The word ‘Biology’ can have plenty of different meanings, especially to those who dedicate their lives to the study of it. For Biology major and current Biology teacher Tetsuo Takahashi, it isn’t the bottom of the ocean or the microscopic lifeforms inside our bodies that has captured his interest, but rather, the demi-humans. What may have always been considered fictional monsters in our world are part of everyday life in his world, even if they are extremely rare. Born as human mutations, these beings have their own unique quirks that set them apart from the dominant human population, and Tetsuo has made it his mission to study them and learn everything he can about them to develop enough of an understanding about them to benefit their lives as well as their ongoing relationships with human beings. By offering his counseling services to a cheeky Vampire, a shy Dulahan, and a frail Snow Woman, and by working alongside a Succubus coworker, Tetsuo seeks to change the world through his Interviews With Monster Girls!

Interviews With Monster Girls was produced by A1 pictures, so you should know the drill by now, this show is absolutely gorgeous. A1 has always had one of the strongest resumes of any production company that I’ve ever been aware of, and the fact that they hired director Ryo Ando is even more promising, because his body of work is just as impressive. True, this might be his only primary directing credit, but he’s had name attached to some genuinely well-regarded titles as an episode director, which may not be as elevated of a title, but directing even a couple of episodes of 86, Gate and One Punch Man is nothing to scoff at. He was still relatively new on the scene when he was hired for this show at the time, but A1 took a risk on him, and in my opinion, it definitely paid off.

For the most part, Interviews doesn’t look like the kind of anime that would require a lofty budget to be perfectly functional, and in a way, it’s not. This is a light hearted slice of life highschool comedy after all, it’s very dialogue heavy, and it could have gotten away with being extra cheap, and yeah, you do get your standard frozen key frames once in a while, but there’s also more than enough fluid motion going on while the characters are talking and interacting with each other that you might not even notice. In addition to this, there’s a special amount of attention paid to facial expressions, and each character has their own unique body language that informs their personalities and how they interact with other people. The quality of the animation does fluctuate, but I mean that in the best way possible, as less exciting scenes will utilize just enough money for the characters to appear alive, while saving the rest for when it’s needed.

While the quality does dip during such scenes, it never dips below the line of being, at worst, competent. On the higher end of the scale, you can get some jaw droppingly beautiful shots, like one towards the end where Hikari approaches Tetsuo on the beach, while a gorgeous sunset illuminates her from the background. There aren’t very many main characters, maybe a handful in all, but their designs are unforgettable. They follow a bright and cheerful, yet not quite garish enough to be annoying, color palette, and the handful of human students in the secondary cast look all right as well. There are a small amount of 3D visual effects, like the blue flame erupting from Kyoko Machi’s neck, and they of course look perfectly well integrated. This is a very pretty looking show, even if the school setting and school uniforms look a little on the generic side.

As far as the English dub is concerned, this title was a Funimation effort that was recorded under the direction of Jad Saxton, and they of course had all of the talent they needed at their disposal. Honestly though, the only role that really mattered, and the only one they objectively needed to get right, was the vampire girl Hikari, who plays a very important role in the dynamic between all the other characters. She’s energetic and full of youthful exuberance, and could easily be seen as the heart and soul of the story, or at least its mascot and vastly most marketable character on all the merchandise. Thankfully, Bryn Appril knocks it out of the park. She shines with all of Hikari’s enthusiasm and outgoing social energy. Her sister Himari is played by an uncharacteristically reserved Jamie Marchi, and the two have very relatable chemistry for anyone out there who has siblings.

One particular dark horse in the cast is Morgan Garrett as the adult succubus Sakie Satou, a lonely 20-something who is constantly at odds with herself over whether she can ever be able to engage in a real romantic relationship without worrying about the ethics of unintentionally using her seductive powers to tempt someone into into her embrace. Her approach to the character is the perfectly tight-wound bundle of nerves, just barely able to function in the throughs of her anxieties. Sarah Weidenheft and Terri Doty are also very well cast as the other two demi-human characters, but this material might not have worked if it wasn’t for Chris George playing Tetsu as such a kind and relatable guy, because he could have been a lot more boring in the wrong hands. Over-all I’d say it’s a really strong dub that I’d recommend.

Ever since I returned to writing reviews, there’s one thing about my taste in media that I’ve never been shy about admitting; I like creativity. I like to watch pieces of media that put forth some kind of crazy and unorthodox idea, and then they explore it from every possible angle, for the better or for the worst. One of the best kinds of story to try this with, and that lends itself to countless opportunities for creativity, is the kind of story where some supernatural element exists in the real world, giving any writer worth their salt an excuse to brainstorm and think up every possible detail of how said element interacts with the real world that we know. What’s especially bizarre about this sub-genre is just how consistently good it is. Most stories I’ve come across like this were, at the very worst, interesting enough to hold my attention. The only bad example I can think of is the Netflix movie Bright, which could best be described as A Centaur’s Life, but lazy.

Speaking of A Centaur’s Life, I kind of consider that and Interviews to almost be sort of spiritual counterparts to each other, as the approaches they take to the monster girl genre could be seen as yin and yang to one another. And I mean aside from the fact that one focuses on monsters while the other focuses on fantasy and mythology races. A Centaur’s Life is pretty infamous for taking a hardcore approach to world-building and social commentary, looking at not just differences in culture and racial inequality in the modern day, but throughout history as well, going as far as to create their fantasy world’s own version of the holocaust... It’s a really bold approach, to be sure, but the characters, who are likable, do tend to take a back seat to the bigger picture of the story. Interviews With Monster Girls does not go anywhere near as far with it’s concept as A Centaur’s Life does, but the trade off is that it focuses a lot more intimately on the characters, fleshing them out and making them feel like real, natural people.

And when I say it doesn’t go as far with its world-building and concept, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, or that it’s really leaving anything on the table. Interviews With monster Girls is very explicit about the fact that demi-humans are an extremely rare minority, so very little about their history or society had to be rewritten, and there really aren’t any new cultures to be constructed, which makes perfect sense for the story being told. In addition to this, the writing does have fun exploring the biological differences between humans and demis, and it’s in that little bubble that the creative side of this anime is truly able to flourish. How crucial is blood to Vampires? How does a Dulahan function while handling her head all day? How can a Snow woman control her ice? How true are all of the stereotypes about these very real beings, and how do they feel about the way they’ve been represented in fiction? Yeah, it’s a more restrained approach from what we saw in A Centaur’s Life, but I’ve always believed that creativity can thrive just as beautifully under restrictions as it can with absolute freedom.

Of course, like A Centaur’s Life, there are metaphors mixed within all of this, and there is some social commentary, but it’s not as blatant here, it’s a lot more subtle, and honestly, I’m not sure how intentional it was. There does seem to be one overarching theme to this one, that being how those who are born different are treated by a majority who aren’t like them. I’ll stop burying the lede here, I’m talking about discrimination, whether intentional or not. Now, I’m a white, cisgender male, so I’m really not prepared to talk about the struggles that women, trans folk or people of color face on a daily basis, and in the past whenever something like that has come up in a review I’ve tried to speak in really broad strokes to avoid exposing my own ignorance, but I am asexual and on the autism spectrum, so I do have some experience with being, as I would call it, different from normal people. I know what it’s like to be bullied and excluded, and I know how it feels to have this massive invisible barrier separating you from your peers. Thus, there are aspects of this series that I do relate to.

For one early example, Machi(The Dulahan) is talking to some human friends, and she makes a small joke about her head. Her friends act a little uncomfortable, not knowing what it’s okay to say, and they change the subject and move on. It’s later explained that it’s kind of up to her to set the bar and show them through example what it is and isn’t okay to joke about, which kind of reflects my experiences as an asexual. When I come out to people, I have to be prepared to explain what asexuality even is, and since I know people often use humor to familiarize themselves with unfamiliar concepts, it’s my policy to allow ONE plant joke. Yeah, haha, good one, but for real... Make another one, or compare me to a biblical eunuch(which has happened) we’re gonna have words. On a similar note, when Hikari says she’s totally game to answer questions about vampires, but starts to regret her decision as the questions get increasingly invasive, yeah, I’ve also been there.

Granted, the way this show reflects my experiences may not resonate with everyone, I’m sure there are people out there who found something in here that offended them in some way, and that’s understandable too. Using fantasy creatures as a metaphor for real world social issues is always going to be a double edged sword. For one, I’m very curious about how female viewers feel about the metaphorical side of Miss Saki, the Succubus teacher. I said before that I’m not a qualified expert on stuff like this, but seeing a female character have to dress down and try to make herself look less appealing to avoid setting off the uncontrollable urges of the men around her definitely feels like something more is being said. It makes perfect sense at face value, due to her Succubus powers and all, but she’s also drawn like she’s extremely conventionally attractive, so the lines do feel a bit crossed here. I am genuinely curious whether or not a female viewer would see this as an accurate reflection on their experience being sexualized by men, or would they be insulted by the insinuation that it's their responsibility to not dress provocatively in the first place?

Actually, you want to know who is way more of a succubus than Miss Saki could ever be? The main character, Tetsuo, because there is no being on this planet who has more unfair bullshit attractiveness powers than a fucking harem protagonist. To be clear about that label, this is not an ecchi show by any means... Most of the characters are not explicitly sexualized, outside of Kyouko’s occasional bath scene and quite a bit of fanservice from Miss Maki... But this is a show where one oblivious male protagonist is the center of the fucking universe for the entire female cast. True, only Kyouko and Miss Maki are shown to be in love with him, but Yuki(The Snow Woman), Hikari and her sister are shown to have crushes on him to some degree, or at the very least are shown getting jealous of the other girls or blushing while singing his praises. He is not an interesting character. He just happens to occupy the role of the kind, generous guy with common sense who does what the rest of the world should have been doing for years, which is prime fucking real estate for a self-insert, and of course the only reason he doesn’t reciprocate or even notice any other characters’ affections is so you can fantasize about being in his place and responding to your favorite fantasy waifu the way YOU would want to.

He is not an unlikeable or particularly annoying character to any extent, but the way he is written is so fucking transparent. Thankfully, he is not the main attraction here, because other than Miss Maki, who is written as a pathetic lovestruck simp, having fallen head over heels for Tetsuo simply because he happens to be good at pretending not to have fallen for her Succubus powers, the other girls are more than just harem tropes, they are very well written and likable characters. They have strong chemistry with each other, they go through very relatable struggles, and they are constantly generating memorable moments that are both heartfelt and funny. Hikari in particular is the standout, not only because she’s the most quirky and outgoing of the girls, but because she has this aura that seems to automatically ease the tension and lighten the mood of any situation she gets involved in. We also know the most about her, since she’s the first girl Tetsuo meets, they have the most natural dynamic, and we get to see the most of her home life, and her relationship with her human twin sister is probably the most charming material in the entire show.

Unfortunately, it’s really easy to put the whole monster girl gimmick aside and just look at this series as your bog-standard high school slice of life series where the main character is just a well meaning mentor to a handful of girls, with another teacher as his love interest, and while it may be above average for a series of that ilk, its actual entertainment value is going to vary from person to person. It’s a very light-hearted series with no real plot or stakes to speak of, and while I can easily see some viewers enjoying it just for the chill vibe as their comfy anime, it’s also really hard to not see that it can get a little boring at times. This is probably true for any viewer who can’t get on board with Tetsuo as some kind of studly mary-sue character whose only remarkable flaw is his tendency to see people as more science problem than human, who thus doesn’t realize just how irresistible he actually is to every woman around him.

One of the oldest genre assessments of all time, and which still holds true today, is the fact that comedy is subjective. What one person considers funny may leave another viewer feeling cold and unamused. Comedy also happens to be one of the most basic cores of a slice of life anime, alongside melodrama and lessons about friendship, and it's important for any given series to know exactly what brand of comedy is right for the tone of the material. Thankfully, I do think Interviews With Monster Girls made the right choice by avoiding more common fare like slapstick or ecchi humor, and focusing on more character-specific interpersonal humor, and as a result, it can be pretty damn funny at times... But humor is not its main priority. The main focus of the series is Tetsuo analyzing and explaining the girls biologically, and when it works, it can be genuinely compelling and engaging. When it doesn't work, it just turns into boring exposition that's hard to pay attention to, and the comedy... While funny on its own... Is not always strong enough to support it, due to a lack of variety that becomes more pronounced as the series reaches it's end. Still, these are mainly nitpicks against a genuinely funny and charming series.

Interviews With Monster Girls is available from Crunchyroll. A bonus episode taking place over summer vacation is included in physical releases. The original by PETOS is available from Kodansha comics and through Kindle.

All in all, Interviews With Monster Girls is definitely enjoyable for what it is. The actual monster girl side of the anime gave me everything I needed from it, the concept was explored about as far as I needed it to be, but on the other side of things, a slice of life anime with no plot or stakes, and no real driving force to the story other than a random conflict that gets dropped on Tetsuo out of nowhere in the penultimate episode, is going to hit each viewer differently. For me, there are parts of it that work... I'd honestly go as far as to say most of it works very well... but it also falters in just enough areas to just fall short of greatness. It's cute, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a lighthearted anime with likable and sincere characters, top notch production values, and a decent amount of depth as the cherry on top.

I give Interviews With Monster Girls a 7/10