Mitsuo

Mitsuo (ミツオ, lit. Mitsuo) is a supporting character and a minor antagonist in Parasyte, as well Kana's ex-boyfriend.

Appearance
Like a large majority of characters in the series, his design in the anime greatly differes from his original appearance in the manga. In the manga, Mitsuo is a large muscular young man, who has slicked-back black hair and a strong jaw line. In the anime, he has brown hair, stubble on his chin and wears a black hooded jacket inside a red mantel, and a dark-gray skullcap. He appears less muscular in the anime.

Personality
Mitsuo is easily aggravated and is quick to start fights, though it seems he deeply cared for Kana, as shown when he was crying at her funeral and attacked Shinichi for being unable to protect her. His feelings were hurt when Kana said she no longer cared for him and that leave her alone.

Also, Mitsuo does hold a hatred towards Shinichi due to the latter not only for not being able to save Kana, but he didn't shed tears for her death, causing him to be saddened and increase his dislike for Shinichi. When he tries to punch Shinichi for this and telling him he's not human, Shinichi angrily reacts by agressively punching Mitsuo's face, beating him to the ground and causing both his mouth and nose to bleed, as Mitsuo starts to cry.

Plot
Mitsuo is first seen beating up one of Shinichi's friends, Nagai, Shinichi then attempts to save his friend but is beaten up by Mitsuo. Mistuo is then told to stop by his girlfriend, Kana, saying she's starting to pity him.

Mitsuo nicknames Shinichi as a "poser" for trying to act like a hero. Mitsuo later knocks Shinichi out while walking with Satomi Murano and kidnaps her, intimidating Shinichi to try and fight him. Mitsuo, along with his friends, are attacked by a group of high school students, lead by Kamijou, that were friends with Nagai.

Mitsuo later starts to think that Shinichi banged Kana, and wants to "talk" to him. He brings Shinichi to the same spot where he last beat up Shinichi, and confronts him. He gets angry with the answer Shinichi tells him, and tries to fight Shinichi. Shinichi, who at this point, has gone through the stage of becoming stronger due to Migi's cells, and thus is able to overcome Mitsuo, ultimately embarrassing Mitsuo and showing him he is stronger than before.

Mitsuo later bumps into Kana on the street and notices that she's being eyed by Hideo Shimada. Mitsuo decides to fight him and brings their confrontation to a public bathroom. Shimada quickly lays Mitsuo out, and threatens him, stating that next time he'll end him. Mitsuo is later seen talking to his friend Yano, who asks what happened to his face. After telling him what happened, they decide to bring their gang together and jump Shimada. After school they confront Shimada and bring him to an abandoned lot to settle the score. Just before they start, Shinichi jumps over a wall and into the lot, telling Shimada to leave. Yano then tries to fight Shinichi, thinking he was trying to help his friend. After realizing they're outclassed, Yano tells Mitsuo and the rest of his gang to leave, which they do.

Mitsuo begins to realize that Kana has an attraction towards Shinichi, and thus stalks Kana and is heartbroken by her saying she never wants to see him again.

After Kana's death, he is seen crying at her funeral, when he notices Shinichi. Mitsuo follows him and becomes aggressive with Shinichi because Shinichi couldn't protect Kana. Mitsuo begins punching him, but upsets Shinichi by saying he isn't human, thus causing Shinichi to retaliate and beat Mitsuo down with a strong punch. While Mitsuo lays bleeding on the ground, Shinichi says that if he takes things any further, he'll just open a hole in his heart too.

Powers and Abilities
Although he possesses no superhuman abilities like those of Shinichi and the parasites, he is still a formidable opponent in his own right.

Due to his large build, Mitsuo often use his size to intimidate others. Along with his superior size, he possesses physical strength that, according to Migi, is "8 times higher" than Shinichi. Mitsuo also possesses endurance, shown to still maintain consciousness despite being badly beaten by Shimada.

In the anime: Despite having a smaller built than his manga counterpart, Mitsuo makes up the lack of physical strength with a form of martial art. His fighting style is mostly based around kicks, but still uses his fists when necessary. According to Migi, this makes his strength level "18" opposed to Shinichi's "10".

Weaknesses

 * Bad Temper: Due to his temperament, Mitsuo is quick to start fights with anyone that aggravates him by messing with his business or have anything to do with Kana. Examples of this includes being beaten by Hideo Shimada, and by Shinichi Izumi, twice.

Trivia

 * In the manga, Mitsuo was usually seen at school with Kana trying to talk to her, but in the anime series it appears he has either dropped out or possibly already graduated as he's never seen in his school uniform, unlike his manga counterpart.

Mitsuo