Mono

Enraptured by her upperclassman Makinohara's passion, Satsuki Amamiya joins the Photography Club along with her friend, An Kiriyama. Enthusiastic, Satsuki makes Makinohara the primary subject of her photography, taking several pictures of her daily. However, once Makinohara graduates and leaves the club in her hands, Satsuki decides to start fresh and purchases a 360-degree camera from an online auction.

Although Satsuki and An's mutual passion blossoms with each new experiment, their club is in danger of dissolution due to a lack of members. They convince Sakurako Shikishima, the president of the Cinema Club, to join the newly formed Cinephoto Club. Accompanied by Sakurako and with the encouragement of their friend and manga artist, Haruno Akiyama, Satsuki and An continue to explore new places and capture precious memories they will never forget.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shikishima, Sakurako Main

Tono, Hikaru Japanese

Akiyama, Haruno Main

Ueda, Reina Japanese

Kiriyama, An Main

Koga, Aoi Japanese

Amamiya, Satsuki Main

Mikawa, Haruna Japanese

Komada, Kako Main

Kawase, Maki Japanese

Kurokuma, Torayo Supporting

Youmiya, Hina Japanese

Makinohara Supporting

Abo, Maria Japanese

Inomata, Fuuka Supporting

Amaki, Sally Japanese

Taishou Supporting

Abo, Maria Japanese

Haruno's Grandmother Supporting

Arai, Satomi Japanese

Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Producer

Fujita, Kisei Producer

Matsuoka, Kouhei Producer

Tanaka, Akira Producer

Reviews

Jun 28, 2025

Marinate1016

Recommended

So, has enough time passed for me to be able to say I like Mono more than Yuru Camp? I know that’s sacrilegious to say with Yuru camp’s prestige among CGDCT series, but I really had such an awesome time with Mono and connected with its characters in a way I never did with Yuru camp. Part of that’s because this follows a photography/videography club which I can relate to way more as a photographer than camping trips, but I also just think the cast is simply better here. An, Sakurako, Sacchan, Haruno sensei and Kako just have an amazing dynamic. Every interaction is ... comedic gold and they truly feel like a group of best friends trying to see the best that Japan has to offer. This was such a cozy watch and I’ll miss my girls.

Obviously everyone’s opinion will vary on whether or not this is better than Yuru camp, probably depending on how much you enjoy camping, but it really doesn’t matter. The show’s amazing and they both have their strengths. This season we actually got two travel oriented shows in this and Zatsutabi, while this one didn’t lean into the preparation, planning and execution aspects of travel like ZatsuTabi, it did take us to some really cool places around Japan where the girls got to experience a lot of the local culture, food and of course take some awesome photos. I really could just watch 100 episodes of the girls going to a different place every week and just trying new foods or making a video of them skating down a mountain. It’s such seemingly mundane situations, but they feel so fun because of this cast.

The supporting characters outside of the main trio were a riot too. Haruno sensei is basically a big sister figure to the girls, and her friends like the totally not Kuroneko ™️ influenced Kurokuma and the free spirited Kako, stole the show whenever they were on screen. I actually wouldn’t have minded a few more episodes focusing on just the side characters. Especially Kurokuma, whose recurring ghost gimmick was funny as hell. You have your obligatory Afro-sensei yuri teasing between Kako and Haruno which I enjoyed, they have a really sweet relationship and encouraged each other a lot. They’re both mentors to the girls as well and motivate them to pursue their dreams which I enjoyed.

My only complaint with this one is that for a series that’s supposed to be following a photography/videography club, there’s little focus on camera stuff! The first episode sets it up, the girls get an action camera and then it just sort of becomes an after thought. The girls will go to a place and explore and then at the end, if we’re lucky, they’ll remember to record it, but until the final episode of the season I feel like videography/photography wasn’t as big a part of the story as I’d have liked. Even with that though, I loved this show because of how good my girls were. They truly brightened my day every Saturday.

I have to give a special shoutout to studio soigné for the job they did here because this show had NO business having the levels of sakuga it had at times. I mean why the hell are some of the best animated scenes of the season, coming from MONO of all things! People often think of battle shonen when we talk sakuga, but don’t sleep on the wholesome slice of life stuff, there’s some great direction here that takes the show to the next level. The character designs look great and the voice acting is top notch with Koga Aoi’s An performance being my highlight.

We truly ate good this season with all the slice of life CGDCT series and Mono was a huge part of that. I’ll never be able to thank Afro sensei enough for this series, I think it connected with me on the level that most people connected with Yuru camp. I always felt kinda compelled to force myself to like that series as much as everyone else because of how loved it is. Not saying it’s bad or not good, but it didn’t hook me like Mono has. This was a special watch for me and I’ll definitely miss it.

Mono gets 9 cups of shaved ice, out of 10

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 3, 2025

FlowMAL

Mixed Feelings

Mono started with tremendous promise, captivating me with its distinctive premise centred around a “cinephoto club” (cinema and photography) and exploring intriguing photographic techniques such as 360-degree cameras and timelapse photography. This fresh concept, combined with occasional slice-of-life and comedic moments, initially set it apart and offered a unique and engaging anime.

However, as the show progressed, it gradually shifted its focus away from this promising concept and instead leaned heavily into generic slice-of-life territory, using photography merely as a backdrop rather than the main theme. While the slice-of-life content still had its charm, it lacked the spark the show originally promised. It felt like there ... was a significant missed opportunity, considering how strongly the anime had initially established itself in the opening episodes. I found myself wishing they’d returned to the creativity of the early episodes, which felt genuinely inspired.

This shift also impacted character development. The five main characters had distinct, lovable personalities with potential for depth, yet the show didn't fully utilise this. Conversely, the supporting characters were disappointingly two-dimensional and forgettable, significantly detracting from the overall appeal.

Comedy-wise, Mono generally offered average humour while occasionally providing genuinely funny moments. Many of the slice-of-life scenarios were enjoyable, although certain scenes, such as an overly drawn-out video call in episode 7, felt unnecessarily tedious.

Despite these shortcomings, the anime did excel in its music. The opening song was nice, and the ending song was great, complementing the overall mood of the series. The animation and art are also excellent, especially for such a new studio.

Overall, Mono is a decent watch if you're looking for a casual slice-of-life anime, but it falls short of its initial promise. Perhaps my expectations influenced this disappointment, but it remains hard to shake off the feeling that Mono could have been something truly special; it teased greatness but ultimately played it safe.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 28, 2025

Ionliosite2

Not Recommended

If I said that I'm disappointed with Afro for this show, then that would be putting it lightly. If you know me, you'll see I love Yuru Camp, it’s one of the CGDCT I use as a bar that others have to try to reach because of how great it is. Mono is extremely forgettable to the point I can't remember the name of its main characters except for Haru, and I remember her name, not because I like her, but because I think she steals the show, and I don't mean that in a good way.

When I watch a CGDCT, I think the most ... important part is the characters, since they’re completely based around them, there usually isn't a bigger plot picture but following these adorable moeblobs, so the way they behave, how funny they are, or even how visually appealing they can be are the key to make this kind of series good, especially because the theme used to start their interactions might not be touched heavily. The main girl in Mono, who joined the photography club because she was a fan of her senpai who was in the club, has so little presence she might as well be a side character in her own show, and her friends are not exactly more entertaining than her.

I singled out Haru earlier because she is the part I disliked the most about this show, she is basically Afro's self-insert: she draws manga and asks these girls to help her with it by going to different locations, so she drives most of the episodes' plot because the main characters stopped having agencies for themselves after about episode 2. Imagine if after Sawa-chan appears in K-On, she is the one telling the girls what they are going to do and where they are going to go across many episodes. I'm not saying you can't focus in an older character, Sawako had great episodes that were mostly dedicated to her, but seeing Haru is like watching Afro's blog but with moeblobs around her for her to order around. I mean, there's an entire episode about Haru and her mangaka friends complaining about making manga, her presence is just overwhelming in the show, it really isn't a surprise that the best episodes in the series are the ones where she is featured the least.

The photography aspect is also pretty ignored after episode 2, despite the fact that they keep going to locations where they could most likely take pictures, but they just not do it, there are some episodes that focus more on it later on that are actually kind good, like the skateboarding episode, but the photography club aspect is almost ignored most of the time. K-On is usually mocked by detractors pointing out that they don't spend much time doing music, but you can at least see them practicing for about 5 seconds in multiple episode, if this series was memorable I would surely pinpoint you in which episodes photographing anything at all was important, but being too focused on going to different places in Yamanashi following whatever Haru is telling them to do is clearly more important.

And as you might have guessed by watching it, this series is happening in the same city as Yuru Camp, so it has Yuru Camp cameos, to the point it's like this series isn't trying to be its own thing. Yes Afro, just shill your waaaay more popular manga here, because we clearly forgot about Yuru Camp and we need to see them some more here. Some cameos are more obvious than others, while in some episodes you can see them on the background, in some others they will have lines or be the punchline of a joke. Again, I love Yuru Camp, but this isn't necessary.

The biggest saving grace of this series is the animation, as when it wants to, it’s colorful, dynamic, creative and full of life, they really got a great team working here and I'm grateful for that, because I have seen series about visual creativity that looks like shit. It was made by a pretty recent studio, but some people working on it who are very much veterans, like Masanobu Nomura being the art director and he has been fantastic across the years, so it's not surprising that the quality of both the animation and backgrounds is great here.

Mono is, to my displeasure, a pretty forgettable series, I was really excited when it was announced, but I guess I'll keep myself to Yuru Camp, as this series kept mentioning and it is clearly the superior product.

Thank you for reading.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Mono Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Jun 28	103 replies	by Muow »» Aug 29, 3:43 AM
	Poll: Mono Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Apr 19	84 replies	by Treyv0n »» Aug 25, 6:30 AM
	Poll: Mono Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Apr 26	108 replies	by Muow »» Aug 24, 12:12 AM
	Poll: Mono Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - May 10	61 replies	by Tamer2002 »» Jul 31, 12:17 AM
	Poll: Mono Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - May 3	101 replies	by Tamer2002 »» Jul 31, 12:05 AM