Merry Month of Manga: INTERSPECIES REVIEWERS

 Well, I guess I would have to reckon with this series someday, so I might as well take advantage of this month's theme and do so now.

INTERSPECIES REVIEWERS (Ishuzoku Rebyuazu), written by Amahara with art by masha.  First published in 2016 and first published in North America in 2018.

PLOT:

In this particular fantasy world, sex work is just an everyday part of life and many brothels take advantage of the various species and magical encounters available to cater to just about every sort of clientele possible.  The human adventurer Stunk and the elf Zel have made it their mission to try out every sort of girl and service available and rank their experience for a bit of coin.  Along with their reluctant angel companion Crim, they'll do it with anyone: succubi, salamander women, fairies, elves, and so much more.

STORY:

Based on my many previous comments and reviews about fanservice-heavy manga, you would probably presume that I would hate Interspecies Reviewers.  

Well...you're not completely wrong, but what bothered me is not necessarily what you think it might be.

I actually like the fact that in the universe of this manga, sex work is just an accepted, everyday thing.  Everyone involved seems to be happy in their work, working not out of desperation or coercement but out of their own personal desire or interest in it.  Even the government (what little we see of it) seems to support what appears to be a healthy, legal sex work industry.  Because of that, I don't mind so much that this manga revolves around sex.  It's not a distraction from an otherwise non-sexual story - it IS the story!

No, my problem with Interspecies Reviewers is that we're not learning about this world from the many women employed as sex workers, but instead from the perspective of  a couple of straight horny lunkheads.  Stunk and Zel might have little but sex on the brain, but their preferences couldn't be more painfully boring.  Nowhere is this made more evident then in the chapter where they visit a brothel that specializes in gender-swap magic.  While the two are fascinated with their new parts, they both end up going with girl-on-girl encounters because they are too grossed out at the prospect of being penetrated themselves.  There's a simmering undercurrent of "no homo"-style homophobia with these two that is not only as exhausting as the running gag about their age preferences in elven women, but also makes it that much more laughable that these two dinguses are the tastemakers of their particular world.  That's not even getting into the idea of ranking their encounters in the same way one might rate a restaurant, which feels a little bit dehumanizing (regardless of the species involved).

This casual homophobia also kind of informs the way Interspecies Reviews approaches Crim.  Crim is an angel who is both intersexed (in accordance with angelic lore) and generally kind of uncomfortable with a lot of the sexual situations he gets dragged into alongside Stunk and Zel.  Yet all too often Crim's discomfort, androgyny and willingness to try non-hetero forms of sex is played as a joke at his expense and it spoiled a series that should otherwise be just a horny good time for everyone.

ART:

masha's art is definitely not going to be to everyone's taste.  Their character designs are loose and squishy, with simple but wildly expressive faces, odd angle, and a fondness for giant, floppy boobs and furry women.  It's a style that fits the crazy hentai energy of this particular series, but it's not one that's always conductive to art that's easy to parse on the page.  It also goes without saying that there is a LOT of fanservice.  Lots of low angles in panels, lots of butts and boobs thrust toward the reader, lots of coyly censored crotches, as you might expect.

RATING:

You know, I might have let Interspecies Reviewers slide with a mere yellow light.  The art isn't to my personal taste, but I can roll with its lighthearted, sex-positive premise.  The problem is that it sees anything that doesn't cater to a horny hetero dudebro outlook as worthy of mockery, and that just spoils whatever fun could be had.

This series is published by Yen Press.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 6 volumes available.  4 volumes have been published and are currently in print.