This Monster Wants to Eat Me

This Monster Wants to Eat Me — Calm down, girl, and move on with life, for death is but only an ocean floor away. 2025 has been a year where we've been blessed by the supernatural genre, though like years past, not for all of the forsakings that many authors try to execute in the genre that is seemingly very difficult to balance and get right, say for even the tamest of series that tries so hard to induce its theme but just could not make heads nor tails of it. Leaning more specifically towards horror, though, it's the back-to-back feature of 2 shows that trulymakes the mark that despite the homophobic, LGBT-toxic nature that has come to be the incessant pushback for time now and then to come, it's a showcase that only the most open of hearts can accept, not just the Yuri girls' love aspect, but even the Yaoi boys' love series in general. And following up from Summer's impressive showing of mangaka Mokumokuren's Yaoi series Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu a.k.a. The Summer Hikaru Died, with CyGames Pictures's incredible production, with the Fall 2025 season trading places back to the Yuri trend with mangaka Sai Naekawa's Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi a.k.a. This Monster Wants to Eat Me, I swear that there's a lot for both ends of the Yaoi and Yuri spectrum to really love about the respective series, and for very good reasons at that. Depression, for the sake of reasoning to live on and live life, even if it's blatantly full of lies and promises that end up being overpromised to underdeliver. This is the tragedy of the blonde-haired girl Hinako Yaotose, who starts off as the lone girl who was miraculously saved out of an accident that plunged her unfortunate happy family into the ocean. And as she lives on, the perchance of wanting to meet death at its wide open space becomes more prevalent. That's until she got a chance to commit suicide by looking at herself within the far depths of the ocean's surface, only to get closer and be met by a monster hiding within the ocean floor to be eaten. The problem is the saving grace itself, when someone reaches out to Hinako and deals with the underwater monsters that are yokai waiting for humans to go knee-deep into the waters with the chance that they do not know what caused their own suicide. And that saving grace is a high school girl who goes by Shiori Oumi, who seemingly knows her by the bare skin of her teeth and treats her as if it's the reunion between old friends. Little does Hinako know that Shiori is not the girl who she claims to be: a monster yokai who looks just like other yokai, but one belonging to the mermaid family, with just one simple wish from the dead girl: Please don't kill yourself out of nothing, but be my sacrificial pawn for some tasty human meat. With just one simeple premise, you thought that this would spell disaster for Hinako being the female equivalent of HikaNatsu's Yoshiki Tsujinaka, as to their spellbound counterpart ofsimple Shiori (as is Hikaru Indou). But in a twist of fate, both Mokumokuren and Sai Naekawa are dealing with similar circumstances, yet they have the creative capabilities to offer different solutions for the issues that they face. It's just simply gold for going deep down the rabbit hole where true horror is the limit for all things supernatural, not for the sake of being tame and untruthful, but for being both raw and powerful at that. For a series that prioritizes characters above everything, I have to say that this show truly understands how depression works and is unabashedly unashamed of it. Hinako is already depicted as someone who seemed normal on the surface, yet someone who constantly wears a noose around her neck from the start with her deep desire to die and to still live on the sins of her family's passing while she remains the only one alive. Some will say that there's hope in living a new life to honour a family's legacy, but most of the time, in the case of Hinako, where family is first and foremost, to truly lose them and lose sight of her being, it's powerful transcendence that she's even able to feel like this life was not hers to begin with. That's where Shiori comes in as the one who feeds her the notion that she will feed on her when her time is ripe, though that depends on how well the mermaid yokai can sustain the depressive girl who warrants death when she's given life anew to breathe in. And one look at the relationship between the girls really shows how much animosity Hinako has for Shiori in her yokai form; as bizarre as it looks when typical humans are supposed to be afraid of supernatural beings, she can be considered quite the outlier at that. If that wasn't enough, Hinako has another deity protecting her ever since the accident, and it comes as no surprise that it would be yet another one of the monsters, which in this case, would be Miko Yashiro as the kitsune (i.e., fox) yokai. The friend that helps keep her sanity alive, after a series of incidents that broke her yokai spirit to live peacefully amongst the humans, Miko is quite the hilarious 2nd-party character in Hinako's life, being the light of her life that not just stems from her protection but also from being jealous of Shiori's relationship with her, so that both yokai constantly butt heads against each other. Together, the cast of the 3 central girls may be small, but never ever underestimate the levels of relationships that they go through for the monster yokais to keep their human friend sane in the process of their delicious meal. And that may have been Sai Naekawa's intent all along, because the marriage of the concept of love/obsession through the premise of "consuming" someone in both literal and metaphorical terms, alongside the theme of the sea with yokai being of association, is one that's not really explored before. Based in Ehime, Shikoku, where the "nice, calm, countryside place" is where the mangaka herself grew up, her putting together the basis for a "beautiful and scary" ominous-flavoured ningyo, a.k.a. fish-monster, alongside the reference to the priestess Yaobikuni, who lived for 800 years since eating mermaid flesh, you can see why this story marries tradition with the ever-after theme of love, working together as enemies towards the same goal as such, to a degree that even her editor, Takumi Kamemaru, even praised her for the edits and her talent to draw expressions. It's no surprise that the anime adaptation is just THAT good, thanks to Studio Lings (with production company Infinite) for the animation and production, and for an animation company that, at that point, mostly relied on co-productions with other studios as a stand-in, with this show being its 3rd anime production overall and its first independent work, it stands to reason why it's tantalizing for great production overall. Despite the existence of 2 directors, with chief director Naoyuki Kuzuya having experience directing shows that are for the most part rather average, alongside the inexperienced Yusuke Suzuki, whose directorial record is with Duel Masters's latest entries, it's the latter who took note of the source material due to its "life and theme" of deaths and attempts to make the impossible work. Of course, this is not a lone effort from the directors alone, but with the producers as well, one of them namely Ena Hamabe, who also resonated with Sai Naekawa's story and motifs that are worth sharing with the world, that "silence is beautiful" is its most important element, as well as the realism that's ingrained into the series. And for a twist, both the supernatural and slice-of-life moments were integrated as one since they serve dual duties telling the same story, with the ocean theme being prevalent not just in its setting but also in how Hinako contends with her inner thoughts, with the visual style resembling emotional landscapes in a "timeless (and) serene" setting. In the end, it was a surreal effort from not just the staff team, but even Sai Naekawa herself being involved in the production from a supervisory role that truly brought out one of Fall 2025's star attractions. With music producer Keiji Inai helming the series' OST, his idea of creating music to fit the atmosphere of specific scenes, based on the moods of the original source material, even had director Yusuke Suzuki's approval to the point of good impressions, stating that his portrayal of "emotional subtleties" allowed the story's emotions to "come alive." And I have to really agree that the music here gives a rather ambient approach to both emotion and reality; take either one aspect out, and the show overall would not be the same. The same can be said for Yoshino's OP and Reina Ueda's ED (as Hinako), which they perfectly suit the overall themes really quite well. With Summer 2025 having a great yaoi horror premise, Fall 2025 coming in with an equally just-as-impressive yuri horror story plot, horror fans sure are experiencing back-to-back quality series, that (I hope) can keep the momentum going, especially since there aren't many supernatural works that can live up to what both HikaNatsu and this show are doing. Truly, it's a great time to be a horror fanatic, and both shows prove why they're the king and queen of the same-sex romance shtick, adding darkness for some pop that'll get your bones rattling.

Do yourself a favor and don't watch this. Not for the "yuri" that never actually progresses in any interesting way, not for the "cultural aspect" of it which has the depth of an american blockbuster movie featuring a japanese character, not for the drama which is ONLY bait and switch with some awful direction, and definitely not for the animation that revolves so god damn much on static face-shots while the characters (mostly Shiori) just vomits the plot for you in a nonstop yapping session, because show don't tell is not a thing.. right guys? Overused flashbacks, almost making me question how much did they reallywanted to animate from the manga, jokes in the middle of somewhat-serious or intense scenes that WILL take out any immersion you could have, a plot that could have so much drama and even toxicity in it, but in the end only revolves around no one really wanting to commit too far into anything - but also not doing it because "it's the right thing, you know" but more so because "eh, you're such a bother!! but i guess i'll let it happen.. so things stay nice and samey ofc ofc." and a bunch more problems that i really can't explain besides "potential writing" because good lord, if you're not constantly thinking up scenarios for this anime, you will not enjoy it. There's more fun to be had in made up scenarios in your own head than whatever they churned with these 13 episodes.. and again, there's no actual yuri in here. Watch. Something. Better. This is a sack full of nothing besides good voice acting, which cannot save a show, even if i love Fairouz Ai's range.

Best yuri show their season, no contest. It is also very hard hitting for anyone who suffered from depression at any point in their life. These two combined do not sound like formula for success but you will be surprised at how well it meshes up together. Animation and music: top notch in both departments. The animation is nice and fluid, despite not being high budget like some shows it definitely had enough to bring some very memorable scenes. Especially with scenes involving rain or emotional moments. And the music... The music is amazing and it really increases the enjoyment factor a lot. This show isprime example of what music should be, playing the right song and the right moment so that the scene itself bring out the desired emotion. And in this case whoever has done the OST deserves an oscar for it. Overall: excellent in both categories. Prime example how to make a great anime with medium sized budget. Characters: This show has 3 of them. Hinako is MFC who is highly depressed due to being only survivor from the family of 4. Her day is filled with trying her best to function normally as a human being and being lost in depression (which is nicely presented by her being engulfed in endless ocean). Throughout the series her only intention is to die in order to end her suffering and be with her family again, and anime resolves around her finding her will to live again. Then we have Shiori who is a japanese mermaid. She is cunning, selfish and prideful. Her main interest is to be beside Hinako and do her best to nurture and protect her while teasing her as much as possible. In the end we have Miko who is to me the best girl in this show. She is energetic, silly, kindhearted and a bit of a dum-dum. But it is her cheerful and caring spirit that is caring not only her best friend Hinako but also everyone else. Truly the prime waifu material. The rest of the characters are just appearing for an episode or two and have no big impact on the story. Overall: The main trio is excellent and their development and interactions are really enjoyable to watch. Story: the story is about Hinako meeting Shiori who tells her that she will ear her one day (hence the title) and from there is shifting to various situations and events that slowly but surely reveals not just other interesting stuff but also dark secrets from the past. The story is slow burn but in this case this goes in her advantage. The main theme of the story is yuri (but of course :D) and depression. And the show really likes to explore the depression side, and it does it really, really well. To those who do not get it or have never expirianced it (like Freshest Anime on Youtube) this will seem like a boring anime to watch. To those who did experience it this will click so many times and it will be quite an enjoyable ride seeing how will Hinako struggle trough all of that pain. Now, some people would say that this is just yuri version of "Summer when Hikaru died", which is somewhat true but not really. This show stands on it's own and it deals with themes of depression and not sexual orientation or trying to find out who you really are. Both shows are amazing and they stood strong on their own unique strengths. Overall: the story is slow burn but excellent, and it deals with it's main themes quite good. Overall grade: 9, and well deserved. 10 form me personally, but overall this show grade is either strong 8 or 9. The animation, the music, the characters and the story all line up nicely and present us with this amazing experience, which in this "disappointing" season is a real breather. It is an easy recommendation from me, if you manage to deal with slow but and watch all 13 episodes I am sure you will be more than delighted by the end. Chances for season 2 are slim right now as manga did not ended yet and this anime covered over half of released material so far. But if they ever release it I will watch it for sure.

I'm a little mixed with this to be quite frank. One hand, I did enjoy it quite a bit and the concept is pretty cool too, but on the other hand, it didn't play out how I thought it would and I'm a little disappointed (however this is more my own issue rather than the series). The beginning of the series really hooked me and caught my attention with the concept and the characters but over time it started to feel a little dull and I wasn't enjoying it as much as before. (however, the one thing I wanted to happen did slightly occur soI can't be mad there). Animation for this is a little plain. It's decent enough but nothing remarkable and noteworthy. It did feel kind of stiff at times with some moments but I wasn't expecting insane animation from this series anyways. Plot is super straightforward, and the story it develops along the way isn't super complicated or anything, very direct and to the point. Wish it had some more oomph to it though. But it was alright. Overall, not a bad series by any means but I didn't end up enjoying it as much as I thought I would from the beginning. So for me, I'm a little disappointed but I feel for most this series would be quite adequate.