Re:Monster

After dying a pitiful death in a quasi-cyberpunk world, Tokokui Kanata is reincarnated into a fantasy world as a bottom-tier mob, a goblin named Gob-Rou. However, retaining his previous life's experiences and his overpowered absorption skill, Gob-Rou finds a way to get stronger and tries his best to live life the way he wants, free from control. Story & Character: 6/10 Re Monster takes the story day by day instead of episodically, so we see definitive progression throughout the series, provided with narration. This approach removes some of the suspense typically seen in episodic series that peak toward the end of each episode. Re Monster always triesto end on a satisfying note with as little plot friction as possible. This also becomes a drawback. It grows uninspiring, and we lose that sense of struggle and adaptation which initially tied the story together. In a world-building series like this, characters are an essential framework for development. I think Re Monster does well in terms of character development, considering it manages various different species, new evolutions, progressive relationships, and even family development. However, it's notable that despite all this, the characters still lack individuality beyond their designs. The characters are drawn to Rou without much sense of conflict, which makes the friendly characters feel stale. The idea of loss doesn't exist in this series, and Rou's faction feels artificially submissive to his cause, which makes none of their personalities unique apart from their stereotypical character personas. Art & Sound: 5/10 The art starts off decent but progressively worsens, and it's definitely noticeable when it comes to action. Scenes lacking character movement and instead favoring slideshow presentations litter the series more frequently over time, making the viewing experience feel cheap. It doesn't help that the character designs look like they're straight out of a budget doujinshi. Sound design is passable; there weren't any memorable uses of thematic music to evoke emotion. The voice acting felt mediocre at best and amateurish at worst. Along with the music, the sound effects were average for modern standards, with nothing extraordinary standing out. Overall & Enjoyment: 6/10 I appreciated the fact that Re Monster was brazen enough to include parts like childbirth, goblin reproduction, and many other questionable topics for a power fantasy series. Re Monster tries to stand out from the mold with its seemingly unique fantasy plot structure and progressive character development, but it felt poorly executed. The art grew worse with each episode and lacked any considerable animation by the end, which was a degrading experience.

I'm going to recommend this anime not because it's a gem in animation, it's a gem in comfortable storytelling, or it's one of the best manga adaptations that have ever existed. I'm going to recommend it because it is indeed entertaining, although it really isn't a big deal. The concept surrounding this anime is great, a protagonist who continually reincarnates in different worlds, adapting to them trying to climb in them, now being one of fantasy and like a monster. But we have to be honest, the story is written in such a way that it seems like a simple fanfic of a very hornyteenager, the animation and the Lore are simply mediocre, but despite this I find it a completely entertaining story. At a certain point I can come to think that perhaps it would have been better if instead of being four or five days per chapter, it was a short 5-minute chapter with each day. Like those kinds of anime that last very little but have several chapters. Look at it: * You like Fantasy * You find yourself saturated by animes with much more complex stories and you want a break * You want to see a protagonist who does inseminate his waifus. * Yes harem is your favorite genre. * You read at least more than 20 chapters of the manga or two volumes of the novel. Don't look at it yes: * Are you looking for an anime with good plot development and a good story? * You have a very strong monogamous belief. * You hope to see a second season. Edit: I have been asked about the fact that I mentioned that the character constantly reincarnates. Regarding this, I am referring to the fact that the mentioned character knew about reincarnation beforehand and also alludes to having experienced it before. Of course, this is something that only happens in the anime. I have read the novel perfectly and I know that it does not mention anything about the topic. But there are also several inconsistencies regarding the initial part of the story in relation to the novel and the anime. So this review being only about the anime, and it mentions that reincarnation. I repeat, I am not referring to the fact that the character dies and reincarnates in other bodies or with another appearance within this fantasy world. PD: Maybe I'm crazy and I don't know how to read or listen well, but you already reviewed chapter 1, and I always understand the same thing (the above). ------------- Español: ------------- Voy a recomendar este anime, no por ser una joya en la animación, ser una joya en la narrativa cómoda o ser una de las mejores adaptaciones de manga que han existido. Voy a recomendarlo porque efectivamente es entretenido, aunque realmente no es la gran cosa. El concepto que rodea a este anime es grandioso, un protagonista que reencarna continuamente en diferentes mundos adaptándose a ellos intentando escalar en ellos, siendo ahora uno de fantasía y como un monstruo. Pero hay que ser sinceros, la historia está escrita de tal manera que parece un simple fanfic de un adolescente bien caliente, la animación y el Lore simplemente son mediocres, pero a pesar de ello se me hace una historia completamente entretenida. En cierto punto puedo llegar a pensar que quizás le hubiera ido mejor si en vez de ser cuatro o cinco días por capítulo, fuera un capítulo corto de 5 minutos con cada día. Como esa clase de animes que duran muy poco, pero tienen varios capítulos. Míralo sí: * Te gusta la Fantasía * Te encuentras saturado por animes de historias mucho más complejas y quieres un respiro * Quieres ver a un protagonista que sí insemina a sus waifus. * Sí harem es tu género favorito. * Leíste por lo menos más de 20 capítulos del manga o dos tomos de la novela. No lo mires sí: * Buscas un anime con buen desarrollo de trama y buena historia * Eres de creencia monógama muy fuerte. * Esperas ver una segunda temporada. Edit: Me han preguntado respecto al hecho de que mencioné que personaje reencarna constantemente., con respecto a esto, me estoy refiriendo al hecho de que el personaje mencionado conocer de forma previa la reencarnación y también hace alusión a haberla vivido antes. Por supuesto, esto es algo que solo ocurre en el anime. He leído perfectamente la novela y sé que en ella no se menciona nada sobre el tema. Pero también hay varias incoherencias con respecto. A la parte inicial de la historia en relación a la novela y el anime. Por lo que esta reseña al ser únicamente el anime, y se mención sobre esa reencarnación. Repito, no me estoy refiriendo al hecho de que el personaje, muera y reencarne en otros cuerpos o con otra apariencia dentro de este mundo de fantasía. pd: Quizás yo estoy loco y no se leer o escuchar bien, pero ya revise el capítulo 1, y siempre entiendo lo mismo (lo de arriba).

“Re:Monster” is what happens when someone with no imagination or writing skills tries to write “Tensura”. Do You know what “Stockholm syndrome” is? It’s a term from the field of psychology. It occurs when a hostage starts to identify with the captor, starts to justify his actions and sometimes even develops strong feelings for them. It’s postulated that it’s a defence mechanism that increases the chance of surviving a dangerous situation. One theory is that people adjust their feelings toward the abuser when they are shown kindness, especially if it’s over time. That means that if You are abducted, treated badly and once in a while areshown kindness, there is a chance You might develop a positive feeling towards the aggressor. Even if You are victim of sexual assault during Your abduction. Yes, it’s almost like in an abusive relationship. Of course this is a simplification, Stockholm syndrome is very rare, according to the FBI less than 8% of abduction victims end up with it. The reason why I’m writing this is to set a frame for the first 6 episodes of this shit of show. Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page… I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa Cron describes them: “What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.” “STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”. Let’s start with the story. There is none. 99.9% of things that happen only happen because the plot demands it. It has nothing to do with any kind of internal logic. It’s just an excuse for a shitty writer to indulge in his jerk fest. The MC starts out as a piece of shit and ends the series as a piece of shit. For some reason the show wants me to buy in that he has a development arc but You really have to be brain dead to believe that. From the very beginning he’s an opportunist and that never changes. The only thing that does is that he becomes a hypocrite as a bonus. Now granted that’s nothing new for isekai protagonists, a good 99% of them are hypocrites, but the way this show portrays some serious subjects is really pissing me off. Everything in this show revolves around the MC - Rou - also known as Aporou (when in Apostle Lord form) formerly known as Ogarou (when in Ogre form) formerly known as Goburou (when in Goblin and Hobgoblin forms) formerly known as Tomokui Kanata (In his previous world) and always known as a shitty idea. In his previous life he died in a knife attack by a chick who seems to be getting off the fact that she is turning him into a knife holder. To be honest, looking at how this show “evolves” (I’m being really generous here) I’m surprised this didn’t turn out like a scene from “Nekromantik” (If You don’t know this movie… DON’T watch it. Seriously, I just hate myself and love camp). He is reborn as a goblin in a new world and surprise, surprise, he has a skill that lets him be OP from the get go. Never saw that coming in like… almost all other isekai garbage from the last decade. Interesting twist (the only one in this show): The MC was an OP Mofo in his previous life as well. From a cyberpunk or maybe urban fantasy world with dumb game logic systems in place to a pure fantasy world with dumb game logic systems in place. No wonder he feels like home from the get go. Of course the world works on Game logic, because it’s a lazy isekai. You can’t have an isekai without it. I miss times of “The Vision of Escaflowne” or “Now and Then, Here and There” when isekais didn’t require the hero to kick the bucket and didn’t have a damn cheap RPG-like system woven into its core. You know… the good old times when to be a writer You would actually require any kind of skill. He gains new skills by eating living creatures because of course he does. That’s the second most lazy way to write a progression system. From a logical point of view and his tribe strength he’s an absolute idiot. He kills, as punishment because we need to pretend he’s a “good” guy, some of the stronger members of the previous generation of goblins (one being a hobgoblin). There was no real reason to do so. If he really wanted to he could just beat the shit out of them and use instrumental conditioning to train them. This was done only because we needed a reason for the redhead human girl to crawl into his bed. He’s more or less a piece of shit. Granted in this world, as a monster, being concerned only with Yourself doesn’t seem to be a bad thing but the extent of self-delusion he goes to is impressive. He saves the daughter of an elven chief and hopes her escort rests in peace. Cute. The problem? He could have saved them with little to no problems. There is no real reason for him to save her as well. Except the fact that the show needs an excuse for all other bullshit with the elves that will come later and she’s a woman. At this point I’m gonna assume every woman this cardboard buyout of an MC meets is on his rape list. I don’t mind evil or opportunistic protagonists. They can actually be amazing, just look at “Overlord”, “Death Note” or “Saga of Tanya the Evil” but don’t make them hypocrites (Yeah, I know Ainz is one but it’s not that obvious in the beginning). If You’re writing an asshole just go fully into it. There was one moment when the show tricked me into thinking that maybe it will not be a total piece of crap. When Goburou is fighting a red bear he gets his ass handed to him on a silver platter but, because we can’t have logical writing, instead of retreating and preparing with a different approach he just gets a second wind from thin air and wins the fight. As a reward he evolves. If there was ever a show with no stakes this would be it. It’s the second episode and we already know that our MC is unstoppable. Ok… let’s talk about the elephant in the room - Stockholm syndrome. The human girls fall for him because he’s nice to them. The show set up an amazing opportunity to explore this aspect of the story. You can show how emotionally, physically and mentally being abducted by monsters who You are pretty known rapists (not that anyone hid it) is. Damn. You could use the boring MC as a catalyst for that kind of a story. It’s not exactly something common so the story had a chance to become something unique. But that would require a writer with skills and imagination. But the show wasn’t lucky enough to have one so it’s just basic shit. The most insulting thing is that this shit show plays it off as cute and “rewards” the MC with a goddamn orgy with 5 human women and one hobgoblin chick. This show portrait straight up rape almost like a social tool. The elfs don’t want to wear earrings because of their culture? The MC rapes them and suddenly they don’t have a problem with it. Do you need to test the endurance of the newly enslaved prisoners? Rape. It even shows one of them rejecting the idea but potrais it as some sort of quirky “yes”. It’s so juvenile, crude and to be honest devoid of any kind of nuance or taste. As a former therapist I will only say: FUCK the writer for that! To be honest I think that skipping this one is actually a profit in itself. The amount of bullshit in this show is comparable with “Berserk of Gluttony”, “Eminence in Shadow”, “The Qwaser of Stigmata” or “Conception”. I feel that a lot of my braincells committed suicide during watching this shit. Save Your brain, avoid this.

I kind of enjoyed many episodes, it sure had some drawbacks, but it's entertaining, the art was decent, and the method of portraying was good. They could've avoided certain things, for example, in episode 6, the MC could have gone for the kill, instead of easily guessing the scenario, where he recruits the person who has very very few characters or scenes in the whole anime. The one thing I liked about the anime is, that he trains to get stronger with proper planning at the beginning, & the first few episodes are very interesting. They could not avoid the light harem, as it is necessaryfor future developments, yes they are popping babies out. Overall it's a nice, not boring, and decent anime.