Mash Whitehouse is a transwoman who never updates her blog at mashforxp.com and has written several tabletop RPG books. She can also be found refusing to say anything succinctly about Video Games, Anime, and everything else @mashforxp.bsky.social

After a rousing discussion on bluesky, and a failed attempt to bring Erica in as an expert witness, I found myself deep in thought about fantasy sex work. The only sex work that isn’t real work. When I’m not picking polite fights on social media, I write about RPGs or pretend to be an expert on them. Common consensus is that sex and D&D don’t mix, but you’re lucky that we’re not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about a manga I like and the anime of it that I hate.

I’m talking about Interspecies Reviewers. Wait, please don’t leave!

IR burst into the western consciousness in a spectacular fashion, when the anime’s release was canceled by Funimation. In the age of streaming, before every company became one congealed Tetsuo-esque amalgam, the many services were scrambling to grab every launching anime they could. Any one of which could be the next One Piece, the next Goblin Slayer, or something actually good. For the 2020 season, Funimation picked up the anime for Interspecies Reviewers, a gag manga about the worst adventurers trawling through the red-light district in a fantasy world, looking to experience the many sensual experiences such a world has to offer, and then publishing their opinions for fellow adventurers.

The premise rides a line to be sure, but perhaps in the days before streaming, with a chance to review the product before purchase, Funi wouldn’t have jumped in blindly. Instead, they found themselves with a very raunchy anime and pulled it, 3 episodes in. I found the situation farcical, but it also piqued my morbid curiosity. My proactive wife bought me the first volume of the manga before I could find a source for the anime.

The opening chapter plays out like this: The Elf adventurer, Zel, has a penchant for spending his rewards from adventuring on a middle-aged human “Succu-girl” (this fantasy world’s term for a sex worker), Stunk the Human questions why he would pick her. The very well named human brings up how wonderful he thinks Elven girls are, and Zel counters with the fact that most Elves are pushing 800 years old, as opposed to the youthful 50 year old woman that Zel frequents.

As the argument heightens in their local tavern, other regulars join in to review the two species. A myriad of different fantasy people, from Halflings to Kobolds all participate in the ridiculous activity, resulting in the middle-aged woman winning, with each barfly giving reasonable reasons for why the idealized and unachievable beautiful elf is not their preference. The gag that won me over was the presentation of the reviews. Four of the barflys write up Famitsu-style critiques: brief paragraphs and 0-10 scores. Excellent. This is an ongoing bit for every chapter. It helps keep the conceit of the title going. To me though, it helps create a theme of sexual positivity, overcoming sexual repression, and acceptance of varied body types and their beauty…while also rating women’s bodies.

Enter Crimvael; the reason this manga would merit a Lambda Award. Crim is a wonderful intersex angel (he/him), and I mean angel literally, his halo is damaged, keeping him from returning to heaven, so he ends up slumming it with these losers. With their “help”, he begins to discover his sexuality, what the mortal world is like, and maybe finds love along the way. On his journey, Crim meets Elza the Gnoll. For those not in the know about fantasy creatures, Gnolls are hyena people, and just how the real world Spotted Hyena have pseudo-penises, (go look it up, nature is amazing!) so too does Elza.

While this is a fun and subtle joke connecting Gnolls and Hyenas, Elza herself is never made out to be a joke, she is cool and arguably sexy, unlike the portrayal of many gender non-conforming characters in media. Crim’s experience with Elza is given a 9, and he leaves no further expounding details. It is a wonderfully affirming queer moment, and Elza shows up from time to time, clearly having left an impact on Crim. The rest of that chapter is focused on the other reviewers getting to experience “lesbian sex” at the Gender Swap Inn. This is treated in much the same way as men’s yuri or lesbian content. Unfortunately.

The manga definitely falls on the seinen side of the seinen/josei divide, and the only regular female character is the harpy bar owner. Who acts like a harpy, in the sense of the derogatory term for women. Of course, the men are no better, constantly drinking, focused on sex and generally being of a low brow demeanor. They are not portrayed in a positive light, but they are at least portrayed. Crimvael, the only queer character of the main cast, is at least likable.

Now we come to the anime. It has a stigma about it. One that is earned. The anime is just softcore porn. The Japanese channel AT-X aired it with no censorship, followed by other channels re-airing with blurred censorship.The manga used diegetic censorship of hair, Crim’s halo, another character, swords, etc., to create consistent background jokes. Which are lost for a chance to show bare nipples and tout a lack of censorship on TV. The conversion to animation damages the message and shifts the focus. A prime example: The Will o’ Wisp Succu-girls, Light Elementals in humanoid form, glow so brightly that you cannot see anything “fun”. A good joke. In the anime, they are just glowing nude women, everything bare for the viewer to gawk at. A joke lost. Without the joke, you are left only with the smut.

So, Because of the widely known fiasco that is the anime, I hesitate to even recommend the manga, despite the amount of charming and queer moments. I would have to give a giant preamble if I ever wished to attempt such a futile endeavor, and if you have to begin any conversation with “I’m not a pervert, but-” you’re not starting from a strong footing. So, I’m not a pervert, but-

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 4
Characters – 3
Service – 9 (Anime 11)
Yuri/Queer – 4

Overall  – 7

All 9 volumes have a space on my manga shelf. Along with vol 1 of the spin off anthology Darkness.

If you have a secret place to read, or access to blank dust covers, the manga is available from Yen Press. If you’re interested in watching the anime, I recommend getting on a dating app, being honest on your profile, don’t include a picture of your dog, and you’ll find someone that likes you. 

Note: Links lead to Global Bookwalker, as not all volumes of the manga appear to be available elsewhere.