This Monster Wants to Eat Me Review - An Ocean of Depressing Greatness

Written by Rei Caldombra 1/7/26 Video: TBD

Hello everyone, Rei Caldombra here for a review of the This Monster Wants to Eat Me / Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi anime. I loved this gripping, dramatic story about a girl reckoning with her past and the dangerous world around her. This is one of those moments where with hindsight I wish I had been covering the show episode by episode. 

There will not be notable spoilers for the story. And please be aware that contents of this show and this review contain discussions around suicide. And is generally dark and contains blood and violence.

My summary: This show is about a high school girl named Hinako who has been depressed and had suicidal tendencies ever since she was the only one in her family to survive a car crash. Her best friend Miko has done a lot to support her, but that isn’t a fix for the deep seeded trauma she holds. One day she gets saved from a youkai by a mermaid who claims that she has come to devour Hinako. She promises that when Hinako is happier, and therefore tastier, she will kill and eat her. 

Let’s get right into the premise of this show. I love the contradiction at the core of the story. We are supposed to be happy that Shiori is trying to improve Hinako’s mental health, but that is contrasted by knowing that Hinako getting happier will bring her closer to her death. This is actually what Hinako wants, but for the wrong reason of wanting to die rather than be happier. As the audience this affects us too. We are happy seeing her become happier, but at the back of our minds we are stuck knowing that we are marching closer to her dying. This questioning of how we should feel gets driven further by Shiori’s mysterious nature. Is Shiori being truthful about her intentions? We don’t know yet. This is a really intriguing and engaging dynamic. This paradoxical situation made for a very gripping and engaging experience for me.

This show has 3 main characters, and that’s pretty much it. It is a VERY small cast. As much as I love a strong ensemble cast, I believe this show made the right choice by keeping it tight. We spend so much time building up these characters and not wasting time on anything else. The tight casting allows the show to be slow while still having plenty of time to get into each character and their dynamics.

Hinako is a very passive character, spending a lot of the story going along with Shiori and Miko. But to me this is very fitting for her character and the story being told. This is a case where having a main character who spends a lot of the story being passive is not really a detriment. She feels well written as a depressed character. You can see this in her mannerisms and habits rather than the show exclusively telling you everything straight away. I don’t think this show that is primarily dialogue suffers too much from just telling rather than showing. You can’t help but want to root for her and sympathize with how she has suffered internally all this time with her survivor’s guilt. You really feel the mental fatigue and weight she carries. I don’t find her passivity and actions at all frustrating or anything like that, I completely buy into why she acts the way she does throughout the whole season.

Shiori the mermaid yokai is very much a character shrouded in mystery, and it works really well for her and the story. The contradiction of the premise is entwined with her as a character. She is exceedingly pleasant and genuinely seems to care about Hinako. But she also openly lies and is physically threatening.

As a viewer it is hard to know how to feel about her, in the best way possible. The question of Shiori’s true intentions and feelings hold strong throughout the season as an element to keep the viewer engaged and wanting to keep watching. As a “monster” character, she works really great. Shiori really does feel like a person who lives with a different perspective and state of mind. This aspect of her character is very interesting and well realized to me.

Miko is Hinako’s childhood friend and has been the one supporting her the most during the time since her family passed away. She has the upbeat, positive genki girl energy that is very cute and endearing, while feeling like a pretty normal person compared to the emotional wreck Hinako is and whatever Shiori is. But she also has a lot more to her character that I cannot spoil.

The chemistry between the 3 main characters is really great. They each have a totally different dynamic with each respective person. Miko and Shiori both dote on Hinako and try to help her, but they both go about it in different ways. With both of them also having issues with their approaches. Shiori and Miko also have a very fun antagonistic dynamic towards each other. It works great both for comedy and as an element of serious conflict for the story that develops over time.

This is a very slow, heavy and dramatic show. Despite its slow pacing, the show has a lot to it that kept me engaged. Such as the aforementioned aspects of the characters. It could be a little too dour for people who are not into these heavier shows. I want to be clear that this is not a happy romance show about a girl meeting a quirky monster girl. I could see some people thinking it is too slow, boring or heavy. Personally, I like the atmosphere. Despite the heaviness of the subject matter, I did not leave episodes feeling depressed the way shows like Bojack Horseman could. It does not go that far, but it is heavy. I don’t think it is melodramatic though in the derogatory way. It is not trying to make you feel sad, but is also not out to give you some perfect happy ending. It feels like a truer to life representation of people struggling with themselves and their complicated feelings and desires.

Suicide is a prominent theme, and I believe it tackles it very appropriately. One thing this show gets right is that healing and growing takes a lot of time. The slow nature of the show fits with its acknowledgment of how Hinako’s issues are not an easy fix. She doesn’t get cured of her trauma just because she has a great friend and has a hot mermaid lady start fawning over her. It shows that getting to the heart of the matter is what it takes, and that truly moving on takes a lot of time and effort. I don’t think Hinako’s issues, including her suicidal feelings, ever feel fetishized, overdramatized or anything like that. You learn that she is suicidal right away and have to sit with it. In a way, similar to how the characters surrounding her have to view this fact and navigate around it in their own ways. I also think it’s great how the characters and the show itself show a strong respect for Hinako’s agency as a person, despite her suicidal feelings. It’s important to recognize that suicidal people aren’t always people who are walking around with a gun to their head 24/7 like Desmond from Smiling Friends ready to do it at a moment’s notice. I think this show gets the nuance and complicated feelings around living as a mentally unwell person very well. Her feelings and experience going through life is conveyed strongly. There is a lot of depressing but compelling concepts that the show gets into. Like that pain does not go away easily, and that new life experiences are something you need despite the potential of them to cause more pain as well as heal it. Relationships are the same, able to bring both warmth and cold, joy and pain. These themes work really well with the melancholic feeling of the show.

This is totally a girl’s love (GL) show though. You’ve got a girl with romantic and sexual tension from at least one monster girl who is very into her in one way or another. And Hinako also feels herself feeling a level of infatuation and comfort towards her. You can’t deny that there is a lot of intentionally gay energy here lol.

But this is not a comfy or goofy fantasy romance in any way. I believe this can be considered toxic yuri as some would say, I’m not that familiar with it. These are flawed characters who are struggling with themselves, both in their feelings and actions. It is genuinely dark at times, and you are meant to take it very seriously despite having moments that you can see as also functioning as a way to satisfy some darker fetishes. 

These are characters who have toxic traits like being possessive and threatening. But not in ways that hurt them as characters for me. Again, this is meant to go into darker territory. But there are multiple ways to interpret things.

I would not call it an explicit romance where you are watching characters fall in love, be in a relationship, and/or move towards a romantic end goal. You can clearly see the romantic and sexual undertones and theming of the story and read into it deeper if you are inclined to. There’s a lot of great stuff here about the nature of relationships and attraction. But I would not say this is a show where you need to buy into them as a romantic couple. I don’t really ship the characters in this case. I’m not exactly a fan of the “toxic romance” sort of thing. Not a hater, just not my thing. Nor are romances involving monsters something I go out of my way for. But despite that, I still had a great time with this anime. So this is me telling anyone out there who isn’t explicitly into a girl getting thirsted after by a monster girl that you can enjoy this too. And if you do enjoy such things, this show will provide you with that. All the power to the toxic yuri fans. I just think it would do the show a disservice towards the general audience by condensing it to something purely for yuri fans and monster fans to think is hot. I think it struck a great balance of having these more sexual aspects while also being a gripping character drama that does not necessitate any fetishes to be enjoyable. When it comes to the trio, I also think it is balanced well between being viewable as a lesbian love triangle and simply people who care about each other. In terms of sexuality, it really is primarily just imagery rather than explicitly showing anything sexual. I can’t think of any moments I would think of as traditional fanservice. So if you are someone who likes this kind of subject matter but does not want nudity, you don’t need to worry about that. I don’t think I’m doing the best at explaining this general point, this kind of stuff I like to talk about but can struggle to put into words, but basically what I am trying to say is that you shouldn’t write it off just because you don’t have any interest in yuri or think it is overtly sexual monster stuff. I like yuri though I am not a diehard fan or anything, and I would consider myself neutral but not seeking when it comes to throwing monsters into the mix of romance. But I really like this show and think I would like it even if the yuri energy was not there in the same way. Because I genuinely did not engage with the yuri aspects here as much as I have in other shows.

TLDR- I think a lot of people can appreciate this show, not just toxic yuri and/or monster romance sort of fans. And I should mention that The Summer Hikaru Died has a decent bit in common as another show with a mentally unwell mc getting approached by a yokai-esque creature in human form with gay sexual tension amidst the monster being both caring and threatening. I recommend anyone who likes one of these watch the other. I really liked both shows both for their dramatic and heavy (though very different) stories and the underlying romantic and sexual energy.

This is very much a character drama through and through. There are bits of comedy here and there, but they usually come and go pretty quick. I think these moments always worked well. I can’t think of a time that I thought a joke ruined a moment or overstayed its welcome. I think this very heavy show benefits from the occasional moments of levity between the heavy subject matter and long stints of dialogue. Miko and Shiori not getting along is one frequent spot of comedy for example. I also like when the sillier moments have the characters go into chibi head designs. This moment of an uncharacteristic bit of goofy animation is one of my favorites.

The OP and ED are both great. The OP does a good job setting up the tone and giving cool visuals to represent the story and characters. While the ED song and visuals are both very pretty. Overall, the show is pretty great from a visual standpoint. There is a lot of great imagery for Hinako’s emotional state. The art is very good. While it is more on the stiffer side when it comes to character animation, I didn’t feel that it hurt the show at any point. It looks good when it does move, and when it doesn’t the characters and backgrounds look good. The show has a big emphasis on the ocean, providing many gorgeous shots of it as well as it also playing into the emotions of the characters.

I won’t use any details, but I wanted to mention that the climax of the story was very satisfying. It was really well built up to and executed on. It is the kind of conflict that when written poorly can feel tropey and contrived but fits with the characters and the journey they are on. The conflict, resolution and the emotions on display during them felt earned rather than forced or overdramatized. I got seriously teary eyed. The anime also ends off the season at a great place for both types of viewers who enjoyed it. I think you could be very satisfied with it as a complete story for someone who doesn’t want to continue on. While I also feel there is plenty of motivation to keep going to see how the story continues to play out.

To conclude, I had a great time with this emotionally gripping show and captivating characters. I hope more people can give it a chance, it feels a bit underrated and underwatched in my opinion. I’ll definitely be checking out the manga, though it’s a shame that the official translations are, as far as I can find as of writing this, several volumes behind where the anime ends. At least this series does make for a solid rewatch / reread, as there are things you learn later that explain things from earlier.

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