YEN PRESS
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Amahara
ART: masha
TRANSLATION: Ko Ransom
LETTERS: Rochelle Gancio
ISBN: 978-1-9753-0200-9; paperback (November 2018); Rated “M” for “Mature”
130pp, B&W, $13.00 U.S., $17.00 CAN
Interspecies Review is a fantasy and sex-comedy manga series written by Amahara and illustrated by masha. It has been serialized through Nico Nico Seiga's manga website, Dragon Dragon Age, since August 2016. Yen Press is publishing an English-language edition of the manga.
Interspecies Reviewers, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 11) opens in a world where all kinds of different species: humans, elves, fairies, hybrids, angels, and demons, to name a few, coexist. With so many species, some of them are bound to operate “sexy shops” (brothels), places where one can partake of the pleasures of “succu-girls,” females of each species that have succubus blood in their veins.
“Stunk,” a human male and “adventurer of the succubus districts,” and “Zel,” a “pervy” male elf, are the ringleaders of a group of men who have sexual relations with succu-girls and then, review and rate the girls' performances. These reviews are published in a kind of broadside-like publication called the “Yoruno Gloss Review” that is posted on “the Adventurer's Billboard.”
From elves to succubi to cyclopes and more, the Yoruno Gloss reviewers and their newest member (a shy angel named “Crimvael” who has both male and female genitalia and a broken halo) are here to rate the red-light delights of all manner of monsters girls and creatures of the female persuasion. They just don't all agree on which species is the best!
[This volume includes “End-of-Volume Bonus Manga.”]
I had not heard of the Interspecies Reviewers manga until my Yen Press rep sent me a copy of the manga for review. During my research on the series, I discovered that there is a notorious 12-episode anime adaptation that was apparently released for streaming in the U.S. and then quickly pulled from distribution earlier this year.
Interspecies Reviewers Graphic Novel Volume 1 is a fun read. It is a mixture of shonen comedy and hentai manga, just not as explicit as the latter. Creators Amahara (story) and masha (art) are unapologetic in the coarseness of their storytelling. Really, there is not much of a plot here, and the story is really a collection of vignettes about Stunk and Zel's sexual escapades with Crimvael and a rotating band of reviewers in tow.
Amahara and masha portray Stunk and Zel as being shameless in their “adventures,” but the authors seem to use Crimvael, who identifies as male to avoid harassment, to ground the narrative via his struggles. I will not call Interspecies Reviewers a great manga, but in small doses, like this first volume, which is a 130 pages in length, it is enjoyable. It is funny if for no other reason than that the creators are so inventive in the kinds of brothels they create. There is one in which the customers have their genders swapped. I'll come back for that.
7 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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