This Monster Wants to Eat Me Spins a Deadly Fairy Tale
by Lauren Orsini,
The world premiere of this anticipated fall anime all came down to the first episode's dazzling execution. Its classical melancholy soundtrack, powerhouse vocal performances, and haunting central concept framed by the allure and danger of the sea all worked together perfectly, giving this uncommon yuri manga adaptation a guaranteed spot on my must-watch list.
This Monster Wants to Eat Me's catchphrase is “a girl who seeks death waits for the sea.” It's the story of Hinako (voiced by Reina Ueda), a high school student who lives in the picturesque seaside town of Ehime—which is creator Sai Naekawa's hometown, too. After the still-mysterious deaths of her parents and brother, Hinako is all alone. “My heart sank deep into the sea on that day and it's lain there ever since,” she says poetically. At least until she meets her Manic Pixie Monster Girl.
Hinako doesn't need to tell the audience of her plight because the anime shows it to great effect. As Hinako's classmates chatter happily, their voices seem echoey and far away to Hinako, who is shown underwater as she goes about her life. Oarfish drift languidly by the classroom window. Isopods scuttle around the shoe lockers. Nobody can reach Hinako when she's submerged in her undersea world—until she meets a mystery girl in white. The girl rescues Hinako from a watery grave, then introduces herself as Shiori (voiced by Yui Ishikawa). “I've come here to eat you,” Shiori says to Hinako, splattered blood adorning her white dress, but it's not quite time to say "itadakimasu." Shiori, who can transform her skin into scales and her nails into talons, wants to protect Hinako from lesser yokai until her flesh and blood ripen into something even more delicious. And Hinako, for her part, looks at the opportunity to die as a mercy.
The music—a mix of strings, gentle piano and female vocals—is as haunting as a siren's song. The character designs are generic (slim, willowy girls) but show a world of emotion in their eyes—Hinako's darkened by grief, Shiori's glimmering with secrets. The animation studio, Studio Lings, most recently worked on Yuri Is My Job!, and I can see a hint of that show's soft color palette and warm lighting, but This Monster Wants to Eat Me has stronger animation, especially in Shiori's monstrous transformation and Hinako's movements while submerged.
Following the world premiere was a Q&A with creator Sai Naekawa, anime producer Ena Hamabe, and manga editor Takumi Kamemaru.
“I liked the idea of [a story about] monsters not because they're spooky and scary but because I find them cool and mysterious,” Naekawa said through an interpreter.
Yen Press has been publishing the five-and-counting volumes of This Monster Wants to Eat Me in English. Crunchyroll will stream the anime beginning in October.
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. Yen Press, BookWalker Global, and J-Novel Club are subsidiaries of KWE.
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