Food For Thought/Though For Food No. 7: Monster Musume.....Profound?

Hello everybody, and welcome to another Food for Thought/Thought for Food!

Don’t worry, this isn’t like my past six of these where I’m ranting & raving like a madman. This time around, I’m mixing the serious with the fun for this one. As you can tell by the title, I’m bring back Monster Musume for this one. As silly as it sounds, there might be more going on in this series about monster girls & fan-service than it’s fans think. Anyways, I want to try out a little thought experiment with you. Tell me what you see below.

If you answered a “Girl”, you’re obviously correct. Now look at this.

If you answered “Girl” again, you’re still correct! Now let’s change it up slightly. Look at this.

A few of you may have hesitated for a sec. This happens to be a good friend of mine, and as you can see, she’s a plus-sized cosplayer. A damn good one at that! Sadly however, some nimrods on the internet might not see her as such. Changes are they would probably describe her in more.....colorful terms. Regardless, if any of you answered “Girl” yet again, you’re thinking the right way. Now, let’s change it up a bit more this time. Tell me what you see below.

I sensed hesitation in some of you. Let’s try again. Tell me what you see below.

More hesitation. Let’s try one more time. What do you see below?

I sense an immense amount of hesitation.....and I can understand why. Monster Girls have always been a source of curiosity & fear in fiction, whether it’s from the West or from the East. Monster Musume certainly has a lot of curiosity and fear within it’s pages. How do I know? Cause I was quite curious & fearful myself when I once heard about this series myself!

When I had first heard about this manga from a friend of mine, I have to admit I was a little hesitant to start reading. Beforehand on my journeys through the internet, my experience with monster girls was.......unpleasant, to say the least. Especially when it came to particular species, I really never felt attracted to them, as I always thought they were.....ugly. I admit this freely! I thought monster girls were ugly! So, one day, I decided to bite the bullet, and read what was currently available from fan translations (The site I frequent for this series, I believe they were up to chapter 22 at the time). I don’t know if time passed by so quickly, or I was having too much fun, but I had read everything. Let me repeat........everything! I hadn’t thoroughly enjoyed a manga like this in a while at that time. The story was simple but cute (With a surprising amount of intrigue as well), the art was nice, the characters were fun, and the girls.....were cute & sexy! It really took me by surprise, and once it started getting printed in the US/Canada, I began to buy them almost immediately (Connecticon 2014 was where I bought the first 3 volumes). Yes fellow Otaku & Metalheads, my prejudices were completely gone when I was done.......and I’m wondering if that was Okayado Sensei’s plan all along.

For those who might not know, Okayado started doing hentai with monster girls, but it was never horror related or dark. Instead, he treated it as if it was somehow normal that extraspecies girls existed, and they would be with guys. A later version would come out, and effectively laid the foundation for the mainstream series that was to come. Called Monster Girl Report, the artwork became immediately familiar to those that would read Monster Musume later on, and many of the girls in question would also become rather familiar as well. Like his earliest material, Okayado made monster girls somehow normal in the world he created, and didn’t treat them like freaks. Finally, Monster Musume came out, and it painted an interesting picture. A world in which monster girls were quite real, but were denied existence until the Japanese government stepped in, and created an accord that allowed said girls to live alongside families in Japan. There’s still plenty of hurdles that have to be jumped over, but it seems that it’s working at the moment. So how does this involve shattering perceptions, prejudices, and opinions?

Simple! The world of Monster Musume is a fantastical world, and seeing monster girls basically everywhere is extraordinary, but the system that lets this happen......isn’t perfect. Despite monster girls & humanity existing side by side, the transition isn’t a perfect one. There’s still plenty of prejudice, human law can’t go after liminal criminals thanks to loopholes in the accord, and liminals can’t harm humans (And vice versa). Despite the incredible fantasy that’s involved, there seems to be a hint of realism involved, and at times allegories to racism crop up. Even if they aren’t hated for what they are, people sometimes look at the girls with glances that aren’t completely sensitive. It’s entirely possible that I’m reading a little too much into things, and I’m potentially seeing things that I want to see......but I swear that there’s something else gone on, and I got the examples to prove it.

Let’s start off with an early incident. In chapter 2, Miia & Kimihito are out in town, seeing the sights & getting Miia slowly adjusted to how humans live in modern times. It goes well for the most part, till the pair bump into 2 individuals, and said individuals immediately start to harass Miia. Getting angry, she almost slaps them with her tail, and Kimihito gets in the way so she doesn’t get in trouble. This in turn causes a small crowd to form, and they begin to take pictures. Getting embarrassed, the two make their way towards a safe spot, which reluctantly is a love hotel. They manage to make it inside, and for a bit they’re safe. Then....this moment happens.

This.....is a rather awkward moment. A day of happiness, ruined by two obnoxious jerks. To further the awkwardness, Miia momentarily thinks that Kimihito is only being kind because of the law. This causes her to get naked, and essentially leave herself vulnerable for Kimihito to  do.....basically anything to her. This hard to be hard for her. To essentially bare all because of fear. To Luckily, Kimihito was able to be Miia’s bearer of vengeance, as those 2 that were picking on them earlier happen to show up at the hotel, only for Kimihito to punch them into oblivion. After going home & getting patched up, she approaches Kimihito, and....well, take a look below for something rather heartwarming.

Next up takes place a little further into the manga. By this point we’ve got a host of girls at the house: Miia the Lamia, Papi the Harpy, Cerea the Centaur, Suu the Slime, and Mero the Mermaid. After a rather unsightly encounter with a creepy film director, we see said director retreat back to his dingy warehouse, and we also catch a glimpse of who would eventually become the 6th girl to move into Kimihito’s house, Rachnera the Arachne. After catching him on his way home from groceries, she then takes him to what might be the same warehouse as previously mentioned, and has her way with him. After finally getting down, Kimihito gets her to open up about why she’s doing what she’s doing. After a little bit, we get this.

This is actually a pretty intense moment. Rachnera, after an awful time at her original homestay & the duplicity of the situation, has come to dislike humanity. After a simple kind gesture from Kimihito (Another plus for Monster Musume: it knows how to use the right kind of comedy & kindness to reduce tension), she warms up to him. Maybe not every other person, but the fact that she opens up to one kind human, means she doesn’t completely believe in her own anti-human belief.

Next point is a little bit after this. By now we’ve got the main cast relatively in tact. 6 girls, and one guy. Things seem to be okay, until Kimihito receives a threatening letter from a sender who only calls themselves D. Realizing that he could be in trouble, the girls & M.O.N. take turns keeping an eye on him for signs of D showing up. On the 3rd attempt, we’ve got Centorea & Manako watching Kimihito’s back, and it doesn’t go exactly as planned. A devil named Lilith (Who oddly enough looks like a kid) shows up, and causes all sorts of trouble. Cerea gets the brunt of things, as Lilith hypnotizes her into being a little pervy with Kimihito. Things progress, till a wild boar of all things shows up. It manages to chase off Lilith, only for it to go after Kimihito instead! As a centaur’s charge, Cerea comes in and gives the boar a good beating. Though he thanks her for rescuing him, Centorea actually breaks down, and we get this dialogue.

This is......pretty touching actually. All throughout her life, she was raised to be a knight, and to protect her charge by any means necessary. With the exchange program, Cerea is given an opportunity to try something new and expand her horizon. Even when she became Kimihito’s servant, a new world was opened up to her. Sadly, it seems like the more she tries to learn new things, the more the old ways seem to come back into her life. After protecting Kimihito, she becomes incredibly insecure and immediately begins doubting herself. Luckily, Kimihito comes to the rescue, and offers his usual kind words of wisdom.

Finally, we come to a relatively recent point in the manga. At this point, we have a solid harem, and met numerous other main characters & side characters. It seems like Kimihito might finally have some peace, but per usual it seems, other girls come & chaos ensues. The first is a Killer Bee girl, who seeks out Kimihito as part of her plan to get back at Rachnera, and then a Mushroom girl found her way to his house due to Papi wanting her to be a friend. Those 2 situations were easy to solve, but the 3rd girl (Later discovered to be a vampire) took a bit of time to work on. Thinking the entire household was in danger, Agent Smith moved them to the most unlikely of places......an Interspecies expo (Think Comic Con, but with Monster Girls & Monster People).

In a move to find the 3rd girl, they had Kimihito act as a decoy for her by participating at a selection meeting for monster girls that require blood to survive. First there was a Leech girl (Be afraid), then a Mosquito girl with Gyaru looks, and finally a Lamprey variation of a Mermaid. During this time, Papi wanders around the expo, until she bumps into a rather strange girl, who’s later revealed to be the vampire. It’s discovered that Papi knew her by the group, and so they used her to try & find the vampire. It doesn’t work, and in the confusion of trying to find the vampire, Kimihito is kidnapped by her. Papi manages to find the vampire (Real name is Curie) later on, and perhaps one of the most touching moments in the series is shown to us. Spoiler alert: extreme moments of warm & fuzzy.

Papi is perhaps one of the most charming & adorable characters in Monster Musume for 2 reasons. One, she’s cute & fun-sized. She immediately induces the urge for people to smile, laugh, and even hug one another. The other positive about Papi is just how kind & friendly she is. She doesn’t care if you’re a boy or girl. Human or Liminal. Young or Old. Papi doesn’t care about the outside of a person. She looks inside instead of outside, and always cares for somebody despite her own memory issues. The world could learn a lot from this kind & caring harpy.

So what’s the point I’m trying to make with all of this? The point I’m trying to make is that....maybe we just need to treat people like they want to be treated. Maybe, despite ethnicity, religion, or even age, we’re all the same underneath. We all have the same colored blood, muscle, and organs underneath our skin & bones. The whole world is full of anger & hate, and if even a sliver of it was removed from the world, then maybe something is done right. Think about it: imagine if monster girls were actually real. Just imagine at how horribly they would be treated by so many hateful individuals. Imagine the horror if monster girls appeared in the United States! Given who the current president is, I hate to think what would happen. Maybe, just maybe, Monster Musume is a guide on how to be a decent person. Despite all the silliness & fan service, maybe it has a lesson or two to teach.
                               
So this was my 7th Food For Thought/Thought For Food. Covering a more lighthearted subject, I hope I made some kind of point with this post, and I hope I can actually do more sunnier versions of this series in the future. In the meantime, Halloween is next week, and I got an overview that’s just perfect for the occasion. See you then!






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If you’ve got the time, check out this interview from The Anime Man a few months back with Okayado Sensei himself. Much like Monster Musume, it’s creator is more surprising than you think.

Okayado (Anime Man Interview)