From now on everything you know I want to see it together with you. Aife Happy New Year AniList. I say that but I havent actually written a review since Im Quitting Heroinghttps://anilist.co/review/17237 ended back in Spring of 2022 a 2.5 year gap which isnt exactly ideal. That said congratulations to everyone who is here in 2025 you made it and you should be proud of that. With the realization that I havent exactly written anything I feel proud of in so long Ive decided that I want to write more this year and where better to start than here? Every year a few friends and I give each other a bunch of manga and anime to read before years end and I figure that no matter what might happen otherwise I want to review all of these at the very least. So while I dont know whether or not I will achieve this goal I shouldnt waste any more time trying to predict the future. Without further ado lets talk Monster Girls. https://i.ur.com/0kPQnzg.png Jingai no Yome to Icha Icha suru is an anthology comic so rather than the usual approach were going to take this one step at a time. I want to take a look at a few chapters I particularly enjoyed or found interesting but if you just want my final thoughts my tldr if you would that will be at the end. That said lets jump into the demons den. HeartWringing Yamanbasensei by Hattori Mitsuru Before I could even start reading this chapter I was stunlocked by the illustration which starts this anthology. I am not ashamed to say that I am weak to women of the killer variety and this Yamanba is no exception. So yes my first words for this review is shes hot and I hope you all understand that. The chapter itself is just a great start to the anthology in general though as Mitsurus art is stunning and very quickly captivating. If I wasnt reading this as part of a challenge I can safely say that this chapter wouldve kept me reading nonetheless which is a must for comics in this format. The unnamed school nurse so lovingly referred to as hag or for the sake of this writing Yamanbasensei and the just as unnamed student also make a strong pair to start us off. I also just find their relationship endearing for as built up as it can be in these 15 pages. Its not everyday you get to see a maneating youkai get so flustered because shes seen as a mother figure let alone succumbing to the want to pamper. Its a very simple start but its cute all the same. I do find it slightly funny that I wound up reading this while the we love older women trend is still floating around though but can you blame anyone? Shes adorable. https://i.ur.com/qmNNH1Z.png The Youth of Haruse The Dullahan by Rishin Starting our first twoparter of this anthology as well be visiting these characters again soon Rishins first chapter in this anthology brings us Haruse Yuuka a you guessed it dullahan and Satou the resident demihuman otaku. Its no secret that dullahan are feared as cursed beings symbols of bad luck and those who bring suffering and death its actually what this chapter starts out saying even so its no surprise when the twist here is that theres a boy who isnt afraid of Yuuka and she doesnt know how to respond to it. A lot of the charm in this chapter comes from Rishins very simple pencil shading art style and the comedy making use of what a dullahan is. We often see Yuukas head and body working separately as its hard for her to control her body when shes flustered and shes always flustered and its quite entertaining seeing just how touchy feely her body gets as her head panics off to the side. Aside from the comedy though this is just a really sweet story all in all. A girl who isnt used to being shown compassion and a boy who is overly kind and comfortable around her isnt necessarily a groundbreaking plot but its one I enjoy. Maybe its the hopeless romantic in me that likes these cheesy and somewhat generic plotlines but how could I not? Yuuka is just as much of a dork as Satou is and its just incredibly endearing watching her literally fight with herself while struggling with these newfound feelings. Sweet and lovingly dorky its a favorite of mine. An Odd Pair for Life by Amatou I have to imagine this is how wisps imagine a life with Mint Fantome. A Human a Tiger and a Wizard by Takaho Tadachika Another chapter I dont actually have much to say on but it did stick with me for the rest of this anthology because I wasnt expecting any full frontal nudity in this. Like I probably shouldve expected it but I figured Yamanbasensei was as ecchi as we got. Still we love tiger girls. Also I really like The Wizard in question here shes just a fun presence and she looks at me with a smug grin. https://i.ur.com/wSlE7Dj.png A Life in the Shadow by solopipB To finish off the first volume of the anthology we have solopipBs tale of a cyclops romance. I really like this one. Cheney the cyclops in question works as a maid for whom she refers to as Durksama and its because of this Durk that we get to see Cheney in all her oneeyed glory as she herself is embarrassed by her appearance only given the courage to remove her veil by the one she serves and I have to agree with Durk she is cuter like that. As its the next scene I want to say here that I really like her little.... creatures? The helper spiderlike things she uses to clean serve food and the such. The author states that theres over 100 of them and they seem like very good friends. I like them. To get back on topic this is one of the first and only really chapters in this anthology where we get to see the monster girl actually portrayed as the standard image of a monster when she saves Durk from a woman who intended to steal his inheritance. It was a very sudden and actually quite frightening in the moment jump to the more dark and unsettling side of a monster girl which this fluffy romance anthology doesnt look at quite too often. I also appreciate the flashback showing why Cheney cares so much for Durk and why she is willing to protect and serve him even through her lack of confidence in doing so. Its a touching oneshot and definitely one of the strongest looks into the theme of the comic this anthology has to offer. https://i.ur.com/VhKqz3T.png Living with a Fox by Amatou Why cant I have a fluffy fox girl willing to pamper me with her tail? The world is so cruel. My own shredded dreams aside Living with a Fox is maybe the most well known of this anthology? at the very least its the one used as the banner on the anilist page and I can see why. Kon herself is an adorable tease of a fox girl and Shoutarou her lover in this story is an ideal lover to her. A good chunk of this chapter is Kon transforming into different forms to look older or to portray a woman that Shoutarou would find more appealing only for all her notions to be shut down because he prefers Kon as she is and lets be honest who wouldnt? Its a very simple plot and its one without much happening outside of the romantic tale but that already is more than enough to have me smiling and giggling like an idiot when Kon pouts or smiles. I want to protect that smug smile. It does nail one thing particularly well though and its the portrayal of how simple men really are. https://i.ur.com/CbxVttp.png Legend of the Ogres by Hiyama Daisuke This oneshot eventually led to the creation of Peter Grill and the Philosophers Time which is an unforgivable sin. That said I have to give it some props. While the oneshot more or less follows the opening plot of Peter Grill the netorare plot is entirely removed and instead we just focus on Peter or as his name is here Liam Niisan getting seduced by Mimi and Lisa the ogre sisters. Now I have no shame in saying that I enjoyed this one shot better because of that. I think Mimi and Lisa are generally pretty fun characters and its still funny watching Liam break so damn fast because I mean I would too. Instead of a story where I am constantly feeling bad about another party and therefore spiteful towards the protagonist this one shot paints it as something far more comedic and follows a plot that I wish the original manga just kept instead. The Yearning of the Forgotten Bones by solopipB The final chapter has solo returning with the longest chapter in the anthology this time following an adventurer named Istria and a Homunculus girl named Aife a name you might recognize from the start of this review. Thanks to its length its also the most fleshed out chapter in this comic and the one that really got to me the most. Aife is a dragon like homunculus who has lived alone for far longer than the lifespan of a human could account for and she has been the target of thieves and attacks countless times in those years leaving her scarred and cautious. Thus when she meets Istria who she is fooled into believing is an alchemist looking for material she allows herself to trust him under the condition of living a married life together until he heals from his injuries. Its a very cute and simple story about Aife wanting to experience love and a relationship cooking for her lover sleeping besides someone etc. and as all of her knowledge comes from books shes more like an overly curious child than a woman of her age. With that type of mental state though its no surprise that she breaks down and angers when she learns that Istria isnt who she thought he was and mistakenly believes he too is here to steal the remnants of her mother. Its a genuinely upsetting scene where Aife seems to be disappointed in herself for daring to trust anyone and theres an exceptionally good panel where shes covered in shadows screaming at Istria about how she has nothing left because of her foolishness and inability. Still we get a happy ending where Aife learns that her moms dearest treasure was never the material objects but Aife herself. And one proposal later brings us to the start of this review. https://i.ur.com/nRMCmJW.png Final Thoughts Theres many more chapters in this collection that I didnt mention here some because I didnt have much to say and others that I just couldnt coherently explain my thoughts about I really liked the Vampire girl but I didnt have many words about her chapters but all in all I enjoyed this anthology. I enjoyed peeking through the curtain in to a world outside of our own while almost feeling like a world just barely out of our reach. Overall I really adore these short and sweet tales of romance as I am just the type to aww at anything remotely cute but it is hard to pin my thoughts on something when its a collection of different tales and authors like this. Still I will be thinking about a lot of these for quite a while and I do know one thing for certain. I really want a cute fox girl in my life. https://i.ur.com/TuxcHoO.png