Fall 2014 Anime

One night, small alien parasites rain down on Earth and burrow into human brains, taking over the bodies and feeding on other humans. One of them fails: it ends up in the right hand of 17-year-old Shinichi Izumi instead. The parasite, which Shinichi names Migi, can reshape his hand into blades and eyes, and the two are forced into an uneasy partnership, if either dies, so does the other. As more parasites hide among people, some hunting in secret and others trying to live quietly, Shinichi is pulled into a hidden war where anyone's face could hide a monster. Made by Madhouse in 2014–2015, Parasyte: The Maxim adapts Hitoshi Iwaaki's classic manga in one complete 24-episode run. It is a tense horror-action story that keeps asking a hard question: when Shinichi starts changing, and the parasites start learning feelings, which side is really more human?

Kosei Arima was a piano prodigy until his mother's death left him unable to hear the music he plays. Your Lie in April is a 22-episode drama from A-1 Pictures, based on Naoshi Arakawa's award-winning manga. Kosei was famous as a child as the 'Human Metronome', playing every note exactly as written under his strict mother's teaching. Two years after her death he lives in a grey, quiet world, drifting through school with his friends Tsubaki and Watari and avoiding the piano completely. Then, under the cherry blossoms, he hears a violin played with total freedom, and meets Kaori Miyazono, a passionate, unpredictable musician who drags him back onto the stage as her accompanist, whether he is ready or not. Through competitions, rival pianists and Kaori's own secrets, Kosei has to face the memories he buried and learn to play, and live, with his heart open. The series aired in 2014–15 and has become one of the most beloved music dramas in anime, famous for its beautiful classical performances and its emotional final episodes.