This Monster Wants to Eat Me

This Monster Wants to Eat Me (Japanese: 私を喰べたい、ひとでなし, Hepburn: Watashi o Tabetai, Hito de Nashi) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Sai Naekawa. It has been serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Maoh magazine since August 2020, with its chapters collected in eleven tankōbon volumes. The manga is licensed in North America by Yen Press. The series follows Hinako, a girl who wishes to die, and Shiori, a mermaid who promises to fulfill Hinako's desire by eating her, but only when Hinako is at her happiest point.

An anime television series adaptation produced by Studio Lings premiered in October 2025.

Since losing her family in an accident, Hinako has had a vague wish to die, but cannot go through with it herself. One day, she meets a mermaid named Shiori, who tells Hinako that her flesh and blood are especially delicious to yōkai; Shiori is one of them.

Wanting to eat Hinako herself, Shiori promises to protect her from other yōkai who also want to eat Hinako until she is at her most delicious. Hinako happily accepts this fate. However, as Hinako finds out more about Shiori's past, she realizes that Shiori may actually be trying to save her.

Hinako Yaotose (八百歳 比名子, Yaotose Hinako)

Voiced by: Reina Ueda^[2]

The main character and a student at Shiomi High School. After losing her parents and brother in an accident, she desires to die so she can reunite with them, but cannot bring herself to end her own life. Her unique blood attracts yōkai who want to eat her. Upon meeting a yōkai named Shiori, who intends to eat her once she is at her peak and protect her from other yōkai until that happens, Hinako agrees to this as she sees it as a way out of her painful situation. As a child, Shiori had given her mermaid blood in return for her kindness towards an injured Shiori, allowing her to survive the accident.

Shiori Oumi (近江 汐莉, Ōmi Shiori)

Voiced by: Yui Ishikawa^[3]

A powerful mermaid yōkai who says she wants to eat Hinako when she is at her most tasty point, promising to protect her from other yōkai until then. However, she actually saved a young Hinako because of Hinako's kindness towards her, and intends to protect her in the present day as well. She hides her true motivations from Hinako after realizing that Hinako's hope of being eaten is the reason she does not end her own life. She presents herself as an ordinary human girl and only reveals her true form when fighting other yōkai or eating prey. So far, Miko is the only yōkai who is strong enough to evenly fight Shiori.

Miko Yashiro (社 美胡, Yashiro Miko)

Voiced by: Fairouz Ai^[3]

Hinako's classmate and childhood friend, who is very protective of her. She is often jealous of Shiori's relationship with Hinako. She is an ancient yōkai who used to hunt humans, but eventually learned to peacefully live with them after being captured and tamed by a monk. She struggles to balance her civilized nature with her primal instincts, and only stops herself from consuming Hinako by sacrificing part of her own spirit. Her true form is a giant kitsune powerful enough to match Shiori’s strength.

Ayame Chiba

A woman who works at a basketball training camp and gets along well with Hinako. She is a yōkai who was once a human, having the ability to twist her head all the way around to reveal a second mouth with a large tongue on the back. Although she intended to eat Hinako, she left her alone because Shiori's blood found within Hinako's body made Hinako unappetizing.

Tsubaki

A bake-danuki who comes to cause trouble for Miko out of jealousy for how well she gets along with humans. She reveals Miko's past evil nature to Hinako, though Hinako forgives Miko anyway. She eventually calms down and leaves the town after realizing that Miko is not at fault for her own loneliness.

Azami

A girl who became immortal after Shiori gave her flesh to Azami. Though Shiori had intended to help Azami, who was cast away by her village into the ocean as a sacrifice, Azami is deeply resentful of her immortality and seeks revenge on Shiori. In the past, she tried to kill Shiori with explosives, but only ended up injuring Shiori and herself for many years.

Aunt Tomori

Hinako's aunt who took care of her after Hinako's parents died. After Hinako moved away, Tomori visits Hinako as frequently as she can, but is often busy with work.

Daichi Yaotose, Yuri Yaotose, and Mutsuki Yaotose

Hinako's deceased father, mother, and brother, who were killed in a car accident.

Iso-onna

An ocean vampire yōkai. She is the first to try and eat Hinako, but is stopped and killed by Shiori. Though she is capable of speech, she does not have a human form like Shiori and Miko.

Noyama

A male student at Shiomi High School. He seems to be scared of ghosts.

Ako, Fuyuka, and Yu-chan

Three female students who attend basketball camp along with Hinako, Shiori, and Miko.

Sai Naekawa, the writer and illustrator of the manga, was inspired by the theme of the sea. She decided to make Shiori a "beautiful and scary" ningyo because of the association of yōkai with the ocean. Unlike "beautiful" Western mermaids, she wanted Shiori to have an "ominous flavor".^[4] Hinako's last name, Yaotose, was intended as a reference to Yaobikuni, a priestess in folklore who lived for 800 years after eating mermaid flesh.^[5]

In regards to the overall work, Naekawa wanted to explore the concept of "love or obsession" through the premise of "consuming" someone, both literally and metaphorically. She also aimed to depict Hinako as someone who seemed normal on the surface, yet had a deep desire to die.^[6]

Naekawa based the setting in Ehime Prefecture, a region of Japan located on the island of Shikoku.^[4] She grew up in the prefecture, describing it as a "nice, calm, countryside place".^[6]

According to Naekawa, Arina Tanemura was an influence on her early work, though she enjoyed the art style more than the actual stories. She credited Shigeru Mizuki's artbooks for her interest in yōkai.^[5]

Naekawa described Shiori as the easiest character to draw. As she worked on the story, she wanted to portray Hinako and Shiori as "enemies [...] working towards the same goal". Her editor, Takumi Kamemaru, called the editing process "smooth" due to their shared interests, noting that Naekawa would often submit her work early. Kamemaru was particularly impressed by Naekawa's "wonderful" ability to draw expressions.^[4]

Yūsuke Suzuki, the director of the anime adaptation, became interested in the series for its "themes of life and death". He noted Hinako's character as particularly "appeal[ing]" to audiences for her "tragic" backstory and "complex and layered" personality. Suzuki felt that the character dynamics were a key aspect of the story.^[7]

Ena Hamabe, the producer, similarly noted the recurring motifs of death. She believed Hinako's desire to die could "resonate with lots of people" and that an anime was "worth spreading" in order to address this theme. She stated that she enjoyed the element of the work which emphasized how "silence is beautiful",^[4] and that the "realism" of the characters were what attracted her to the story.^[5]

Hamabe was pleased by the final adaptation, stating that the studio developed a "really good" team. Naekawa was often involved with the production as well, since she wanted to see how her work was being adapted.^[6]

Hamabe wanted to incorporate both lighthearted slice-of-life elements and more serious themes, calling them "two sides of the same story" despite the relatively dark appearance of the work.^[4]

Suzuki focused on capturing the "spirit" of the original work through a "beautiful visual style". In particular, he used the ocean as a recurring motif to portray the inner feelings of the main characters, calling these scenes "emotional landscapes". He also aimed to portray the story in a "timeless [and] serene" setting.^[7]

For Hamabe, she found it especially important to "balance" between the visuals of the original work and the actual setting in Ehime Prefecture, noting that she "paid attention to real people [and] real folklore".^[4]

According to Suzuki, voice acting was an important part of the adaptation. He praised the "spot on" voice performances, such as Hinako's "quiet strength", Shiori's "hidden gentleness", and Miko's "brightness and humor" as contributing significantly to the anime.^[7]

Reina Ueda, who played Hinako, described her first impression of her character as having a "gloomy quality". She tried to convey a sense of apathy because her character "doesn't have the energy to express negative emotions". As Hinako interacted with Shiori and Miko, she focused on showing "subtle changes" in her feelings. She felt Hinako's actions were "not very coherent" at times, which were part of the personality she aimed to portray. Though Ueda found her part challenging, she expressed appreciation for Naekawa's guidance.^[8]

Fairouz Ai, who voiced Miko, described her character as "wonderful" and a person who "makes you wish you had someone like [her] around you". She wanted to express the "different sides" of her character, particularly the deep emotions that came with Miko's past. She tried to portray Miko's cheerfulness in a reserved way rather than overly "exaggerating" her emotions. When voicing Miko's form as an enormous kitsune, she was inspired by the "force" and "lowness" of Moro's voice from the film Princess Mononoke.^[9]

Keiji Inai composed the series' music. Inai often created music to fit the atmosphere of specific scenes, basing his work on the mood of the original story rather than working with strict directions. Suzuki was impressed with the end result, stating that Inai's portrayal of "emotional subtleties" allowed the story's emotions to "come alive".^[7]

Written and illustrated by Sai Naekawa, This Monster Wants to Eat Me has been serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Maoh magazine since August 27, 2020.^[10] The series has been collected in eleven tankōbon volumes as of October 2025.

The series is licensed for an English release in North America by Yen Press.^[11]

An anime television series adaptation was announced on October 21, 2024. It is produced by Studio Lings with Infinite handling general production, and directed by Yūsuke Suzuki, with Naoyuki Kuzuya serving as chief director, Mitsutaka Hirota writing the scripts, Sō Ikuyama designing the characters, and Keiji Inai composing the music.^[2][29] The series premiered on October 2, 2025 on AT-X and other networks.^[3] The opening theme song is "nie" ("贄-nie-"; 'Sacrifice'), performed by Yoshino, while the ending theme song is "Lily" (リリィ, Rirī), performed by Reina Ueda as her character Hinako Yaotose.^[30] Crunchyroll is streaming the series.^[31] Medialink licensed the series in Southeast Asia.^[32]

The manga was generally well-received. It featured in MyAnimeList's 2025 “You Should Read This Manga” list within the Unique Art/Story category.^[36]

Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network (ANN) praised the series, stating that the unusual genre combination "worked better than it should".^[37] Erica Friedman of Yuricon gave the first volume an 8/10 despite remarking on her personal dislike of horror. She praised the "intriguing and dark" story, acclaiming the "breathtakingly excellent" end scene as well as the "tight" pacing.^[38] Adam Symchuk of Asian Movie Pulse called the manga a "perfect companion piece" to The Summer Hikaru Died, writing that it was a "slightly less profound and visually striking version" but nevertheless a "welcome treat" for readers interested in horror and romance.^[39]

The art style received particular praise. Silverman commended the "pretty" and "appealing" illustrations as well as the distinctive character designs,^[37] while Friedman said that the art worked "beautifully".^[38]

Reviews for the early episodes were generally positive. Richard Eisenbeis of ANN gave an average review for a "solid enough premise" while being less enthused about the dark tone of the story.^[40] Vrai Kraiser of Anime Feminist was mostly positive, calling the "unreal" mood of the show "evocative and eerie" and praising the complexity of Hinako and Shiori's relationship.^[41] Chris Beveridge of The Fandom Post gave an overall "A-" grade for the premiere, writing that the premise was "beautifully executed" and that the episode's visuals were "striking".^[42] Ken Pueyo of Anime Corner acclaimed the first episode as a "hauntingly beautiful debut", naming the show as perhaps "one of the most unique series of the season".^[43]

The animation was divisive, with some critics feeling that it was excessively slow and others arguing that it was a strong visual representation of the story. Caitline Moore of ANN criticized the "plodding" pacing and wrote that the animation, though "brilliant at a glance", was often repetitive.^[40] In contrast, Beveridge strongly praised the "sense of quiet" and "stillness" created by the show's visuals,^[42] while Pueyo opined that the "ethereal beauty" of the animation contributed to a "dreamlike" yet "unsettling" mood.^[43]

The show's portrayal of depression through both visual and narrative elements was widely discussed by English-language critics. Bolts of ANN felt that the show created a "realistic" impression of the condition with its portrayal of Hinako's character, such as her difficulty functioning through everyday life and her intense emotions. He argued that Hinako "fully feel[s] the weight of her depression" and that the show "navigate[d]" through "complex emotional beats", including Hinako's struggle to appear normal on the surface.^[40]

Similarly, several critics commented on the complexity of the show's representation of suicidal ideation. Kraiser regarded the show's portrayal as grounded, writing that Hinako's "nonchalant joy at the thought of death" conveyed her "passive suicidality".^[41] Pueyo commented on the "moral dilemma" the show created between Hinako's own agency as well as the viewer's desire for her to live.^[43]

Several reviewers commented on the use of the ocean as a recurring emotional motif. Bolts stated that the show's use of "drowning" was a "perfect visual representation" of Hinako's feelings, while Moore wrote that the visual portrayal of Hinako's "disassociation" was "potent". Similarly, Eisenbeis felt that the underwater shots conveyed Hinako's "disconnected and listless" state.^[40]

Many critics analyzed Hinako and Shiori's relationship. Kraiser opined that the show explored the conflict between the "desire to subsume" into another person versus the "mature realization" of respecting individual independence.^[41] Similarly, Moore compared the show favorably to Black Bird for its portrayal of power dynamics; she opined that rather than Shiori having "institutional control" of Hinako like in Black Bird, the girls are "peers" and Shiori merely "promis[es] Hinako the sweet release of death". She argued that this ultimately made their relationship something she could "understand and connect to".^[40]

• Official manga website at ComicWalker (in Japanese)
• Official anime website (in Japanese)
• This Monster Wants to Eat Me (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia