84DaysWithout

Your immediate impression may be that this is a shameless rip off of Monster Musume (2017). I wouldn’t blame you for thinking so - there’s a blonde busty centaur, bombshell Lamia, femme fatale spider girl, adorable cyclops and a lucky/unlucky teenage boy at the center of their attention. But there are several differences that set Monster Doctor apart from predecessors and make it stand on its own as an entry to the monster girl genre. For one, Monster Doctor is explicitly about...you guessed it...a traveling doctor who specializes in monster health conditions. The episodes are dedicated to a medical case concerning a unique speciesthat he cures through inventive means. There is almost always a specific goal that an episode will work towards, in contrast to OG Monster Musume that spiraled into random directions because the predominant focus was fanservice. Another difference, and probably the most significant, is that Monster Doctor is bereft of nudity and does not compare to the degeneracy levels of its ancestor. You are more inclined to be invested in the health dilemmas of the monster girls - such as a centaur who is struggling to compete in arena exhibitions b/c of a hoof injury or a land mermaid who has respiratory issues related to her lack of water intake, than you are their “assets”. In examining his patients, Dr. Glenn does do so thoroughly (this is where the fanservice comes in), but these scenes are very brief in comparison to the rest of the episodes content and aren't so out of line for what a doctor would have to do in order to diagnose his patient. I enjoy slice of life/romance narratives with a lead who is a professional in an industry. Dr. Glenn is a teenage prodigy who goes out of his way to diagnose and cure the ailments of monster girls who are otherwise neglected by their environment. His intentions are genuine and his knowledge is undeniable. You know precisely why the girls fall in love with him - less obvious in other romance anime where the reason is just “you’re such a nice guy”. Dr. Glenn is nice. And rich. And brilliant. His wife would be hitting the jackpot and all of his admirers know that. To me at least, he's the best part of this show and what makes everything work. Even if his personality is rather dry. Monster Doctor isn't the best "waifu ensemble" harem. Which is to say, a harem that features a lineup of diverse best girls whom the audience will gravitate towards for any number of lewd reasons. The girls in this show are cute, but they aren't made the object of fanservice enough to be rule 34'd into oblivion and used as fetish fuel. You more so enjoy the girls in this show because they are extremely likable people and there's some catharsis in seeing likable people have their lives improved for the better when a nagging injury, illness is cured. I, for one, love the mermaid character Lulala and was so happy to see her specific crisis be resolved. The smile on her face was priceless. Of course, this isn’t a perfect anime by any means and there are issues of varying degrees of importance. The animation is not particularly good, very little movement in general. Tons of static/panning shots that admire the character designs and environments. There isn’t much character depth beyond what you see in the introduction - they are more so types than individuals, though very endearing types they are. If any of these were improved upon it would take Monster Doctor from solid to very good-great. But as is the charm of this show getting to know so many different cute monster girl species and their predicaments. Following a MC who is NOT a buffoon that genuinely cares for their well being and gradually earns their trust. It doesn’t surprise me that MAL has received this anime so poorly - there is fanservice (a no no for large sections of holier than thou MAL community), the concept appears merely regurgitated in a lesser form, and for the super lewd degenerate crowd it doesn’t push the envelope for enough to watch this with your pants off. But, for the audience that can see through these surface level criticisms you have a worthwhile monster girl anime that proves itself to be more than derivative of past successes.

HenriqueNeves

Monster Musume no Oishasan is in constant conflict when trying to stage a generic story from several different genres, but which do not connect at any time. The anime tries to do comedy, action, drama, romance and other things without an ounce of harmony. The universe presented has a very wide variety of species, and the use of multiple colors has helped a lot to add a difference between them. The best moments of the anime are reached when the protagonist Glenn is exercising his role as a doctor in this fantasy world. The anime seems to care a lot about this, so much so thatthe illnesses presented by all the characters are credible to a certain extent, it is a pity that the purpose of this service ends up resulting in embarrassing moments staged in a fetish-oriented way.