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Interspecies Reviewers (TV)


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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15457
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 4:26 am Reply with quote


Interspecies Reviewers (TV)

Genres: Comedy, erotica, fantasy
Themes: Monster girls, prostitution

Plot Summary:
Quote:
he human Stunk and the elf Zel are adventurer buddies who live in a world where numerous sentient races freely mix. Each has their own distinctly different taste in women, so they have fierce debates about their preferences as they continue on their self-chosen mission to sample brothels of all different species. They decide to make a business of it when they discover that they can make money writing reviews based on their experiences. They also come across and rescue from a monster the angel Crim, who cannot return to Heaven until their damaged halo heals. They quickly (if also reluctantly) gets dragged into their brothel-hopping and reviewing exploits.


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Episode 1

With my often feminist minded take, it might be a bit weird that this of all shows be something I was interested to check out, but I totally was. I am a big fan of fantasy, and I think that there can be fun to be had in details outside of the usual flare, and sex is included in that. I don't think that there is anything inherently wrong with things like prostitution, as long as all parties involved consent, there is not any abuse, and the prostitute has not been manipulated into their situation. As long as the series shows these women (?) are willing participants, maybe even empowered while not treated like objects, I will be fine.

Granted, a core part of this premise has them reviewing/rating the prostitutes, which is kind of a bit of a scummy thing to do, at risk of running the gambit of dehumanizing them. But can't say that I am not intrigued by the focus on sexual tastes of different fantasy races. A human, Stunk, having no problem with a 500 year old elf, because she looks hot, of course elves are popular fantasy race to sexualize. But other races with particular senses have other reactions, such as a 200 year old elf, Zel, being able to feel how old she is through her mana. The Ze; actually finding the older human woman attractive, regardless of her physical appearance finding her a spring chicken, I am going to go by D&D lore of Elves only being adults at 100. Also quite liked that the Beastman also finds the human woman attractive, probably because her appearance is not comparable to his own kind, mostly comparable to an orc woman, but finding her softer. I like these fantasy ideas.

Also, kind of like when they introduced the angel, Crim, they asked if they are male, while my thought was that a good deal of fantasy stuff would have them as both or neither, and indeed Crim seems to be both. I do kind of see Crim as slightly more feminine, I guess though I will refer to them as a "he" unless there is any point about their androgynous nature. Also loved that Crim seemed to get laid in the very first episode, no messing around of chaste characters that you see in so much things.


Also, I do like monster girls.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4074
PostPosted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 7:59 am Reply with quote
The only thing I could think of to rate this show was "!?" The premise is very basic: People are providing a service and these reviewers will rate it. One job covering another job.

So far, so good but the devil is in the details and the devil here is a succubus.

I know this show crossed a line at some point but I can't figure out where exactly. Before they were all having sex with the birdmaid... a contraction of "bird maiden" but I keep thinking of it as "bar maid".... but when did it?

I don't know, it's so weird. I'm so used to "as if they would actually do it" that when I reached thinking that point, Crim had already lost his male virginity... and I can already see the ending of Crim losing her female virginity.

And that just raises questions all over the place. I'm confused at how Crim isn't confused for example. How do you go from absolute divinity to "I'm not dominantly assertive so I didn't get much out of it"? The women chat afterwards so what do they see of Crim's mystery area and will word get around? Will Crim bring it up herself?

It's different, I'll give it that much. It's has a very blase approach to sex which I find refreshing. And considering the scene where the guy was having sex with the tentacle woman, it's all very open minded about its single mindedness.

Next week is minotaurs and knowing the true original myth, I have no idea what to expect. And that's probably the most amazing thing of all.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15457
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 10:43 am Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:
And that just raises questions all over the place. I'm confused at how Crim isn't confused for example. How do you go from absolute divinity to "I'm not dominantly assertive so I didn't get much out of it"? The women chat afterwards so what do they see of Crim's mystery area and will word get around? Will Crim bring it up herself?


Well, a good deal of the fantasy stuff I see paint angels as entirely dedicated to their higher power, that they might normally lack self free will, or least great joy in sub servant, so perhaps they get off more on dominated. Sounds like poor manners to just spread info about someone's dual organs.

Animegomaniac wrote:
It's different, I'll give it that much. It's has a very blase approach to sex which I find refreshing. And considering the scene where the guy was having sex with the tentacle woman, it's all very open minded about its single mindedness.


My guess on the tentacle woman was that she was a Scylla, that is what they usually are in this sort of thing.

Animegomaniac wrote:
Next week is minotaurs and knowing the true original myth, I have no idea what to expect. And that's probably the most amazing thing of all.


Minotaur is usually monster girl for cow horns, maybe hooves, and always giant breasts.
I am more wondering what they are planning with the faeries.

Based on I think the ED, looks like undead might be involved at some point.
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Beltane70



Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 3879
PostPosted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 11:46 am Reply with quote
From what I can tell from the OP and ED, the Minotaur girls look very similar to Minos from Dropkick on My Devil.

I was expecting that the human woman Mitsue to be quite a bit older than 50, but maybe Zel isn't good at estimating human ages.

I must say, though, that the premise of this series is pretty unique!
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15457
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 5:01 am Reply with quote
Was wondering where the minotaur girls were going to in with regards to the second half of the episode, since the human, elf, beastman and I think a demon guy, were going to check out demon succu girls. Interesting succubi must not be demons, demons are apparently unpopular while the succubi are the namesakes of working girls. And then the group get drawn in by the gravity of the large chests of minotaur girls and go to their brothel instead.

But first there were the fairy girls segment, which I think was especially humorous with details about size limits, and that Crim apparently not allowed any, the guy must be packing. The series kind of implied the receptionist fairy ruined image of fairies, but I thought she looked nice. Character design of this show is good.

But a real surprise was the start point of the second half, where it oddly went into politics a bit. Got a laugh out of me when what looked like the start of a demon lord taking over was really a politician trying to have impact. I would vote for the demon party, apparently orcs of all races are the most popular in terms of in power for agriculture. But a lot was also done to imply demons as unlikable for their personalities, apparently scams and stuff. There being a segment where demons were ranked under Oozes (slimes?), werewolves, lizardfolk, yuki ona, and fire elementals as desirable. Only beating out undead.. because they are presumably things like zombie or skeletons.

Oh, and the policies of the succubi were literally just sex, wonder if the show will ever have succubi. Did not expect a Pokémon professor Oak reference.

Also, I have made a deliberate choice to only watch the uncensored version, by what means. The uncensored OP song, is pretty much full on hentai, does not cover as much as you might think
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15457
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:07 am Reply with quote
Episode 3

Where do I sign up for the gender(sex) swap hotel?

Although I think the whole gender swap thing of this episode lies right in my interests, I have a bit of problems with the episode. Specifically that I think it got a little bit homophobic. It did not seem to have any problems with women on women, actually kind of had a nice line drawn about them being men on the inside despite their bodies, that is trans positive. But I think it was more of negative to the In-Boys thing, them getting grossed out by the boys thing. It is a positive that they did not suddenly change from being into women to being into men, but I think it is a bit of a problem how they kind of almost shame Crim because they might be interested in trying the straight woman experience.

They acted like Crim might be odd because they (Crim) were into a futanari penetration, I think it is a bit closed minded. Along with back on the In-Boys, in general I was not too fond of the dichotomy of treatment. This series created this whole accepted fantasy red light district, and did not seem too interested in maybe giving male escorts and stuff a fair share. No real expert, but I would think it could be interesting if women got their own thing, if not as much of sex, I would think this sexual positive setting could allow it. They mentioned last episode a Succubus, which I assume would be women, that seem to be mostly interesting in sex, would they and other more sex interested females of races just be suc-girls instead of getting some in-boys? They are there, I just think they could have made the concept seem more attractive.

Maybe I am just overthinking things a bit. I kind of just think it has not gone a full whole way of its setting of sex positivity, along with some acceptance of gay and bisexual people.

Also, I love the continued joke about pretty much any race other than humans being put off by 600 year old elves, like something humans cannot understand. Also the bit about the sex change potion being regulated to stop men from perving into women spaces, although the bit about a man possibly tricking another man into sleeping with them felt a little bit problematic.
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nDroae



Joined: 26 May 2017
Posts: 382
PostPosted: Fri Jan 31, 2020 9:02 pm Reply with quote
Funimation has removed the show from their service. Laughing
https://www.funimation.com/shows/interspecies-reviewers/

Here's a thread about the removal, with a link to an alleged screenshot of a support email from Funimation on the matter:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/2000121-anime-and-manga-other-titles/78373909
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DuskyPredator



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PostPosted: Sat Feb 01, 2020 1:15 am Reply with quote
I find this disappointing news, since I was finding it unironically one of my favourites of the season, and wanted more people to responsibly enjoy it. Well, how I was watching this should be unlikely to be impacted, so I will be able to continue discussing here.

Especially odd by Funimation since I had heard it was already being simuldubbed. Sounds like people outside of those dealing with it at first took notice of the series and perceived it as immoral.
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nDroae



Joined: 26 May 2017
Posts: 382
PostPosted: Sat Feb 01, 2020 7:21 pm Reply with quote
Article about the removal:
animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-01-31/funimation-removes-interspecies-reviewers-anime-as-it-falls-outside-company-standards/.156012

Yeah, the first episode of the dub had been released and that dub is now canceled. The above ANN article's comment thread is massive and full of speculation about the potential factors, mechanics and repercussions involved in what's happened, so I suppose it's best to try to keep this thread to discussion of the show itself.

I had been watching it on Funimation, though obviously I'd been tempted to switch, and this gives me the excuse to. Last year I watched Sentai's censored simulcast of "Why the Hell are You Here, Teacher," partly to prove to no one in particular that it could be enjoyed censored, and it was one of my top favorites of 2019. Haven't rewatched it uncensored yet, I think I'll wait until Sentai puts out the BD (to go with Monster Musume, the only other hard ecchi on my shelf). "Teacher" had a sort of trashy pulp romance appeal, whereas this one has no romance and is instead about the novelty of the monster girls, so the censorship is more of a problem here IMO.

I'm totally with you on episode 3. I was surprised that the guys in the show hold the old "liking futa = 100% attracted to males" view - it may make sense in-universe, but it creates a bizarre situation in which the wild monster-sex adventurers in the anime have a more conservative, simplistic and ignorant view than a lot of the show's real life audience. So that was disappointing. Also the faeries doing normal penetration, rather than, well, ever seen a Midori Days h-doujin? Razz

ANN reviews of the manga:
animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2018-11-30/the-fall-2018-manga-guide/interspecies-reviewers/.140194

Re: the octopus woman, there's a modern term for an octopus-mermaid, "Cecaelia." Seems the idea didn't take off until fairly recently in history - thanks, Disney. Mr. Green
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 5:50 am Reply with quote
Episode 4

Oh my god, the uncensored version actually had to self censor itself, this was after Zel showed a piece of meat that was cooked in a place that showed the outline of a vagina. But decided that indeed had gone too far when not only Stunk deciding that cooking a sausage in the salamander's mouth, but Zel deciding to cook with her. other mouth. The uncensored version even had what seems to an official physical censor of a white mark when Crim was clearly giving her oral. At the very least Crim seemed very happy with the experience.

All of that what you would call super naughty, and in the light of Funimation pulling out, it is also just as much a shock that in Japan getting away with it, with all the puritans. I like to think that the old rules against showing genitals that influenced creations like The Fisherman's Wife. led to here.

And better not forget the first half that showed how scary genuine succubus can be, or I guess or specifically Lilim, which I think were implied to be lesser succubi. Stunk, Zel and the animal guy got way above their heads. They specifically seemed to be the desired product this time, the girls apparently paying, although were pretty much thrown away after being used in favour of an army of orcs. We had such imagery as some of the girls pretty much catcalling them, and one slamming crotch against the glass with liquid everywhere. Thirsty.

Maybe not best to just support the succubi party after all. Love it.
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DuskyPredator



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PostPosted: Sun Feb 09, 2020 8:06 am Reply with quote
Episode 5

Cyclopeses and Myconid. Kind of also feels like a wasted opportunity to not make the cyclopses taller than average, since myth usually has them as giants. They did do a bunch of weird eye things though. The Myconid were sure used to make all sorts of allusins through different kinds of mushroom and things from penises and boobs that they would not be able to show so directly otherwise. Going off of my knowledge through D&D for Myconids, I think of a missed trait of telepathic spores, that you could probably connect it to something like having mind orgies by connecting their consciousness.

They also mentioned that they have yet again avoided going to the demon brothel, Crim and Kanchal were both being drawn to the minotaur girls like had happened last time they were there. Is it kind of sweet that the one who hired them for cyclopeses was a cyclopes girl who had a crush on a human but an inferiority complex over their small eye, thus wanted to know if other races care about eye sizes.

Also, they connected the Myconid mistress as like the fairy girl, but the character that kept popping into my head was mushroom loving Sucy.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 10, 2020 11:42 am Reply with quote
I had to find alternate means to watch it so I did... though I was hoping they'd be a bit more legal because it's 2020, there should be no need to have to watch a licensed anime illegally.

What an odd world we live in. Anyway, on to the show.

DuskyPredator wrote:
Episode 5

Cyclopeses and Myconid. Kind of also feels like a wasted opportunity to not make the cyclopses taller than average, since myth usually has them as giants. They did do a bunch of weird eye things though. The Myconid were sure used to make all sorts of allusins through different kinds of mushroom and things from penises and boobs that they would not be able to show so directly otherwise. Going off of my knowledge through D&D for Myconids, I think of a missed trait of telepathic spores, that you could probably connect it to something like having mind orgies by connecting their consciousness.


Myconids are complicated because those DnD ones are seemingly from a Japanese film called Matango or in English, Attack of the Mushroom People and that's less mind orgies, more mind rape. I thought it was kind of odd the show didn't do anything with psychedelics but that would be more of a detriment to the whole sex business.

I'm really enjoying Crim's character development even if I think it's eliminating his divine nature. A messanger/servant race being asked "what do you want?" isn't exactly unheard of but slowly Crim is really getting into it. Not just the sex but I think the idea of being able to want things? Does that make sense? There's something about Crim's reviews that are above sex, that are just reflections on wanting to connect. I think there's a progression as he sees less of what he wants and sees what is there and learns to love it.

If this show just stuck to boob fondling, it'd probably still be on Funimation. Also, as the last two shows prove, not only is Crim well equipped but he's also the master of oral sex. He got covered in "barbecue sauce" so much that he still smells like a steak days later? Now that's a talent.

I wonder...
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DuskyPredator



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PostPosted: Mon Feb 10, 2020 6:36 pm Reply with quote
I did like the bit about Crim quite willingly, without any coaxing, going along, showing that he is indeed interested, and Meidri seemed a little surprised by that. I guess she thought Crim was only going because Stunk and Zel were putting pressure.
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DuskyPredator



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PostPosted: Sun Feb 16, 2020 7:08 am Reply with quote
Episode 6

The best part would probably plainly be Meidri beating the four of them up, harpy style, after realizing what the four of them built at the golem brothel.

The whole light, willow the wisp, segment would probably be putting pieces that Crim being so embarrassed by the light covered public nudity and things like not being seemingly blinded like the others, meant that he could see everything with the light covered orgies.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 5:33 am Reply with quote
Episode 7

Did really feel like the first episode that for me thought it was a bit much, but I think that was the intention although first being curious by the idea of some cute birdmaid/harpy girls, the majority of egg laying girls were not too attractive to the tastes of Stunk, Zel and Crim. In general the ordeal felt a little bit like a strip club or cam girls, where what was on display was a bit too niche, and the raving creepiness of those into it if anything felt like a gross mirror to when they might get into something and make them feel gross. Despite all the egg laying it was purposefully mostly on the not very hot side.

Will say that I liked the bird of prey girl who was a receptionist, extra points for her creepy head twist. They subtitles also mentioned birdmaids and harpies as different things, and noticing that the receptionist's arms are wings while Meidri has wings on her back, I might make the guess that the receptionist is a harpy, along with being a predatory bird. Kind of like Papi from Monster Musume…. what is it that I am finding the more harpy bird girls as better?

And there was a popularity poll, which my assumption before confirmation was that it was a poll taken with the manga, there was the bit about only humans having voted. No surprise that fairy receptionist Aloe takes the top spot, she is top tier. The rest of the succu girls are confused why 60 or so year old woman did not win.
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