Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a flying pair of boobs in your face because for today's review we're heading into the world of ecchi anime. Monster Musume tells the story of some guy who jerks off a snake girl so that she orgasms in order for him to be released from her tight grip. Yeah, this is the sort of stuff ecchi was born for.
I'm not joking when I say that description I've just given is genuinely the first scene you see within this show and my reaction was the same as everyone else's, "What did I just see?" So, what's the show about? Well, basically, it's a massive harem of monster girls coming to live with a human dude. You see the events that occur for them to end up in his ever-growing household and then the every day life events that occur after they're there. It's far from a classy show but that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, for every plot driven phenomenon like Death Note it's good to have a more trashy show that tries to achieve appeal in the most basic form, breasts and comedy. There's not really much more to say about the plot because there just isn't one. This is your regular comedy ecchi show with some monster girls in. Nothing more, nothing less.
Viewing exactly how it goes about being what I've just said I have to say it does a very good job. At first I was a bit off put on the show as I just didn't get what it was trying to be but then it hit me, it didn't know either. It didn't care to know because this show is pretty much the anime definition of brainless fun to its very core. I can't say at all that it's a clever show but at the end of the day it did make me laugh a lot and I mean a lot indeed. It's hilarious and honestly the weakest parts of the show came when it tried to be something more than just a harem, ecchi comedy show. There were parts where it tried to be touching (not in that way, well... actually) or emotional but it didn't come off right at all. It was occasionally trying to be something it never was going to be. Stick to the ecchi jokes from now on guys and you have the thumbs up from me.
Being a harem show it's crucially important that the characters were on point for this show and I'm happy to say the were mostly. There are a couple of characters I personally didn't care for such as the entire Monster Ops: Neutralization squad which couldn't have been less interesting had they tried. I can't believe they got an entire episode to themselves and the ending features them. Truthfully though that's a rather subjective view. They aren't horrifically written, just not my thing. As for the main girls though they all score very well as they are all genuinely very different. To quickly skim through them we've got the yandere snake girl (Miia), the bondage spider girl (Rachnera), the fairy tale addict mermaid (Meroune), the lolicon bird (Papi), the miss proportioned centaur (Cerea), the "Ha, I'm inside you" joke catalyst slime girl (Suu) and the one no one really remembers (Lala... I think). We've also got the protagonist who actually has slightly more of a personality then you might think for a harem although that's a bit like saying the headache you've got is a slightly less annoying then you'd expect. The point stands still though, it's annoying. Similarly he really still doesn't have much going for him and so I'm not going to waste my time talking about Mr. Kimihito. Going back to the girls it's a bit difficult to go through all of them individually so instead I'll just briefly highlight the notable characters to you. Miia is best girl and if you disagree you're wrong. Who doesn't love a lamia-like snake girl who goes bat shit crazy every time some even tries to get near her "DAARRRLLINNG!" She says that a lot by the way. I also really like Mero as her two faced attitude can make for some really funny moments. The way she manipulates Miia into thinking she's helping her get close to Kurusu but in reality she's getting herself closer is funny too. It's even funnier when Miia realises what's going on. Outside of these two though no one really appealed to me. To its credit though I liked all the girls at least enough to support them which is very rare in a harem. Kudos for that I guess.
One thing I have to give this show huge credit for is its artistic merit. A lot of harems that I've seen are very lazy and ecchis even more so but there's no evidence of this here. It's a very good looking show which will keep you engaged visually for the entirety of its season. There are a lot of vivid colours to take in and overall it's just a very appealing aesthetic they've chosen. Much can be said for the animation too. Whilst I've seen better animated shows in my time that certainly doesn't mean you'll be missing out if you choose to dive into this show. All the scenes flow smoothly, there's very little lazy animating (which is sadly becoming more and more common today) and overall it runs just how you would want it to. Very little to complain about on this front.
The opening of this show has very quickly attached itself to iPod music library and it's very obvious as of to why this is. The song is very catchy and fast paced, extremely suitable for the kind of show Monster Musume is. The visuals come and go at an equally quick pace but there's lots to look at and the opening is sure to get you into every episode as one should. It's also a really nice touch to have the voice actresses sing the opening. I know it's not the first show to do so (K-ON! also did this for example) but regardless it's a nice touch which raises the overall quality in my opinion at least. The ending is somewhat of an acquired taste as far as I'm concerned. I really didn't enjoy it too much and after 3/4 episodes I found myself just skipping it but I've seen a lot of other people really enjoy it so give a try at the least.
So then is Monster Musume worth your time? Well it's somewhat niche and I can't see this being one of those shows that everybody loves but it definitely has its place in the world of anime. I would think anyone into ecchi shows is bound to enjoy it but even the wider fan base of just comedies might get something out of this too. It's very funny and it achieves its primary purpose (to entertain) with flying colours. Truthfully the show does lack any description of a plot but I don't really think it would even benefit from one. The shows appeal is its characters and its humour which I feel is the right way to go for the kind of show it is. Monster Musume does the job it sets out to do well and for that reason I can recommend this anime even if it is with a hint of precaution.
Story: 6/10
Art: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Character: 7/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
OVERALL: 8/10
