(Contains SPOILERS)
Parasyte: The Maxim had a brilliant narrative that explored intriguing philosophies threaded into heart-wrenching storylines.

Migi and Shinichi's relationship was complicated and kept you guessing how one would influence the other. Would the Parasite or Humanity control Shinichis mind and decision (and I don't mean in a literal sense). The show sparked questions on what it truly is to be human, and his relationships with Murano and Kana delved deeper into this, using love and over human emotions to create powerful heart-wrenching scenes such as Kanas death. Yet it took a twist by developing characters such as Reiko Tamura and The Mayor. Starting off, the show leads the audience to believe that the Parasites are the enemy and must be stopped under any circumstances; Migi is a mere exception. Yet as time goes on, we discover there is a change due to Tamuras child, and humanity seems to be taking control of their emotions. Though maybe it is not necessarily humanity, but that the Parasites actually do care. More grey areas appear when the explosive and tense evacuation arch begins, where parasites and humans alike are shot down by police, this forces the audience to start questioning whether humanity really are the good guys. I believe this to be set in stone when we find out the Mayor is in fact human all along, despite there being clear implications that he is a parasite; he is working with them after all. This throws the final punch to blur the lines between what is good, what is bad and what it means to be human. Are the Parasites the bad guys, or are they simply trying to exist alongside humanity?

All of this makes for a thrilling and intriguing narrative which keeps us on our feet; at this pace it was entering the top tier of my anime list, yet unfortunately this pace did not continue, or rather the execution seemed to fall off.

The last few episodes seemed to lack that extra oomph that was needed, missing character depth as well as further expansion on the mystery and philosophy. To put it plainly, it fell short on the extra depth that was needed to produce a completely satisfying ending. Up until episode 22, the show seemed to run very smoothly and built up the pace rather well, however the last 3 episodes felt very disconnected from the previous ones. I liked where Migis character went, yet their revival seemed rushed and wasn't much of a surprise. In addition, Shinichis general story, his relationship with his Dad, Satomi and the overall philosophical narrative felt like they were missing a bit of extra depth. It seemed they forgot about many characters such as the Dad, the detective and even Satomi (until the very end). I believe this to be another reason for the disconnection in the last few episodes, it felt different from the other episodes as it missed these characters and satisfying conclusions between them. If the final big fight with Goto vs Shinichi involved other characters, further philosophical depth and maybe called back to earlier plot points in meaningful ways, I feel it would have been a more satisfying ending battle. Instead it involved new characters I felt we didn't need or seemed random (the old lady) and it just seemed a little rushed. The relationship with Murano was at least involved at the end and I liked that they used the murderer to further emphasise the evil of humanity, that was a good call back and use of existing characters. I believe the creators intended to keep mystery at the end and offer questions to be left, but overall it felt a little unfulfilling.

In conclusion, the end of the show felt complete in a way that was good, but not excellent. I really wanted the deeper philosophies it set early on to pay off later in a way that involved all the characters, as to create a more explosive and emotional execution of the final episodes that would have rounded off characters and gave more clarity to the points the show was trying to make about humanity and its flaws. This would have brought it into the Top Tier for me. However, overall it was very good and if executed slightly better, could have been up there with the greatest shows.

P.S...It also had one of the coolest and unique OSTs in anime...well done Ken Arai!