RAR: Interviews With Monster Girls (Review)

  • Thread starter TribstyAnn
  • Start date
TribstyAnn

TribstyAnn

Me.
Towns Folk
Interviews With Monster Girls is an anime by A-1 Pictures, based of the manga of the same name written by Petos. It aired January 7 to March 25, 2017. It was directed by Ryo Ando, written by Takao Yoshioka, composed by Masaru Yokoyama, with character designs by Tetsuya Kawakami. The series is available to watch on crunchyroll.com

Inteviews with Monster Girls has a similar premise to Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, which I also review earlier today. (You could call it a monstrous double feature. [I'm sorry]) It follows teacher biology Tetsuo Takahashi, who has an interest in demi-humas, or demis. Demis are monsters of old fairytales and mythology such and snow women (like Elsa from Frozen), vampires, dullahans, and succubi. They are very different from, their mythical counterpart, however, and Takahashi-sensei wants to learn about them and their ways of life.

This is probably the most realistic anime I have ever seen. This may sound wierd for a show about monsters living with people, but just hear me out here. The character in the show just seem so real. They way they interact just seems no normal and natural. They avoid many cliches and annoying anime tropes, and just function how normal people would. There were sometimes i thought that a huge conflict would arise from a simple misunderstanding, a common trope to build conflict and tension in anime, but was delightfully surprised to find out that this was never a problem. The character would just simply talk to each other and all misunderstanding was avoided. This usually happened in the next scene as well.

This show also does an artful job of displaying the differences between people and how they can be a good thing. As long as you're not trying to be hurtful, it's not wrong to notice someone is different than you. If you can have a good discussion and learn from each others differences, instead of stepping on eggshells around them, it can be a good thing. I could easily see the demis as being metaphors for race, gender, or disabilities.

This show can be a little slow and boring at times, but that also felt like it added to the perfection of the show. Instead of having gripping action, it has long scenes of people just talking, and learning about each other. It does a great deal to add more realism and immersion to the show. It's nice to see that something can be interesting, without having to have tons of action, violence or fanservice.

A lot of the show is also just interviews with monster girls. The title is very accurate, as that a lot of the time is just spent with Takahashi-sensei interviewing the different monster girls. And I actually really enjoy it. It's nice to have a slower paced show one in a while. It also really like learning about the creators interpretations on these monster. They differ greatly from their mythical descriptions, and it's very interesting to learn about what is and is not accurate to them.

Honestly, I don't really remember having any complaints about this show. There was one episode where a character was introduced for kinda no reason. He didn't really have a point, and his reason for being there, as well as his abilities were never explained. But this was a very minor complaint from a single episode, and did very little to detract from this show.

Interviews with Monster Girls isn't for everyone. It's slow paced, and dialogue and character development heavy. If you're not into that, or don't like slower paced anime, then this isn't for you. Though, if you want to slow down, and enjoy a calm and uplifting story then this is for you. This is easily an anime you could watch with your friends or family, if they are at all into anime.

Final Score: 9/10
 
Back
Top