Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls

As you know, I am always on the lookout for new anime to see and manga to read. I came across this manga, and I thought it was really funny. I had already read all the way through volume #1. It has quickly become one of my favorite manga series, featuring mythological monsters, also known as liminals, such as lamias and harpies.

An anime adaptation of the manga surprised me in July. I took a peek at episodes on Crunchyroll, and I found the series awesome! The series is about an "Interspecies Cultural Exchange" program in which all the monsters we have read about are real. The program also involves featuring the liminals as representative visitors. The liminals, like humans, also fulfill tasks. Lastly, humans and liminals must not harm each other. Kimihito Kurusu, a Japanese student, unwillingly houses six liminal girls as part of the program. But these girls are crazily in love with him: Miia the lamia, Papi the harpy, Centorea (or Cerea) the centaur, Suu the slime, Mero the mermaid, and Rachnera the "arachne" (spider creature).

I love Papi and Cerea; I think Kimihito and Miia's chemistry is starting to get genuine, even though she does try too hard. So all in all, I love every bit of this sexy fantasy comedy series.

Here is my 3/10 mangaupdates review for the manga and the anime is a direct adaptation: Fellow reviewer Dickegrobe already said all with his assent that the series has been assembled with a manga construction kit for beginners so i will keep the actual critique short and focus on what should be read instead. The avatar MC is the typical virgin wimp who gets all the "women" due to a deus-ex-machina as this is how porno/harem works while the readers objects of attraction are a quirky girl next door (the snake), a Yamato Nadeshiko (the horse), a tomboy (the bird), a bisexual temptress (the spider) and a Rei clone may have joined the cast too but i can't care to check as i won't waste any more of my time with this circle jerk nonsense that preaches friendship at first and to then give you random lesbian SM sex next. Harem is further a dead waste 99,5% of the time and the deconstructive Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei (9/10) should be the final word on it. A real romance would be Kids on the Slope (10/10) or Mars (10/10) while the satirical Love in Hell (8/10) proves that even ecchi can have it's place in the world. The Eisner winning Saga (10/10) by Image actually bother to have explicit man on beast-woman action in-between the gore and social commentary so even mock bestiality can work. So why does this sell again? Oh right the manga started out the exact same time a certain pony show got big on the web and thus filled a void in the marketplace so have fun with the copycats as even the author started a "spin-off". It may be minimally more readable do to less sexism while having better character designs but Okayado is now dead to me and i have my hopes up that a real mangaka will step in at some point to deconstruct the beast girls phenomenon as it grew out of control. Have fun with the unenviable Tenchi ending after 20+ volumes of vapid and unerotic nothing if you care to stick around or read porn by let's say Tanaka Yutaka instead.

Some animes are just perverted to be creepy. This is an entire other story. Yes it is perverted. But it's also really great and well done outside of the perviness.

Starting with a mistaken identity and continuing with cultural differences "Monster Musume" is a surprisingly cute anime with a fresh take on the harem cliche.

Add in creative ways to squeeze in lol-worthy "Fan Service" (though it does get over the top at times), clever monster introductions to the harem (to say nothing of their interactions with each other) and you end up with a very watchable anime.

Pros:

• Good cast of characters.
• Amusing ways to give the viewers "Fan Service".
• Silly in all the best ways.
• Amusing 4th wall humor.
• "Monster Manual" style species breakdown at the end of episodes.
• Consistent animation.
• Solid soundtrack.
• Fantastic English Dubbing.
• Multiple OVA's and Specials (with English Dubbing).
• Season two confirmed this year.

Cons:

• Ecchi moments get a little over the top at times.

This show is the first anime I ever loved and have since been watching many others just like this one. I'm a sucker for romance and this show has all the romance I could ask to see. The characters are great and the setting is cool for a harem series. I really wished that something similar to this could have happened in reality where one guy has to house a bunch of women and they all fall in love with him. It's a shame that this is all fiction but it's my kind of fiction to enjoy for the rest of my life. I'm great full to have stumbled upon this show and the many others that are quite similar to it.