Series about buying companionship in a fantasy world continues to lose business friends.

The idea of populating an anime fantasy world with sexy monster girls isn’t even remotely new, but arguably no other series has ever leaned so hard, deep, and vigorously into the concept as Interspecies Reviewers. The three protagonists of the TV series, a human, an elf, and an angel, don’t cone into contact with comely creatures incidentally as part of some grander quest. Instead, getting monster laid, and then giving their in-depth impressions of the experience, is their whole objective, as the series consists entirely of following them from one brothel to the next, all staffed by cheery humanoid, but not human, prostitutes.

While there’s definitely a measure of absurdist comedy, and arguably even some clever ideas, in the creators’ commitment to thinking so thoroughly about how hypothetical humping would work with established fantasy tropes, Interspecies Reviewers was always going to be an anime that went right up to the line of what broadcast standards would allow, even with heavy visual censoring and a late-night time slot. Over the past week, though, a number of media providers have decided the series has hopped over that line, and it’s no longer only ones outside Japan.

▼ Preview for Interspecies Reviewers fifth episode, which promises cyclops and mushroom girls

The first blow came when Funimation, the largest anime distributor in North America, removed Interspecies Reviewers from its streaming platforms after its third of 12 scheduled episodes, saying “After careful consideration, we determined that this series falls outside of our standards. We have the utmost respect for our creators so rather than substantially alter the content, we felt taking it down was the most respectful choice.” Amazon Prime Video’s North American arm followed suit this Thursday, and now TV station Tokyo MX, which had been showing the series in the Tokyo area, has become the first Japanese media distributor to cut ties with it, according to a message from the official Interspecies Reviewers Twitter account.

『異種族レビュアーズ』TOKYO MXでの放送中止について



TOKYO MXにて放送中のアニメ『異種族レビュアーズ』は、東京メトロポリタンテレビジョン株式会社の編成上の都合により今後の放送予定が中止となりました。



異種族レビュアーズ製作委員会 — ＴＶアニメ「異種族レビュアーズ」公式 (@isyuzoku) February 7, 2020

Regarding the suspension of Interspecies Reviewers’ broadcast on Tokyo MX: Due to the circumstances of [Tokyo MX parent company] Tokyo Metropolitan Television Broadcasting Corporation, further broadcasts of the Interspecies Reviewers on Tokyo MX will be suspended. – Interspecies Reviewers Production Committee

While no specific reason is given, it’s hard to imagine anything other than Tokyo MX (which is a free, non-cable/satellite channel) being uncomfortable with Interspecies Reviewers’ content as the cause of the decision, especially since late-night anime broadcasts are paid advertising from production committees that buy the block of time, making ratings meaningless from the economic standpoint of the broadcaster.

▼ Interspecies Reviewers’ official English tagline promises “A time of bliss with the highest class woman,” but apparently the series itself isn’t high-class enough for Tokyo MX.

It’s extremely unusual for an anime to be dropped by a broadcaster like this mid-season, but this isn’t necessarily the end of the road for Interspecies Reviewers. According to the anime’s official website, it will still air in Japan on satellite TV stations AT-X and BS11, as well as local broadcasters KBS (based in Kyoto) and Sun TV (Kobe), and it can also be still be seen on multiple streaming services, including the Japanese arm of Amazon Prime Video and the DoCoMo anime store. Tokyo MX’s decision could set off a domino effect, though, of other organizations wanting to distance themselves. AT-X for example, is owned by TV Tokyo, a much larger and higher-profile media organization than Tokyo MX, and DoCoMo and Amazon are larger still.

▼ Superfans will be reassured to know however, that the Interspecies Reviewers cafe in Tokyo, where you can eat angel Crimvael’s dong, still seems to be operating as normal.

However, while getting dumped by paid streaming services isn’t going to help Interspecies Reviewers’ finances, losing a free TV broadcast partner might not really hurt its bottom line all that much. As mentioned above, late-night TV anime broadcasts are basically paid commercials from the production committee, and don’t directly bring in any money for the franchise. In practice, late-night broadcasts are the free trial versions of anime, with the revenue coming from selling polished-up, and uncensored, Blu-rays to those who want to see what they’ve been missing. At this point, Interspecies Reviewers has made it absolutely clear what audiences can expect: lots of economically compensated monster girl sex, which in hindsight probably isn’t a premise that most people need 12 episodes of to decide if they want to see the uncensored version or not.

Sources: Twitter/@isyuzoku via Otakomu, Interspecies Reviewers official website, Anime News Network/Crystalyn Hodgkins, Amazon News Network/Jennifer Sherman

Images: YouTube/mediafactory

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