The Old School Otaku Lounge

So I'm sure some of you remember Parasyte (aka Kiseijuu), the manga from the 90s? (Mixx/Tokyopop released it back in the day in English, then Del Ray/Kodansha picked it up later). They're making live-action movies in Japan, as well as a new anime series starting this fall. They recently released some key art and character designs:





And to compare it to some of the original manga art:


I gotta say...I was kinda disappointed when I saw the character designs? Shinichi looks like such a generic "main character with glasses" in comparison to the manga art (I mean, to be fair, Shinichi looks fairly generic in the manga at first...But the manga's style is unique enough to make him look a little interesting, at least?) I want to try to be fair and wait until the actual show comes out, but I guess I was hoping they'd at least TRY to make it look a little like the source material?

At this point, I'm almost more excited for the live-action version, which looks at least promising: http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2 ... ler-posted

Weird stuff! I'm not at all familiar with this title. That artwork reminds me of the headcrab from John Carpenter's The Thing.

Parasyte was a big surprise for me when I was collecting Mixx Magazine. I really ended up liking it, eventhough I'd probably never pick it up myself. I'm pretty disappointed they made him look like a generic school boy with glasses. His hairstyle alone made him fairly unique in his original design, it just made him look like a normal dude. Could be good, but I think I'd rather go re-collect the manga (didn't know it was re-released).

usamimi wrote:I gotta say...I was kinda disappointed when I saw the character designs? Shinichi looks like such a generic "main character with glasses" in comparison to the manga art (I mean, to be fair, Shinichi looks fairly generic in the manga at first...But the manga's style is unique enough to make him look a little interesting, at least?) I want to try to be fair and wait until the actual show comes out, but I guess I was hoping they'd at least TRY to make it look a little like the source material?

I guess trying to animate older styles is harder these days. That's just my take, though. I could be hard wrong.

ServantOfPriss wrote:

usamimi wrote:I gotta say...I was kinda disappointed when I saw the character designs? Shinichi looks like such a generic "main character with glasses" in comparison to the manga art (I mean, to be fair, Shinichi looks fairly generic in the manga at first...But the manga's style is unique enough to make him look a little interesting, at least?) I want to try to be fair and wait until the actual show comes out, but I guess I was hoping they'd at least TRY to make it look a little like the source material?

I guess trying to animate older styles is harder these days. That's just my take, though. I could be hard wrong.

Yeah, I think that's a part of it? Like...I think they want to make it appeal to the anime fans of TODAY rather than fans of the original manga...which is understandable. A friend of mine pointed out that they at least kept some of his expressive facial quirks in those character designs, which I can kinda see. I'm hoping they don't lighten the tone, though--it's a horror/sci-fi/body-horror sort of series, so I want it to have that "darker" tone!

ryoran wrote:Parasyte was a big surprise for me when I was collecting Mixx Magazine. I really ended up liking it, eventhough I'd probably never pick it up myself. I'm pretty disappointed they made him look like a generic school boy with glasses. His hairstyle alone made him fairly unique in his original design, it just made him look like a normal dude. Could be good, but I think I'd rather go re-collect the manga (didn't know it was re-released).

Yeah, same for me! It was one of the first horror manga I ever read, I think, and that was entirely due to Mixxzine back in the day. XD

The only thing that sucks about the re-release Del-ray/Kodansha did is that some volumes seem to be out of print already. :/ I had all of it at one point, but during one my last moves I think I lost some because I can't find em all...I'm hoping the ones I'm missing won't be too difficult to find now If all else fails, though, you can find Tokyopop/Mixx's versions still pretty easily, though they're flopped and have the slightly edited names.

So they finally released a trailer for the anime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... hHXtiIm6ug

From the clips, I have to say I think it looks nicely animated! Still kinda mixed feelings about the animation style looking so different, but since I like horror and I like Parasyte, I'll definitely try it out. I was hoping they'd use a darker color palette, but again...that might be just a personal preference. XD

I still kinda wish that we'd gotten an anime for this back in the 90s that looked more like the manga...it would've been neat to see a movie or OAV based off of it in the paint-and-celluloid style.

I'm sad but utterly unsurprised they decided to use "gawky male w/glasses nerdy protagonist vessel" typical anime design instead of the more rougher, comedic older guy design of the original. Is it to make him moé? :/

PinkAppleJam wrote:I'm sad but utterly unsurprised they decided to use "gawky male w/glasses nerdy protagonist vessel" typical anime design instead of the more rougher, comedic older guy design of the original. Is it to make him moé? :/

I was wondering about that, but a friend pointed out tat in the original manga; he starts out needing glasses occasionally, but once Migi latches onto him, he discovers he doesn't need glasses anymore. I don't know if they'll do something like that in the show, or if it was just a character design choice....I guess we'll have to wait and see?

I read the original Mixxzine releases of Parasyte religiously back in the day and it quickly became and still remains one of my all time favorite manga easily. Top 10 material I'd say. I still go back to the manga every so often (the newer re-release from Del Ray, of all people, is nothing short of excellent and among the best ever English language manga releases I can think of) and it holds up like a champ.

The live action films look awful, mostly due to the hideous CG effects. The anime's been going for a few months now, but I've been apprehensive about checking it out based largely on those unfortunate character designs. Parasyte is hardly any old manga to me: its one of those linchpin titles from my fandom heyday that means the world to me, and seeing it mishandled or "watered down" in any way is the sort of thing that would make me put my fist through a wall. Its not exactly the sort of manga that lends itself particularly well to the more "softer edged" approach to TV anime these days.

I remember when there was talk way, way back in the 90s of an American live action adaptation using practical effects from Jim Henson Studios (!!). I've spent god knows how many years pining to live in an alternate reality where that movie exists and rules mightily.

I was weary about the new character designs, too, but I know they were a necessary evil (pardon the phrase XD) to get it on TV--if they'd made it look exactly like the original manga, Japanese otaku would've claimed it looked "too dated". Which is a shame, but regardless I've still been enjoying it! It's interesting to see how they tweaked it slightly here and there to fit into a more modern date, and I can look past the slightly different animation style and still enjoy it. (The thing that bugs me the most, truthfully, is the crappy opening theme....I really don't like it. And a lot of the bg music is kinda weird. But that's just my taste, at least...)

I found this a while ago, a Korean fan made a fan-animation of the opening but in more of the style of the manga: http://animenostalgia.tumblr.com/post/1 ... ake-of-the
Proof that the manga's style WOULD have looked neat animated...ah, well.

The CG movie, I've actually heard was pretty good, tho suffers from typical live-action adaptation problems in Japanese productions (Japanese actors aren't as well-versed in reacting to a thing that isn't really in front of them, etc.) I still wouldn't mind seeing it, though, just out of curiosity...like you said, I loved the hell out of that manga, so I can't help but want to check it out.