This Monster Wants to Eat Me Volume 2 Review

This review discusses themes of depression and suicide to be found in Volume 2.

Hinako lost her family many years ago, and has been depressed and emotionally cut off from the world ever since; living in a seaside town is the worst, with summer days and the sound of ocean waves bringing back so many bad memories. That is until Shiori comes into her life: she’s a mermaid who wants to devour Hinako, but only at the prime of her deliciousness. Hinako not only accepts Shiori at face value, but even looks forward to the day, so she can be reunited with her family. But what will it take for Shiori to eat her? And will it actually grant Hinako peace? Meanwhile as Hinako starts to hang out more with Shiori, her best friend Miko seems to be set on coming between them.

I reviewed the first volume of this series back in June, and since then we’ve had the anime adaptation announced, which is due to premiere in 2025. In Japan, the series is up to nine volumes and is still on-going. I’m pleased to say it continues strongly, and although there’s less of the water imagery that I liked from the first volume, there’s also new world building and conflicts to make the book very interesting.

The book picks up exactly where the first volume left off, with Shiori taking Hinako to the local summer festival – despite the event bringing up terrible memories for Hinako – and the pair eventually talk about the tragedy that took Shiori’s family. We don’t see much of it, but it’s drawn very well; the dark colours and sharp details are like the shattered glass of the car windows and the horrific wounds that Shiori suffered with   (physically and mentally, from watching her family drown in a burning car). As she’s the only survivor of such a tragedy and having been treated differently by other kids and adults since then, you can understand why Hinako is so cut off from the world, and constantly feels like she’s drowning in her own, unprocessed trauma. But the truth isn’t enough to satisfy Shiori; she’s not ready to devour our heroine yet. Instead, Shiori wants to help Hinako heal from the trauma, and THEN eat her. It’s really dark and horrible when Shiori says it with a smile on her face, the fact that she wants Hinako to learn to love life again, to heal her wounds, before ripping it away from her again. The promise to still eat her is enough to help Hinako make a small step towards healing in the next chapter, a very small step, but the biggest she’s probably taken in a long while. In a way it echoes how some people, who suffer from suicidal ideation, feel a sense of calm and acceptance of death, just before they attempt take their life. In this case it’s a wolf leading a lamb to slaughter, with the lamb very happy to accept its fate. It’s very dark, but you can’t help but wait to see how far Shiori is willing to go to ‘get her meal’ and how she will help Hinako find a way to make peace with the past.

Overall, I do love Shiori as a character. She was fascinating in Volume 1 but she shines even more here; she smiles constantly despite saying horrific things, and she’s so blunt about what she wants. I also liked the extra chapter of this book, explaining why Shiori chose such a face to ‘suit [Hinako’s] tastes’, which is very interesting. But she’s also very respectful towards Hinako’s needs, such as agreeing not to share their secret meeting with Miko, as Hinako worries about upsetting her, and Shiori listens to Hinako’s backstory, with no judgement or condemnation. I also love her verbal battle with the beasts we see in the last chapters of this book, a mix of mockery and pride. I can’t wait to hear what she sounds like in the future anime adaptation.

Speaking of ‘beasts’, so far we’ve seen a few monstrosities try to take a slice of our delicious Hinako, but they’ve mostly been water based, such as the iso-onna in Volume 1 (a Japanese sea vampire) and a few smaller beasts too. But this volume introduces more land-based creatures, mostly of the fox variety, which adds dimensions to this world and opens the door to more yokai (Japanese supernatural beings) to come into play later. I like the reveal of the new creature: visually it’s another stunning creation, the fox being a giant beast, similar in size to the ones in Princess Mononoke, with enormous teeth and a commanding presence. It also makes some of the characters’ actions in Volume 1 make sense in a new context too. It adds a new battleground of sorts for Shiori, who’s sea-based and obviously needs to be near water to be at maximum power, but the fox beast has no such weakness and is already on land, having the advantage over Shiori.

Caleb Cook continues the translation and it’s still an enjoyable read. I did appreciate the translation notes, especially when it comes to the yokai stuff; there are also author’s notes.

This Monster Wants to Eat Me continues to be an intriguing series to devour with each page, as new elements are added in; the art is consistently strong too. The next volume is due in January 2025.

Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.