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The Monster Girls Want to Play!

by BookWalker (Paid Article) (Paid Advertisement),
The spicy boy-meet-girl-monsters manga comedy Monster Musume has been a hit since it slithered sexily from the mind of artist OKAYADO. You could call it a harem manga, but you've never seen a harem like this one. It starts with a bird-girl, a snake-girl and a horse-girl, and then it gets really strange. All these ladies are flying, clopping and otherwise perambulating to Japan as part of a government exchange programme to introduce humans to 'liminal' species - part-humans who want to know us intimately. And several of these 'liminals' find their way to our hapless hero's home...

Over the course of the manga, our hero (usually just called "Darling") must learn to stroke a snake, calm a centaur, soft-soap a spider and make a happy harpy. His interspecies encounters have been a hit East and West - Monster Musume regularly figures in the New York Times' list of Graphic Books Bestsellers. Now we want YOU to weigh up the crazy ladies of Monster Musume and let us know which is the best beast. If you need a reminder of the contenders, then read on....

Meet the Monster Girls!

Miia – The first ‘liminal’ character in the series, Miia has a body that's more than seven metres long, and more than two-thirds of that is serpentine! She's cold-blooded, but don't let that fool you. She's extremely passionate and sensual (the tip of her tail is a major erogenous zone), and she reminds her "Darling" that snakes make love all through the night. Miia appears to have no pruderies, but one thing really embarrasses her – to be seen shedding scales. Miia is called a 'Lamia,' after a monster from Greek mythology, popularised by the poet John Keats in a poem of that name. (Another Lamia pops up in Sam Raimi's horror film Drag Me to Hell.) Today, any romantic-minded otaku seeking a cuddle with Miia can invest in a 23-foot long hugging pillow, costing a mere eight hundred dollars…

Papi the Harpy – The second ‘liminal’ character we meet is a bird-girl or harpy – like 'Lamia,' the name comes from Greek mythology. (Some very unpleasant harpies turned up in the classic fantasy movie Jason and the Argonauts.) Papi appears very childish, both emotionally and physically, but turns out to be the same age as Miia. She claims to see the 'Darling' harem hero as a big brother, but her ‘playtimes’ with him can go alarming places. Papi loves popsicles, disdains underwear (it squishes her tail feathers), and occasionally lays eggs, which is an awkward process. She has strong maternal instinct and becomes very protective of Suu, below.

Centorea Shianus (or Cerea to her friends) – A centaur, once more drawn from Greek mythology. In the translated manga, Cerea speaks very like the Marvel Comics version of Thor, in fantasy-medieval English –'Art thou the one destined to become my master?' Her top gallop is around 60 kilometres per hour. You should never try to ride on her back uninvited, and keep away from her tail area. Even infant centaurs are large, hence Cerea's huge baby-ready bosom.

Suu – Introduced in volume 2, Suu is a slime girl, and one of the most mysterious characters in the manga. She can ooze into any nook or cranny (use your imagination), and take on any shape. She grows bigger when she absorbs water, but don't let her absorb you. Also, too much water could be fatal, as it would dissolve her 'body' completely. Papi is very protective of her.

Meroune Lorelei - Mero to her friends, this character is a regal mermaid. She loves musical, opera and romantic tragedies. (She's especially obsessed with the end of “The Little Mermaid” – the original Hans Christian Andersen tale, not the Disney toon). Mero's body is covered in mucus to stop it drying out, though this has the inconvenient consequence that her clothes slip off sometimes…

Rachnera Archnera – Glimpsed in the manga's third volume, but not properly introduced until book 4, Rachnera is an arachne, a six-eyed spider-woman. She's not the first spider-woman we've seen in anime (remember Wicked City?) and her character is what you might predict: sultry, predatory and heavily into bondage.

Lalachan – Introduced in book six, Lallachan is a dullahan from Irish mythology. As fans of Durarara!! will know, a dullahan is a dark fairy creature, generally headless. Lalachan first turns up as a decapitated body, which unfortunately gets the attention of the bondage-happy Rachnera! Once her head and body are united, Lalachan proclaims she's a “reaper o'death” and knight of the underworld, and that one of the series characters is due to die….



So there you have it - one seven-foot Lamia, one flighty harpy, one noble centaur, one regal mermaid, one tie-you-down spider lady, and one headless death babe. Of this tantalizing harem-cum-menagerie, which of them floats YOUR boat? Vote now for your top Monster Girl...

All Monster Musume images (c)2015 オカヤド/徳間書店・モン娘パートナー

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