Project #248: Monster Musume

Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj and welcome to another edition of Ani-ween. MUHAHAHAHAHAHA! Coming to you live from the Principality of Jack located in the mid-eastern region of the Underworld at the lovely mansion of Souji and Jenna Jack the parents of Baron and Corbin Jack.

*A middle-age female Pyro Jack comes in carrying a plate of candy corn pie and an ice cone*

(Jenna): Sorry to disturb you. I know you’re about to do a review but here’s a nice snack in case you get hungry.

*Jenna puts the food in the table before Nitsuj*

(Nitsuj): Wow. Thanks Mrs. Jack. Candy corn pie. I’ve never seen anything like this in my world?

(Jenna): Oh than you’re going to love this. Fresh from the oven and everything.

*Nitsuj takes a bite and loves the taste of it*

(Nitsuj): It’s delicious. Thanks again for allowing me and the girls to stay in your mansion. Sorry if we’re opposing.

(Jenna): Oh nonsense. We love having people over and it’s so nice to meet the people my boys talk about so much. Not to mention your AI girls are joy to have around in the kitchen and around the house. Well, I’ll leave you to your review.

*Jenna walks out of the room as Baron and Corbin walk in*

(Corbin): Oh~ candy corn pie.

(Baron): I see mom hook you up.

(Nitsuj): That woman is way too sweet to have raised such perverted brats like you two and Heinz.

(Baron): It’s not our fault we take after our dad.

(Nitsuj): Your dad was a researcher, explorer, and treasure hunter who traveled all over the Underworld. In what way do you resemble him?

(Corbin): I have his body.

(Baron): I have his eyes.

(Nitsuj): Truly the apples have fallen far from the tree. Anyway, if I were to ask you to name a monster what would you say? Many of you would say vampires, zombies, mummies, werewolves, and even our current president. All are good answers but there’s a whole slew of monsters out there from European and Asian mythology that get overlooked a lot and need to be shown more. That’s why it’s a good thing we have Monster Musume. A series that really help shine the spotlight on monster girl mangas out. Getting started back in 2012 as a manga the series was created by the author simply known as Inui Takemaru aka Okayado who back in the day used to write and draw hentai doujins. In fact, Monster Musume originally started off as a hentai doujin where the series would follow the stories of a traveler meeting and mating with various monster girls. Okayado worked as the assistant for another artist named Naoki Serizawa the author of Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire. While Okayado said he loved working as his assistant he didn’t like a female coworker who made the place so unbearable for him until he said screw it, gave his notice, and decided to take a crack at becoming a manga artist himself. Having a deep love and fascination for monster girls he decided to make that the main plot and theme of his manga, getting rid of the sex, and just making it a borderline hentai series with lots of ecchi scenes. This was a brilliant move as the manga has received critical acclaim both in Japan and here in the west with Okayado himself coming over for an expo and saying it was one of the best moments of his life. In 2015 the anime studio Lerche who made it big after finishing up the first season of Assassination Classroom and were hard at work preparing the second season for next year, wanted to keep the momentum going strong for the year and aired three new anime to finish up the year. Surprisingly, all three of them were horror based anime. One being School Live, the other being Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace, and the final one being Monster Musume. Okay, that last one may not be a horror series but it has monsters in it so it has to count for something. This was definitely one of the most watched and liked animes of 2015 and even though it didn’t make my top 11 list that year, just know that it was close to making the list along with another anime I’ll be getting to this month. Let’s take a walk on the wild side and check out some sexy monster girls. This is Monster Musume.

Opening and Ending Theme

The opening is “Saikousoku Fall in Love” by the main female cast of the anime. The song is okay. It’s upbeat, catchy, fun, everyone has a part and sings it well. I also like how each of the singers has their own version of the song so if you like one singer over the other there’s a version out there of them singing it. While the song is okay I kind of got bored listening to it as the anime went on and by the 5th or 6th episode I was skipping over it. The ending “Hey! Smith!!” by Smith with MON and I love this ending. I love how different and in your face it is when compared to the opening. The opening is more upbeat, happy, and a notice me darling kind of vibe going with it. The ending actually has a grittier, rock, and badass feel to it. It actually feels like we’re watching a different anime. One that isn’t about harems but instead badass monsters kicking ass and taking names.

Episodes 1-4

So the anime begins with our main character Kurusu voiced by Junji Majima (Ayumu from Kore wa Zombie desu?) wrapped around a cute lamia girl named Miia (wow already in bed with her. Nice) voiced by Sora Amamiya (Akame from Akame ga Kill). Kurusu gets free by of course making her cum by rubbing the tip of her tail which is her g-spot (Kurusu rocks the g-spot. Kurusu rocks the g-spot. What’s his name? (Jack Bros.): Kurusu! (Nitsuj): What does he rock? (Jack Bros.): The g-spot). Yep, we’re in a world where monster girls exist (I envy this world). Apparently, the government has been keeping their existence a secret for some time (I knew it) but 3 years ago they revealed their existence to the world and passed a bill which would allow the monster girls to interact with human society (while you’re at it pass a bill to protect net neutrality once and for all). So far everything has been running smoothly as the monster girls have adapted to human society (having their own idol group and everything) and little changes have happened in the world. This leads us to Kurusu’s situation. Because of a cultural exchange accident done by Agent Smith (hey he finally made it out of the Matrix. And he’s a hot female agent apparently) Kurusu winds up as Miia’s host and has to adhere by the laws which is no harming or engaging in any sexual acts with her otherwise she’ll be sent back to her world and Kurusu will be arrested (how is he supposed to do it with a snake?). Kurusu is okay with the rules however Miia is madly in love with Kurusu since he’s the first human to treat her nicely and not be afraid of her and wouldn’t mind mating with him. In the second half of the anime Kurusu shows Miia around town where this ugly and ignorant couple make fun of her (do you really wanna piss off the girl who could snap your neck in 2 seconds?). She tries to hit them but Kurusu takes the hit because the law works both ways. A crowd soon begins taking pictures of her so they duck out into a love hotel where Smith and her squad busts in (oh hey you guys want in too?). As they leave that ignorant couple from earlier mocks Miia again (wow they love playing with fire don’t they) only this time Kurusu punches the ignorant man (thank you. This should have been done earlier). They return home where Kurusu tells her he’s not afraid of her.

The first half of episode 2 starts off with Kurusu getting kidnapped by our second monster girl Papi the harpy (who knew harpies were Mexican) and just like a birdbrain every three steps she takes she forgets what she’s doing. She’s voiced by Ari Ozawa (Kirin from Asterisk War.) Papi is an energetic harpy as she’s always wondering off on her own and doesn’t have a host family yet meaning she could get herself into serious trouble if the police catch her. While eating ice cream in the park (in the most sexual manner possible) Miia shows up and fights against Papi in the park’s water fountain (hey wishes do come true). Their fight is shockingly ignored for a girl who is stuck in a tree and Miia tries to save her but she accidently scares her and the girl falls out of the tree but luckily Papi is there to save her and Kurusu is there to break their fall. When an officer shows up (late as usual) he wants to know who Papi’s host parent is and Kurusu steps up and says it’s him but he doesn’t have the paperwork to prove it (busted). Luckily, Smith comes in with the paperwork and Kurusu becomes Papi’s host. At first Miia is okay with this because she thinks Papi is just a child but Smith says that Papi is the same age as Miia and she freaks out. In the second half of the episode we meet our third monster girl Centorea aka Cerea a centaur (obviously) who is pretty much the stereotype of Nordic people voiced by Natsuki Aikawa. She has yellow-blonde hair, pale blue eyes, the demeanor and language of a medieval knight, and very large breast (yeah that makes sense). Kurusu meets her in the streets where they run into each other by accident (like getting hit by a small car). We see that Cerea doesn’t have a host yet because centaurs have a tradition of going out, finding, and choosing a master of their own accord (yeah we humans have that too we call it flirting and dating). Anyway, the two work together and catch a purse snatching thief with Kurusu riding her and taking a sword slash protecting her (he dead) but the sword was a fake sword so it only left a small wound on him. After telling Smith what happened we find out that centaurs only allow those they marry to ride them (oh boy) and by riding her Kurusu has pretty much committed rape in the view of centaurs (what the hell man? I don’t even know that much about centaurs but even I know you’re not supposed to ride them). He apologizes to Cerea but it turns out she’s okay with this because she’s fallen for him and has decided to make him her master (and the harem grows).

In episode 3 it’s business as usual. The girls are all fawning over Kurusu and trying to decide who’s number one in the house. Their fight escalates in the park where Smith sees them and is about to tranquilize them but Kurusu protects them and gets shot instead (three darts is too much). He wakes up at home where the girls apologize and Smith tells him that the law is in the process of being revised which will allow humans and monster girls to get married and Kurusu has been chosen to test it out. That night unsure of what to do (well that’s easy go to town on the monster girls. Didn’t you hear, it’s all legal? Indulge your sexual desires) Kurusu hides in his room where Miia enters the room and begins acting quite provocative. And it’s not just her, Cerea and Papi are also acting provocative (though knowing Papi she’s just being herself and taking it to the extreme). It turns out that it’s a full moon tonight and the girls are more subjective to their instincts. Throw in the fact that they can now marry Kurusu and he’s uncertain with his decision making the girls feel anxious and you have yourself one horrible (but provocative) situation. After surviving the night Kurusu apologizes for being indecisive about his decision and tells them all he’s going to start dating them as potential marriage candidates.

In episode 4 we get to meet our fourth monster Suu voiced by Mayuka Nomura, a slime girl who is very unique because she can take on human shape (I thought all slimes could do that). She doesn’t talk much or seem to understand human culture so she just mimics what other people do. While she originally has the appearance of a child once she absorbs enough water she can get the body of a big breasted adult woman (wow, she meets your sexual preferences and everything) however if she falls into water she loses control of her form entirely (okay keep her away from the ocean and rivers. Unless you want to drown in the pussy. Literally). In the episode she somehow sneaks into Kurusu’s house and everyone except for Papi gets slimed by her (people who support blue stick together). While taking a shower with Cerea (not as hot as you would hope), Suu attacks and gives Kurusu a bubble bath massage with her body (where did she learn that? Also, since they don’t show nipples the anime is free to show her breast anytime they want. Take that censorship). Miia and Cerea suspect that Suu might be an illegal immigrant and tells Kurusu to turn her in for his own safety but Papi won’t let him since she and Suu have become good friends (as clearly seen by them having no lines of dialogue together and just playing Wii Sports). She grabs Suu and flies away where they land by the river and play with some perverted kids (man you boys are perverts). When one of the little girls is about to get hit by a truck Suu uses her body to protect the girl and almost falls into the river but Kurusu is there to save her. Kurusu than decides to take Suu in and not tell Smith about her. Once he arrives back home Smith is there waiting for him (Smith: Kurusu, you got some explaining to do).

Episodes 5-8

At the start of episode 5 Smith orders Kurusu’s house to be renovated for Suu since she’s allowing Suu to stay (she doesn’t want to handle the extra paperwork). The girls misread this and runaway with Suu to the park where she begins sucking the moisture off the other girls in a very sexual way (wow so Suu swings that way, https://youtu.be/ilfQf71T-y0). While out looking for the girls Kurusu saves another monster girl in a wheelchair named Mero (geez I wonder what she is) from crashing into a pole. She’s voiced by Haruka Yamazaki. After finding everyone they all return home where the new room is an indoor pool and it’s not for Suu it’s for Mero who’s going to be staying with Kurusu and is a mermaid (alright so we got 5 monster girls and so far the only one that seems plausible to bang from my standpoint is Papi. And possibly Suu). In the second half Miia is jealous that Kurusu keeps paying attention to Mero so she goes to great lengths to find out what she’s up to but they all fail. At the end Mero admits that she’s likes Kurusu but she doesn’t want to date him (oh well that’s fine) she just wants to have an affair with him (say what now?). Yeah, apparently in the Mermaid race the story of the Little Mermaid (the real one not the Disney one where the priest has a boner. I’m not kidding look it up) is very popular. So popular that now all mermaids long to have a relationship like it. A relationship in which the man they love is dating or marries someone else and they become his mistress on the side (so it’s like a mixture of neotare and vanilla. In other words, infidelity).

In the first half of episode 6 Miia is in the middle of shedding her skin (so they really are snakes) a very embarrassing act for lamias and because of the different environment and being stressed out she keeps shedding improperly. Luckily, Kurusu finds out about this and decides to remove her skin himself. As you would imagine shedding her skin makes her whole body sensitive and what should have been a simple task becomes an erotic situation. In the second half Papi is going to lay an egg (alright Kurusu got one. Only 4 more to go) an unfertilized egg (https://youtu.be/xs73-eVBu6I). A pervert/black market dealer hears about this (or rather was spying on them) and wants to make a video of it saying it’s for research purposes (and porn purposes because I have no doubt someone out there gets off on this). As they’re waiting for the egg the perverted dealer interviews the other girls asking them perverted questions and everything until his cover finally gets blown thanks to Suu who has the power to read minds (she just keeps getting better and better). It turns out the perverted dealer wanted to steal the egg since harpy eggs are quite rare and sell for 3 million yen (wow who knew Papi was a gold mine). Kurusu knocks him out but he escapes, Papi lays her egg which gets boiled by Miia (you just went down the list big time Miia), and we see that the perverted dealer is also a host to a monster girl.

We get another 2 stories in episode 7. In the first part a local manga store gets taken over by horny adult-manga loving orcs (so they do have male monsters. And just like normal men they too love porn). They take all the people inside hostage and demand that mainstream adult-manga be changed to orc x female knight plots as well as variations such as orcs x elves and orcs x sisters and break new ground with orcs x witch, orcs x teachers, and orcs x nurses (that’s a no can do buddy. What say I give you a 4 episode hentai video series starring you and your friends taking over a kingdom and banging all the hot knights, elves, and sisters. I’ll even let you choose the actors. As for the new ground we’ll talk about it in the meetings). Due to the Interspecies Bill the police can’t harm the orcs making them useless (well ain’t that a convenient excuse not to do anything) thus the mission gets handed over to Smith and her squad MON (Monster Ops: Neutralization. I would have called them M.W.A: Monsters With Attitude). MON is an all monster girl squad overseen by Smith designed to make sure people are following the Interspecies Bill and handling monsters who break the rules of the bill (humans can’t attack monsters but monsters can). Their leader is Zombina (can you guess what she is?) who is pretty much impervious to pain. The other members are Manako the team sniper who is also a shy cyclops who suffers from low self-esteem. Tio the ogre who takes a radical departure from the traditional ogre and is rather attractive, cute, and quite girly when not on the job. She’s the team’s tank. The final member is Doppel who calls herself a doppelganger but in truth she’s actually a shapeshifter (what’s the difference?) who uses her powers for infiltration making her the team’s ninja. Their teamwork is good as they quickly infiltrate the store, secure the hostages, and take down the orcs with no casualties. Once the mission is complete Smith invites them over to Kurusu’s house for a small get together (and with this Kurusu’s harem has gone up big time). In the second half we meet Rachnee voiced by Sakura Nakamura (who I have to admit comes in and just owns this role. Her voice is just perfect for this character) an Arachne who’s host family is that pervert from last episode. Rachnee believes that all humans are terrible people who care about no one but themselves (not all of us…just some). When she first came to the human world her host family was terrified of her so they illegally entitled her to the pervert who abused her for his own profit (I want to punch him). Once she hears about Kurusu she entangles the pervert in her webs (nice) and kidnaps Kurusu to prove her theory about humans being evil but to her surprise Kurusu isn’t afraid of her, treats her very nicely, and even gets a boner because of her sexy legs (that’s right, Kurusu has a leg fetish and for the life of me I don’t get it. Let’s test it out and see what happens. *Nitsuj goes downstairs and secretly stares at the bare legs of the AI girls doing chores around the house while getting a drink. To his surprise he actually gets a little flustered staring at them and runs back upstairs to sit down*. Hmm~, maybe he’s onto something). This seems to charm Rachnee but then MON shows up (its 42-42-564, let’s split. This is Soul Eater reference for those who are confused) ready to arrest her for assaulting the pervert (sometimes the law is so unfair). Kurusu believes they’re here to arrest him so he tells Rachnee to use this chance to escape while he gives himself up making her laugh and calls him a stud. Things get resolved peacefully with Smith apologizing to Rachnee for sending her to a bad family so she makes it up to her by letting her go home with Kurusu (there’s always room for one more in the harem).

The first half of episode 8 focuses on Cerea and Rachnee. Now that Rachnee is in the house Miia is very wary of her believing her to be a bad person (well she did some S&M play with Kurusu so she can’t be all bad) trying to get Kurusu (so is everybody in the house) but Cerea says she shouldn’t judge people based on their appearance. Despite saying this Cerea subconsciously sticks close to Kurusu all day to protect him from Rachnee’s attack (I do hope she’ll make his death quick and painless after they’re done mating). That night Rachnee attacks Kurusu in his room determined to make him hers but Cerea busts in and kidnaps Kurusu where she admits that she judged Rachnee based on her appearance but didn’t want to admit it because she knows what it’s like to be judged by others because of your appearance. After calming down a bit in the streets the obnoxious couple from episode 1 appear again (oh no) this time with their obnoxious friends to make fun of Cerea (God, do you guys have nothing better to do with your lives? Just because a law forbids interspecies from hurting you doesn’t mean it has to be followed). They hold Kurusu down and decide they’re going to play with Cerea’s big breast but just before they can Rachnee shows up to give them a good scare. She collects her spoils of victory and decides she wants to hit up a love hotel but Cerea stops her and finally speaks her mind making Rachnee happy (Rachnee might possibly be the one house member with the most common sense). Rachnee knew all along Cerea didn’t like her and she’s okay with it. Liking and disliking is a part of life it happens but pretending to like someone when you really don’t is being hypocritical (truer words have never been spoken) and something Rachnee will not stand for. They all head home with Cerea still not liking Rachnee but sees her as someone she can trust. In the second half Kurusu has caught a cold and the girls want to nurse him but Smith tells them to keep their distance out of fear that they could get infected with the cold which could cause problems for all monsters out there. Instead, she volunteers to watch after Kurusu (anything to get out of paperwork) but falls asleep 10 minutes later (slacker). Since the girls can’t get near him they decide to send the one person who’s immune to diseases to nurse Kurusu back to health, Suu (he’s screwed). Since Suu imitates what she sees they have Suu memorize their different medical remedies and perform them on Kurusu. Cerea tells Suu to check his temperature by using her head, Mero has Suu make a cold herbal bath, Miia makes white porridge using every white ingredient in the house (not sure how but that sounds a little racist), and when Papi teaches Suu to warm Kurusu with her body Miia and Cerea get jealous and use their bodies instead. Through their actions Suu does all of this to Kurusu and it only makes him worse (at least he got a good rise out of it). Seeing how their methods didn’t work Suu reads his mind where we see that she’s the reason Kurusu caught a cold. Suu snuck out on her own, got caught in the rain, had to take shelter, and Kurusu came to get her where he only bought one umbrella (that was dumb of him) and gave it to her to keep her safe. Suu then decides to use own methods which it just breast feeding him with water and that does the trick. At the end Kurusu gets better and Smith catches a cold (everything has come full circle).

Episodes 9-12 and OVAs

Episode 9 opens up with a shocker (Shizuku: In an anime about monster girls? What, is one of them really a boy? (Nitsuj): It’s much more serious than that). Kurusu is on a date with Smith (Shizuku: OOO! Woah, Smith and Kurusu. What are the odds? (Nitsuj): I blame her legs). While the two are on a date the other girls are tailing them, trying to get close, and figure out what’s going on. In order to make sure they don’t get discovered the girls disguise themselves using Suu’s transformation ability but each time it backfires and it leads to a very erotic scene where they almost get caught. When Kurusu and Smith enter a love hotel (in broad daylight mind you) Miia (making a shoutout to MGS) and Rachnee climb their way into their room where they get captured by MON (you girls get in line. First Smith, then the zombie, followed by the cyclops, the ogre, the shapeshifter, the spider, and if he hasn’t been milked dry and is still breathing the slime, the bird, the snake, the horse and finally the mermaid). They all gather together and Smith tells them that Kurusu received a threatening letter telling him not to marry anyone or else. The date was a plan to draw the writer out but failed so Smith decides to ask the girls to go on a date with Kurusu and draw out the writer. So in the second half Kurusu goes on a date with Miia and Mero (two girls at once? I respect his style) with Mero telling Miia that she plans to support Miia on her date since she doesn’t want to marry Kurusu she just wants to be his mistress (you are a strange mermaid). They go to the aquarium where apparently Mero is an honored guest and gives Kurusu and Miia free passes. We get a montage of their date where they seem to be having fun and enjoying themselves that is until Mero shows up to ruin the mood. They then go to the dolphin show where Mero is participating and Kurusu becomes captivated by her performance making Miia jealous and she walks away where she gets hit on by a dragon man (oh please you’re obviously female. This is a harem anime there can only be one male). The two hit it off well and the dragon man (woman) takes Miia on a boat ride where he (she) straight up tries to rape her but Kurusu comes to her rescue in a paddle boat. After washing ashore Kurusu gives Miia a necklace he was planning on giving to her and they find out that the dragon man is a woman (who may or may not be a lesbian). After interrogating her Smith finds out she’s not the writer and gives her a warning about going out on her own.

In the first half of episode 10 Kurusu is on his second date with Papi and Suu in the forest (hmm~, a man in his adolescent years camping in the forest with two girls with loli bodies…I’m calling the cops). This time Zombina is there to watch over them but she quickly gets crushed by a giant dryad named Kii (a nymph from Greek mythology/folklore who inhabits a forest or a tree. More than often an oak tree) who attacks the group and seems to be a friend of Papi. It turns out that long ago Kii was being rescued from some monster kidnappers but the car got turned over and Kii rolled out of it. Without dirt or water Kii was weak and wouldn’t live long however Papi saw her and planted her in the forest (you know despite being a birdbrain Papi might just be the most maternal out of all the girls) to keep her safe. Of course after planting her Papi soon forgot her (terrible) and it turns out the place she was planted is a hotspot for companies dumping waste. Kii absorbed some of the waste which turned her into a giant and now she thinks all humans are bad people (and given what’s happen to her it’s understandable why she would think this way). She attacks both Kurusu and Papi but they both get saved by Suu who absorbed the waste as well and has become big as well as intelligent (ahh~ it’s Suuzilla! (Shizuku): Well give them credit. It sounds better than the Godzilla video game from 2015). Suu says the only way to bring Kii back to normal is suck out the nutrients in her body (and the best way to do is by sucking her breast). Suu immobilizes Kii and both Papi and Kurusu suck her breast (there is no doubt in my mind someone is getting aroused by this. (Baron): I am. (Nitsuj): Where did your mother go wrong?). After much sucking they manage to return Kii to normal and she decides to stay in the human world protecting the forest. As for the waste, Smith got rid of it. Part 2 is Cerea and Rachnee’s date with Kurusu however Rachnee just sticks to the shadows leaving only Kurusu and Cerea to date (take a ride in the park). On the date Cerea feels worthless because she can’t do anything for Kurusu even though he’s done so much for her (she can’t cook, clean, or tie people up in bondage. Unless you can start showing some legs you might as well be as low on the totem pole as Miia). While she’s moping by herself a devil by the name of Lilith uses her powers to hypnotize Cerea as a prank (I’m beginning to think that devils are the Jokers of the monster kingdom) into thinking what’s the one thing she can do for Kurusu. Her answer, using her massive breast to seduce him in the park (well it is something the other girls can’t do). She snaps out of it when a wild boar appears out of nowhere and attacks both Lilith and Kurusu and she saves Kurusu from the boar. She then opens up about her worries and Kurusu says not to worry about it and instead of trying to do things others do, do things that only you can do. This makes Cerea happy and washes away her doubts and worries. Lilith gets captured by Rachnee where she calls Rachnee out on being a coward because she stays in the shadows whenever she goes outside (there are some things you just don’t do in life. One of them is mouthing off to an Arachne who has a serious S&M fetish). So Rachnee takes exception to Lilith’s comments and tortures her sexually in the attic where she becomes a slave to Rachnee.

In the first half of episode 11 we finally find out who sent Kurusu that threatening letter. After receiving a second threatening letter and no longer having any girls to take out on dates the girls from MON (minus Doppel) each decide to go on a date with him hoping to lure out the writer. During their dates we learn a little bit more about them. The first date is Tio the ogre who as I said before is a fresh new take on the ogre character. Despite her large size, strength, and intimidating figure she’s quite girly. She likes cute things, eating sweets, hot new bands, and shopping. The only problem is they don’t make clothes in her size because she’s so big (Kurusu work your magic). Kurusu tells her he can sew out the clothes she likes and make them bigger making Tio happy and even falls for him a little. He then goes on a date with Zombina who despite being a walking corpse (a hot one mind you) doesn’t seem to faze Kurusu. To him she’s just an average girl who’s a little crazy (but still zombie hot). The final date is with Manako (my favorite) the cyclops whose low self-esteem comes from her being sensitive about her one eye. She believes her one eye makes her an outcast in society because people are secretly afraid of her and show it by not looking her in the face whenever they talk to her. But Kurusu once again works his magic by showing that he’s not afraid of her and looks her directly in the eye. As the two are relaxing the mysterious writer finally shows up and they capture them only to find out it was Doppel the whole time (betrayed by their own ally). It turns out this was all a plan by her and Smith to progress Kurusu’s relationship with the others since it was going so slow (you could have just told him to take the girls out on a date). She admits to writing the first letter but the second letter she didn’t write and as Kurusu is walking home a mysterious character is following him from the shadows. In the second half of the episode we see that the mysterious character following him is a dullahan (the headless grim reapers) who has lost her head (what? You thought it was a guy? Get it out with your nonsense). Feeling bad for her Kurusu brings her back to the house (well the upside to all of this is she can’t say no) and along with a few of the others go out to find the head. They find the head in the park and we find out the dullahan is Lala a person who likes to use cryptic speech of the goth to speak and is voiced by Ai Kakuma (Rossweisse from Highschool DxD). After rejoining her with her body she tells everyone in the house that someone is destined to die soon and that person is Kurusu (well that’s nothing new, he almost dies in every episode. In fact, if this was the real world he would have been dead by the first episode).

In the final episode, the girls panic and try desperately to get Kurusu away from Lala (no that is a bad idea you’ll only just bringing him closer to his death) and sure enough they keep putting him in life-threatening situations that should have gotten him killed. After finally getting the moment to speak Kurusu tells everyone to calm down and says he’s not going to die and he’s right. Lala’s prediction didn’t come true (Lala’s talks of death are just ramblings. Ramblings of a gothic girl obsessed with death). Lala decides to stay at Kurusu’s house to observe him and since she shows no signs of having any affection for Kurusu the other girls allow it. In the second half Kurusu’s food money is in the red and with the addition of Lala, Kurusu no longer has the money to feed everyone in the house (alright, tell them to start working or eat one of them. Hey we’re all thinking it. They’re gonna need the nourishment. I say they go for the mermaid, she’ll put up the least struggle). He tries to go to the supermarket for food but its closed so they have to go to the shopping district where everyone is more than happy to give them food at a cheap price since they’re monster girls (and it’s a good business move). After stocking up on food Kurusu still wants to get some vegetables and herbs so he goes to the forest with Suu and asks Kii if it’s alright to take some plants (only in one episode and they’re already bringing her back as a side character? This looks promising). She says it’s okay but she doesn’t know which plants our safe and unsafe. Luckily, Suu is there and can tell the difference by tasting them however the toxins from the bad plants make Suu more honest with her opinions. That night they have a grand feast with Kurusu still having plenty of leftovers that is until Smith and MON show up to eat and we find out that Kurusu can just write his food expenses to Smith’s agency and they’ll reimburse him for it (which makes sense since he’s hosting them).

We get two OVA episodes that came out sometime after the anime ended and are based off of chapters from the manga. In the first OVA the girls have gained weight (and while guys might be okay with that, for girls, it’s the equivalent of an international crisis) and want to go to a sports gym to exercise. Smith (who was just randomly in the house. Why doesn’t she just move in?) tells them of a new sports gym for monsters in the works and invites them to test it out. The gym is being run by a kobold named Polt who gives them a grand tour and we see MON is there to the test facility as well (more characters, more fanservice). There’s really not much happening on the tour outside of a few fanservice scenes like Rachnee tying up Papi, Lala, and Suu in rope, we see the girls change, Polt licks Manako’s eye in order to get something out of it, and we see the girls in swimwear. The climax of the episodes come in the pool where Miia becomes jealous of Mero because Kurusu is paying attention to her. Miia challenges Mero to a race (well that’s just stupid) where Miia surprisingly gives Mero a run for her money and almost wins until her body gets cold and she starts to slow down and Mero also begins to slow down because the pool is chlorinated. Despite this the two still try to finish the race but Kurusu stops them and reprimands them for being so reckless (and besides, Cerea already beat them). They decide to call it a day and go eat where they regain the calories they lost (but they worked out earlier so they can eat feeling good about themselves).

The second OVA focuses on Rachnee (she’s one of my favorite girls so far so I’m okay with this). Rachnee receives a legal letter from her original host family saying they want her back but the only way they’ll get her back is if Kurusu agrees to it. Ren, the daughter of the original host family shows up to meet with Kurusu but he’s out at the moment (having guy time no doubt) so the girls keep her company where they test her to make sure she’s up for taking care of Rachnee and if her intentions are good. Despite her somewhat crazy personality she does seem to care for Rachnee quite a bit (she ate Miia’s food just to meet her, that takes real guts). We also find out that she’s the reason Rachnee got sold in the first place. While trying to make it into the attic, the ladder Rachnee was on broke and one of her claws hit Ren in the face. While it was a complete accident and Ren held no grudge against Rachnee, the parents feared for their safety and sold her to that pervert for money. Ren finally goes to meet Rachnee where she’s willing to go with her and everything saying she doesn’t care where she goes or lives. Kurusu finally returns home where Ren asks him to sign the paper handing Rachnee back to her family but he refuses (why? Dem legs. He’ll give up everything else but if you ask him to give up dem legs, dem legs are gonna win every time). Actually, the real reason why Kurusu won’t hand Rachnee over is because Ren views taking care of Rachnee as some trial or hardship. While it’s true Rachnee can cause trouble and be a handful at times, Kurusu has never once thought of her or any of the other girls for that matter as a trial, hardship or nuisance. He treats each of them as normal people and whether they bring him laughs or troubles he’ll accept them for who they are no matter what. Ren understands this and accepts defeat but vows to train herself mentally and come again (please don’t). Rachnee is pleased by this so pleased that she gets drunk from coffee (fun fact, spiders can get drunk from caffeine. I wonder what would happen if Spiderman drank some coffee?) and turns the house into her spider den while cuddling Kurusu because she’s so happy. This scene, says a lot about Rachnee’s character. Rachnee is someone who keeps a straight face and doesn’t let her emotions show not caring about what anyone thinks of her or caring about things herself. She’s fully aware that compared to other monsters she’s more unsettling to people and burdens them. But despite all of this she still desires acceptance from others. Rachnee was prepared to leave because she thought her presence was a burden to Kurusu but Kurusu stands up and without a hint of doubt proclaims that Rachnee is not a burden to him and that he accepts her for who she is no matter what. She finally passes out while still cuddling Kurusu and refusing to let him go. After that the last 6 or 7 minutes of the episode is composed of fanservice as our monster girls try on bras.

Final Thoughts

Man was this a fun series. I’m really starting to regret not putting this on the top list, it’s that good. The anime is funny, good, thought-provoking, has good fanservice, and creative. I love the various monster girls and their designs. I like how the author isn’t focusing on basic monsters we see all the time but instead focusing on unknown monsters we don’t see that often in media. All of them are great and each one has their own unique personality and character for you to like. Miia is kind of the basic girl of the group. She likes Kurusu the most of the group and won’t hide her feelings for him. Papi and Suu are seen as the kids of the group but they each have their own quirks that helps them stand out. Papi seems to be the most maternal out of the girls as she’s always looking out for others and helping them out. She made have a birdbrain but her caring nature for others is admirable. Suu is like a blank slate who is influence by the things around her and it’s cool to see how her surroundings are influencing her character and personality. I also like how she has all of these crazy skills and powers that are unpredictable. Mero was the weakest of the girls for me. While the whole twist of her wanting to be the mistress of Kurusu is interesting we all know she’s going to fall for him and want to be his actual wife. The signs are all there. Cerea was probably the funniest out of all the girls. I like how she has this female knight mentality but at the same time the heart of a maiden in love and trying to sort out her feelings. Rachnee as I said before was my favorite of the girls as there are just so many layers to her character. She’s the most monster out of all the girls and while she acts distant and pretends it doesn’t bother in truth, she desires to be accepted by her others, particularly the one she cares for the most and the way she’s handled is done perfectly. While Lala’s appearance may have been brief this season I do like what they’re doing with her character. Having her speak in cryptic language and try to be intimidating where at times she succeeds and at other times fail because nobody can take her seriously when she talks like that.

But the best character of them all has to be the main character himself Kurusu. This is one of the best male leads in a harem setting I’ve seen. I love how patient he is with each of the girls and how he openly accepts them for who they are. To Kurusu they’re not monsters, they’re all regular girls with unique quirks to them that makes them, them. I also like how he’s not afraid to throw down when someone insults them and can actually fight when he has to. It’s also great that he acknowledges the feelings of the girls and does his best to answer all of them. The side characters Smith and MON are great as well. Truth be told, I wish they had their own spin-off series where we followed them on their missions and stuff. The animation is great. The backgrounds are detailed excellently, and each character has their own unique design. Some of the body proportions may be a little exaggerated but it is an ecchi anime and these are monsters so their bodies are gonna be different from a normal human’s body. Speaking of ecchi there’s a lot of it in this anime so if ecchi isn’t your thing you might want to re-consider watching this anime. But to the anime’s credit the ecchi scenes are done well and the censorship was worked in so well that you don’t even notice it in the censored version of the anime. The soundtrack is decent, I didn’t really hear any songs I liked but I didn’t hear anything I hated either. It won’t leave that much of an impact on you but also won’t take anything away from the anime. If I had to name the two faults with this series it would be the basic story. It’s not bad, we follow the day to day life of Kurusu and his harem of monster girls but nothing else never really happens and I wish they added more substance to the story. It probably doesn’t need it but it would be nice if they did. The other fault of this series is the small lack of character development. We get plenty of character interactions but the character development between them could use some work. I want to see Kurusu and the others have different relationships with each other like this character is more open with this character, this character talks differently when around this character, etc.

Final Score

The final score for Monster Musume is a 7.5/10. This was a very good series that’s different from all the other harem anime out there and offers something fresh and new for the genre. So far Lerche has been quiet about a second season but with the growing popularity of the series I think it’s safe to say that a second season will be coming sometime in the future and if not you can always check out the manga for more monster girl goodness. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj as Ani-ween continues. MUHAHAHAHAHAHA-*A book falls from the shelf and hits Nitsuj in head which knocks him out and he falls face first into his candy corn pie*. This is really good pie.

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