Monster Musume

Episode 5

Something's fishy in Kimihito's house, and I'm not talking about the hazy legality of housing an undocumented slime monster. No, there's literally a girl with a fish tail moving in to join the ever-growing contest for our hero's affections. Her arrival also heralds the installation of an indoor pool, which means it's time for monster girls in bikinis. Never change, Monster Musume.

After getting the mistaken impression that Smith and her minions are after Suu, the girls start this episode by cramming their slimy housemate into a bucket and making a run for it. While Miia, Papi, and Centorea learn what happens when a slime girl gets dehydrated, Kimihito gets run over by a mermaid in a wheelchair. Smith decides to assume plausible deniability when it comes to Suu's existence and introduces Mero the mermaid as the newest resident of Kimihito's ever-expanding house. Furious at the prospect of a new romantic rival, Miia tries everything she can think of to get rid of the fishy newcomer. The two of them eventually come to an understanding, although the situation still isn't quite what Miia was hoping for.

While the monster girls own the spotlight as usual, the show's human characters contribute their fair share of comedy this week. Smith's shameless declaration that she's physically incapable of seeing slime girls might be the funniest line she's had to date. The interactions between Kimihito and the construction crews that periodically descend on his house are also fairly amusing, if only because the guys are just so darn friendly each time they come to remodel the place for a new monster girl. Kimihito even cracks a few jokes about his increasingly absurd predicament, observing that he's somehow gotten used to getting run over by mermaids and capturing slime girls in plastic bags. Hang in there, buddy.

Suu's aggressive pursuit of water while hiding out with the other girls gets a bit, well, slimy, but the scene is handled about as well as it can be. Monster Musume continues to stay a step ahead of its fanservice elements, openly pointing out its own excesses. Sure, Suu could just use one of the water fountains in the park, but we all know that's not actually the point of the scene. The humor in the latter half of the episode is significantly tamer, focusing on Miia's unsuccessful attempts at taking Mero down a peg. I'm not sure why a cold-blooded lamia would think that turning up the air conditioning would affect anyone except herself, but the results are amusing anyway.

Mero's introduction yields somewhat mixed results. Mermaids are a more common sight in anime than many of the other monster girls, which means that Mero lags behind the other characters in terms of novelty. Her purpose within the show isn't clear yet, and she doesn't do much here besides drive Miia up the wall. On the other hand, her view of fairytale romance is delightfully warped, and I'm not sure I've ever seen a harem comedy character whose goal is to be the protagonist's tragic mistress. Centorea's observations about Mero's aristocratic demeanor are also intriguing, and I can't help but wonder if there's a promising backstory behind it all. Monster Musume has been fairly adept at integrating new characters in the past, so I expect that Mero will find her niche after another episode or two.

This is a somewhat by-the-book episode, which makes it a little bit of a letdown for this series. The good news is that the preview for the next episode suggests an imminent return to the show's stronger (and more bizarre) material. Any series can run a character introduction straight from the harem comedy playbook, but few can explore issues as odd as shedding lamias and egg-laying harpies.

Rating: B-

Monster Musume is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Paul Jensen is a freelance writer and editor. You can follow more of his anime-related ramblings on Twitter.