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Shelf Life - Monster Musume


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Nadare Xizos



Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 115
Location: The Heero Hole
PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:15 pm Reply with quote
Yay, I'm not alone in my weird fondness for this series. I expected absolutely nothing from it, but happily devoured it, and even splurged for the limited edition (which I won't get until September 19th). I love that the show knew exactly what it was and had fun with the premise, going places I didn't expect it to at all. The little world building in the series is both fascinating and frustrating because I wish there was more, but it's just one more reason to read the manga. I also loved most of the girls, though I'll admit Mia and Rachnea were my favorites. I would love to see another season eventually. Smile
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BodaciousSpacePirate
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Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3018
PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:57 pm Reply with quote
I enjoyed Monster Musume, but I'm not sure I ever want to rewatch it again... I've felt the same about virtually every non-reverse-harem show, though, so maybe I'm not the best arbiter of whether the show is "Shelf Worthy".

For those waiting for the Collector's Edition, though, be aware that the School Live collector's edition is in the same boat. Sentai has really been taking their time with the limited edition versions of their releases lately.
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Mojave



Joined: 07 May 2017
Posts: 178
PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 2:49 am Reply with quote
BodaciousSpacePirate wrote:
I enjoyed Monster Musume, but I'm not sure I ever want to rewatch it again... I've felt the same about virtually every non-reverse-harem show, though, so maybe I'm not the best arbiter of whether the show is "Shelf Worthy".



Haha, that's fair, because I'm basically the same as you except in the opposite way, in that I pretty much never watch reverse harem shows more than once, regardless of how well-done they are. I'll rewatch normal harem shows like crazy, but reverse harem shows rarely ever hook me enough to want to watch them a second time. Ouran High School Host Club is the only exception to that for me, and it's making fun of reverse harem shojo shows, so I don't know if that really counts. So yeah, I think people like us definitely aren't the best arbiters of whether the opposite type of harem show from what we're usually hooked on is shelf-worthy.

I do love Monster Musume though, and think that it definitely is shelf-worthy. Lots of flipping tropes on their head or providing actual in-universe justification for them, as well as a lovable cast whose antics are pretty much always entertaining. I will say that I'm shocked that Gabriella reviewed it so reasonably, since in most of her reviews she usually takes a fairly hypocritical stance on male-oriented fanservice shows as opposed to female-oriented ones. Good on her for actually giving Monster Musume a fair shake with her judging criteria.
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jenthehen



Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 835
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:12 am Reply with quote
I just checked their site, and it looks like all the remaining preorders will be shipped by the end of August. I don't understand why it seems you can STILL preorder, though ... seems it would be out of stock by now if they're already having trouble fulfilling. :/
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ChibiKangaroo



Joined: 01 Feb 2010
Posts: 2941
PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 2:00 pm Reply with quote
I watched a few episodes of Monster Musume and could not go further. I think my main gripe is that the main monster girl is extremely annoying in her over the top mannerisms and I quickly tire of her accidental abuse of the male lead. Also, I do not find the main girl's character design to be attractive at all. Specifically, her cheek markings and ears look awful - almost as if they were thrown onto her design as an afterthought just to distinguish her a little more. A lot of the show that I did see appeared to follow the same recycled script. Self insert guy meets new monster girl, Miia goes on jealous rampage or accidentally chokes/squeezes him too hard, his face gets shoved in some massive boobs, he pretends to not want these monster girls around but someone "explains" to him how important it is for him to suffer by having a harem of huge bresated girls, Miia cooks something completely inedible and much fun is made of that, self insert guy learns something new about monster girl sexuality... and a few other things happened.

That was what I took away from it. There was very little ambition in this show. Yea, that's probably in large part due to the harem set up, but I don't think harem shows have to aim so low.
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Woody__alien



Joined: 01 Aug 2017
Posts: 19
PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:00 pm Reply with quote
Ah, MonMusu, the reason I stopped being a lurker on *chans, reddit and now even here. Smile In short, I enjoy it a lot.
Here's what I think: Okayado may not be the best artist, writer, monstergirl inventor or even smut peddler, but in my opinion he excels at putting together seamlessly slice-of-life, ecchi, comedy, emotional moments and total wacko zaniness. What I'm trying to say is, it always entertains me. Its world is surprisingly well-thought and the girls are for the most part not just giant boobs slapped on incongrous animal bodies, but each one of them is entertaining in its own right. And the MC, while obviously a blank slate, is at least resourceful, level-headed and caring, unlike most spineless, blubbering wussy MCs that infest anime nowadays (looking at you, Re:Creators).

As for the anime (the original Japanese version), it exceeded my expectations and became one of my favourites, so much that I was compelled to pre-order the OVA. How so? It is consistently on-model, well-animated, has good comedic timing, good coloring, great sound design, nice details that couldn't exist in the paper version (Tionisha skips instead of running!), and every single voice actress is spot-on to her animated counterpart (Lala going to over-serious death bringer to meek frail girl in 3 seconds was ace, as is Doppel's VA imitating all the others in the image song).

And as for the characters, I like the whole MON squad above all, and Papi and Rachnera for the main harem. Strangely enough I found series mascot Miia the least likable, for reasons other forum users already pointed out, and also because I always found her to be a wholesale rip-off of Urusei Yatsura's Lum Invader (come on, they even share a catchphrase!).
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leatherhead333



Joined: 15 Aug 2013
Posts: 1187
Location: Kansas
PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 4:21 pm Reply with quote
The monster girl concept is pretty much the only unique aspect of this anime. It's cool that they actually use it as much as possible for the comedy but it just wasn't my flavor. Plus you know, I'm not a fan of the rapey situations that seem to fall on the MC (and the girls in some cases). Always been a peeve for me when it comes to fanservice shows. Yeah I'm a prude Wink

Plus I feel the the "A Centaur's Life" takes a much more interesting approach as far as world building goes and making me actually care about where these characters live. I realize that it's a fanservice comedy but I still feel like more could have been done in that regard to keep it interesting. Even Highschool DxD had decent level of world building despite being an ecchi comedy with significantly more fanservice than this show.
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Punch Drunk Marc



Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Posts: 1750
PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 8:42 pm Reply with quote
Psycho 101 wrote:
Punch Drunk Marc wrote:


I was unaware of how man people didn't have their Collectors Edition. I preordered mine the day it was announced and got it before it was released in the streets. I wonder why people who ordered theirs in advance haven't gotten theirs yet.

I would love an answer to that question myself as I sit here waiting for mine. My now 2 week late birthday gift. Also waiting for the Fatal Fury movie BR. Also a 2 week late birthday gift. Rolling Eyes At least the manga my gf ordered came on time to be given to me as a gift.


From what I've seen it looks like the problem is the distributor. Where did you preorder it from? I got mine through Rightstuf.
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dragonrider_cody



Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 2541
PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:39 pm Reply with quote
Punch Drunk Marc wrote:


From what I've seen it looks like the problem is the distributor. Where did you preorder it from? I got mine through Rightstuf.


Actually, the problem lies in the fact that Sentai received far more orders for these sets then they expected. Since the extras in the sets require a much longer lead time for production than their normal DVD and Bluray sets, ordering additional extras adds several weeks. So while a few thousand sets were available for the initial street date, more had to be produced just to meet the preorder demand.

Sentai's shop, Right Stuf, and a few others have been able to fill early preorders. Whether or not you have received one seems to depend not only on where you ordered from, but when you ordered. Some sites, like Amazon, have just pushed the street date back and won't be fulfilling orders until then.
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Punch Drunk Marc



Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Posts: 1750
PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:51 am Reply with quote
dragonrider_cody wrote:


Actually, the problem lies in the fact that Sentai received far more orders for these sets then they expected. Since the extras in the sets require a much longer lead time for production than their normal DVD and Bluray sets, ordering additional extras adds several weeks. So while a few thousand sets were available for the initial street date, more had to be produced just to meet the preorder demand.

Sentai's shop, Right Stuf, and a few others have been able to fill early preorders. Whether or not you have received one seems to depend not only on where you ordered from, but when you ordered. Some sites, like Amazon, have just pushed the street date back and won't be fulfilling orders until then.


So its basically Sentais fault for not planning ahead.

As big a hit as MonMusu was/is they should have been able to do a better job of meeting consumer demands when they announced the CE. Especially since they waited 2 years to release the series on video.
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jenthehen



Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 835
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2017 10:18 am Reply with quote
Punch Drunk Marc wrote:
dragonrider_cody wrote:


Actually, the problem lies in the fact that Sentai received far more orders for these sets then they expected. Since the extras in the sets require a much longer lead time for production than their normal DVD and Bluray sets, ordering additional extras adds several weeks. So while a few thousand sets were available for the initial street date, more had to be produced just to meet the preorder demand.

Sentai's shop, Right Stuf, and a few others have been able to fill early preorders. Whether or not you have received one seems to depend not only on where you ordered from, but when you ordered. Some sites, like Amazon, have just pushed the street date back and won't be fulfilling orders until then.


So its basically Sentais fault for not planning ahead.

As big a hit as MonMusu was/is they should have been able to do a better job of meeting consumer demands when they announced the CE. Especially since they waited 2 years to release the series on video.


I guess Sentai wants to make as much money as possible, but I'm still a bit irked they didn't just cut off preorders at some point in order to meet the orders on time instead of ... whatever they are doing (it seems like you can STILL order the set?)

What's the point of a limited/premium edition?
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dragonrider_cody



Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 2541
PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2017 10:38 am Reply with quote
jenthehen wrote:
Punch Drunk Marc wrote:


So its basically Sentais fault for not planning ahead.

As big a hit as MonMusu was/is they should have been able to do a better job of meeting consumer demands when they announced the CE. Especially since they waited 2 years to release the series on video.


I guess Sentai wants to make as much money as possible, but I'm still a bit irked they didn't just cut off preorders at some point in order to meet the orders on time instead of ... whatever they are doing (it seems like you can STILL order the set?)

What's the point of a limited/premium edition?


It's a collectors edition, not so much a limited edition. The point is that those who want to have a more premium release that looks good on their shelves will have a chance to get one. If they had simply stopped taking preorders, then the same number of people would be disappointed. The only difference would be that they wouldn't be getting a set at all with your suggestion, instead of just waiting a few more weeks.

It can be notoriously difficult to predict exactly how many copies to produce, especially when it comes to a much more complicated set like MonMusu. HOTD's collectors edition is still available after all this time, while Chunibyo season 1 and Persona 4 sold out very quickly. There are even extreme cases like Shiki's LE, which sold so poorly that Funimation just slapped a green S.A.V.E. label on the leftover sets and sold them at a much lower price. Online comments and streaming views don't always translate to physical sales.

I actually like that they now have better availability of their collector's sets, rather than limiting them so much, as in the case of Chunibyo and Persona. For instance, There's a good chance I would have never been able to buy Beyond the Boundary's PE if the print run had been much lower. I do generally preorder them quickly, but not always. I would rather wait for my copy of MonMusu, then to never be able to buy it.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15545
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2017 5:18 pm Reply with quote
As much as people are complaining about having problems with female characters on main character violence, I don't remember it in the end being that actually important. I think that it was early on especially the girls may not have understood their own strength, they may have even done something out of affection without understanding, and are quite apologetic, I thought they got better. The anime does pretty good in its theme of learning more about others and adapting to new situations.
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar


Joined: 14 Aug 2006
Posts: 16961
PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2017 7:23 pm Reply with quote
Punch Drunk Marc wrote:

From what I've seen it looks like the problem is the distributor. Where did you preorder it from? I got mine through Rightstuf.

Mine was ordered from Rightstuf as well. I didn;t order it myself, but it was done with my account aas a gift. I was just supposed to pretend to be surprised when I got it. At this point I WILL be surprised whenever I get it. Rolling Eyes I'm not making a huge deal of it with Rightstuff as I've only had this problem happen once before in all the years I've shopped there. It's just a bit extra annoying because it was supposed to be a birthday gift and not just some random purchase. it was also the main item I wanted for my birthday. I really didn't have much else I asked for beyond some manga to plug some holes in my collections or continue series.

Coincidentally the other item ordered, Fatal Fury the Movie BR, is also out of stock and I never got it either.
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Woody__alien



Joined: 01 Aug 2017
Posts: 19
PostPosted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 4:57 am Reply with quote
leatherhead333 wrote:
The monster girl concept is pretty much the only unique aspect of this anime. It's cool that they actually use it as much as possible for the comedy but it just wasn't my flavor. Plus you know, I'm not a fan of the rapey situations that seem to fall on the MC (and the girls in some cases). Always been a peeve for me when it comes to fanservice shows. Yeah I'm a prude Wink

Plus I feel the the "A Centaur's Life" takes a much more interesting approach as far as world building goes and making me actually care about where these characters live. I realize that it's a fanservice comedy but I still feel like more could have been done in that regard to keep it interesting. Even Highschool DxD had decent level of world building despite being an ecchi comedy with significantly more fanservice than this show.


You said it: comedy is subjective. And as for the "rapey" situation, they're mostly in the first part of the series, the one that got up adapted. But it's not like I was compelled to watch the show with the promise of "anime tiddies", actually I don't like pornography that much either but I took a liking to Okayado's short comics for the reasons above (found them more comedic and sweet than most).
Also, I enjoyed tremendously Demi-chan wa Kataritai/Interviews with Monster Girls which has pretty much no fanservice at all, because I found that it treated the characters and their struggles very believably, despite the overused middle school setting. And they are all so sweet! I probably would enjoy Centaur's Life as well.
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