Review: 'Monster Musume'

Anime: Monster Musume

Genre: Fantasy, Harem, ComedyAge Rating: Teen+Studio: Lerche, SevaMusic: Hiroaki Tsutsumi, manzo

Author: OkayadoDub/Sub: SubtitlesEcchi Level: Softcore - The first scene in the show is damn near a sex scene.

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Heard a lot about this from a lot of different places, so I decided to give it a shot. I was not prepared...

This anime is essentially about a human world and a monster world coming together. In the monster world, all of the human's myths about half creatures, half animals are true. The citizens of this particular realm come in all shapes and sizes of monster, from Lamia, to Centaur, to Dryder, to Orcs and Dopplegangers. Even Zombies aren't off limits here.

Anyway, the two worlds are now open to each other, and monster creatures have started coming to our world to visit, tourist around, and even stay through a system that allows them to live in a host house. The series starts off with the protagonist and his ward, the lovely lamia Miia. In a sense, it's a slice of life where this guy keeps getting more and more wards staying at his home. And I have to say right off the bat that this series definitely uses sex to sell. But unlike most anime, this uses it extremely well.

In his everyday life, Kimihito Kurusu did not volunteer his home to sponsor one of the monster girls in question, but the careless and dangerous Ms. Smith accidentally delivers Miia to his home, he's happy to help her out. And while he does get the pleasure of hosting the busty, loving half-snake girl... he also finds himself constantly in danger due to her wanting to please him and make him happy. Also, her dangerous, coiling hugs.

As the show goes on, more and more monster girls get put into his care and each and every one of them are are unique and awesome in their own ways. My favorite... which is a two way tie, wouldn't be expected by most. Then again, everyone typically has their own favorite among the adorable cast.

Honestly, I have never before seen an anime so blatantly use tits and awkward sexual moments to sell their story without it pissing me off. But this one surprised me to the extreme. It was funny, comical, adorable, and made me want to watch more. No character in general (except maybe Smith) irked me enough to not want to see them. They all have their own personalities that blend well with the stories, and the T&A moments are mixed so well with comedy that I couldn't help but love the anime.

The animation is awesome, as well as the music. And I can't say enough good things about the protagonist. Unlike many of the other protag's I've reviewed, Darling-kun (Kurusu-san) is actually an awesome guy who doesn't exploit his wards, and actually cares for him. If they need protected, he protects them regardless of his own well being, he cooks, and isn't put off all that much by Smith slipping on a banana peel and dropping even more exchange girls into his lap. At the same time, he tries to avoid any sexual encounters due to the law forbidding it. Seeing a guy at the front of an anime with this level of a head is actually refreshing.

Near the end of the season, it gets a bit darker, but that doesn't stop the hilarity from coming. The show's pacing is set really well (although there are a few episodes where it seems to have two completely different story lines squished together), and the realistic situations they find themselves in are both believable and intense at some moments, earning a gold star from me for being able to pull that off in a T&A fest like this. Basically, this anime set a new standard on the softcore ecchi level animes. No longer is it acceptable to use T&A to sell your goddamn anime. Now, it should be shown for a reason, and have a purpose to be there. If all you have going for your anime is tits, then it's a failure.

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TLDR: I fucking loved this anime. I don't often like ones with excessive sexuality, because that tends to be there to shift your eyes from a lacking story or characters. However, this one wasn't any of that. The characters, story, pacing, and even the sexy scenes were all hilarious and not at all out of place. So if you like some bounce in your anime, this is definitely a good one for you. If you enjoy action more however, you might look elsewhere because this is more of a slice of life than an action anime.

RatingsAnimation: 7/10Music: 8/10Story: 9/10Comedy: 10/10Overall Rating: 9/10

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SPOILER TALK. IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS, DO NOT READ PAST THIS LINE! ENTER AT YOUR OWN WILL!

Best Girl: Like I said, it's a two-way tie. Because I love Rachnera and Zombina both. Rachnera is the charming, sexy predator who you know would devote herself to you entirely. On top of that, she can make hammocks with her web! Zombina on the other hand, I adore as well because of her personality. Despite being a zombie, she's hyperactive, extremely adorable, and can take bullets to her body without any worry of dying. So yeah...

As for spoilers, there's not much to say here. I did find the whole scene near the end of the series with the toy truck a bit odd. The transition from a real-looking speeding truck to suddenly toy truck was weird to say the least. They could have easily just had an actual truck pass without incident, but ehh. Whatever. It was probably less awkward in the manga.

Oh! AND THAT FUCKING GODZILLA FIGHT WAS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I'VE EVER FUCKING SEEN IN AN ANIME TO DATE! If you haven't seen this series, then watch it just for that. It's worth the watch for that alone.