Uragami
From Parasyte: The Maxim
Uragami is a supporting character in Parasyte: The Maxim, a human serial killer who, like Kana, can tell parasites from people at a glance. That gift makes him useful to the police and terrifying to everyone else: the story's proof that monsters are not only alien. He is voiced by Hiroyuki Yoshino in Japanese and Andrew Love in English.
About Uragami
Uragami is a human serial killer who can tell parasites from people at a glance, a gift that makes him valuable to the police and terrifying to everyone else. Grinning and remorseless, he is the story's proof that monsters are not only alien. When Uragami crosses Shinichi's path, Parasyte asks its darkest question: which of them is really less human?
Appearance
Uragami is an unremarkable-looking adult man, average build, short dark hair, ordinary clothes, which is precisely what makes him frightening. Nothing about him announces what he is; he could stand in any crowd in the series and pass unnoticed, by humans and parasites alike. His expressions give him away only in flashes: a grin that arrives at the wrong moments, eyes that stay amused while everyone around him is afraid. He looks like anyone, and that is the series' darkest point made visual.
Personality
Uragami is cheerful, chatty and completely remorseless, a man who killed for pleasure long before parasites arrived to give him an alibi and an audience. He is proud of his gift for spotting parasites and treats his work with the authorities as entertainment, toying with detectives and suspects alike. What makes him essential to the story is the mirror he holds up: a wholly human creature with less empathy than the alien in Shinichi's hand. Around Uragami, the series' central question, what actually makes someone human, stops being philosophy and becomes an accusation.
Background & Story
Uragami was a serial killer operating in Japan when the parasites arrived, a human predator already hiding among his own species. Captured by police, he reveals an ability no one can explain: he can look at a person and know, instantly and unerringly, whether they are human or parasite. That makes him a uniquely valuable asset in a war the authorities can barely admit is happening, and he is brought in to identify parasites no test can catch. When his path crosses Shinichi's, a boy who reads as something in between, Uragami's gift, and his grin, pose the question the whole series has been building toward.
Powers & Abilities
- Parasite Detection: Uragami can identify a parasite on sight, instantly and without error, a human ability as uncanny, in its way, as Kana Kimishima's sensing, and far more chilling in its owner.
Key Relationships
- Shinichi Izumi: The in-between case his gift cannot cleanly label, and therefore the person Uragami finds most interesting in the world.
Quick Answers
What is Uragami's ability in Parasyte?
Uragami can tell parasites from humans at a glance, instantly and accurately, which is why the police, hunting creatures no test can identify, are forced to use a convicted killer as their detector.
Is Uragami a parasite?
No. Uragami is entirely human, a serial killer whose existence is the story's argument that monstrousness is not an alien trait.
Who voices Uragami?
Uragami is voiced by Hiroyuki Yoshino in Japanese and by Andrew Love in the English dub.
