More monster dates means more of the same stuff happening. Or so you would think. But while I pretty much was out right against last weeks episode, this week I had a little more fun. But mind you that it was only a little more fun than last week. Still nothing to ride home about but at least it’s an improvement, right?
Episode summary
While on a date with Papi and Suu, with Zombina accompanying them, the group gets attacked by a giant Dryad. This Dryad was a friend that Papi had forgotten about and left in the woods. Her monstrous size was due to the pollution in the forest. Suu saves the day by accidentally absorbing nutrients and goes all Godzilla on her. But Kimihito is ultimately the one who saves he day by sucking all the nutrients out of the Dryads breasts.
After that its Cerea’s turn for a date. However most of the date is her fumbling around herself and doing things that hurt her pride as a noble centaur. She can’t seem to do anything right and gets tricked by a little devil girl to just let go and basically rape Kimihito. They all get attacked by a giant boar but Cerea comes to the rescue with a tree trunk. But even though she saved them she feels sad that all she seems good for is brute force. Kimihito assures her that she is useful in other ways and she decides that she will accel in those ways at home by making all the salads.
Episode thoughts
So it’s obvious by now that the whole “D” plotline in just an excuse to get these characters out of the house interacting with the world and on dates. So there’s not really much to be had in the realm of story development. Which is fine once you realize that. If you go into this dating arc expecting there to be some big story development your going to be disappointed. But if you take the “D” message as a literal Macguffin, and just enjoy all the antics that come because of it you’re going to have a good time. This is of course only if the antics are good enough to stand alone without anything else.
And while I think the antics this week hit better than last week, there is still room for improvement. Which is weird considering that the show is on episode 10 and still can’t find some sort of ground work. I feel like everything that is genuinely funny and sweet just happens by chance sometimes. And this episode is probably one of the most, you either like it or you don’t, episodes.
For me most of the jokes hit home in the first half. The physical humor with Papi being a bird-brain as well as her forgetfulness being the reason they find themselves in the predicament with a giant pissed off Dryad. And by adding giant Godzilla Suu into the mix and you get something that oddly enough makes sense in context. The Juxtaposition of the serious characters and the wacky circumstances just left me smiling through this whole altercation. Plus the change in aspect ratio and filter change during the monster fight was a nice touch. Also I want to see more involving Zombina being crushed and stuff. I think she could be like the “Looney Toon” of the show if they let her. So far the deaths she’s suffered have been pretty generic but if they make it more outlandish and silly, it could really be a funny running gag.
And while the first half is more or less, you either find sucking on boobs funny or you don’t, the second half just felt like rehashing character development. Most everything that’s shown about Cerea’s character has already been established and it feels unnecessary. But that’s not to say her character making the same mistakes isn’t still funny. Her misunderstanding the situation and being a bumbling giant horse girl still makes me smile even though I’ve seen it over and over. But I think its grown into less of a joke and I’ve just started thinking her mannerisms are cute in some way. Either way this isn’t bad either, it just shows that I’m starting to care more about the characters.
But again the character conflict in this episode doesn’t really help that. And the sad thing is, that it has to be here otherwise we wouldn’t see a realization in her character. Granted it’s really bad character development that really has no rhyme or reason to it, and all stems from coincidence. But I’m not really into Monster Girls for character development, so having a whole half of an episode be about nothing other than that seems rather pointless. But again Cerea’s cuteness does ease the pain, at least somewhat. I think there could have been better ways to finally give Cerea agency in expressing her feelings more openly, but I can forget about this and just chock it up to bad direction.
Something other than Cerea’s cuteness that saved the second half for me was my bae Rachnera crashing the party like she don’t give a fuck. And the scene with her making the Devil girl her sex slave at the end is priceless. And not only that but we got a pretty blatant call out to what may be future character conflict for Rachnera. Sure it wasn’t delivered in the best way, but the show acknowledging it at least makes it seem like it has a plan to address it later on. And I know it sounds like I’m being a hypocrite when i just said I’m not into this show for the character development. But Rachnera’s is best girl, so she gets special privilege. XP
So yeah, this episode was kinda good. Even though it was just another date episode like last weeks, I think the reason that this week did better is because of the pairings. Miia and Mero just aren’t simpatico and don’t play off of each other well. But Papi and Suu are two kindred spirits and the fact that they are so in sync at times makes them a hoot to watch. And Cerea and Rachnera are really good contrasts that fit well together too, they may not be as funny as Papi and Suu but they have the dramatic sync down.
One of the things that is inherently bad about date episodes is that it doesn’t give the whole cast a chance to interact. Like in the last two episodes more than half of the cast has been excluded because Kimihito is going out on dates. I think that if they get the whole cast back together things may click like they used to. Judging by the preview next week we”re stuck seeing more dates. So the whole cast together is at least two weeks away. But the next set of dates is with the MON squad, so that’s something. If its anything like the first half of this episode was, I’ll be fine with it. I just hope next week is the last of it, because I don’t think we need more monster dates than that.
