's not often I watch these sort of gore fest action show. This show was engaging from start to finish, it's common for shows to have lows and highs but this is a stable high show that exceeded my expectations. The designs of the characters and their surroundings is unique and plays a role throughout the show. Everything in the show is intertwined and in the end the plot is naturally engaging without any over the top elements. However there's nothing to really analyse, there's no deeper meaning and overall it's more of a time crunch than a movie you learn something from.

I have an understandable fear when it comes to anime live action adaptation, especially when we talk about shows where CGI is required, but this was executed relatively well.

The story is good, but not perfect. It can be seen that it uses similar topics compared to the original, when the series elaborate on what being a human means, but the series definitely made those topics its own with its own plot points. Pacing-wise - because the story tries to be a bit more complex at certain points - the first half can feel a bit slow.

For the characters, the main cast is much more unique personality-wise. Like from acting you could tell who has a bigger role in the series. I wouldn't call it bad and it made the characters interesting and less boring, but sometimes it was like that the main cast are the players in a game and everyone else is an NPC. The main cast was good and their characters felt real and developed with the story.

About the technical aspects, the sound directing and OST were good. Nothing exceptional, but worked perfectly.

Directing and editing, again it was good overall, nothing exceptional. There was one really good chase scene without a single cut.

About the CGI and effects, errr... it look good, there was maybe one scene where it looked a bit funny, but even in daylight it looked okay. One little complaint maybe about the blood. They surprisingly low amount of blood. I mean people got beheaded and there wasn't a lot of blood there.

And I would say the weakest part was the choreography. When it comes to normal hand to hand or weapon to weapon combat there are some really good scene out there. We spent decades on creating good looking fights, but here they should have developed a new fight, because the parasites head could shapeshift into a tentacle monster. I believe they failed to do that.

In many cases, while the tentacle fights look cool in a close up, but from a bit afar it looks like they are tied to bodies and their bodies don't do anything just stand there. Imagine a rock with a tentacle, the rock sits in one place while the tentacle fight.

They could have came up with some more unique or interesting fights.

All in all, good to watch, at least once. It is not as good as the original anime, but not as bad as I was expected to be.

So I did not know about the manga I just saw this had pretty good reviews and got into it.

Graphics/CGI are definitely on the lacking side but I mean nowhere near cartoon/anime level so I'm ok with it however it is rough to watch if you are picky about that.

Got pulled in with the interesting story of an alien 'parasyte' invasion which take over the host and then a small and odd war happening. Characters were good with a decently explained backstory which was spread well throughout the series instead of in huge amounts (i.e. I don't like to see a whole episode be a backstory).

Story continuity 9/10 Acting 8.5/10 Special Effects 6/10 # of episodes 6/10 Fulfillment 7/10

Overall I was interested in finding out what was happening and how they were going to defeat the 'enemy'. The end result was to be expected but the way they got there was quite entertaining and kept things interesting.

No overtelling or under telling of the story was noted. Although season 1 was literally 6 episodes I'd say they could and should have expanded on a few elements more seeing as how they have a whole manga to base from.

Enjoyable and entertaining but too short to be memorable or really fulfilling. The action was good and understandable with a good flow, there is no dawdling on insignificant matters. The ending is a surprise and you might need to read into who is introduced and what significance they have to the universe.

Needs to have more story and something of actual importance or value happen in season 2 to not ruin it. Season 1 was really just introductory imo. Worth checking out for sci fi lovers.

Let me come back here and as just this in a few hours. Because I will binge the rest immediately. Parasyte The Maxim is one of my top three favorite animes of all time. I did not think for a second that telling a different story in that universe would be as impactful, and maybe it won't fully be when it is over. But this starts absolutely fantastic. From the music, the camera work, the acting, the effects, the twist in how the mutation work. I just hope this manages to touch on some of the big questions that the original anime did. So far it is very promising to where it leads. After seeing some of my favorite books having a solid iteration on Netflix in 3 Body Problem it certainly seems to me that Netflix is in a new creative peak. Bravo!

Jeon So-nee plays Jeong Su-in a worker in a small shop who has led a miserable life and who's only friend is a detective played by Kwon Hae-hyo who saved her from her abusive father. She is attacked one night by a man but is inadvertently saved by a parasite which is out to conquer mankind. She is then drawn into a world where the powers that be believe she has become a parasyte and is hunted to be captured or killed by a determined team led by Lee Jung-hyun. It is apparently based on a Japanese manga and when this occur what often happens is the script not to stray too far from the book becomes stilted. It is well acted and at only six episodes is an entertaining watch particularly when the parasytes appear as the are cleverly bought to life by the special effects.

Considered to be a sequel to the famous Anime, Parasyte: The maxim, this show has a very different plot then the original anime itself. Maybe that is what makes it unique in the way, it tells a science-fiction story in such a normalised way. The VFX work is really excellent and it is good to see Korean shows coming with much better stories and beautiful background music. What I felt was that, it was missing the emotional touch, which they tried by exploring some of the relations, but still could not touch at that level. Overall, it is a decent watch for a weekend and I am excited for the next season as it has a hidden surprise for all us anime fans.

This South Korean show is like a violent gangsters/police/military version of The Host (which also featured an alien turncoat). It's reasonably well-acted and paced. I like the characters, although some are under-developed. The premise is ridiculous but sufficiently interesting to hold one's attention (the high-quality CGI helps). The ending is appropriate and satisfying.

For those who haven't seen the anime (and gotten certain expectations), this show is fine -- if you don't think about it too much, and just enjoy the ride. There are some memorable scenes.

There are plenty of technical/plot/logic flaws (as some reviewers have noted). Just one of these small parasites can devour your brain in seconds and then control your body in frightening ways. This film makes John Carpenter's THE THING look entirely plausible by comparison.

I give this eight stars, with a one-star penalty for lack-of-plausibility (see the negative reviews for details). That's seven (7) stars total.

With a well-known director, Yeon Sang-ho, a director of Train to Busan and Hellbound. We could expect an exciting a horror-thriller movie as he delivered before. Which we got it in the 'Parasyte : The Grey' series.

For those who loves this genre this could be your list for entertainment, and as a fan of original Parasyte/Kiseijuu you would find this series even though it took place in South Korea with Korean Cast, it feels like the original Kiseijuu that brings a thrilling experience and a deep theme like meaning of existence and cooperation.

But again, why I rate this series a 7 is because despite all the quality I said before those quality feels not consistent throughout the series and need improvement. Especially in the writing, but in their defense I thought 6 episode is too short for them to bring the shine of these deep theme and iconic source from the original.

As someone who saw the anime almost a decade ago, which was an adaptation of a manga by the same name, I was very curious how this story could possibly be adapted into live action without looking very silly (see the Japanese live adaptation films).

Without spoiling anything, The Grey is not another live-adaptation of the manga, nor is it a sequel to it. It's more like a spin-off. The events that happen in Parasyte, in the original material, we only saw what happened in Japan. The Grey looks at what happens when the parasytes affects a different country. In this sense, you don't have to read the manga or watch the anime, as the TV series cover the worldbuilding fairly well.

Now, the big question is, did it end up looking as silly as the films? No. I'd say the special effects in The Grey were awesome. Probably the best parts of the show. It will no doubt look a bit cartoonish still but I was very impressed. How much of it was practical effects? How much was it VFX? They have blended it very well.

However, the shaky cam definitely didn't do the show any favours. Maybe it was a necessary evil to make the VFX looks as real as it did, but I rather have the camera stationary so we can focus on the fights, because some of the fights were pretty insane. But again, it might be because the cuts and shaky cams hid a lot of glaring issues and is why it was used.

Still, Parasyte was and still is an interesting series just because it asks some interesting questions about humanity, survival, and morality. I don't think the philosophy was as in-depth as the manga or anime, given there were only 6 episodes, but there is enough to ponder here and definitely makes me want to watch the anime again (highly recommended but also has its fair share of flaws). For those who knew the source material, the last couple minutes in this show was super cool to see.

In summary, Parasyte has an interesting premise and the TV series did an excellent job adapting it as a live action. Slowly, I think Netflix is producing more and more quality live adaptations which had been known for a long time to be a joke (Cowboy Bebop and Death Note is still a joke but Alice in Wonderland and One Piece was very good).

Fans of the manga will understandably see this series differently (better). The rest of us who aren't, may not be able to look past the bad CGI, funny head-banging everytime parasytes fight while it can never be clear who managed to inflict anything. Must be embarassing for the actors involved.

I was looking forward to another creature feature from the Korean creators that I usually enjoy, while waiting for Gyeongsong Creature season 2, but was disappointed.

Patchy flow of events, mostly unlikeable characters, too fake-looking of creatures, unbelievable coincidences/logic, like seriously even civilians' cars have dash cams but someone can get away killing a police asset while being surrounded by parked police cars.

The most cringe though, has got to be the team leader lady. Her acting sucks, it baffles me why she was chosen when there's no shortage of good Korean actresses. Over the top acting, screeching voice, condescending tone, with weak back story not enough to justify her behavior.

Four stars for how meh this show is but I'll add two extra stars because it's still better than watching Hollywood garbage loaded with stewpid propaganda.

I was a little nervous how the adaptation would be with the parasyte transforming and all but it was done so well. For me, I would say the anime was a "darker" show and was hoping this would maintain that feel and it sure did.

So, it started out amazing and let me tell you... I just finished the last episode and if I could, I'd rate 11/10. Don't want to give any spoilers but it just made the show THAT much better. There was also a part where Heidi tried to get in the car quickly to get away and the actress nailed it!! I even laughed because it was subtle but so good. The acting was on point from all characters. One of my favorite shows now. I absolutely loved the anime and man... This did not disappoint.

Fist for the fans , don't pay attention for the bad reviews , this is as good as the original anime, and even the manga. Reviewers who rate low seem to never seen the source material this is as close as it can get to the original.

For a netflix production is quite good , I read the original manga , watch the anime series and the two live action movies. As a live action it excels (better than the live actions for my taste), also the animation is quite good when depicting the parasites. Regarding the plot it keeps you engaged every episode. While it is not a remake of the original story it remains in essence like the original manga and anime (unlike other recent anime/cartoon adaptations of netflix). I hope netflix keeps this level of good work. The 8 out of ten is because there was some cringy moments here and there but thats expected on korean series.

For people who hasn't seen the original material Ill recommend to check that first as this is basically a well made spin-off. If you dont like the original you will definetly not like this.

Casting of certain characters and how the characters were played, was detrimental to the total quality of this picture or series actually. Victoria Grace Played the character. It was in charge of the gray team defined and destroy the parasite aliens that entered a person's brain and transformed them into a monster. Premise was great. I thought the other characters were good. Played true. Grace's Was quite out of the ordinary playing a condescending. Glib, smart ass unprofessional person that would've been in charge of stopping destruction of the total earth. But she's smart asked her way through things didn't make any sense. I don't know if that was her choice.. It took something that could've been very great and turned it into. I don't know what just garbage.

I'm not a big fan of anime, but I watched the original Parasyte Anime a long time ago and loved it.

I really wished I had more of it, it was great in almost every direction.

So when I saw there was a live action spin-off I was skeptical at first, but as I watched it it was a dream come true, have a great first episode that was filled to the brim with content and fun visuals.

The effects and CGI were amazing, only a single time did I think it looked weird but it was only on for a split when slow transitioning.

It's probably not a 10/10 but I loved it so much and was so happy so to me it is.

The anime series, "Parasyte: The Maxim" was a very good series. Anytime you attempt to reboot or remake a really good series there's a lot already going against you from viewers who will only ever compare the remake/reboot to the original series. When it comes to anime, remaking or rebooting a series as a live action series is even more difficult. Most live action anime adaptations are terrible. With that said, I think this series was good overall. I would put its rating at just below 6.5 so I'll round down to 6.

Doing a live action remake of Parasyte must be especially difficult since deformation of the animated aliens is more believable....as crazy as that sounds. I was expecting this series to be terrible just like most live-action anime adaptations are. It wasnt terrible.