I’m really glad to see that this show is receiving a late night airing as this episode especially would have been censored at great lengths.  Heck, the entire fight scenes with these parasites would have been blacked out and suffered what Terrarformars and Tokyo Ghoul got in their timeslots.  It’s a shame to see but here we’ve got a gem of a series in one of the best time-slots on NipponTV’s late night block.

One of the more recent anime series that I can recall that had a gut wrenching scene or in this example collection of scenes has to be episode 8 of 2011’s Blood-C, speaking of the uncensored blu-rays of course.  The entire episode pushed its focus on a giant Furukimono dismembering school students in various ways–  this was on that level for me.  If the turmoil that Shinichi experienced last week was intense enough here came this episode!  Shinichi is quickly losing blood after being stabbed in the heart by his mother–  as good as this series has been I’ve neglected the manga for right now because the anime is already presenting itself with amazing atmosphere, plot, characterization and everything in between I feel this show would not have the amount of impact it has had on me if I knew what was coming next.  I don’t know for certain though, perhaps the Kiseijū manga readers out there are pretty psyched about these episodes as I’ve been.

Having said that, I was not very sure how the creators were going to depict how Shinichi’s life was going to be spared.  Migi’s constant reading on the internet and through books on his research on the human species paid off here extremely well–  he attempted a very meticulous procedure that worked out in the end with a few side effects both good and bad.

One thing that is certain is that the two of them are gradually understanding each other’s perspective of their own species.  Migi’s intent here wasn’t just for the sake of his survival because as we have learned before he can only survive if Shinichi’s alive as now there was a crucial element that surprised me here:  Migi would not have done everything that he did here just to save his own life–  it was very risky considering how long he was separated from Shinichi.  After having his life saved, Shinichi begins the grieving process in trying to understand that his mom isn’t who she was before–  a path of redemption designed to further transform Shinichi as an adult and one that is slightly steps away from humanity.

What an astounding way to enhance this by actually animating he can run faster than before, and his vision has improved including his other senses as well.  I also liked how Satomi played off of this–  she’s worried about the boy she likes after he’s missed a few days of school she goes to visit him and sees him off and how much he changed especially with that solemn look he carried on his face.  At Sakurazaki there ended up being a huge turn around here with another girl, Makiko eyeing him when he travels to ensure his father is safe.  This girl is curious about him just like Satomi and Kana have been but in a very different way.  Satomi cares for him as they’ve been classmates for quite some time and friends, Kana is interested in what is this mysterious hold he has for being out of place from other people and then there is the introduction of Makiko a girl simply smitten with him.  Loved this because now we’ve got a Shinichi who has changed in so many different respects that it plays out a bit differently than what we even had at the very beginning of this episode.  On top of redeeming himself and his family there is a circulating theme that is building up and that’s his evolution and integration as a human parasite.

So much occurred here in 24 minutes and the pacing felt so smooth–  Shinichi’s father is put into the same frame of mind that Shinichi was last episode: a feeling of disbelief that a member of their family has been killed and resurrected by a parasite.  Talk about another tough scene to watch– the authorities disproving a monster had killed his wife and pushing on the idea that he hit his head and had some crazy thoughts.  This just illustrates the sheer level of frightening abilities these parasites can use to imitate humans–  just about anyone in this show can be one and we wouldn’t know it unless it was revealed to us!

There is also a downside to this that was displayed so effectively here–  Migi senses another one of his kind towards the end of the episode here and Shinichi automatically assumes it’s his mother.  Great way to bring in another tense cliffhanger!

OVERALL IMPRESSION: 10/10

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