2/3rd Season Review: Interviews with Monster Girls!
While Vigne in Gabriel DropOut is by and far best girl of the season, I have got to give it to Interviews with Monster Girls to bring yet another amazing cast of comedic and interesting supernatural females to bear. Hikari is still just as hilarious and energetic and her “biting” moment had me cracking up. Machi terrifies me but impresses me by drawing several issues up that I never thought about not having my head attached to my body, mostly because I’ve never ever thought about not having my head attached to my body (see head papoose). Yukki is later explained to be a very sad character in her backstory of why she’s as anti-social as she acts. Sakie-Sensei is a comically neurotic ball of walking breathing unresolved sexual tension and draws a very interesting reaction from the other characters in general.
Per CmdrCluckCluck’s article, I’ll be addressing the show post-Episode 3, and his critique about wanting the show to address more serious topics has done just that. Each of the girls has had issues brought up that have been interestingly addressed and used to bring all the Demi-Chans together. Side note amazed that Microsoft Word allows “Demi-Chan” as a legitimate word. Anyway, the Demi-Chans overall band together after Yukki is the target of some gossip where she’s labeled as arrogant, when really her unknown nature as a Snow Woman has her paranoid (incorrectly) that she could potentially kill people in a burst of ice and snow. The result of this is she begins to open up to the cast and even in this most recent episode you find out she can be rather ecchi in her taste in manga.
Machi is revealed to be a very clever girl and actually ranks top 5 on midterm exams (ironically what I was working on in lieu of this article). The motivation for her is to achieve number one status is so that sensei notices her. Her social reactions as well as her existence as one of only 3 dullahans in the world seem to be laying the foundations for her emotional backstory but as of yet, we have nothing as deep as Yukki’s craziness about thinking if she was anything but a brick she’d bring about the next ice age. Although I do love how when she gets aroused there’s a giant flame boner complete with otherworldly sound.
For Hikari she has a few moments that seem serious where they assess the physiological and psychological components to drinking blood vs biting, where it’s drawn to be something in the realm of sexual, but also like eating (specific examples include gum vs tenderloin vs soft ice cream).She also has some sister discussions but continues to be an interesting individual that both garners attention from all cast members as the most energetic of the bunch, but also has her flaws. Specifically, that she’s a goofball and a bad student but still good at heart. I was almost disappointed she didn’t get a head pat for her good grades but I suppose that’s because I have a thing for adorable goofballs. Seriously though, I can watch this scene with her forever:
Finally, up is Sakie-Sensei who everyone seems to think will end up with Takanashi but I think that’s a flawed mindset about this show, and even what makes it very entertaining. He’s earned this nickname as “Iron Man” for being able to eschew the wiles of the cast members and I feel that’s very accurate. Except for Sakie, he views the demi-chans very appropriately (i.e. as students and a coworker), even forgetting that Machi was “developed” during a hug. But back to the point of the demi-chans having a backstory, it’s revealed by some police that Succubus tend to be the biggest trouble for law enforcement due to the nature of their aphrodisiac aura. Sakie seems to be only able to unwind in her mountain retreat of a home with a few beers and relaxing clothes. The next episode indicates we’re going to be able to get a glimpse of this some more.
So, this has kind of been just a synopsis of the events of the last few episodes but all in all I have to absolutely recommend this show. It’s funny, well timed, has a unique twist on standard genre cast members and will keep you laughing and interested for a while. It reminds me of the original concept of the X-Men and why X-men was such a popular show. In a documentary with Stan Lee he explained that the reason it was such a hit was that at its core it was about people who were different (mutants or in this case, demi-chans) in a timeframe where being different was not commonly embraced (high school). This show has managed to capture a lot of that for me and I think that’s why I both keep watching and keep enjoying seeing the demis become a more and more cohesive group. Now go out and watch it before a vampire and snow woman poke your severed head!