List of Monster Musume characters

This is a list of fictional characters appearing in the Japanese manga series Monster Musume, which is serialized in the magazine Monthly Comic Ryū, published by Tokuma Shoten.

Main characters

Kimihito Kurusu

Voiced by: Junji Majima^[1]

Kimihito Kurusu (来留主 公人, Kurusu Kimihito) is a normal Japanese student with a part-time job who lives in his parents' home, with all the dreams and feelings that young people have. His parents are temporarily away (working abroad), and he can only watch helplessly as Ms. Smith remodels their house over and over again to accommodate each newcomer. He seems to excel at certain household chores and activities (his cooking is so good that the liminal girls living with him put on weight, and he proves to be quite skillful with needle, thread and sewing machine).

None of the other characters call Kimihito by his actual name, except for Ms. Smith in the first chapter. The girls seem to fall in love with him simply because he is nice, friendly and modest, and because he treats the "monster" girls as ordinary, real people — not as exotic or dangerous monsters.

Considering everything happening to him and going on around him, he has a very patient but long-suffering nature, and he accepts being put upon by Ms. Smith (and later the girls of the MON squad) with good grace, but he does care very much about his house-guests' well-being. He rarely shows any anger towards anyone, especially the girls, but when he does he demonstrates a surprisingly strong assertiveness, two of the most notorious examples occurring first because the Couple (see "Supporting Characters" below) insulted Miia^[ch. 2] and second because Lala was playing with her food instead of eating it - which prompted all the others to ensure that they clean their plates from then on.^{[vol. 6: before "Secrets of Lala"]}

Miia

Voiced by: Sora Amamiya^[2][3]

Miia (ミーア, Mīa) is a lamia (part human, part snake),^[ch. 1] the first liminal to live with Kimihito. She is about 8 meters (26 ft) long, but always moves with her front upright, so she appears to have normal human height. She has red hair, golden eyes with vertical slit pupils and pale human skin, and her snake part has copper scales with a pinkish-cream underbelly (the tip of her tail is particularly sensitive). Unlike snakes that have no visual outer ear, Miia has rather large triangular, scaly ears. She is a poikilotherm, which makes her drowsy in mornings or cold weather and can be considerably dangerous for her if she enters cold water.

She has a pleasant personality and harbors a very strong crush (both figuratively and literally, considering that her species is a constrictor) on Kimihito — actually on the brink of the obsessive: all lamia are female — they need a human male for procreation and are very passionate about their partners. In Chapter 27, it is revealed that Miia's original reason for studying abroad was to find a "tribal husband" for her home village: the lamia custom was that a human male would be "coerced" (taken against his will) and brought back to be shared among all the lamias, but when the Interspecies Exchange Accord was enacted and laws were passed protecting humans from liminals, that method had to be abandoned. However, after getting to know Kimihito, Miia fell madly in love with him.^[ch. 27] It's also revealed (by Miia's mother) that at some point Miia's father escaped from the lamia tribe.^{[vol. 7: "Meeting of the Mothers"]}

As she sees herself as the primary marriage candidate for Kimihito, she is often in conflict with the other girls. She is not a good housekeeper and an abysmal cook; on several occasions, she accidentally gives the other household members food poisoning, due to her sense of taste being far weaker than a human's and her frequent use of "alternative" (but unappropriate) ingredients.

In Chapter 43, thanks to a recommendation from the priest where Ils Nineta (see below) works, she gets a part-time job as a shrine maiden at a shrine near Kimihito's home, where (thanks to snakes being considered extremely lucky in Japan) she is an instant success.^[ch. 43]

She refers to Kimihito as Darling (だぁりん, Dārin).

Papi

Voiced by: Ari Ozawa^[2][3]

Papi (パピ, Papi) is a harpy and is the second housemate. She is petite and physically appears to be much younger than the other girls, even though she is the same age as they are (harpies have evolved with smaller, slimmer bodies to enable flight).

She has a human body, but halfway down her upper arms they turn into feather-covered wings. Her wings and hair are light blue, and her eyes are brown. Like a bat, she has a free thumb with a claw, so she can to some extent use the wing as a hand, but she always has trouble in maintaining a secure grip. However, she has gained considerable skill with the controller for Kimihito's Nintendo Wii;^[ch. 8] sometimes she gives up and uses the controller with her feet. Her legs start to get covered with light brown scales by mid-thigh and her elongated feet have only three toes that end in rather impressive talons.

She is good natured, happy and playful, but she is unfortunately a "birdbrain" with a very short attention span (taken to an extreme as she will sometimes forget anything she was doing after only taking three steps and even less long-term memory [however, in Chapter 28 after being carried by Kimihito for a distance she was able to remember a great deal about her past]),^[ch. 28] so she has trouble learning and remembering any kind of rules.^[ch. 3] This gives her quite a childlike personality, and she actually enjoys playing with the local children. In spite of her small frame, she's able to get considerable loads airborne—she can carry Kimihito for a decent distance,^[ch. 24] and even Miia for a short trip.^[ch. 5]

In Chapter 28, it is revealed that harpies are a migratory species that do not remain in one place (or, in the case of personal relationships, with one person) for very long, so in the case of finding a human male to mate with, they "mate with lots of human males. That way, [they] bring all kinds of new blood into [their] tribe."^[ch. 28] (In the Volume 7 Epilogue, Papi's mother's husband is revealed to be the local Chief of Police, but whether he is Papi's actual father is unknown at this time.) Originally, the harpies were reluctant to take part in the Interspecies Cultural Exchange Accord program; however, Papi ran away from home "to give it a try" and seems to be the first of her species to want to remain permanently in one place with one human male.^[ch. 28]

She refers to Kimihito as Boss (ご主人, Goshujin) (due to Ms. Smith's telling her that Kimihito was "the boss").

Centorea "Cerea" Shianus

Voiced by: Natsuki Aikawa^[2][3]

Centorea Shianus (セントレア・シアヌス, Sentorea Shianusu) is a centaur and the third girl to join the household, and allows only those people closest to her to call her by the nickname "Cerea" (セレア, Serea). Her name comes from the cornflower (Centaurea cyanus).

She is the stereotype of a Nordic person: she has yellow-blonde hair, pale blue eyes and a very large bust (explained by the fact that centaurs have large bodies from infancy and therefore require lots of milk while growing up.^{[vol. 1: "Monster Musume Extra"]} Her "horse part" appears to be the size of a small horse or a large pony, with an even, light chestnut coat, no mane and small hooves and she seems to have two "sensitive" areas: the area around her tail^[ch. 8] and the tips of her ears.^[ch. 36] She is a herbivore (with a special fondness for carrots). Like all centaurs, she is a warrior, living in a nearly bare, authentic Japanese room with her Western-type armor and weapons, pretty much in samurai style. Her usual style of clothing is a sleeveless white blouse and a full-length black skirt (although she has on occasion worn a skirt whose hem is just above the knee).^{[vol. 9: "Monster Musume Technicolor 'Kemomo' Side Story"]}

Her demeanor and language is that of a medieval knight, and she has sworn herself to be Kimihito's servant through a series of misunderstandings after they crashed into each other by accident and later chased a motorcycle-riding purse snatcher together.^[ch. 4] Although she is haughty and aloof, in cases when she perceives a threat towards Kimihito, she instantly becomes his ferocious defender. She has secret dreams of absconding with him and bearing his child (even though there are male centaurs), showing she has feelings for Kimihito; however, she can at times be somewhat insecure and sometimes feels unworthy of being Kimihito's "servant", but Kimihito assures her that he does trust and rely on her and has so from the beginning.^[ch. 21] The only other girls that manage to shake Cerea are Rachnera, whom she hates and fears yet she ultimately trusts, and Mero who gives off an aura that makes Cerea believe she stands before royalty; when she finds out that Mero is royalty, she is completely floored.^[ch. 35]

In Chapter 29, during her mother's visit, it was revealed that since male Centaurs aren't exactly "likable", female Centaurs have a tradition of finding male humans to use as "teasers" so they can breed;^[ch. 29] "Teasers" are selected from human exchange students (with emphasis on the more attractive they are better so that the female centaurs would become "warmed up").^{[vol. 7: "Meeting of the Mothers"]} However, her mother defied this tradition and bred with her "teaser" instead (making Cerea a centaur-human cross-breed).

She refers to Kimihito as Master or Milord (主殿, Aruji-dono).

Suu

Voiced by: Mayuka Nomura^[4][5]

Suu (スー, Sū) is a Slime, an amoeba-like creature that can change shape and color without effort, and the fourth to join the group. Her basic shape is a glob with two dark eyespots that tend to glow like cat's eyes when backlit, and with a single pseudopod on top, which she can use to read peoples' thoughts and feelings on contact.^[ch. 13]

Her race is a type of liminal currently not fully classified under the Accord (making her an "illegal alien"), and she enters Kimihito's home without permission or Ms. Smith's knowledge; the rest of the household take pity on her and want her to stay (mostly Papi). Ms. Smith rejects any connection with her, but leaves her in the house anyway.

It is impossible to determine her age or even if she is a genuine female, but she prefers to have the appearance of a young woman; in her first appearance, she took that shape and mimicked the other girls' behavior in a successful attempt to show friendliness. Her size varies with her water content; when holding only a small amount of water, Suu will have the appearance of a young teenager, and will become taller and more mature looking as she takes in more water, although contact with too much water can result in the dissolution of her body's cohesion and possible death; however, a solution has been found: if Suu wears a special waterproof full-body suit, she is able to play with Papi in water.^[ch. 35] Suu usually wears a raincoat and boots (given to her by Kimihito) out of necessity—any other clothes will get soaked in slime, and all small objects will pass through her membrane skin and stay suspended in her body fluid.^[ch. 9] The only time when Suu can be dangerous is when she is severely dehydrated—then she will attack anybody to gather their sweat and other fluids; this will usually end up as some kind of sexual assault on the other girls^[ch. 10] (later, she learns to use these assaults for her own advantage, and her favorite assault target is Rachnera), but any "attacks" on Kimihito seem to be more affectionate rather than out of actual need for water, and ever since her nursing of him when he caught a cold Kimihito has become very fond of Suu as well.

At first she didn't speak, usually using her top tentacle to determine feelings (showing either empathic or telepathic ability), and there was some confusion about her ability to understand spoken language, but later she speaks and under the influence of toxins gets downright chatty (and even venomous).^[ch. 25] While Suu remains silent or speaks on monosyllables (copying the other girls) most of the time, she has on occasion had quite lengthy and intelligent conversations with Kimihito.

Different types of water affect Suu differently: Hard water makes her super-intelligent^[ch. 31] and sea water makes her super-maternal.^[ch. 361]

Suu often plays with Papi, and their combined energy can leave the others completely out of breath. She and Papi are schooled by the others, on a daily basis, with a different member of the household teaching each day. They rank Rachnera first as she not only teaches well and knows a lot, but she is easy and fun to interact with. Kimihito and Mero rank second as they are simply counted as 'nice'. Centorea is ranked third due to her strict nature and Miia falls dead last due to her inept teaching methods and lack of enthusiasm combined with her own lack of knowledge.

She refers to Kimihito as Master (マスター, Masutā).

Meroune "Mero" Lorelei

Voiced by: Haruka Yamazaki^[4][5]

Meroune Lorelei (メロウヌ・ローレライ, Merounu Rōrerai) or simply Mero (メロ) is a mermaid and the fifth girl. She has pale human skin and blue eyes, her hair and tail are pink with yellow fins, and in private she tends to wear a skimpy two-piece bathing suit made of fabric that has been specially treated so it won't slide off her slippery skin.^[ch. 17]

She's always polite and friendly, but sometimes can be unknowingly insensitive. To move around on dry land, she needs a wheelchair. In public, she uses a long dress with hat and frilly cuffs to hide her tail, webbed hands and spiny ears, giving her a Gothic Lolita appearance. She can effortlessly blend in with the crew of a maid cafe, with a little help from Suu.^[ch. 18]

She initially meets Kimihito when he saves her from crashing her runaway wheelchair; later Ms. Smith forces her on the household without bothering to ask first. Mero (whether consciously or unconsciously, it's not yet certain which) projects an aura that causes people to treat her with great respect, and has been treated like royalty at the local aquarium, where she performed with the dolphins,^[ch. 19] and by Cerea, who believes her to actually be royalty. It is later revealed in Chapter 34 that Mero is indeed royalty, specifically a princess as her mother is the queen of the mermaids. Ms. Smith apparently knows about it, judging from her reaction when Mero's identity was finally exposed.

She seems to have a masochistic side, as she enjoyed Miia's cooking (despite foaming from the mouth) and doesn't mind being tied up by Rachnera. She is a great fan of Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Little Mermaid" (as, according to her, all mer-people are) and dreams about falling in all kinds of tragic love, earning her the title of "Tragedy freak" from Miia; however, when she actually falls in love with Kimihito and sees him with Miia, she realizes that tragic love actually hurts, and in Chapter 30 the hope and possibility of becoming Kimihito's bride makes her so happy that she seems to have abandoned the dream of being his mistress (although still remaining in "tragic heroine mode").^[ch. 30]

In Chapter 43, it is revealed that she helps supplement the Kurusu family expenses with money sent to her by her mother; she would like to get a part-time job, but her mother has forbidden it, so she helps with Papi and Suu's home-study as a teacher.^[ch. 43]

She refers to Kimihito as Beloved (だんな様, Danna-sama).

Rachnera "Rachnee" Arachnera

Voiced by: Sakura Nakamura^[4][5]

Rachnera "Rachnee" Arachnera (ラクネラ・アラクネラ, Rakunera Arakunera) is an Arachne and the sixth girl: her top half is mostly human, while her bottom half is a gigantic spider. She has lavender hair and has six red monochromatic eyes. Her spider parts, forearms and hands are black, covered in a chitinous exoskeleton, with a pale skull pattern on her secondary abdomen. Her clothes have been made by her own silk. She was nicknamed "Rachnee" (ラク姉, Rakunee, lit. big sis Rach) by Papi.

When she is introduced, she has been abandoned by her first host family and abused by the second (who was never legally entitled to be her host family and had illegally bought the host family rights from her first family). She became embittered and resentful of humans, and when she heard about Kimihito she abducted him in order to disprove his kindness. The plan failed, as Kimihito unwittingly managed to charm her, first by not being freaked out by her spider body (and telling her that he thought her spider legs "sexy"^[ch. 15]) and then by intending to surrender to the MON team sent to arrest Rachnera (thinking that they were actually attempting to arrest him) while Rachnee was quietly planning to escape using him as a hostage.

Rachnera is clever and streetwise, thinks that it is alright to break rules as long as nobody finds out and manipulates Ms. Smith (who, as her Coordinator, had been totally negligent about her and her situation) into assigning her to Kimihito's household much to the discomfort of Miia and Cerea, who are especially wary as Rachnera is a fearsome-looking predator (Miia even more so as Rachnera makes passes at Kimihito and attempts to seduce him).^[ch. 16] Rachnera enjoys annoying most of the household and hones her web-making skills by setting traps for everyone which typically result in them unwillingly being tied up in bondage positions (except Lilith [see below], who turns out to be a masochist).^[ch. 23] The only one she can't ensnare is Suu - the webs simply pass through her - who usually responds with launching sexual counter-assaults on Rachnee, much to the amusement of the other home-stays. However, Rachera's skills as a trapper also make her an expert fisherwoman.^[ch. 35]

Coffee affects Rachnera like alcohol since Arachnes, like regular spiders, get intoxicated from caffeine.

There is no doubt that Rachnera has strong feelings for Kimihito, but has a strange way of showing them, including tying him up in strange bondage positions; however, it's possible that she uses this method to cover up her embarrassment at her own feelings, but Kimihito is able to see past her tough exterior and understand her true feelings...which makes her even more embarrassed.^[ch. 30]. When Lala (see below) announces that she has come to take Kimihito's life, she initially defends him, but in spite of her affection for him believes Lala to be a "Grim Reaper" and quickly gives up, wanting Lala to "put him out of his misery" and "end [his] suffering", radiating utter hopelessness.^[ch. 24]

It is revealed in Chapter 43 that she helps supplement the Kurusu household finances by supplying laboratories and businesses with her silk for study, for which she charges a hefty fee.^[ch. 43]

She refers to Kimihito as Honey (ハニー, Hanī).

Lala

Voiced by: Ai Kakuma^[6]

Lala (ララ, Rara) is a Dullahan and the seventh housemate. She speaks with an Irish accent. Her head is actually detachable from her body (which can act independently, suggesting a symbiotic relationship), which can be quite upsetting for other people (especially Miia) when it accidentally falls off, and she has long pale blue/gray (almost light purple) hair (in emotionally stressful situations such as embarrassment, her skin turns black),^[ch. 38] skin the same color as her hair, and yellow eyes with black sclera. She carries a large scythe with a half-circle cutout (the blade is extremely dull as she never sharpens it)^{[vol. 6: "Secrets of Lala the Dullahan"]} and wears gauntlets and a mixture of schoolgirl clothes combined with a long dustcoat of the type used in Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns. She has very poor social skills and is uncomfortable interacting with and around normal people, especially children.^[ch. 38]

When she first appears, she pretends to be a "shinigami" (the near-equivalent of the Grim Reaper), and the girls actually believe the story (she initially enters the house without her head — it has slipped away from her and rolled down the hill).^[ch. 23] She declares Kimihito to be "[trembling] on the verge of Death"; in the ensuing chaos, the girls' desperate attempts to save him from her prove considerably more dangerous than her threats. Despite her frightening attitude and her metaphor-filled language, Kimihito realizes that she is just having a "middle school syndrome" in which she acts as though she has supernatural powers (though she actually doesn't), and Ms. Smith has to remind Lala that bad things will happen if she really manages to hurt somebody, causing Lala to hide behind Kimihito. She then demands to stay at Kimihito's to be able to "watch over him";^[ch. 24] it is agreed, and she becomes part of the household.^[ch. 24]

It is eventually revealed that she is a genuine Psychopomp,^[ch. 30] and so far Kimihito is the only one aware of this fact. However, her presence is not the reason why Kimihito hasn't yet died from his repeated injuries; she tells him that it's his own inner strength and feelings that keeps him alive. This, coupled with his genuine kindness towards the girls, has caused Lala to fall for him as well, though she refuses to fight over him; by her reasoning, as a dullahan she will take possession of his soul once he finally dies, and they will be together then.^[ch. 30]

She generally calls other people Mortal (人間, Ningen) and to date has no nickname for Kimihito.

Ms. Smith

Voiced by: Yū Kobayashi^[7]

Ms. Smith (墨須, Sumisu) is one of the coordinators of the exchange program. She is a caricature of a civil servant—lazy and goofing off whenever possible, pushing her work/responsibilities onto others, making errors she never admits to, neglecting to inform people about important information (like how liminals are affected by a full moon^[ch. 6] or how a host family can be reimbursed for food/grocery costs^[ch. 25]), considering herself severely underpaid and overworked, drinking vast amounts of coffee (she is especially fond of Kimihito's coffee, even though he tells her it's Instant), sponging meals, etc. She is also apparently able to command a small army of "Men In Black" and the "MON" (Monster Ops: Neutralization) liminal SWAT team, and is backed by large financial assets. She also has a powerful presence (sufficient, for example, to be able to completely terrorize Kimihito [and later Lala] simply by smiling with a menacing voice).

She tends to behave friendly (but rather mockingly) towards Kimihito, but she seems to also have a great deal of respect for him due to his being able to survive day-to-day living with his liminal house-guests; however, that hasn't stopped her from either assigning liminals to live with him or having his parent's house remodeled several times to accommodate the liminal girls living there ... both of which without asking for permission first!^[ch. 1] She also never hesitates to freeload both herself and the MON girls off him for meals.

Her first name is never mentioned in the manga but revealed via official merchandise to be Kuroko (黒子). She calls Kimihito Darling (だぁりんクン, Dārin-kun), although sarcastically and mockingly.

The MON (Monster Ops: Neutralization) team

The MON team (Monster Ops: Neutralization, in the Japanese version: Monsters Of a New law (モンスターズ・オブ・ア・ニューロゥ)) is commanded by Ms. Smith.

Zombina

Voiced by: Rei Mochizuki^[8]

Zombina (ゾンビーナ) is a zombie and the leader of MON. She is dead, but has become zombified in an undisclosed way.^[ch. 11] She acts and moves like a normal person, but cannot feel pain and seems to be indestructible: she has been riddled with bullets, stepped on during Kii's rampage, crushed under Tio, etc., and always appears fine afterward. Now and again, some body part drops off and has to be stitched back on again. At one time she deliberately does it to make Kimihito freak out, but against her will she is impressed by how calmly he takes it (and that he is able to sew it back on, considering that the body part in question was her breast)—and that he just treats her like a normal girl; both these skills/traits, plus his courage and self-sacrifice, not only come in useful but also completely flummox her (as well as expose her own "sensitive side") when she and Kimihito are being pursued by Cici (see "Supporting Characters" below).^[ch. 39] She likes horror films, particularly zombie films (especially with Romero-type zombies), has a well-developed (but somewhat morbid and at times inappropriate) sense of humor and a rather shrill and loud laughter.

She refers to Kimihito as Loverboy.

Manako

Voiced by: Momo Asakura^[8]

Manako, a Cyclops, is a petite and polite woman with straight black hair in a bob cut who suffers from very low self-esteem. She is shy, feels intensely that she is different from "ordinary" people and sees herself as a "monster", and because of this insecurity Lilith is able to troll her without any effort. She cannot comprehend that Kimihito treats her as an ordinary girl, and his ability to look her in the eye (literally) without looking away leaves her totally flustered. This is in sharp contrast to her job: due to her extraordinary high resolution vision, she is a keen observer and the sniper of the MON team. Her abilities enables her to reliably, precisely and accurately hit 5x5cm (2x2 inches) targets at a distance of 2 km in rapid fire during windy conditions,^[ch. 11] which makes her one of the world's finest snipers.

In Chapter 42, with Kimihito's help, she begins to work on getting over her self-esteem problems (with the result that she may becoming infatuated with Kimihito too).^[ch. 42]

To date, she does not have a nickname for Kimihito.

Tionishia

Voiced by: Yurika Kubo^[8]

Tionishia (ティオニシア), or Tio, is an ogre, but contrary to traditional and popular conceptualization of ogres she is rather attractive, with long blonde hair. She is a giant, with an estimated height of about 2.26 meters, and has a short, sharp horn with a square cross-section on her forehead.^[ch. 11] She is relatively well-proportioned, except for a large bust that makes Centorea's look average, even though she seems to be eating snacks most of the time. While on duty with MON, she wears a modern suit of armor, is resourceful and determined and functions as a human tank in order to protect and liberate hostages; off work, she's really into all sorts of girlish clothing, pop music and cute things. She manages, in spite of her size and strength, to be rather cute and non-threatening, capable of easing those around them with her warm embrace and kind demeanor,^[ch. 22] although, as shown in Chapter 41, this extremely warm, calming and soothing aura she exudes can prove very dangerous to anyone, human or liminal, that comes within her embrace.^[ch. 41] She is astonished that Kimihito is a skillful tailor and will be able to alter human clothing to fit her (as he does for Miia), as due to her size most of her outfits can be considered marvels of engineering (especially her lingerie).

She refers to Kimihito as Snookums.

Doppel

Voiced by: Saori Ōnishi^[8]

Doppel (ドッペル, Dopperu) calls herself a doppelganger, but is actually a shapeshifter.^{[vol. 3: "Doppelganger: Doppel's Delights"]} Her usual form is that of an 8 to 9-year-old girl, clad only in a whirl of her own ankle-long hair, and her sclera are black (as no knows what she really looks like, but is hinted to be very Cthulhu-esque).^[ch. 11] In MON, Doppel usually uses her abilities for infiltration and in one case where Ms. Smith is not allowed to physically harm a liminal criminal due to the Interspecies Accord, she impersonates Ms. Smith and does the job to perfection (leaving Ms. Smith free as "Doppel" to physically punish the criminal). She is easily bored, and doesn't mind messing with people just for fun and excitement;^[ch. 22] it is later revealed that she was the one who sent a threatening note to Kimihito promising him death if he ever got married (hoping that it would force him to choose one of the girls to marry rather than keep amassing a "harem"),^[ch. 22] and when a second threatening letter arrives she is suspected of writing that one too until it is revealed that Lala was the actual sender.

To date, she is the only MON member who doesn't seem to feel any romantic attraction to Kimihito, but she is able to convince (i.e., blackmail) him into helping her with some of her pranks and he is able to get her to wear clothes (much to the shock of the other MON members).^[ch. 40]

Supporting characters

The Couple

Voiced by: Daiki Hamano (man) and Ayaka Shimizu (woman)

A human man and woman who occasionally appear as minor antagonists. They are irresponsible, vulgar and obnoxious, viciously deriding liminals whenever they see them.^{[ch. 2][ch. 9]} The man is even more malevolent than his girlfriend, with him and his gang once attempting to rape Centorea. However, with each encounter they tend to get their comeuppance, usually by Kimihito or Rachnera. The woman is known to be a follower of the ganguro fashion trend.

Kasegi aka "The Director"

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara

A human and a con artist who claims to be associated with the exchange project and bullies his way into Kimihito's house on the pretext of making a documentary, while using the alias "Kasegi". Using his ability to manipulate people, he attempts to create an exploitation film about the girls in order to steal Papi's egg and Miia's cast-off skin,^[ch. 14] but is ultimately foiled by Suu and Kimihito. It is later revealed that he has kept Rachnee in his house under near-prison conditions for financial gain by selling her silk. After Rachnee has enough of him, she wraps him up with her web and leaves him to be arrested by the police; his current fate and whereabouts are unknown.

Polt

Voiced by: Shiina Natsukawa^[9]

Polt (ポルト, Poruto) is a kobold. She is the leader of the local gym, the "Sports Club Kobold", and seems to be rather hyperactive.^[ch. 17] Sport is her life (any and all sports, including fishing) and she strives to provide the best possible experience for her customers. She is depicted as a fur-clad humanoid with tail and ears like a dog—she even wears a leather collar—but with a more flat, human-like face. She usually wear shorts, T-shirt and track shoes. Polt seems to be trusted to a higher degree than other liminals: she has her own business and is allowed to go out on her own.^[ch. 25] When Draco and Lilith (see below) are placed on parole for being out without host family supervision, Polt is placed in charge of them.^[ch. 25] She also provides a full-sized stadium (apparently owned either by her or by her people) as the venue for the duel between Cerea and her mother.

Kii

Voiced by: Asami Seto^[6]

Kii (キー, Kī) is a dryad. She is neither human nor plant but a forest spirit, and was kidnapped at a young age by human criminals who were arrested by Ms. Smith after their car crashed while trying to escape. Papi (on one of her illegal non-supervised flights) rescued her from the crash and planted her out in the forest; unfortunately, Papi forgot about her and Kii was poisoned by illegally dumped chemical waste.^[ch. 20] After Kii has grown to a gigantic size and become deeply resentful of humans, Papi, Suu and Kimihito manage to detoxify her (removing the toxic nutrients from her body via a very embarrassing method) so she becomes normal again. Later, while still wary of humans, she lets Kimihito and Suu collect edible plants from the forest she protects, as long as they do no harm.^[ch. 25] Depending on available nutrients, her size can vary a lot. She appears as half human, half tree, with leaves for hair and, as Dryads are mostly naked, her clothes. She also has a slight crush on Kimihito (as verified by Suu).

Draco

Voiced by: Airi Ootsu^[6]

Draco (ドラコ, Dorako) is a Dragonewt—a lizard-like creature with dragon wings (which are not strong enough to allow her to fly) and a powerful tail. Draco dresses in style with elegant pants, shirt and a heavy trench coat. Draco attempts to chat up Miia when Miia and Kimihito (with Mero in tow) visit the local aquarium, but quickly starts bad-mouthing Kimihito (which riles Miia) and actually ends up groping Miia. After Kimihito rescues Miia, it is discovered that "he" is actually female and a lesbian.^[ch. 19] Draco is blind to her own failings—she boasts about herself either out of narcissism or attempting to cover a bad case of self-doubt—and attempts to attack Kimihito, seeing him as an obstacle to Miia's heart (an attack thwarted by Suu, who proves that Draco apparently does share one trait with Miia --- the extreme sensitivity of the end of her tail).^[ch. 25] After her first encounter with Miia and Kimihito, she is taken into custody by Ms. Smith and MON for being out without her host family and punished by being made to run a 40-kilometer marathon supervised by Polt; later, she is made to join Polt on a fishing expedition. Later, she transfers her attentions to Liz (see "Liz and Kinu" below), but her brash advances don't work, and her attempts to apologize to Miia for her previous behavior end up in a morass of misunderstanding with both Miia and Liz (thanks to Doppel's manipulation).^[ch. 40]

Lilith

Voiced by: Atsumi Tanezaki^[6]

Lilith (リリス, Ririsu) is a Lesser Devil. Although actually an adult, she is petite, the size of a child, and usually uses a hoodie to hide her horns, bat wings and tail. A generally unpleasant person, she derives great joy from provoking people and sowing discord, and is not above using her appearance to make people believe she is merely an innocent child. She easily blindsides both Manako and Centorea, but is caught in the act by Rachnera; after Lilith makes the mistake of mocking Rachnera's insecurity about her spider body Rachnee abducts and turns Lilith into her personal "toy", which she enjoys, revealing that she's a masochist.^[ch. 21] After her encounter with Kimihito and Centorea (and her following "punishment" by Rachnee), she is taken into custody for being out without her host family and punished by being made to run a 40-kilometer marathon supervised by Polt. On another occasion, she tries her hypnotic tricks on Kimihito, but her hypnosis doesn't work on him (at least not in the way she hoped) and she tries to physically molest him and use the evidence to blackmail him into making Arachnea leave his house and be with her, but is caught and "punished" Rachnera-style by Doppel disguised as Rachnera.^[ch. 40]

The Orcs

Orcs are humanoid, talking pigs.^[ch. 11] They have a keen sense of smell—they can detect things up to a kilometer away. Apart from that, there is very little improvement over their four-legged family, especially when it comes to intelligence. The only seen Orcs were part of a small terrorist group demanding an increase of Orc content in mainstream erotic manga until they were apprehended by MON.^[ch. 11] The head orc returns illegally and tries to molest both Draco and Lilith (both Doppel in disguise and the real one), but is apprehended by Doppel with some help from Kimihito.^[ch. 40]

Ren Kunanzuki

Ren Kunanzuki (九菜月 レン, Kunanzuki Ren) is the daughter of Rachnera's first host family, who "sold" Rachnera to Kasegi because she accidentally slashed Ren with her claws when Ren startled her. Ren wants to convince Rachnera to come back to her house, that she and her parents are truly sorry for what happened and that things will be different (statements Rachnera does not believe for a minute). She spends an entire day with the girls, believing their behavior is a series of tests to see if she's capable of handling Rachnee;^[ch. 26] among the many things she ends up doing include: trying to eat Miia's cooking (only to faint from the smell), allowing herself to be molested by Suu and wearing one of Mero's Gothic Lolita outfits. Ren is so determined to prove that she can overcome any trial or challenge that she does not hesitate to trash-talk each of the girls (perhaps without even realizing that she is insulting them). Kimihito hears her out, but, to both Ren and Rachnera's amazement (and Rachnera's delight), denies her request because he thinks she only sees Rachnera's living with her and her family as a challenge rather than accepting Rachnee as a family member. While she accepts his reasoning, it seems she still believes it is some sort of test; she leaves vowing to return when she has "turned over a new leaf" and proven "that [she] can overcome this trial too!".

Yukio

A Yuki-onna who works as the proprietor of a mixed-gender onsen or hot springs resort catering to both liminals and humans. She is a tall, elegant woman with pale blue skin and no pupils, with the power to control ice, but she can lose control if her emotions are too intense; her cold and rather intimidating demeanor drove the customers away. In order to withstand heat in certain areas of the resort, she uses a special environment suit. She told Kimihito how she chose to work as proprietor after her home stay when she fell in love with the young owner of the resort and now she trains herself to withstand the heat better. Thanks to Cerea's advice, in order to attract customers she now organizes dating events at the mixed baths between both humans and liminals. She also eventually learns how to smile, and it is at her resort that an embarrassing fact about Kimihito is learned.^[ch. 31]

Ils Nineta

Ils Nineta (ルズ・ナインティ, Ruzu Nainti) is a Nine-tailed fox (九尾の狐, Kyūbi no Kitsune) who's having her home stay at a shrine in the same area as Yukio's resort. In her default form, she looks like a girl with fur, fox's ears, nose and teeth, and nine fox tails. Like Doppel, she can transform into nearly anything, but that only applies to herself, not her clothes. Since her shrine is having some money issues, Kimihito, Miia and Rachnee help her make a Magical Girl show in order to attract visitors. She transforms into an older version of herself while Rachnera weaves clothes for her during the act. The show is successful and a group of guys ask to work with her in future shows (although Miia and Rachnera believe she plays the villain better than as the Magical Girl). The shrine priest eventually finds out, and she's punished by being denied her favorite Inari sushi;^[ch. 32] however, this does not stop her from trying to start the show up again.^[ch. 43]

Cathyl

A Minotaur that is having her home stay at a ranch alongside Merino, Ton, and Cott. She's a very tall and muscular woman, with a statuesque height of 2.31 meters,^{[vol. 8: "The Secrets of Cathyl, Merino, Ton & Cott"]} with bull horns, a long black and white ponytail, hoofed feet and a cow-tail and ears. As a "milk minotaur", Cathyl also possesses massive breasts (Q-cup) that need to be milked frequently and ends up insisting that Kimihito do it (since she was too embarrassed to ask Merino). However, despite the fact that milk minotaurs as a whole tend to be calm and reserved, Cathyl is unusually emotional,^{[vol. 8: "The Secrets of Cathyl, Merino, Ton & Cott"]} and due to her short temper her relationship with the ranch's owner was in trouble when she thought he was having affairs with other women. It turns out he was just talking about the ranch's livestock, and they make up after Cathyl realizes her mistake.^[ch. 33]

Merino

A Pan who is having her home stay at a ranch alongside Cathyl, Ton, and Cott. She's a young woman with ram-like horns and rectangular pupils, whose body is covered in wool that needs to be sheared on occasion.^{[vol. 8: "The Secrets of Cathyl, Merino, Ton & Cott"]} She asks Kimihito to shear her (since coincidentally she was also too embarrassed to ask Cathyl) and after the ranch's owner brings in new helpers, she no longer has to worry about getting sheared.^[ch. 33]

Ton & Cott

A pair of Vegetable Lamb of Tartary twins who are having their home stay at a ranch alongside Cathyl and Merino. They're twins with tanned skin and small goat horns. Similar to Merino, they have fleece-like cotton on their bodies that also needs to be sheared on occasion and after the ranch's owner brings in new helpers, they no longer have to worry about the problem.^[ch. 33]

Liz and Kinu

A pair of rather dim-witted agents from a private security company in charge of protecting V.I.P. liminals. Liz is a Lizard and, like Draco, has scales and a lizard tail, while Kinu is an Oni: tall with reddish skin and two short horns. While Liz chides Kinu for being foolish, she's no better herself since she's a terrible driver. They were hired to guard someone classified as "X.O." and believed that person was Suu, so they carried her around throughout the day. When they believed they were being followed by Lala, they hid with Kimihito inside a locker and later confronted Draco and Lilith, only to be stopped by Ms. Smith. It turns out that the person they were actually hired to protect was Mero, and she motivates them into not giving up in their jobs.^[ch. 34] They also enjoy playing role-playing games.^[ch. 40]

Sebasstian and Flounnder

Sebasstian (サバスチャン, Sabasuchan) and Flounnder (ポチョムキンメ, Pochomukinme) are a pair of Fishfolk and butlers sent to bring Mero home under orders from Mero's Mother, the Mermaid Queen. Both look like humanoid fishes with arms and legs, and with webbing between their fingers. Fishfolk are capable of breathing air and, ironically enough, are more capable on land than the far more humanoid Mermaids thanks to their functioning legs.^[ch. 35] They are totally terrified of being blamed for anything, and when Mero went missing they simply stayed back while Kimihito and the girls did all the work, since they didn't wanted to lose their jobs for trying to bargain with Octo on a previous occasion.^[ch. 36]

Octo

A Scylla that apparently kidnapped Mero. She looks like a young woman with octopus tentacles instead of legs, octopus pupils and tentacles for hair. After Miia and Cerea were incapacitated by the giant anemones that guard her cave and she tried to seduce Kimihito, she and Rachnera ended in a standoff. The standoff was broken by Suu, who proceeded to molest both of them. Once everyone calms down, she and Rachnera develop a mutual respect for each other and their techniques. It turns out that she hadn't kidnapped Mero, she simply wanted her help in dealing with a bothering situation: Octo has no magic abilities whatsoever, but people seeking magical solutions to their problems keep on bothering her, so she wanted Mero to use her authority as a princess to clear the misunderstanding; her reputed "evil magical powers" are also being blamed for the rise in merpeople elopement with humans. Unfortunately, Mero has no real authority, but Kimihito's idea about clearing up the misunderstandings about Octo (which delights Octo immensely, to Miia and Cerea's annoyance) causes Mero to suggest that they address the problem to her mother, the Mermaid Queen.^[ch. 36]

The Mermaid Queen

Mero's mother and ruler of the Mermaid Kingdom, whose husband the King (a human) eloped with a mermaid. She orders Mero to end her home-stay with Kimihito and has been deceiving her people into believing that human-merfolk relations are collapsing because of elopements between them and that Octo is both responsible for this and trying to harm Mero.^[ch. 36] It turns out that she is even more of a "tragedy freak" than her daughter, that she is secretly involved with a human male and that she has done all this in order to create a gigantic tragedy. She tries to kill Kimihito to make Mero remember "how sweet Tragic Romance can taste!",^[ch. 37] but she ends up putting Mero and herself in peril as well when her trap devices go haywire. Mero's willingness, even though being injured through the Queen's actions, to sacrifice herself to save Kimihito makes the Queen change her mind, and she informs her people that relationships between merfolk and humans are allowed and about her human lover (without revealing her deception).

Yuuhi Hajime

Yuuhi Hajime (一 夕日, Hajime Yūhi)^{[vol. 10: "The Secrets of Cici"]} is a young, terminally-ill girl that Lala befriends while visiting Kimihito in the hospital. In order to save Yuuhi's life without breaking the rules she as a "guide of lost souls" must follow, Lala turns a willing Yuuhi into a Zombie using one of Zombina's teeth (which she stole from Zombina).^[ch. 38]

Cici

A Jiangshi from Taiwan and an old acquaintance of Zombina (since they're both undead) who is apparently desperate to get herself a Japanese marriage partner in order to attend fujoshi/yaoi events more easily; hence she would frequently smuggle herself into Japan despite strict supervision by the Cultural Exchange Bureau. She is a regular practitioner of Tai Chi, which helps her in overcoming her rigor mortis and thus makes her unusually agile for her kind. Very skilled with throwing weapons, she managed to dismember Zombina but, thanks to Kimihito's assistance, was defeated with special rock salt bullets used by Zombina. After admitting defeat, she becomes curious about the relationship between Kimihito and Zombina. She and Zombina end up dragging Kimihito to a doujinshi event as their "date".^[ch. 39]

Kiira

A insect-type liminal derived from the killer bee whose liminal species name is not currently officially known, she is described by Ms. Smith as one of three dangerous illegal liminals who have entered Japan. She has two multi-lensed eyes, two antennae on her head, teeth powerful enough to bite through Rachnera's thread, two insectoid wings, four black-striped arms ending in three-fingered claws, a striped abdomen protruding from the middle of her back ending in a venom-bearing stinger and two black-striped humanoid legs ending in elongated two-toed feet. She also has the ability to control bees and hornets. While Kimihito and Centorea (with Rachnera lurking close by) are camping in Kii's forest, she attacks Kimihito but is temporarily driven off by Centorea.^[ch. 44] Kimihito and Centorea trick Kiira into pursuing them and trap her inside a sauna built by Polt, where she is overcome by the heat. After she recovers, Kiira reveals that she was not after Kimihito, but rather Rachnera, as the Arachne was indirectly responsible for Kiira's original deportation. After apologizing to Kimihito for trying to use him as a proxy, Kiira warns him that the other two illegal liminals that entered alongside her are truly dangerous.^[ch. 45]

Kino

A young Matango, she is described by Ms. Smith as one of three dangerous liminals who have entered Japan illegally. She has two arms and legs, a large mushroom cap on her head, tentacle-like hair, volva-like feet and a rather shy personality. Her hands are large compared to her body and she has cross-shaped pupils. As a fungus-like creature, Kino constantly releases a certain amount of highly hallucinogenic spores; if she gets nervous, scared or flustered, she unconsciously starts releasing a far greater amount of these spores. Because of this, her entire species was classified as "dangerous" and prohibited from ever entering Japan. Despite this and because she wanted to make friends, Kino contacted an underworld broker who illegally smuggled her into the country alongside Kiira and a third liminal. However, much to Kino's confusion, instead of accepting money as payment, the broker demanded (for reasons yet unknown) that she wander around the Kurusu house, which she did until she was found by Papi and brought into the house. After her spores are neutralized (thanks to some unexpected and unasked-for modifications to Kimihito's house courtesy of Mero's mother), Kino apologizes for the troubles she caused and warns Kimihito that the last illegal liminal scares even her.^[ch. 46]

Policeman

An average and unnamed police officer who has had quite a few run-ins with Kimihito and his gang. First introduced when arriving late on the scene after Kimihito, Papi, and Miia have rescued a little girl from a tree (a call he was originally supposed to handle).^[ch. 2] He doesn't seem to handle frightening situations very well, often inspecting a certain location and wanting to leave because he finds the place too unnerving, or totally freaking out upon seeing Kimihito holding Lala's detached head to the point of actually pointing a gun at him.^[ch. 25] He also displays a constant tendency to be late responding to important calls. In the anime, his appearances are a lot more frequent as opposed to the manga. Okayado has revealed on his Twitter that without his hat, the Policeman shows a great resemblance to the Eight Brothers from the original Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou series.^[10]

Works cited

References

External links

• Monster Musume characters at Monmusu.jp (Japanese)