Monster Musume

Episode 7

It's not difficult to figure out why Monster Musume has exclusively featured monster girls until now, but I couldn't help wondering about the monster guy side of the equation. Wonder no more, because the non-human dudes are here and they're, well, pretty gross. If all the guys in the monster world look and act like the orcs that appear in this episode, I suddenly find it easier to believe that all the girls want to jump in bed with Kimihito. Compared to the alternative, he's Prince Charming.

When a group of piggish orcs attack a doujinshi shop and take the employees hostage, the police realize that there's a major problem with the wording of the cultural exchange laws. As humans, it's technically illegal for them to use force against the criminals. Luckily, Smith and her team of gun-toting monster girls are on the case. After rounding up the orcs, the MON squad moves on to the case of a runaway spider woman who just happens to have kidnapped Kimihito. Our hapless hero's attempts to escape Rachnera's web aren't exactly successful, but the standoff comes to an end without anyone getting shot. The only problem is that Rachnera needs a new host family, but Smith has a pretty good idea of where to send her.

The MON squad makes a decent first impression, and the orc hostage crisis offers a nice change of pace from the rest of the series. It also answers the lingering question of how they go about arresting non-humans if inter-species violence is illegal in all circumstances. The orcs are a pretty sleazy bunch, but they're also an amusing jab at the show's target demographic. They are, in a very literal sense, otaku pigs. The four members of the MON squad have some useful and interesting traits, with a cyclops sharpshooter and a zombie girl who can soak up bullets without suffering any permanent harm. As a one-off story, the first half of this episode works reasonably well.

Of all the monster girls that have appeared thus far, Rachnera is the most monstrous. The spider half of her body is at least as creepy as Miia's snake tail, if not more so, and she doesn't seem to share the rest of the cast's desire to appear non-threatening. That first impression is important because it sells the idea that her original host family found her too unsettling to deal with. While the rest of the girls have settled in at Kimihito's house, Rachnera has the interesting perspective of someone who feels totally unwelcome in human society. That contrast is a compelling one, and it could help her stand out in the increasingly crowded cast in future episodes.

The problem this episode faces is that it has more content than time. Between the MON girls and Rachnera, Monster Musume is trying to introduce five characters in one episode. Those introductions are handled well, and the new characters have plenty of potential, but that's about all we get. The MON girls are limited to their physical traits and some off-the-shelf personalities, so it's difficult to tell if they're worthwhile characters or just an amusing concept. Rachnera fares a bit better with half an episode to find her voice, but even she is more interesting as a potential addition to the show than as a standalone character. It will take another episode or two to tell if the new arrivals are worth benching the core cast for a week.

Ultimately, this episode does more to develop the world of Monster Musume than to develop the characters that exist in it. We get to see how the government deals with the challenge of policing non-humans, and we also get a brief glimpse at what happens when a host family gets paired with a spider lady instead of a cuddly cat girl. Even if the new characters aren't used to their full potential, it's a detour worth taking.

Rating: B

Monster Musume is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Paul Jensen is a freelance writer and editor. You can follow more of his anime-related ramblings on Twitter.