Monster Musume no Oishasan

Your immediate impression may be that this is a shameless rip off of Monster Musume (2017). I wouldn’t blame you for thinking so - there’s a blonde busty centaur, bombshell Lamia, femme fatale spider girl, adorable cyclops and a lucky/unlucky teenage boy at the center of their attention. But there are several differences that set Monster Doctor apart from predecessors and make it stand on its own as an entry to the monster girl genre.

For one, Monster Doctor is explicitly about...you guessed it...a traveling doctor who specializes in monster health conditions. The episodes are dedicated to a medical case concerning a unique species ... that he cures through inventive means. There is almost always a specific goal that an episode will work towards, in contrast to OG Monster Musume that spiraled into random directions because the predominant focus was fanservice.

Another difference, and probably the most significant, is that Monster Doctor is bereft of nudity and does not compare to the degeneracy levels of its ancestor. You are more inclined to be invested in the health dilemmas of the monster girls - such as a centaur who is struggling to compete in arena exhibitions b/c of a hoof injury or a land mermaid who has respiratory issues related to her lack of water intake, than you are their “assets”. In examining his patients, Dr. Glenn does do so thoroughly (this is where the fanservice comes in), but these scenes are very brief in comparison to the rest of the episodes content and aren't so out of line for what a doctor would have to do in order to diagnose his patient.

I enjoy slice of life/romance narratives with a lead who is a professional in an industry. Dr. Glenn is a teenage prodigy who goes out of his way to diagnose and cure the ailments of monster girls who are otherwise neglected by their environment. His intentions are genuine and his knowledge is undeniable. You know precisely why the girls fall in love with him - less obvious in other romance anime where the reason is just “you’re such a nice guy”. Dr. Glenn is nice. And rich. And brilliant. His wife would be hitting the jackpot and all of his admirers know that. To me at least, he's the best part of this show and what makes everything work. Even if his personality is rather dry.

Monster Doctor isn't the best "waifu ensemble" harem. Which is to say, a harem that features a lineup of diverse best girls whom the audience will gravitate towards for any number of lewd reasons. The girls in this show are cute, but they aren't made the object of fanservice enough to be rule 34'd into oblivion and used as fetish fuel. You more so enjoy the girls in this show because they are extremely likable people and there's some catharsis in seeing likable people have their lives improved for the better when a nagging injury, illness is cured. I, for one, love the mermaid character Lulala and was so happy to see her specific crisis be resolved. The smile on her face was priceless.

Of course, this isn’t a perfect anime by any means and there are issues of varying degrees of importance. The animation is not particularly good, very little movement in general. Tons of static/panning shots that admire the character designs and environments. There isn’t much character depth beyond what you see in the introduction - they are more so types than individuals, though very endearing types they are. If any of these were improved upon it would take Monster Doctor from solid to very good-great. But as is the charm of this show getting to know so many different cute monster girl species and their predicaments. Following a MC who is NOT a buffoon that genuinely cares for their well being and gradually earns their trust.

It doesn’t surprise me that MAL has received this anime so poorly - there is fanservice (a no no for large sections of holier than thou MAL community), the concept appears merely regurgitated in a lesser form, and for the super lewd degenerate crowd it doesn’t push the envelope for enough to watch this with your pants off. But, for the audience that can see through these surface level criticisms you have a worthwhile monster girl anime that proves itself to be more than derivative of past successes.

When you think about it, Japan really does have their peculiar collection of anime genres and gimmicks in recent years. Isekai may be one of the most popular trend but there’s still room for monster girls. It’s Summer 2020 and Monster Girl Doctor steps up to the plate to show itself that it has room to be a fun, and perhaps even educational show, about monster girls.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, then you’ll realize that monster girls is still a trend in the anime medium despite not reaching peak popularity. One of the most well-known shows in the ... past debuted in July 2015 known as “Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou”. Recently, we also had a show called “Peter Grill and the Philsopher’s Time” airing in the same season. Is Monster Girl Doctor any special in its own way?

Look, I’ll be honest here. These type of shows are often advertised more as ‘want to see more? Buy the light novel!” Indeed, Monster Girl Doctor is based on the light novel of the same name. From start, we meet Glenn Litbeit, a man working in the town of Lindworm. Compared to everyone else, he’s an ordinary guy with skills involving medicine. And of course, his clients are mainly monster girls. He even has a trustworthy assistant, a lamia named Sephentite Nelkes who helps him with his daily work. In a world after a war from long ago, it’s quite pleasing to see two different species work together under the same wing. What’s also special about Glenn is about how calculating he is when working. Being that the clients he treat are monsters, it adds a level of complexity to his job. This ranges from treating simple injuries to complex surgeries. As you can imagine, it’s not easy stepping into the shoes of Glenn Litbeit. Thanks to his personality, Glenn is also a very convincing man, willing to do whatever it takes to treat his patients. This earns the affections from the female cast.

As Glenn’s childhood friend, Sephentite serves as an important character by Glenn’s side. Whenever the two work together, it’s shown that they take their work seriously even though they may not always think alike. A part of the show adapts their character chemistry and how a human interacts with a monster. Glenn’s interaction with the others also remains important with cases such as Tisalia, Lulala, Arahnia, Skadi, Llly, among others. It’s shown through his selfless personality that he is willing to go to great lengths to help them. Some of these girls develop feelings for him such as the case of the mermaid, Lulala. Don’t get me wrong though, this show isn’t about romance. It’s more about a fictional storyteller of the way humans and monsters co-exist in the present world. With each episode, it shows that different monsters behave different ways since the post-war environment.

Watching Glenn working convinced me that he is not only selfless but also seeks to improve the relationship between humans and monsters. Many of the girls that develops feelings for him sees him as someone to trust in, not just for his intellectual skills. From day one, you can see how much Glenn cares about his job and what he wants to do for his clients. Sephentite also knows this and perhaps a bit jealous whenever other female monsters get close to him. Beyond that, don’t expect much relationship development in the show. To my understanding, the anime itself isn’t really a faithful adaptation of the light novel and hence, this anime serves loosely as a story to focus on Glenn and his everyday life. Like I said before, if you want to see more, go read the light novel.

For a show about monster girls, this anime has its windows of fan service. In fact, whenever you hear Glenn treats them, it sounds more like sexual arousal with their moans and reactions. To further amplify the effect, we see how monster anatomy works for different species during treatments. It’s a glorified way for the anime to show fan service without any sex. And if you’re a fan of that, then there’s going to plenty of entertaining that awaits you. Indeed, the monster girls are also designed with sexual allusions such as mermaid’s body, arachnoids’ legs, and even lamia’s long slimy tail. Archnia is one of the more evident examples for using her silk to capture prey. Get it, capture? Glenn himself isn’t even safe when she has a plan in mind. Overall though, the animation quality by studio Arvo Animation is consistent for making every monster girl look unique.

This isn’t the first and surely won’t be the last monster girl theme show you’ll see this generation. Japan has a lot of nutty ideas for animation and Monster Girl Doctor is no exception. For a simple anime like this, it’s popcorn entertainment at best or an attempt at cash grab at worst. Somewhere in the middle, it’s watchable and I can even say it’s somewhat recommendable for anyone looking to watch some experimental fun.

Monster Musume no Oishasan is in constant conflict when trying to stage a generic story from several different genres, but which do not connect at any time.

The anime tries to do comedy, action, drama, romance and other things without an ounce of harmony. The universe presented has a very wide variety of species, and the use of multiple colors has helped a lot to add a difference between them. The best moments of the anime are reached when the protagonist Glenn is exercising his role as a doctor in this fantasy world. The anime seems to care a lot about this, so much so that ... the illnesses presented by all the characters are credible to a certain extent, it is a pity that the purpose of this service ends up resulting in embarrassing moments staged in a fetish-oriented way.