Interviews with Monster Girls

Episode 7

Interviews with Monster Girls has been a character-focused series thus far, but the show shifts into world-building mode this week. An unusual pair of police officers from the local Demi-Human Division pay a visit to the school, and things get a little out of hand when Hikari mistakes one of them for an intruder. Once everyone figures out what's actually going on, Sakie gets a chance to catch up with an officer she's known for a long time. As she talks with the gruff veteran Ugaki about her life as a succubus, she realizes that Tetsuo might not be immune to her aphrodisiac abilities after all. Later in the day, Ugaki talks with Tetsuo about what it's like to be a police officer specializing in demi-humans.

Frankly, this episode gets off to a rough start. While Hikari's exaggerated description of Ugaki is pretty amusing, it takes too long to get all of the characters on the same page. Ugaki's young partner Kurtz is something of an oddity, even in a series about monster girls. Everything about him raises questions that the episode never really answers; his age, nationality, and immunity to Sakie's aphrodisiac power are all noteworthy traits that go unexplained. While his hopelessly bad poker face is pretty funny, his presence only feels justified during his encounter with a pair of male students. Outside of that brief interaction, I can't figure out why he's here except as superfluous comedy relief.

Ugaki, on the other hand, seems like a worthwhile addition to the supporting cast. He pulls off the “tough old cop” act fairly well, and he provides a potentially useful window into Sakie's past. We're mostly limited to hints and implications in this episode, but it seems like there's a compelling story waiting to be told here. Sakie's comments about seeing Ugaki as more of a father figure than her own father imply some past personal drama, and the brief flashback suggests that she may have sought out his help at some point. Since Sakie came into the series with a solid understanding of her own nature, it'd be interesting to see what she was like before she got things sorted out.

Tetsuo's chat with Ugaki is also compelling, giving the show a chance to develop its world a bit. We've seen plenty of cases of demi-humans figuring out how to fit into society, so it's nice to see a little of how society might adapt to their presence. Ugaki's job of dealing with succubus-related cases presents an intriguing challenge in terms of distinguishing between accidental and intentional uses of their abilities. I also like his comment about only being able to keep demi-humans from hating him, rather than being able to make them like him; it's a subtle way of admitting that his job isn't exactly pleasant for anyone involved. That understated approach to character development has worked for the show's teenage characters in the past, but it clearly works for middle-aged folks as well.

Compared to the rest of the series, this episode is less consistent in terms of its quality. Most of the scenes involving Kurtz represent a rare slip in pacing and presentation, though they are at least tolerable. Things pick back up once the focus moves over to Ugaki, and his conversation with Tetsuo is much more in line with the show's usual standards. The new information on the world outside of high school is also a welcome addition, as we've been limited to a handful of minor details up to this point. I hope we'll see these two cops at least one more time before the end of the season, since Ugaki clearly has more stories to tell about Sakie's past, and Kurtz has left a whole bunch of unanswered questions in his wake.

Rating: B

Interviews with Monster Girls is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.