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This anime got such good reviews and high ratings that I, someone who is actually somewhat interested in psychological anime, felt almost bad giving it a measly 4. I'm sorry. Despite all the recommendations for me to watch this, I couldn't bring myself to say I enjoyed it. I got through it and that was about that. Oddly enough, it was an anime that proved to me that a series can have an intriguing premise... with ugly art, boring music, and straight up awful characters.

Story/ 7
The story was the part that I didn't mind. Overall, it was fresh and inspired. However, the answers ... to certain mysteries seemed so anti-climatic to me. For example, while watching, I was fascinated by what Shonen Bat ('Lil Slugger in the English version) could be a metaphor for. While he did end up representing something fairly thought-provoking, his origins just felt a little too specific and lame to me. The scene revealing his origins left me feeling unsatisfied and perplexed about the rules of this world. The story ended up being an awkward mix between realistic and complete fantasy. But, overall, the premise of Paranoia Agent was something new and outside the box. Satoshi Kon, the director and a writer, is known for his psychological stories and meaningful satires. Paranoia Agent solidly told a story about guilt and mass panic and I loved this theme. But the final execution just left the taste of disappointment. The plot just never managed to entertain me.

Art/ 4
I won't say the artists didn't know how to draw. Clearly they did and they had a wonderful grasp on anatomy and proportion. When I say the art was terrible, I'm speaking of the style. Yes, yes, clearly this is a personal opinion. But, honestly, this anime had some of the ugliest characters I've ever seen. Besides that, the color palette was dull with Maromi (the pink stuffed dog) the only thing that was at all interesting to look at in the whole anime. Many will not mind the hideous settings and characters this show had to offer. But, personally, the many unattractive characters put a damper on my experience.

Sound/5
Can't say much about sound because I recall very little of it. But the company and composer responsible for the music in Paranoia Agent are also well known for working on projects such as the acclaimed film Paprika. Considering that I liked the music in Paprika, the soundtrack in Paranoia Agent was likely decent. As for the opening, it was catchy and pretty famous, but it isn't anything you'll ever see on my iPod.

Characters/ 3
Oh dear, these characters. Where should I begin? First of all, out of the tons upon tons of characters, I can count on one hand the ones that ended up being of any lasting importance. That's not something bad, per se. We've seen this kind of thing in anime such as Death Parade. But for the sake of review, it causes me to take a pretty general view on the characters. And, in general, few of these people were likable. For example, most of the male characters were simply disgusting creeps. If aliens had only Paranoia Agent as their knowledge of humanity, they would think that the majority of men were sexual predators. We got a reporter who allowed children to watch porn, a dad who peeped daily on his daughter as she changed and chilled with prostitutes, and an otaku who also bought prostitutes to pleasure him as he fantasized about his anime figures (to make things worse, I am still not sure of this particular character's purpose). I understand that these characters were required by plot to have issues. But when most of a cast of characters have zero redeeming qualities, the show starts to become hard to watch. The only people who remotely interested me were Tsukiko, the creator of Maromi, and Maniwa, the young, spunky detective. At least both had lasting value and weren't scum. Although, if either of them got killed, I still wouldn't have been heartbroken. Finally, there's Shonen Bat, the boy causing all the damage. I don't want to spoil too much, but basically he's a terrifying child who clobbers those looking for a way out of their problems. Because of what he really is (explained at the end of the series), he has little characterization apart from violence and the occasional creepy grin.

Enjoyment/ 3
I know you're supposed to grade anime mostly on the plot but who can enjoy the plot when the characters are boring and the art is hideous? Anime is made up of many parts: writing, sound, art, and animation. If one of those doesn't make the cut, it brings the series down. Such was the case with Paranoia Agent. Satoshi Kon was certainly on to something with the story but nothing else was enjoyable.

Overall/ 4
I wanted to be nicer but, in the end, I can't say my feelings about this show were enough to give it higher than a 4.

Yu Gi Oh

Story/
Let's clear up some confusion. This wasn't the version dubbed by 4kids that you look back on with nostalgic fondness. No, this was the anime BEFORE that. The one that was actually more concerned with adapting the manga source material than selling trading cards.
This Yu-Gi-Oh anime (often called Season 0 because it starts from the beginning) followed the sweet, often bullied Yugi Muto. However, after he solved the millennium puzzle against all odds, and became possessed by a dark entity. This more serious, more confident "Yami Yugi" surfaced whenever normal Yugi came into contact with a cruel human ... being. Yami Yugi would then challenge the evil person to a game. And here's the kicker: rarely did he suggest a game of cards.

Nope, I got to see a whole sundry of games. And not just any games. The games Yami preferred were enchanted shadow games in which the loser was excruciatingly punished. Pretty dark, huh? I found myself really enjoying this aspect of the show. Egypt is known for its many games and "YuGiOh" itself is a pun that translates as "The King of Games" so dealing with activities besides cards really rounds out the story and gives it a bit of spice.

As a brief warning, the story did run out of funding before reaching a satisfying end.

Art/
I'll try not to judge too harshly since this anime was released some time ago. The art, frankly, left much to be desired, but at the same time didn't leave me wanting to gouge my own eyeballs out. The coloring was bright and gave the whole show an extremely cartoonish feel. The style itself was simple, but was decent all the same.

Sound/
I don't mean to this compare too much to Yu-gi-oh: Duel Monsters, but the soundtrack in this didn't hold a candle to the epic soundtrack of the Duel Monsters localization. The opening was entirely average, a happy number that was catchy, but failed to be anything special. The music used for Yami's entrance was upbeat which hardly suited his harsh character. I may be biased in my sound ratings since the English soundtrack used for Duel Monsters was so good (4kid's one glowing achievement) but who can blame me? I was simply disappointed by this Yu-Gi-Oh's music. Deserves a 4-5 rating. Guess I'll be generous. 5 it is.

Characters/
The anime's main protagonists were, of course, Yugi and Yami. The other main characters were Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu who you may know as Joey, Tristian, and Tea. There was also another character by the name of Miho who was a non-reoccurring character in the manga, but still added to the main group in the anime in an attempt to balance the male/female. The characters made for a fairly well-rounded group. With Yugi as the innocent main character, Anzu as the voice of reason and love interest, and Jounouchi and Honda as the tougher, yet comedic friends, I didn't feel like there was much missing. I even felt that Miho was unnecessary, but she didn't ruin the show for me. There were many silly moments concerning both her and Honda which got annoying but not too badly. Finally, I really enjoyed Yami's character. He was sly and harsh, but also caring and gentle when it came to his friends which was a mix of traits that made him so interesting to watch. He was a character who definitely helped hold my attention in watching this show.

Enjoyment/
I think back very positively on this anime. It ended pre-maturely, but it had a great thing going. I could rant forever about how this anime and the original manga were completely better in terms of story than the commonly known Yu-Gi-Oh. Rather than giving up a large part of the story for toy sales, this anime stuck true to what "King of Games" actually means; it was original. The potential of this story was so much greater than what the franchise has become. I won't bore you with a few ranty paragraphs. Perhaps, that's a video or blog for another time.

Overall/
Very nice for an anime released 1998. It gets a 8/10 rating from me and we'll let it go at that.

Japanese: Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu
English: Parayste: the Maxim

Story/ 9
Who knew that a story centered on a gooey, talking arm could be something other than silly and gross? On the contrary, Parasyte was something that held my attention and remained exciting throughout all 24 episodes. In short, the plot followed a 17-year-old named Shinichi who was only partially taken over by a parasitic creature. Basically, the goal of a parasite was to get into a person's skull and eat the brain before essentially becoming the body's brain itself. In Shinichi's case, the parasite only made it into his arm before it was stopped by Shinichi. ... Maturing quickly, the parasite started to eat and therefore gained control of only Shinichi's right arm (hence the parasite's name: Migi). Overall, the anime was excellently paced. It was not too fast or too slow for me and ended at a point that was satisfying. It had a few extremely similar scenes, (i.e parasite battles inside the the high school) but the story never became painfully repetitive. However, the ending did feel a little overly preachy to me like it was trying to beat me over the head with a moral. The eventual reason for the parasite's existence ended up being extremely cliché and didn't fit with how Migi described parasites to be: only concerned with their personal survival. Though, I wouldn't say the story ever entered major plot hole territory. My problems with the plot of this show are not major. They are like annoying little bugs. The pros far outweigh the cons. Finally, I completely recommend this title for fans of Tokyo Ghoul as there are many similarities.

Art/ 8
Loved it. The style was one that's nice on your eyes if that makes sense. The color palette leaned on the more realistic side (for an anime) and I can only recall one character with unnaturally colored hair. Despite that, the art was by no means boring. The anime does use computer generation for crowd scenes which threw me off as the CG contrasted a bit too much with the hand drawn parts but nothing looked horrible.

Sound/ 9
The opening is going down as one of my favorites! I watched it almost every episode and had it on replay for a week. "Let Me Hear" gets the viewer in the perfect mood for the show. The soundtrack for the rest of the anime was also very well done. The main theme was a melancholic number that was gorgeous and smooth. There is an electronic number for action scenes as well as a few bouncy background songs. This anime did not slack in the OST department.
(Fun fact: the opening is in English. Who knew?)

Characters/ 6
This gets my lowest rating for the simple reason that the only characters I cared about at all were Shinichi and Migi. I was really invested in both of those characters, but not a single other person or parasite in the show. Even the final villain was a generic, seemingly OP baddie out to crush the main character to dust. Character deaths only made me upset because they made Shinichi upset. In general, the protagonists were wonderful and they made me empathize with them. But, beyond the two main characters, no one else was memorable.

Enjoyment/ 9
Kiseijuu/Parasyte is an anime I was glad I found. It was the kind of show that makes you go "bed after one more episode" and then finish at 4am.

Overall/ 9
Good anime for anyone who enjoys action, doses of gore, and shockingly lovable talking arms.