#1 Metacritic: The Anime
In a relatively-peaceful fantasy world, cities have become melting pots of different races and cultures. Humans, elves, fairies, beastmen, halflings, even typical villains like demons and the undead all live together in harmony. Introducing Zel and Stunk; two lecherous adventurers who see world peace not as a diplomatic achievement, but as a checklist. They are determined to investigate every fantasy race out there and share their experiences about what it’s like to make love with them. They are the Interspecies Reviewers!
Writing reviews is naturally something that I am interested in and—though I’d discourage posting public reviews of your romantic partners—the execution of Interspecies Reviewers is very entertaining. Zel and Stunk begin posting their reviews on their inn’s quest board, where they are soon joined by their angel buddy Crim and several guest reviewers. Their reviews are funny and the anime does a great job at presenting them in an interesting way, often with little sketches or by having the reviews be read out during the actual erotic scenes,
I commend Interspecies Reviewers for thinking through the biology and customs of fantasy races to find out what kind of issues they might encounter in their sex lives. This makes the reviews actually, genuinely interesting if you’re looking to flesh out a setting for your own writing or tabletop campaign. When is an elf woman too old for a human? Could there be differences in what kind of sexual features are emphasized in certain species which could catch others by surprise? Would it be weird to stick your man-at-arms into a zombie girl? Read the reviews and find out!
#2 Every Monster Girl Under The Sun
Monster Musume may have ignited a renewed interest in anime about monster girls, but Interspecies Reviewers takes the concept far, far further. It includes damn near any kind of fantasy creature you could think of and finds novel ways to sexualize every single one of them.
You get your standard elves and demonesses, sure, but Interspecies Reviewers also features fire spirits and golems. You’ll encounter half-beast creatures you wouldn’t have thought possible and learn incredibly useless sexual trivia about every one of them. Thought that storyline in Monster Musume about laying eggs was a bit too far? Interspecies Reviewers has an entire episode dedicated to people who have developed a fetish for egg-laying!
#3 Proud & Uncensored
Labelling Interspecies Reviewers as a hentai series here is not strictly true, as the series self-identifies as an ecchi comedy. However, it is so graphic, so unapologetically erotic, that pretending it’s just a silly ecchi show because there’s no on screen penetration would be deluding oneself. After all, the series first garnered infamy specifically because licensing companies scrapped it from their simulcasting for being too extreme.
And that was back when the series was still airing in its censored form. Nowadays the uncensored versions are freely available. These feature close-to-complete nudity and sex scenes as graphic as you can realistically allow. In fact, it’s more erotic than some hentai I have seen, owing to the quality of its animation and the creators’ severe lack of restraint. Even the ED song has sex in it which just barely cuts off at the waists.
Go watch Interspecies Reviewers. You’ll get all the bare titties, all the bodily fluids, and all the moaning, neatly packaged in a thin veil of plausible deniability.
#4 Themed areas
Interspecies Reviewers doesn’t exactly put a tremendous amount of effort into its world building. We don’t learn much of the fantasy world this all takes place in and travel for our protagonists is largely restricted to the handful of meters between the inn and the red light district. I am not disappointed because I wasn’t expecting some grand fantasy plot from this show, but I will say that I admire how they went the extra mile with theming the brothels themselves.
Each establishment specializes in a certain species, from which it also derives its theming. The brothel for golems is depicted as this towering clockwork machine, whereas the fairies have set up shop in an ancient tree. It’s a small touch, but also a wonderful opportunity for the background artists to show off. It goes a long way to make each place Zel, Stunk, and Crim visit feel special.
#5 Lighthearted comedy
Even though the concept of reviewing other races based on their sex appeal is morally dubious, Interspecies Reviewers manages to feel lighthearted. Thanks to its comedic writing and fun characters. Yea what Stunk, Zel, and Crim are doing is pretty rude, but it’s all in good, mutual fun.
Most of this comes from the interactions in the inn, particularly in regards to the innkeeper Meidri. She is a prudish type who gets increasingly annoyed with the perverts who frequent her establishment, even as the reviews bring in a good bit of extra revenue. She frequently dishes out a helping of slapstick violence whenever Stunk and Zel misbehave, who in turn tease her for being so easily embarrassed. Besides that, the inn is also home to fun banter and arguments. I was especially fond of the lizardman mage who always comments knowingly on the contents of the reviews, in spite of being too cowardly to ever actually visit the brothels.
Some might also worry about the prostitution being unsettling, but here too Interspecies Reviewers keeps it light. All the girls are happy and enthusiastic about their work, the clients are usually well-behaved; it’s a very sex-positive show. It’s certainly a better experience than the streets of Amsterdam.
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