I watched this one based on a suggestion from a friend and then running across a compilation of scenes from the show on Youtube. His synopsis wasn't a very detailed explanation, but the preview bits sold me on checking it out, and I'm so glad I did!!
**STORY**
Honestly I like the premise a lot. It's far more realistic than some and the show attempts to go in the same vein as M. Night Shymalan's movie Unbreakable. We're discussing what people perceive to be the supernatural, but could have a scientific explanation for it. The show doesn't try to push this theme too hard, but it makes for a good change of pace from time to time.
Now with a good premise like this, you could even explore a lot of the typical HS anime tropes with a fresh perspective. It does feel this was the initial idea, and exposition about the girls feelings is well-done with them coming to Tetsuo for advice at times. For me, the only reason this isn't walking away with a 9 or 10 is the dialogue was a bit bland. This could just be the Crunchyroll sub that made it that way, but it just seemed like rather weak dialogue for the characters. Still, the show pulls through and delivers a solid first season. Very glad I gave this a try! What does this have to do with Monster Musume?
**ART**
I'm not much of an artist, so I can only give surface-level critique. It looks good, but nothing seemed to deviate too far from the status quo. In my opinion, a 9 is a perfect score for quality, but you'd need something unique or creative in terms of style to get a 10. This is in no way a diss on it, the show looked great and it was quality work by talented people no doubt.
**SOUND**
I usually lump in the dub with this rating, but since I'm basing this on the sub I also have to factor in music. As far as sound quality, the voice actors seemed great and their voices suited the character designs. The OP and ED along with incidental music wasn't bad, but it wasn't very noticeable either. Blended in, but didn't really stoke my attention. As I said, nothing was bad, just not remarkable enough to warrant anything past "good".
**CHARACTERS**
This section could get huge, but I'll keep it simple since I'm breaking it down for main characters:
-Tetsuo: Definitely a +1 to your typical harem male protagonist. He has a realistic purpose for existing and his interest in the girls is not shifty or weird. The "oblivious guy" trope gets overdone a lot, but being a science nerd (albeit a very BUFF one for some reason...) it makes sense.
- Hikari: Ok, yeah she's not THAT original of a character but you still love her to death. She gets most of the showtime out of the girls, but you still like her so it doesn't feel unnatural. Her situations and quirks seem plausible, making her a good character to explore and learn about.
- Kyouko: She's a nice character as well, though I will say she's the one who gets sexualized the most out of the demi students. Her breasts are WAY more prominent than the other girls and since she's a Dullahan, there are some things that get a bit questionable about how Tetsuo interacts with her (just..you know, laying a teenage girl's disembodied head in your lap), but she at least seems to have pure-ish intentions for a young woman. I don't think the hints at her wanting to progress a relationship with Tetsuo fit the tone of the show, but it wasn't egregiously racy.
- Yuki: The one who arguably got the least attention of the 3 demi students. She has the least explanation for her supernatural abilities, but she also seems to get little character development as well. She's also another super "polite" character, which Kyouko kinda falls under as well. Would have been nice to see her be a little more Tsundere (being a snow woman, figured that's a good pun), but she's still likeable. Maybe with more screen time she could get developed better.
- Sakie: Ok, I feel they just really hit it outta the park with this character (and it's not her succubus powers influencing this!!). While the dream power she has is rather implausible, the intense aphrodisiac effect she has seems very plausible. The fact that she tries to conceal it with clothes and lack of contact is just perfectly done. They could have easily turned her into a lewdfest, but they didn't and she's just the perfect amount of sexiness to make her character believable as a succubus. The touch thing seems a bit overboard, but was done in a funny manner. I feel the "jiggle physics" gag was perfectly done, as it's something that most assuredly would catch a guy's attention and have that effect. Even up to the last episode, they kept this character very classy and could have gone overboard, but didn't. I'd have to say she's the best-written character.
**ENJOYMENT**
My metric for this is always "How hard was it to turn off?" and I can say this one was quite enjoyable. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole here. While some of the characters might have room for improvement, the music wasn't anything to write home about, and the dialogue could be vanilla at times, the show is funny and enjoyable to watch. I'm usually not a "laugh out loud" person, but this show made me choke on soda a few times mid-sip. The combination of everything is just very well done, like a quality cheeseburger...it doesn't need crazy flavors or outlandish ingredients to be good, it just needs to be quality ingredients with love and care put into preparation...and it shows with this anime. I watched the whole first season in two sittings. The first 8 in one sitting, then the last 5 after that. I liked it!
**OVERALL**
You can tell the people making this liked what they were working on. There's an endearing quality to the whole thing that's hard to pinpoint. Like with other great shows, it's something you just sit and enjoy. It's not trying to throw you narrative curveballs to feign originality or toss out tacky fanservice to cover a bad story/characters. It handles the content well, and even with the slight gripes it's more room for improvement rather than pointing out something that's "wrong". The most I could toss at this show as far as negativity, is that in some things it tried to be too "safe". Being quite honest, it's hard to find that unreasonable as their approach these days with how expensive and risky animating a series can be.
"So what does all this have to do with Monster Musume?" you ask? Well I saved this for the end because this is rant-ish but very relevant to Interviews with Monster Girls...I'm no prude and I'm honestly VERY anti-censorship because censorship is not a voluntary thing, that's forcing YOUR morals on others without their consent. I also watched the entire Monster Musume series a couple of times, so I did finish it and watched it more than once (the Crunchyroll TV version). So I don't want that series censored or for it to not exist, but please keep that preface in mind when reading the rest of my comments.
M.M. was basically softcore hentai and beneath that was SOME good writing, (will cover that in a review) but the focus for the show was the loud fanservice. The monster-ness of the girls was more along the tangent of getting to a girlfriend archetype than their actual differences from humans and how that plays out/exists. Not a literary sin itself, but more like misappropriated potential. If the lewdness was turned down, I would have liked M.M. a lot more. I also had the same problem with Ichigo Mashimaro, though it's to a much lesser degree than MM. There was much better writing in Ichigo Mashimaro but the sexualizing little girls was rather aggravating and bothersome to me.
Now here's where Interview with Monster Girls comes in. Here we have a great show that explores the concept with much more richness and detail, without over-the-top fanservice, and I certainly hope it explodes and is as successful as MM was, or maybe more. I believe both should exist, but it's annoying to see good writing get overlooked for lack of fanservice. BOTH should exist in this world, as the writers intended, but a series shouldn't have to toss that in to be good. I would feel awkward watching MM with ANYONE, but I'd feel comfortable watching Interviews with Monster Girls with nearly any anime fan. It's done in a classy way, and I certainly hope that it gets regarded for its good writing, and isn't hindered for its lack of lewd.
/RANT
