mono

The most important thing to know about Mono is that it's not the show it claims to be.

Sure, it might seem pretty clear from the outside. Just from the premise and first couple episode, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's a Cute Girls Do Camera Things anime about a video/photography school club exploring the intricate details of using a camera and the culture of cinematography. Similar to mangaka Afro's previous work in Yuru Camp, just with a lot more slapstick and expressive animation. But this is a facade that quickly melts away once you get past the introduction. No, what Mono actually is, is possibly the most self-indulgent anime ever created, an all-but-explicit Author Self-Insert fantasy that's constantly calling back to her previous iconic work while centering her obvious self-insert character as more of a protagonist than the supposed protagonist herself. This is a show about Yuru Camp's author living out her fantasy life, going out and experiencing what it's like to live in a Cute Girls anime and reminding us every other episode that she is, in fact, the author of Yuru Camp. That is the show you need to expect to properly enjoy Mono. Otherwise, you're bound to end up disappointed.

So how does this happen? Well, the ostensible main character of this show, high schooler Satsuki Amamiya, joins the photography club to take pictures of the senpai she has a major crush on. But when that senpai graduates and the club's on the verge of being shut down, she joins forces with the equally- abandoned cinematography club to form the CinePhoto club- a club dedicated to photos and videos of all kinds. And perhaps the first sign of something unusual is unlike most Cute Girls series, there are only three cute girls, not four. There's Satsuki, who serves mostly as a straight man, her best friend An who takes on the boke to her tsukkomi, and the deadpan Sakurako who's easily the best character in the show. Seriously, her ability to pull off the most ridiculous feats without so much as raising an eyebrow regularly leads to Mono's biggest laughs. I could easily picture a show focused on this eclectic trio getting up to shenanigans as they explore the ins-and-outs of taking pictures and videos with all different kinds of cameras.

But like I said, that's not the show we got. Because the first episode also introduces Haru-sensei, a layabout mangaka who lives in the girls' hometown and quickly becomes their unofficial fourth club member. She's lazy, easily distracted, prone to flights of selfishness, and could not be more obviously a self-insert for Afro than if she just went around calling herself Afro. Get this: she gets involved with the camera girls because her editor wants her to write a manga about cute girls doing camera stuff- just like the manga that Afro willed all their characters into. She talks about wanting to add cats to every manga she makes- so Mono also has a very prominent cat mascot. Meanwhile, the third episode is all about how her previous manga is getting an anime... and while the manga's name is never dropped, would it shock you to learn it's a manga about cute girls camping? And that the episode consists of of Haru driving the girls all around to the Very Familiar Places that show up in "Haru's" camping manga? With very obvious background cameos from five certain familiar girls sprinkled all throughout?

Yeah, it's not even trying to be subtle about it. Haru is Afro, her work is Afro's work, and Mono is way, way, waaaaaay more about her than it is the photo club girls. The picture/video aspect almost completely vanishes after episode 2, and the show becomes... well, Yuru Camp Version 2, basically. It's a travelogue of Haru driving the girls around to scenic spots around their mountainous town, taking in the scenery, exploring the local landmarks, and getting up to all sorts of shenanigans in which Haru is the primary agent. Haru gets drunk on tasting sake, Haru gets scared in a paranormal hot spot, Haru loses her shit after failing to taste local curry five times straight, you get the picture. And when the supporting cast starts expanding, it's mostly Haru's friends and fellow manga artists, not Satsuki's friends at school. She, An, and Sakurako are really just tag-alongs proving color commentary to the Haruno Akiyama show, only occasionally doing something related to their club activities as if to try and keep up the facade. And believe it or not, there's even more Yuru Camp cameos than the ones I already told you about!

If it seems like I'm annoyed at this... well, I am, kinda? What's frustrating with Mono is that the show we got is genuinely really fun, and if that was the show I was promised I'd have basically zero reservations about it. The comedy is great, the animation is possibly the best of the season, every single episode is exploding with top-tier visual gags and creative cinematography. As a travelogue series that takes the Yuru Camp "tour the pretty places" formula in a much slapstickier direction, it's basically flawless! I would 100% be down for the adventures of Not!Afro reliving her glory days and nakedly putting whatever the hell she wants into this manga just for its own sake. Self-indulgence doesn't have to be a bad thing in storytelling! There's nothing wrong with a writer making something just because it makes them happy, audience be damned. I've written enough fanfic in my day to approve that mindset, let's be real.

Except that's not the show Mono advertised itself as. Hell, that's not the show Mono pretends to be in its final moments! The last scene feels like a wrap-up to the club-focused series we never got, and while it's plenty sweet in its own right, it doesn't feel like an ending to the show we've spent twelve episodes following. And there's a part of me that can't help but feel... cheated, I guess? Why promise an entirely different show than the one you ended up telling? Why keep pretending that you're still doing that show when your priorities are so clearly elsewhere? Because the way it shakes out, Satsuki and her friends feel betrayed by the story they're supposedly the center of, pushed aside for the selfish whims of a creator who couldn't be bothered to build anything meaningful with them. And that sucks! They deserved better! Yeah, they're just fictional characters, but the few times we do focus on the CinePhoto girls are genuinely delightful, and it feels like a constant tease for a show we're never getting, a show that- quite honestly- would probably be better than the Yuru Camp Nostalgia Hour we got instead. Why build such a strong, lovable foundation if you were always planning to stick your house down somewhere else entirely?

I dunno, man. I can't pretend I didn't have a blast with Mono, and on a sheer craft level, it impressed me on a near-constant basis. Seriously, every CGDCT show deserves this level of animation polish and imaginative presentation. But that sour note of the show we never quite got is impossible to ignore. Perhaps that's faint criticism, in a way: "The only problem with this show is that it's not a better show!" But if you're gonna tease us with something better, don't be surprised if "pretty good" comes off as a bit of an insult in comparison.