Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!

Episode 10

Upon finishing this week's episode of MM, I was filled with a sense of dread: “Oh god,” I thought, “literally what am I going to write about. In the entire 20ish minutes, absolutely nothing happened.” Indeed, it's almost impressive how unsubstantial this episode of MM is—how much of it could've been removed all together, or at least compressed considerably. The only thing in this episode that seems terribly important is Melphiera getting the fruit from the screamwood… at the very, very end.

But being uneventful, alas, doesn't spare us from the clumsy writing that's largely defined MM. We get that whole scene toward the start where Aristide, Chaos, and Mullan are discussing the potential dangers of what are functionally the bombs Melphiera has the capacity to make. This is a scene which I'd argue should ideally have been cut all together, but at minimum, should've been made to be several minutes shorter. And I say that because just a few weeks ago, we saw Melphiera realize that potential danger, which Aristide told her wasn't worth worrying about. Now, he's out here worrying about it, as though he's either suddenly aware that it is, in fact, worth being worried about, or as though it took someone else pointing it out for him to realize it. Either way, Aristide, my guy, did we not try to establish this a few weeks ago? Why are you acting like this is brand new information?

“Well, maybe Aristide just didn't want Melphiera in particular to worry,” you might be thinking. To which I'd respond, that seems silly and pointless when Melphiera herself seems at least dimly aware of the possible danger here—and I say “dimly” only because it didn't take much convincing for her to stop thinking about it. Either way though, you still encounter issues with the writing.

Incidentally, this is also probably the first week I'd call an episode of MM downright boring. Sure, we've had other episodes that've been pretty uneventful, but I'm not sure I'd call any of them as a whole downright boring until now. People kept talking about nothing, Melphiera paced around as she waited for Aristide to get back, and somehow this took up twenty long minutes.

The visuals, meanwhile, are as hastily drawn and at times choppy as ever. If I take one thing from this anime, it's that Asahi Productions just isn't it. Across the two series they've been in charge of that I've seen (this and Bogus Skill "fruitmaster")—both of which came out this year, mind you—they've consistently looked meh in their best moments, and like downright slop in their worst.

It was probably pretty obvious, but I'll go ahead and say it plainly: I won't miss this series after it ends. It started out strongly enough, but it's only got worse and worse as it's progressed. And this week, not totally unexpectedly, we've finally reached full-blown “it's boring” territory. While it's not technically impossible for the last two episodes of MM to be fantastic, I'm skeptical they'll rise to the challenge. Worse, even if the last two episodes do end up being pretty good—say, as good as the first few episodes—I'm not sure that'll do enough to change my mind about the series as a whole.

Rating:

Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.