Mamonogurai no Boukensha: Ore dake Mamono wo Kuratte Tsuyoku Naru

Honestly, anime fans care way too much about high budget and sakuga these days. Mamonogurai no Boukensha (Monster Eater) proves that a really dope story is much more important than flashy visuals. Having a plot that actually keeps the viewer hooked is the best thing. The concept of eating monsters to get their powers is dark, but super fun to watch. Sure, the animation is not Ufotable level, but who cares? If a cheaper animation style means we can get adaptations of cool storys that otherwise would never get an anime, then please give us more of it!

The pacing here is just spot on. The ... main character dont just get overpowered by doing nothing. Every episode drops some new stuff and there is no boring filler until now.

About the art style: yes, it is pretty simple. People on the forums complain allready. But to be honest, it fits the gritty vibe of the world perfectly and does exactly what it need to do. Why does every show need to look like a high budget blockbuster? Having a great story told right is way better than a slideshow of pretty pictures with a ruined plot.

All in all, i liked the first 3 episodes so mutch, that i will pick up the manga.

Even though the story is average, I don’t think this anime has done anything to deserve such a low score. I genuinely believe it’s being treated unfairly. I don’t read manga or webtoons, but this anime already makes it clear what it is by having episodes that are only 13 minutes long it’s basically saying “I’m a casual, snack-type series.”

The animation style is something I’ve never really seen before. Or rather, the animation mostly exists when characters are talking and moving their mouths. So in a way, this isn’t really a traditional anime you can think of it more like a voiced webtoon video.

Even though ... only 4 episodes have been released so far, it’s sitting around a 3.91 score. Normally, I finish an entire season before writing a review, but this is an exceptional case. There’s clearly an unfair situation here. This anime never claimed it would deliver something like Demon Slayer-level animation in the first place. In fact, for people who don’t enjoy reading webtoons, this style works really well.

Sure, the story might get at most a 7/10 from me, but giving it such a low score after only watching 4 episodes feels disrespectful to the voice actors and the studio’s innovative approach. I honestly don’t understand how anyone could rate it as low as 3.91 based on just four episodes.

I’ll give my final score as more episodes come out, but I definitely don’t think it deserves anything below a 4

I'll play the contrarian here on the singular positive review at this time of writing, and say that 'Monster Eater' does really, really, REALLY suck some hot ass.

Now, I do not inherently believe this show deserves any sort of analysis or proper amount of thought into describing why I dislike it. For starters, this is a TV production. A TV production that resembles Anime Beans. Remember Anime Beans? That one service Production I.G decided to make where they made a bunch of one-to-two minute anime "adaptions" of decently underground manga and kinda ruined their chance at ever getting an anime? Yeah, this is essentially the ... spiritual succesor to that, but in a TV-sized format. This means that the show FEELS like something you'd watch on your phone, not on your giant Roku 4K TV. Which is my biggest problem with it: I inherently think this animation style lacks any sort of meaningful artistic output, and so does the anime in general.

There's not a single position where you can recognize a certain sakuga style, getting excited to see a certain famous animator do something, or to see a cool set piece done. There's not a single moment of genuine dedicatioon to the animator team, not a singular moment where they stop using the rigs to make something that does look cool, no, you're not watching this anime because you wanna see set pieces, or becaause of it's technical aspects. The music? The sound effects? Naaahh. You're watching this, because it's motherfucking Monster Eater, baby. John protagonist eats monsters, 'n he gains the powers of them. And he slays them! All because he's a grubby son of a bitch who backstabs adventurer and he himself ends up getting betrayed.. wow! Such revolution to the medium!

The premise itself wouldn't even be bad, but again, this show lacks on any sort of artistic vision it COULD potentially have, because it is a anime you watch on your phone while you sit on the train or are waiting for your food on a restaurant. It's not something that you can inherently appreciate as a art form -- it is literally, the definition of short-term content.

Just like when I was disappointed that great series/series that genuinely look interesting like Gift+, Miss Black General and Meshinuma got a weird portable anime vertical phone thingamajig, I think Monster Eater (or any anime in general) does not deserve this sort of treatment. This anime is an absolute joke in my opinion, and probably will only be remembered in a few years as this weird project to push shittier looking anime due to Kadokawa suddenly wanting to push out like fifty anime per season. And I hope it fails -- I don't think the gentrification of the anime medium by fantasy light novels/manga benefits people who wanna watch something with meaning made by artists who genuinely love their work.