Forum › A Monster Wants to Eat Me discussion

My_ankle_fell_off
joined Jan 8, 2020

Really wish miko is good cuz I never really had interest or liked Shiori, I mean what is there to like?

joined Oct 2, 2021

So Miko is a guardian spirit with a guilty conscience .

last edited at Dec 3, 2021 8:23PM

Rsz_20201104_224357
joined Sep 15, 2020

Tbh I'm really liking Miko more Shiori is kinda annoying

4esenuaj_400x400
joined Sep 16, 2014

As good as Miko is, childhood friend always loses.

57e011396781cdc3308f5aefac880571
joined Feb 19, 2016

Damn, I never took a liking to dark haired girl myself (Shiori was it?), but now I'm all in rooting for Miko, even so far as to feel a bit of hate towards Shiori for being such a pompous asshole in this chapter.

But going by my luck Miko's more than likely going to die now and Shiori's gonna get the girl. Depressed sigh

Avatar
joined Aug 29, 2019

I'm quite impressed at how Miko's story turned out. I had not expected that "failed guardian spirit" twist, I'd totally pegged her as another ultimately malevolent creature. I'm looking forward to the dynamic between Miko, who kinda feels the urge to eat Hinako but mainly feels guilty and wants to protect her and for her to become happy again, and Shiori, who doesn't have a backstory of deceiving Hinako but rather one of being brutally honest about making her happy for her to become tasty. Shiori is delightfully sinister while Miko feels too goody-two-shoes and boring. I like high-octane drama.
Neither can really kill the other as long as Hinako cares about them both, but Hinako won't easily abandon either of them and while both of them want her to be happy, they don't want the other to be around once that happens.
It currently is a "no-win" scenario, I'm quite excited which way we will end up going.

joined Mar 19, 2020

Yeah honestly rooting for miko but with this new development it seems she isn’t even into her like that, nor will she ever be (though I could be wrong). Honestly it’s pretty cute that she is a guardian, or a fallen one. I wonder why. I always love benevolent mystical beings. I too prefer her over shiori but it is what it is.

joined May 29, 2021

As good as Miko is, childhood friend always loses.

Ah, but she’s a fake childhood friend. So there’s a chance.

joined Feb 21, 2019

ya, I'm with everyone else, all in for Miko

get lost Shiori >;

46-75
joined Jun 25, 2019

I mean, Shiori has always been upfront with what she wanted a.k.a eating Hinako

last edited at Dec 3, 2021 9:43PM

joined Jun 19, 2021

Every chapter I like Miko more

Soralaylaff
joined Oct 16, 2013

Mikooooo my bb ;_;

Truewarrior
joined Dec 13, 2014

As good as Miko is, childhood friend always loses.

How do you do spoilers in text? I know at least one that doesn't have that.

Cglishmini
joined Apr 12, 2018

Really love what they've done with Miko here. She's got this whole classic monster romance tortured-love dynamic going on with Hinako wherein she can't suppress an urge to feed on her, but also, in actively repressing that desire, is perhaps the most human of the cast, while Hinako, in her absence of anything resembling self-preservation, is both more human than instinct-driven beasts and unusual in that even humans often bow to that primal self-preservative desire when things get hairy, making her a subtler example of the human-inhuman paradox embodied by the other two rather than a mere 'pure' human. I also love how Miko, Hinako and Shiori are all united by the theme of a 'vow that clashes with your desire', wherein Hinako wants to join her parents in heaven (which might be an actual possibility, now that we know divine deities exist, which I hope homegirl realizes in the future), but can't opt for expedient death because of her promise to them; Miko's compelled to eat Hinako, but retains some scraps of a pride & responsibility as a guardian spirit as well as what seems to be a genuine adoration for Hinako; Shiori has none of these petty mortal moral compunctions and is majestically, regally inhuman, proud of her status as a creature far truer to herself than the rotting leftover and the lurking hypocrite, but is paradoxically vulnerable to the same vice that causes so many gods and demons to grow engulfed in complicated human affairs- her sense of taste is ironically perhaps the most rational, 'civilized' motivation that currently exists among the cast.

The main trio here is honestly among the strongest I've seen in any story I've read in recent memory, since they embody a lot of your standard triplicate idea divisions, such as the id-ego-superego or heaven-purgatory-hell, but never completely, always complex enough to have a nested contradiction that renders them more than archetypes. I could write essays on this, but one aspect in particular that fascinates me is how they're going to engage with the idea of divinity and guardian spirits, especially since they're confirmed to share some manner of biological link with the monsters. Are they different species? Are the monsters fallen angels who turned away from their purpose and became enemies of humanity? Are guardian spirits merely monsters who defected or were tamed? If a guardian spirit seems capable of degenerating into a beast, can a monster ascend to a higher status through noble deeds (this might end up being the endgame for Shiori, intentional or not, since mermaids are more often portrayed as sagacious, beautiful spirits than her Captain Cephalopod schtick, and her 'redeem Hinako's soul to the highest joys' plan seems like the kind of thing a guardian spirit would do if you removed the little subclaws at the end)? What happens if Hinako snacks on a monster? So many questions.

Also, Hinako being from a divinely-favoured family is probably one factor in her deliciousness to monsters (who I assume cropped up not recently, but were there all along and simply eradicated by pest control carried out by Miko, possibly when she was stronger or had help), and I love how Shiori and Miko's agendas regarding Hinako both clash with and support each other? Miko wants to keep Hinako alive and happy, but the process of living renders Hinako miserable, which might reduce her potential flavour by making her depressed and rotten, mitigating Miko's appetite, but also giving Shiori a massive window in which to prey on her, since her target's security is ensured at the cost of her flavour. And Shiori's whole convoluted 'be happy and love life so I can murder you at optimal flavour' is technically the best shot they have at making Hinako happy like Miko wants, since the prospect of a beautiful death seems to be her best motivator, but this also has the side-effect of both ensuring Hinako's death in the future (if Shiori isn't lying) and making her progressively more delicious, weakening Miko's already fraying restraint. Absolutely brilliant intersection of desires at work here, with each character being thwarted by precisely what they hold precious. It's like if No Exit was adapted into a lesbian romance catering to monsterfuckers, in which case I hope the endgame is polyamourous (polyamovorous)?

Seconding this analysis. All three play so well off of each other, and I can't wait to see what becomes of their dynamic with all this now out in the open.

joined Jun 6, 2021

And so we get to love Miko.

joined Jan 14, 2020

As good as Miko is, childhood friend always loses.

How do you do spoilers in text? I know at least one that doesn't have that.

Double equal signs on either side of the text.

Like this

Hit reply and look at the quoted text.

Line1
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But

==Note it does span
lines, but doesn't

span paragraphs.==

last edited at Dec 3, 2021 11:49PM

D05536d6-01d1-4527-9102-4cc772fad5ed
joined Jul 6, 2020

First off, I totally love the huge analysis from Temp, really great stuff about what makes the series so compelling.

Shiori is delightfully sinister while Miko feels too goody-two-shoes and boring. I like high-octane drama.

Second off, I totally disagree with this commentary, in fact I would say it’s the opposite. Miko is a super complex character, with a lot of interesting character drama and angst. She was the guardian spirit of Hinako’s family, her entire purpose in life was to safeguard her whole family but she failed. She failed to fulfill their prayer the time when it mattered the most, and that has defined her entire life since that moment, just as much as it defined Hinako’s life. Miko is crushed with guilt, and yet she has this primal urge to eat Hinako, and it takes all of her self control to do so. The easiest thing to do would be to leave Hinako to ensure she never gives in to that desire, but she persists because her commitment to Hinako and the promise that she failed to keep is her driving force through all this. The internal struggle between her desire to keep that promise and her taste for Hinako’s flesh and blood makes for a great internal conflict, much more dramatic and complicated than Shiori’s straightforward monsterous nature.

And add on top of that her feelings when she sees Hinako, the person she’s sworn herself to protect, chatting with a mermaid who wants to eat her, knowingly so. It tears her up inside, and even more so that Shiori is able to get close to Hinako in a way she herself still can’t do due to her inability to give Hinako what she wants (death) and her own bloodlust keeping her away.

She clearly feels real affection towards Hinako, but distances herself out of fear of what she might do to Hinako if her self control were to lapse for even one moment. Shiori doesn’t care about Hinako, and probably never will. She just wants her to be happy for the service of her own selfish desires.

I’m fully ready to root for Miko, she’s super interesting but I don’t trust manga to let the childhood friend with twintails win.

joined May 29, 2021

I don’t trust manga to let the childhood friend with twintails win.

While I do understand this notion I have also seen a lot of stories where the “main” presented couple are ultimately doomed and the runner up slips in once the dust has settled.

Untitled315
joined Mar 30, 2021

Miko the guardian spirit

please don't fight again

Random Wanderer
Gatchaman%20hajime
joined Dec 3, 2016

Don't hurt Miko!

Fdda5bf7eb53d241c2af3362cfcf1420-240x304
joined Oct 2, 2016

I was rooting for Shiori before, but after reading the recent chapters, and this current one, I honestly prefer Miko over Shiori now. I'm very curious about her backstory as well. I wanna know more. DON'T LET MIKO DIE, AUTHOR-SAN!

Lewdssss
joined Mar 23, 2019

Okay, Miko NEEDS TO DIE NOW. Can't have two Chads lesbians after the same girl. There's probably a third party at play here and we won't get see them or it probably in a few chapters.

Also scalies over furries any day, lmfao. FIGHT ME

last edited at Dec 4, 2021 7:56AM

joined Jan 13, 2021

Rereading the chapter where Shiori mentions her look was chosen because it's currently the most popular, which becomes even funnier when you consider people pointing out how she resembles Touko from Bloom Into You, which is probably the most popular/mainstream yuri manga today. Shiori mentions 'people of this era', suggesting that she's drawing on a more generally popular dark-haired mature girl archetype rather than specifically one from a series popular with lesbians, but let's assume for argument's sake that Touko Nanami was the actual inspiration for Shiori's look because she used her monster senses to detect Hinako was gay and picked the most popular yuri model. In that case, it is entirely possible that if this series took place some years in the future, Shiori would probably model herself on Claire François from I Favor the Villainess, which I think is the series likeliest to become the next big mainstream yuri hit if it ever gets an anime (which it might, seeing as it's pretty lucrative).

Obviously, this is more of an in-universe hc than a design choice the author would've possibly made, but imagine the sheer comedic value of an ojou-sama, ringlets and all, showing up smugly before your local depressed girl to announce she's going to eat her. Like, the whole 'I'm a gourmet, actually' schtick would work even better coming from someone who looks like she's from a noble family, but since Shiori gives no fucks about electronics, she probably has no idea what an 'otome game' is, and will just smile at Hinako with mild disdain if she's ever asked about it. She'd then finally watch the Villainess anime while waiting for Hinako to grow more delicious and occupy herself with writing an elaborate, inexplicably popular fanfic titled 'I Flavour the Villainess' about the specifics of eating noblewomen. This would create a boom in a specific type of yuri that revolves solely around physically eating the rich, combining the classic themes of class consciousness and cannibalism. Having thus obliviously changed the entire landscape of yuri, Shiori would plop back into the oceans after eating Hinako, resurface decades later to find a semi-ideal, egalitarian society where the rich are hunted for kinky sport, and shrug, grumbling for the hundredth time about how humans are weird.

D05536d6-01d1-4527-9102-4cc772fad5ed
joined Jul 6, 2020

Shiori would probably model herself on Claire François from I Favor the Villainess, which I think is the series likeliest to become the next big mainstream yuri hit if it ever gets an anime (which it might, seeing as it's pretty lucrative).

IFTV actually isn't that popular in Japan. The biggest markets for the story is actually in the US and south korea. Interestingly enough when the novel was first released, there was initially only a digital release in japanese, while the english and korean versions got print editions. Japan is getting a print release this winter though, but the majority of the fanbase is still outside of Japan I think.

Eterna%20rinebow%20small
joined Oct 20, 2017

Doesn't the "childhood friend never wins" meme mostly apply to het rom-coms? The childhood friend is rarely a romantic rival anyway in yuri.

But more importantly, I just don't see the relevance here, as there's more at stake than Hinako's romantic preferences. A "win" for Shiori would mean Hinako's demise, which seems to me like a bigger issue than Miko's "loss" to Shiori.

last edited at Dec 4, 2021 4:23PM

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