Demi-chan wa Kataritai

After looking at the winter season line-up, originally did not select “Demi-chan wa Kataritai” (or “Interviews with Monster Girls”) the new anime based on the “亜人ちゃんは語りたい” comedy manga by Petos about a teacher fascinated by demi-humans who hopes to learn more about them now that three such demi-humans have enrolled at his school.

Even though the promotional video looked promising enough, felt apprehensive that the show would exhibit harem undertones which if not presented innocent enough or kept to the minimum required for character development and light-hearted comedy, might clash with the overall aesthetic of the show. For some reason, the possible teacher & student romance innuendo would feel out of place here.

Sure, there are plenty manga and anime out there with exactly such romance plots, but if pushed too far, it could make “Demi-chan wa Kataritai” as sleazy as “Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou”, albeit without the ecchi fanservice. After watching the three first episodes and being unfamiliar with the manga, must admit am still apprehensive the story might head in that direction.

Was nonetheless pleasantly surprised by the heartwarming, slice-of-life styled ‘teens growing up’ genre elements of “Interviews with Monster Girls” as well as the plethora of hilarious facial expressions and silly comedy by its main characters. Especially energetic Hikari and shy Sakie are a real hoot thanks to their goofy reactions.

Do hope that “Demi-chan wa Kataritai” continues on a moderate and benign course, focusing any romance subplots on the more innocent aspect of the girls growing up, instead of shifting to a more questionable ecchi approach of suggesting a possible harem.

With another core pillar of the story that of the girls facing challenges and misunderstandings due to them being supernatural creatures like a vampire, succubus, dullahan or snow woman, there’s plenty of room for good comedy as well as poignant character development. Most of the humour shown so far has been fairly run-of-the-mill and rather predictable though.

If the series continues on its path of providing laughter and heartwarming moments with silly shenanigans by its quirky character, then it may just become one of this winter season’s better comedies.
You can watch “Interviews with Monster Girls” on Crunchyroll.