We be bloggin'

Out of all the anime we watched recently, there was one we were very curious of, but also one we actually never finished. It was pretty much the only GL that we found on the docket of anime last year (a disappointment compared to previous year). This anime was not exactly what he were hoping for, and it by no means was bad, but it was just too slow of a burn to keep us engaged.

The premise is about a girl who, well essentially, wants to die. That’s right, our main character is kind of listless to me–a girl who desires death but also never really tries to take her own life. It’s like she’s just waiting passively for the world to take her out (or maybe that was just my impression). Anyway, so this girl, Hinako, meets the aforementioned “monster” from the title of the anime. The monster takes the form of another girl named Shiori. What makes her a monster is that she’s actually a mermaid yokai. Upon meeting Hinako, Shiori basically makes a promise that one day she’ll eat her. And that’s really the premise of the story. It’s all about the relationship they form with each other as Shiori consistently saves Hinako from other monsters and from dying in general. According to Shiori, she is simply keeping Hinako alive so that she can devour her when she is at her most delicious.

That whole promise actually reminds me of Kuroshitsuji. Sebastian and Ciel have a very similar deal–Sebastian is waiting until Ciel finishes his revenge to consume him (presumably because Ciel’s soul will be most delicious when it is fulfilled). The real difference here is that Ciel and Sebastian have a working relationship whereas Hinako and Shiori form an even more intimate bond. But of course, this is a slow burn. So even with the show centering on the characters themselves, this relationship is still very much in-process. You see, after not finishing this anime, I naturally looked up other opinions on it to see if it was worth going back to. And honestly, the answer wasn’t super desirable. Mainly because it seems like there’s no clear definition of a romantic relationship between the two as the story tends to focus more on the darker themes.

I think the most disappointing aspect for us with this is just that it follows the tendency that GL anime seem to have with leaving a relationship undefined. Where there’s definitely other anime on the BL side that do the same thing (cough, The Summer Hikaru died, cough), it’s just sad to see another GL with a relatively unfulfilled relationship (or in this case possibly highly toxic).

Either way, it was not exactly our cup of tea. However, I did see other people really enjoy this story so I wouldn’t count it out just because we say so. It supposedly goes into a lot of darker themes and the relationship between Shiori and Hinako is supposed to be intriguing even with its toxic tendencies. So if you’re into that stuff, give it a go. 

Otherwise, we’ll see you tomorrow for another Niji Night!

xoxo

AishteLOVEru

Luna