Netflix has accomplished a tremendous feat by popularizing body horror. Despite being utterly hideous, the service’s most recent live-action anime adaptation is presently ranked ninth on the TV rankings.
Parasyte: The Grey is vying to be the most ambitious live-action adaptation of an anime series on Netflix. The original story describes how extraterrestrial parasites transform people into mushy shapeshifters with terrible mutations and tentacles growing out of every ligament.
Put another way, getting work off the page is a challenging task for any effects department. Based on viewership, however, studios Climax Point and Wow Point succeeded in doing so admirably.
Parasyte: The Grey is now ranked tenth among the most watched TV series on Netflix UK, only behind the somewhat more family-friendly Bad Dinosaurs. For something so far outside of the mainstream, it’s a promising indication, but South Korean productions have been doing quite well on the site.
The most prominent example is Squid Game, whose debut season utterly captured the imagination in 2021. However, there have been others, such Kingdom, Hellbound, and All of Us Are Dead. The fact that so many of these successes have a strong genre focus and include horrific themes like zombies and demons is especially notable.
Through that lens, Parasyte: The Grey is yet another success in an area that seems to only be growing. The Grey will have drawn in longstanding fans, since the manga was popular in the early ’90s, with an anime in the 2010s, followed by a pair of live-action films. All had their audience, but none to this degree.
If Parasyte: The Grey Season 2 happens, it’ll be interesting to see if it can maintain the viewership. Have a look at our guides to Parasyte: The Grey ending, and the biggest changes from the anime in Parasyte: The Grey if you want to dive even deeper.
