Having read the manga to this I personally didn’t like this arc as much as the previous ones– parasites gathering into one place and considering that there may be others out there what are their intentions? Hopefully we will see some OVA’s that tackle these new one-shots the numerous mangakan have been creating lately. I’d love to see Asumiko Nakamura’s one-shot animated.
Nonetheless, this is a decent beginning to the next arc– serial killer Uragami questions whether or not Shinichi is more than just a human and the background on this guy is nicely done. It’s dark and series writer Shoji Yonemura didn’t back off from including him into the story between the parasites pursuit of a suitable restaurant for feeding grounds. This first half is a lot more engrossing than its second half– too bad we couldn’t see more of Uragami throughout this series.
A back seat to the all the action we’ve had these past six episodes it’s good to see a flushed out perspective on the police investigation and their upcoming operation. Yamagishi’s headstrong introduction is just the backbone this new arc needs– especially with Harama’s redemption towards the death of investigator Kuramori. Shinichi is gradually getting back to normalcy and the track scene is a nice touch to settling things down for him– his emotions are back and as saddened as he is with everything that’s happened he’s trying to find some good in it.
The creators did a wonderful job here– balancing Murano’s relationship with him. She’s being supportive in any way that she can and Harama’s appearance at the school dismantles this completely. She’s being upset not just for herself but for Shinichi as well– he’s still learning on how to handle his emotions with Migi still a part of him. I’m certain director Kenichi Shimizu will adapt every bit of the manga but I’m curious about how the pacing is going to be from here on out.
Now that the stage is set within Town Hall in order to distinguish humans and parasites– Goto and the Minister will hopefully provide the intriguing aspect of these future episodes. It’s the overall impact and the delivery of it I’m a bit worried about with only 5 to 7 episodes left.
While the cliffhanger is expected it does give a sense of character development for Yamagishi as well as the other law enforcement that are apart of this operation. Yamagishi knows he might have to kill some humans to get to these monsters as he calls them. Sacrifice over the greater good but the question remains how much longer will Shinichi be able to take this?
OVERALL IMPRESSION: 7/10
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こんにちはアニメの友人 
This episode and the next have set up a horrendous situation for Shinichi and Tamiya’s words are coming back to haunt him now that it looks like that the authorities are willing to commit a massacre. It’s one of those ‘who is the real monster?’ scenarios.
Agreed. Something I neglected to mention in my post is how much the series has matured through its plot as Shinichi is gradually finding some level-grounded understanding of humans and parasites. The reason I say this is because at the end of the first half the scientists and enforcement treat these monsters as a comic relief: pulling the hair out to see if a human is in disguise but here we’ve got the heart of the matter where humans are setting up an execution for them. Comical that turns into realistic perspective on aliens and how humans should evolve from this situation of an alien invasion.
I don’t think the whole thing with the hair was comic relief, I think it was a fumbling attempt on the part of the authorities to detect the parasites and flush a few out, perhaps gauge the level of infiltration in society. How better to do that than start a public trend – which is pretty dangerous…
But yeah, the humans are turing into executioners and the parasites are looking vulnerable. “Dont bully us,” is what Ryoko said and that’s what’s starting to happen. Shinichi stands between two factions. What can he do?