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fun-with-colors · 6 months

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Random manga rec: Interviews with Monster Girls

Hey y’all, this is exactly what it says on the tin.

My icon is from a manga called Interviews with Monster Girls, which is a fairly short slice-of-life manga about a high school teacher in a world where figures from various world mythologies are actually real.

There are vampires, dullahans, snow women, succubi and incubi, oh my!

The title isn’t a euphemism - it’s literally about helping these monster girls (demi-humans or ‘demis’ as they’re called in the manga) to fit in and to share their stories to the world at large. It explores how things like “not having your head attached to your body” would impact your day-to-day life, how difficult it would be to eat or carry bags while dealing with that. It speaks to my experience as a student with a mental illness, and how I felt different from my peers in a way that was difficult to express.

There’s no over-the-top drama, it’s very heartwarming and sweet. The teacher doing the eponymous interviews is super understanding of everyone’s unique perspectives and is always supportive of the students.

There is a romance sub-plot, but it’s between two of the teachers and examines with a truly critical lens how being a succubus would make it difficult to form attachments with others. It’s a slow burn, and so cute!!

Anyways, this is all to say that you all should go read Interviews with Monster Girls. It’s got 11 volumes and they’re all out now. It’s got an anime, but I don’t think that anime ever reached the end?

#there is also a brief storyline where one of the students has a crush on the teacher #but as soon as he learns about it he gently puts her down #it’s the classic ‘someone respects me BECAUSE of who I am not despite it! is this feeling LOVE?!?’ thing #it made me a bit uncomfortable but they took it in such a good direction #there’s also a storyline where they discover that maybe just maybe it would be possible #for the dullahan’s head to be temporarily reattached to her body #so she can ‘live normally’#she tries it and decides nah she actually prefers it not being attached #it’s her normal and it’s what she’s used to and it’s her identity #interviews with monster girls #original oat

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balu8 · 1 year

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Interviews with Monster Girls

by Petos

Kodansha

#kodansha #Interviews with Monster Girls #petos #manga

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animehouse-moe · 7 months

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Interview With Monster Girls Ended Yesterday In NA

It makes me incredibly sad, I put off reading the volume because I knew I'd feel a little empty after reading it. But I think that feeling is even more exacerbated by the content of the volume. As satisfying as satisfying can be, it shows that while what we've seen of our favorite Demis and the people around them may be over, their story will continue to move onward. Incredible in all the ways that Petos has come to be known for, it's damn near a clinic in how to convey motion and personality through still images. Seriously, just four horizontal panels and there's more life in them than what some manga series can muster in their entirety.

And using a podcast to tie a neat bow on the story while recanting all of their favorite moments and the supporting characters? Incredible. Truly, one of the best "endings" that could have been written for the story.

But that's where I get a little emotional about it. From start to finish, it's just too good. Petos hasn't left readers with a single reason to be glad that the manga is finished. Nor a reason to be upset about a bad ending, or some simple way to finish the story. No, there's not a single thing wrong with it, and that kind of hurts. Though, all good things do have to come to an end, I wish I could see a little more of my 3 favorite girls.

That's enough mourning though, let me get excited! Petos is now freed up to create another manga, so I'm endlessly excited to see what they cook up. Similarly, with Interviews With Monster Girls finished in North America, it seems like the perfect time for Kodansha to license the spinoff of the series, filling the void that was left behind by its originator!

And last of all, this story is not completely told. If Petos wanted to revisit it in a year, in five, in ten, it's still there. And I really like that. Not that Petos has to revisit it, but if they ever have the passion or desire to do so, they're entirely able to. I'm comfortable waiting forever, but only if it's fated to happen. So, even though it's sad to see it go, there's still a very big smile on my face.

#interviews with monster girls #demi chan wa kataritai #anime and manga #manga #manga review #manga reccs #manga recommendation

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fzzr · 1 year

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Interviews with Monster Girls and Approaching Disability

Content Advisory: I don't know what I'm doing here when it comes to talking about disability, so I'll probably say something stupid. Sorry in advance, all I can promise to do is my best. Likewise as a straight cis man I can't talk about the Gender Stuff from lived experience, so my views will necessarily be from outside. Be aware that there's gender stuff with an eye to how women are treated in general.

Demi-chan wa Kataritai (Interviews with Monster Girls, henceforth "Demi-chan") is a 2017 anime about a high school biology teacher teaching and learning from his half-human half-monster "ajin" or "demi" students about facing social and practical difficulties in life due to the realities of one's body. Or to put it more simply, it's about disability, through the lens of monster girls.

The Vampire - Medical Disability

Vampires need no introduction. Creature of the night, lives on blood, arguably the most iconic horror monster. In Demi-chan, vampirism is basically diabetes, anemia, albinism, and a collection of other quirks all rolled into one. Hikari Takanashi keeps her government-issued blood in a personal refrigerator. She needs to take extra precautions to protect her skin and eyes from the sun and is sensitive to hot weather.

Hikari is supported without question or resentment by her family. When the urge to bite people comes up, her sister allows Hikari to gnaw on her arm a bit. Hikari is brilliantly blonde, so her father bleaches his hair a bit to make her stand out less. Her mother supports the family, and the extra expense involved in raising a half-vampire isn't even a topic of discussion.

In another time Hikari would have been treated like, well... a vampire. Thanks to a more understanding public and advances in technology, she's just like any other girl.

The Dullahan - Physical Disability

A dullahan is a person with a detached but otherwise perfectly functional head (think "Headless Horseman"). In Demi-chan, they represent physical disability. Kyouko Machi's moment to moment life is defined by having to carry her head with her everywhere. She's essentially missing an arm any time she's walking around. It takes Hikari pointing it out for anyone else to realize making her carry the school-standard bag is dangerous, prompting the school to give her special permission to use a backpack. She has a custom harness to hold her head at chest level so she can use both hands while eating. She typically rests her head on a pillow when seated, and has to use her arms to physically point her head at people when listening or speaking.

Among the three demi students, Kyouko gets the most attention as more of a specimen than a person. Whether it's wanting to touch the flame where her neck would be or just asking sometimes intrusive questions, it's clear that people, even the most well-intentioned, are less respectful of her bodily autonomy than they could or should be. Other times people will deliberately avoid topics that would require them to acknowledge her physical limitations as though they don't exist.

Dullahans may be more accommodated than they were in the past, but the world is still structured on the assumption that they don't exist. Despite being an afterthought to the built environment, Kyouko is just like any other girl.

The Yuki-onna - Psychological Disability

A yuki-onna, or snow woman, is a person who emits physical cold when under emotional strain. Yuki Kusakabe is at a new school in a new town and her powers are doing new things. Her anxiety and fear of becoming too close to others leaves her socially isolated. Her resulting non-participation shows some of the complexity of psychological disability - it doesn't mean you physically can't do things, but the collective actions of those around you means you are excluded nonetheless.

Yuki is seemingly shy not because she doesn't like other people, but because she is afraid that if she gets upset around someone the cold she emanates will physically harm them. It's not a stretch to understand that as representing the fear one may have that opening up about your problems burdens others, so isolation is preferable. A bit of practical examination eventually shows that her cold doesn't hurt anyone - herself or others. This doesn't suddenly cure her anxiety, of course. She just becomes more willing to open up and hang out with people.

This one doesn't land as well as the others, because it seems to imply that you just need a good few friends to eventually have people get you and then you will be fine. Additionally, her nature as a yuki-onna means she is also easily overheated in hot weather, which is one thing that brings her together with the other demis. I don't think that necessarily is part of the allegory, but if it is it's saying it's not healthy for her to avoid uncomfortable feelings (cold) altogether.

Society expects us to keep unsightly emotions out of the view of the public. Yuki can't hide hers, but her peers come to realize that under the anxiety she's just like any other girl.

The Succubus - Being a Woman

Ok, this is the spicy one. The fourth demi in the show is teacher Sakie Satou, a succubus. In Demi-chan a succubus is a woman who has a supernaturally compelling erotic effect on anyone who could be attracted to her. (They give gay men as an explicit example of people immune to succubus charm.) In parallel with the three students, we have to look at her demi nature as a form of disability as well. The show is very clear that the only functional difference between Sakie and any other woman is the magnitude and range of her attractiveness.

Just as much as the other demis, her life is shaped by this fact about how she was born. She wears loose clothes that cover her whole body beyond hands and head at all times in public. She is hyperaware of her surroundings at school so that she doesn't bump into a male student and need to deal with the results. She takes the first train in the morning and last train in the evening for the same reason. She even has to live in a detached home (not an apartment) because when she's asleep she leaks erotic dreams. Her yearning for romance is stifled by the worry that she will never be able to tell if someone really likes her or just her succubus charm.

Society has not moved very far to make room for Sakie. The flashback scene from her school days where she makes use of martial arts and social intimidation to reverse a dangerous situation is played for comedy, but left implied is how differently it could have gone. Succubi are considered the most dangerous ajin by the government. Cops regularly check on them to make sure they're not deliberately causing issues by using their charm to provoke an assault. There is zero consideration that using your charm is not a crime, committing assault is. The agent in charge of Sakie treats her almost like a daughter. One imagines that if she wasn't one of the "well-behaved" ones, that parental relationship would be far more punitive.

Maybe someday the world will advance and Sakie won't have to tiptoe through each day for fear of one misstep ruining her life. For now, she's just like any other woman.

The Outsider

Tetsuo Takahashi is none of the things the various demis are. Indeed, at first he sees them primarily as a subject of biological and anthropological curiosity. Sometimes he's making genuine discoveries, but other times he's learning things about the demis that they have always known. In one telling moment, Tetsuo gives Hikari a long speech about the things he's "figured out" about what a vampire needs to do to protect themselves when outside during the summer. Hikari responds by asking him how many years he thinks she's been a vampire.

It's Tetsuo's relationship with Sakie that makes him stand out. Multiple times during the show he is exposed to her succubus charm, either due to physical contact or her dropping her overly modest style around him. The society around them would seem to accept that if that happens a man is allowed to turn into a lust goblin and it's not his fault if he does. Tetsuo does so such thing. This isn't because he's not effected by the charm, but because that's not how you act with other people, no matter how erotic you find them.

Conclusion

Interviews with Monster Girls says that disability isn't a trait of a person or a group of people. Disability is people - individually and collectively - choosing to act in a way that means some people are less worthy of participation in society than others because including them would be inconvenient. It also doesn't settle for "well I'm not getting in their way" as an excuse. Inclusion isn't just removing barriers, it's also reaching out and actively bringing everyone along, together.

Final Words

This one isn't really a review, so I'll skip the usual scores and comparisons. However, I do want to note that the show itself has some problems I didn't get in to, like how a significant portion of it is a grown man (a teacher, not a doctor) having teenage girls in his closed office doing sometimes physical examinations of them. Don't go in expecting something uncomplicatedly enlightened, there's still some Anime Bullshit to be found.

#demi chan wa kataritai #interviews with monster girls #anime #disability #disabilities #medical disability #physical disability #psychological disability #original post

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