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.
