Talk:Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls (anime)/@comment-187.165.34.123-20150827194923/@comment-26824352-20150902170621

At the very least, though, Monster Musume treats its, uh, objects of focus as genuine people.

I've heard a criticism of harems before arguing that it is simply unbelievable that so many women could latch onto an otherwise unremarkable guy for something so basal as being nice or kind, as if these women had never been treated nicely before.

I give that argument a lot of weight, but the reason it doesn't apply here is because of the liminal context. Given how most people react to the extraspecies persons (with awe, rude curiosity, fear, or outright dehumanization) it isn't as unheard-of that they would be more open to more equal treatment, and a point is made that Kimihoto isn't the only guy that becomes attractive to them for that quality. Later, Yukio falls for a fellow because of how nice he is despite how different she is, and it might be presumed that that quality also had a role in Cathyl's attraction to her boyfriend.

In that light, the harem-ness of Kimihoto's situation really just presents him as a victim of circumstance. Moreover, more thought is put into the world around them than some shallower harem works will bother with. Okayado pays especial attention to the antomies and behaviors of the different animals the species are based upon, and also displays a better understanding of law than a harem writer would be expected to by presenting the lines by which the Exchange Program functions and then presenting its loopholes and errors through multiple instances that necessitate the existence of MON.

As for the illusion that all the extraspecies are women, Okayado was a doujin artist in his roots. And one could even argue it scientifically. Liminals are akin to animals in many ways, and most male animals are either aggressive or territorial when compared to their females. It could easily be presumed that a lot of males simply don't pass the examinations to qualify or are too quarrelsome. Orcs are some of the only male liminals we're treated to, and their behavior is far from diplomatic.

Finally, it is because of the depth of species Okayado sets up that he is capable of treating the girls as characters nd not solely as fetish fuel. As the series go, you'll notice a marked drop in frequency of ecchi moments as Okayado turns his attention to trying to actually present a plot behind the "plot". The issue with D, for instance, is the first case, but more prominently is the issue with the mermaid kingdom, where Mero's mother is planning something of a greater scale than would be expected of a boobfest, and Oct's introduction was less ecchi than might have been predicted. There was still some tentaculation, but you could almost get the feeling that Okayado was giving the bare minimum for that, almost as if he were impatient to get to the point.

All in all, it certainly started shallowly ecchi (chapter 1 handjob, anyone?), but has since maaged to stand up to something surprisingly unexpected.