Interspecies Reviewers

Episode 12

The last episode of Interspecies Reviewers has now aired and the anime world is instantly less colorful for it. The final episode goes out on a high note by delivering more excellent examples of world-building and delivering on one joke that, in retrospect, it has been setting up all season but you might not have seen coming.

I have mentioned the world-building on this series a few times before, but I think it's easy to underappreciate how critical it is to making this more than just another fan service series. Case in point with this episode: Zel and Crim are reminiscing about visits to other brothels when they come across the card that was given to them by the demon campaign manager way back in episode 2, one which they had intended to use at the time before getting distracted by the minotaur brothels. With Crim off on a lengthy errand (which turns out to be a joke unto itself), they decide this is the right time to do it and bring along both Kanchal and the beast guy. The “interesting” design of their brothel entrance and the name (Demon Hole) aside, demons turn out to have one peculiar trait which makes them easily – and all-too-often disastrously – misunderstood: they are so beholden to contracts, and take them so literally, that it's virtually a fetish for them. That's why the exact wording of something like, say, a marriage proposal is so critical when demon girls are involved; mention only making each other happy but don't bring up kids and she'll be a great wife but a terrible mother, since raising kids isn't part of the contract. In a brothel setting that means that they roll out the red carpet treatment for those with formal recommendations (since those are effectively contracts to demons) but will try to fleece a random person who walks in the door.

That would be fascinating on its own, but like on many occasions before, Interspecies Reviewers goes the extra mile with the gimmick. Getting the word out about this characteristic of demons would have been very beneficial for Demon Lord Death Abyss's election cause, and Kanchal is probably right that word about the contract matters spreading through people like reviewers would be more readily-accepted by the public than the demons just proclaiming it. In other words, Demon Two was slyly conducting a marketing ploy in giving the recommendation card to Stunk and Zel. The later follow-up scene focusing on Death Abyss in the bath further makes the point that a lot of the demon race's bad reputation comes from badly-worded contracts and does all of this while providing further fan service. And that's before Demia joins her and a number of startling bits get tossed out, like references to their world having been host to multiple isekai incidents (which, in retrospect, would explain a few setting details) and something about “mana walls.” That discussion then blows the lid off by bringing up how mana is key to birth control and disease prevention in their world, which finally explains why condoms don't seem to exist in this setting.

There's even more world-building to be had in the second half. The series has only very rarely dealt with religion at all, so seeing a religious custom as part of a new year's celebration is an additional interesting touch, especially given that Crim, as an angel, doesn't seem to know about it. And how else would the new year be celebrated here than by visiting one's most preferred succu-girl to get the new year off to the right start? When that doesn't pan out, the fairy mistress pops up once again, resulting in all five of the regular reviewers winding up in a brothel for dream eaters, where patrons can experience any woman that have had before as a dream and then wake up to have sex with the dream eater, too, if they want to. The episode then closes out with the joke that it has been building towards all season: the virgin lizard guy literally turning into a wizard because he's just turned 30, and may have, in fact, been holding out for that all along. (For those not familiar with the slang here, that you can turn into a wizard by making it to age 30 as a virgin is an Internet myth that originated in Japan in the early 2000s but has since become much more widespread.)

The fairy mistress also has some thoughts about reviews that seem almost like summary points given that this is the final episode. Her basic argument is that, when it comes to reviews, the score is less important than the opinion behind it. She backs it up with the example that even the mediocre scores they gave her place has led to booming business because their emphasis in the reviews about how penis size matters in the opposite direction than normal has attracted a lot of guys and races who are on the small side in that realm. We see that kind of process in anime reviews as well; for instance, scoring a series lower for having a lot of fan service can actually draw more fan service aficionados to it because it's the detail about the presence of fan service that matters, or being critical of a series for being a power fantasy might still attract viewers because that's what some want.

There are other neat touches here as well, such as the whole business about Death Abyss's size relative to those around her; though she looks and acts young, she's actually giant-sized, which isn't apparent unless someone else is in the same shot for reference. But that's just another piece of the world-building that I have been talking about. The series is also remarkable for how many potential plot hooks it has casually thrown out – enough to easily seed another season or two – and while I normally dislike female characters who primarily just smack the guys around, I like Meidri. (Perhaps partly because the guys really deserve the abuse in this case?) I could easily see her becoming a doujinshi star.

So that brings the series to a wrap – at least for now, anyway. I will dearly miss it and its deep contemplations about how racial characteristics interact with sex, and maybe nothing anime-related would make me happier right now than an eventual announcement about a second season. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

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Interspecies Reviewers is currently streaming on AnimeLab in Australia and New Zealand.