It should be obvious to regular readers that I disappeared for a bit there. Mostly I have been taking stock of my life, working on my health and just taking some time for me.
This has resulted in the decision to take a longer break from the blog. It coincides with some major life changes including plans to move from the tiny rural town I have called home for over a decade.
I can’t say when I will be back or whether I will definitely return but I do know I am keeping the blog online as well as keeping the domain and I hope that one day I will be back.
Thank you to all the wonderful people who have made the past years so memorable and I wish you well.
I will also be ending my twitter account but you can still reach me via Facebook or the contact here on the blog.
I realised I’d completed a list a while back of creepy monstrous creatures in anime but I’d never celebrated all the adorable monsters out there. It is time to correct that oversight with my list this week. Now, this is not a list of cute monster girls. That would be its own list entirely. Instead these are actual monsters, that look like monsters, but they are just so cute.
What are my top 5 anime containing cute monster characters?
Kamaisama Kiss is full of very hot yokai males so adorable isn’t the first word that comes to mind when describing the characters. Yet, season 2 of Kamisama Kiss brought us an exception to the rule in the truly cute Mamoru. Maybe it is because Nanami had to hatch Mamoru as a test in the first place and she’s fiercely protective of her shikigami, but Mamoru is one of those characters that just makes you want to tilt your head and soak in the cuteness. Just look at those big, innocent eyes.
Okay, in fairness the adorableness is a little less apparent when he transforms into his more human form so my vote is to just stay as that sweet little monkey.
I actually had to think a long time before I decided to include Kyubey on this list. Not because he isn’t cute and all, but because I think he kind of stretches my definition of monster. I see him more as an alien or an inter-dimensional being more than a standard monster. Then again, he is arguably the one who acts most monstrously out of all the characters on the list this week so I’m going to just let it go.
That said, if that cute little thing showed up at my house with those adorable pin eyes and cute little ears, I’d be hard pressed to turn down the chance to make a contract. Do you think he’d let me touch his tail?
I get that Rimuru spends the majority of his times after eating Shizue as a more humanoid character but you have to admit there is something truly cute about this little, blue, bouncing ball of slime. Maybe it is the way he emotes. Or the way that at times his movements defy all logical and physics. Or maybe it is just that we’re used to slimes that are either slow or fairly useless and yet Rimuru just kind of zips about and does as he pleases.
Either way, it is hard to argue against his cuteness and the fact that he was reincarnated as a monstrous slime and so absolutely deserves a place here.
Narrowing it down to just one character from Natsume Yuujinchou was incredibly challenging but ultimately it had to be Tama. Maybe it is because like Mamoru from earlier in the list, Tama was found as an egg and taken care of by Natsume and Nyanko-Sensei in one of the cutest sequences ever. The hatching scene itself was quite adorable and then emerged this cute little button.
Okay, Tama definitely doesn’t stay tiny and cute all that long but for a short period he was adorably co-inhabiting Natsume’s room and destroying everything made of paper to build his own nest. So, so cute and really should have been number one except that there was one undeniable winner from the moment I thought of this list.
For those who follow my blog, was there ever any doubt who would sweep the top spot?
I mean seriously, look at that little bundle of bandages?
A traditional Egyptian monster given new life and cuteness in anime form. Okay, I’ll admit the story didn’t have a lot going for it outside of the cute monsters but when the titular mummy was this cute I really don’t care. How To Keep A Mummy was absolutely worth watching for the sheer adorable factor alone.
I did not know I needed a miniature mummy in a Santa-hat until this anime came along. Thank-you.
Which cute monster characters would you have included on your list? Let me know in the comments below.
How To Keep a Mummy gives you a mini-mummy, a back-pack sized dragon, a tiny oni and a whole bunch of other pint sized monsters all in one adorable anime package. What more could you want? Well maybe a slightly more developed plot and characters but sometimes being kawaii might just be enough.
When Sora received a coffin from his father who was travelling through Egypt, he suspects the worst and apparently with good reason. His recounts of previous gifts certainly lead one to presume that nothing good can come out of the coffin.
Don’t even ask why it is clearly an English style coffin rather than an Egyptian sarcophagus or how the mummy eventually breaks out given he never demonstrates that kind of feat of strength ever again; these are questions that should be asked of a show asking you to take it seriously rather than one that seems to excel at being cute for cute’s sake.
For this story, it is all about how adorable the cast are on screen and the main goal of most episodes is to put the cast into cuteness inducing moments for the audience to tilt their heads and go ‘aww’ to.
How To Keep a Mummy knows how to play its audience.
If that sounds like I’m being condescending, I’m not. I actually really had a great time with this anime given just the opening theme could start me smiling and any episode that Mii-Kun (the titular mummy in question) barked was enough to leave me grinning for the remainder of the day. There’s just something so soothing and cute about a barking miniature mummy and to be honest I don’t think I’m ever going to get over that. I think I need a gif on an endless loop of that just for days that go badly and then I can simply cheer myself by watching it over and over again.
What works even better are Sora and Mii as a team. Sora by himself would be a pretty bland protagonist, but when coupled with Mii the two are a duo that would be hard to beat. The success of any episode in this series for me depended on the screen time these two characters were given. When Mii and Sora aren’t front and centre, well it can still be fun but the appeal of the anime definitely wanes.
The other characters work, but all have diminishing returns in terms of cuteness and particularly the oni-child really don’t replace Mii as an adequate focus – or at least they don’t give me quite the same bliss out on over-cuteness. How To Keep a Mummy may have been stronger without some of the other characters, but I think it is more that none of the supporting monsters ever got as much effort put into their cuteness.
Still, cute really can’t be enough to carry a series, or at least not after the initial sweetness wears off.
How To Keep a Mummy manages to find enough interesting situations to stick the cast in a back-drops for their cute antics that you don’t actually get overly bored (though I suspect that binge watching this could become a bit of a problem). Still, the characters visit each other’s houses, the school, a temple and finally a mountain with a range of activities and interactions to sell each of the characters.
Basically, there isn’t a lot of rewatch value in How To Keep a Mummy and there isn’t a lot of depth, but if you are seeking the cute and fuzzy feels, this anime will succeed admirably.
How To Keep a Mummy continued to play to its strengths all the way through and while it also pulled a family/friends beat all kind of ending it did it with the kind of earnestness that allows you to smile and just accept that is the kind of show you were watching. To be honest, it is the kind of anime that just makes you want to indulge it as it pulls out the super cute card over and over again.
How To Keep a Mummy Gets Cute
It is also the kind of show that makes you casually dismiss that the villain this episode is probably going to be killed off screen which could be sort of horrific but we’ll distract both the protagonists and the audience with adorableness so they don’t let that throw away line sink in. It might disrupt the cute bubble this anime has built.
Still, it was a pretty good final episode. How To Keep a Mummy has been pretty even in its delivery from start to finish so if you wanted a show about a cute mummy, here it is and I’ll give a series review soon.
How to Keep a Mummy has been a super cute anime but with the promise of curses and problems with monsters raised in the first episode and then very seldom thought about since, it is nice to see the show bring that back in for the penultimate episode.
Sora and friends inadvertently trespass at a solstice festival without invitations leading to a moment of genuine tension in the usually sickly sweet show and later we meet a collector before setting up the cliff-hanger that will drive us into the final episode.
How To keep a Mummy tries to escalate tension before the final episode.
However, if you are watching How To Keep a Mummy for the cute mummy, you will definitely get your fill this episode as the anime pulls out all the stops in delivering Mii and his most adorable, including barks, helpful hugs, and genuinely being a life-saver. Also squishy.
But if you also want some tension between Sora and Kamiya, this episode gives us a watered down drama between the close friends fuelled by misunderstandings and lack of communication. Really it is the best we could expect from this show at this point and it is truly pleasant watching even if it isn’t exactly deep.
After last week’s average but not particularly bad episode of this anime, How To Keep A Mummy strikes back with an incredibly adorable return to the formula that made the first episodes of this season so irresistible.
How To Keep a Mummy, at its best when being cute.
And in saying that, what I mean is they introduce a new player into the group who at first seems kind of scary but turns out to be a big softie. This one is a statue of Anubis that speaks and can turn its head but is otherwise unable to really move and as it hasn’t shown an inclination for curses is so far pretty harmless and mostly helpless.
And this time the attempt to inject a tiny bit of drama into this episode of How to Keep a Mummy worked beautifully with the title character being the one in the spotlight (right where his cute-self should be). That said, if I thought a barking mummy was adorable, the whole crew of creatures suddenly imitating someone with the hiccups is off-the-charts in terms of how cute things can be.
A fairly solid episode from a show that really only has one draw and managed to get it just right this week.
Anime has a lot of heart breaking moments that really capture the spirit of what it is to be human, to be alone, and to suffer loss. How To Keep A Mummy doesn’t quite manage to land this lofty emotional goal but still delivers something that is cute in its very gentle and obvious dealing with emotional baggage.
With Conny in trouble again for stealing pudding (gasp), Kamiyagives him a talking to but of course with his rough and direct way of speaking goes too far. In the morning Conny is gone and after a night of being missing the rest of the gang decide to look for him but Kamiya stubbornly refuses claiming it isn’t his responsibility. A facade which lasts for all of about three seconds.
Part of me wishes How To Keep a Mummy had at least pretended at this whole conflict thing for a little bit longer, but the reunion was pretty adorable. Still, essentially we’re back to business as usual as we roll into another episode.
If you’ve been visiting 100 Word Anime for awhile you would have noted that some posts are sponsored by the amazing people below: they are my previous blog sponsors.
These supporters are amazing and I’d love to be able to give them all a hug as they’ve helped me keep my WordPress Plan and domain name as well as access to anime. This year I’ve also been working on improving my understanding of SEO and trying to make my blog visuals and social media presence a little more planned rather than just whatever happens using Canva to try to coordinate things.
I also remove google ads from sponsored posts (may have missed one or two) and am hopeful that eventually I can turn off advertising altogether.
2022 Spring Season – Blog Sponsor Drive
Now I am trying something different this season. Rather than sponsoring an anime and then having to contact me to discuss which show leading to back and forth emails or direct messages on twitter only to find the anime you wanted was already sponsored and so on, this time you select the anime you want to prior to sponsoring.
Hopefully this will simplify the process. You can still choose to simply donate without sponsoring a given series.
Goal?
We’re aiming for $100 during the Spring 2022 season with the next drive to occur in June.
Current total = $38
Please ensure I can contact you via the email address used for payment so that I can confirm what you want on your sponsor’s badge which will be displayed on the about page as well as on any posts you have sponsored. However, if you contact me before you sponsor we can discuss and organise all details before any is made payment.
Blog Sponsor Option 1 – Donation to the Blog
To make a general donation you can use this link and select the amount.
You will receive a blog sponsor badge on the about page (if you want one). Please ensure I can contact you to get details for your badge (including the image and link you would like as well as a brief description of what you do – see examples above).
Blog Sponsor Option 2 – Pick One of the Spring Anime Shows To Sponsor
By sponsoring an anime your sponsor badge will appear on:
A maximum of 12 episode posts (min 600 words per post) during the Spring 2022 anime season.
1 review of the season + 1 article discussing an aspect of the anime.
Should your chosen anime be unavailable to me for any reason once the season begins a replacement series will be negotiated or a refund provided.
Use this link to access the spreadsheet for the Spring 2022 season. Please add the name you want for your badge and the link you would like beside the anime you are sponsoring and then make payment to ensure that two people do not try to sponsor the same series.
Anime sponsorship is AU$20 per series. The options for the Spring Season are below. If there is a different series you really want to sponsor instead, contact me to discuss.
Please ensure I can contact you to get details for your badge if you are a new sponsor (including the image and link you would like as well as a brief description of what you do – see examples above).
Blog Sponsor Option 3 – Custom Post
If you would like to choose a post topic contact me to discuss first.
If we agree on a topic, this option will cost $10 which can be paid to my PayPal.
The post will be a minimum of 1000 words in length and appear on the blog during the Spring Anime season (April – June 2022).
You will receive a blog sponsor badge on the about page (if you want one) as well as on the post written on the topic provided. Please ensure I can contact you to get details for your badge (including the image and link you would like as well as a brief description of what you do – see examples above).
Thank-you
Your ongoing support is appreciated as it helps keep the blog going.
I will admit, my interest in the story of How To Keep a Mummy this week was a bit hit and miss. The kids realise Connie has been wandering during the day and decide that the monster children need supervision while they are at school and so they turn to a local shrine god to babysit. It is as cute as you would expect but it kind of doesn’t amount to all that much more.
Let’s Be Honest, We’re Not Watching How To Keep a Mummy For The Plot
Still, Mii-Kun manages to get outside of the shrine and runs into another Oni-Child who thinks Mii is lost and leads him away from the shrine. After a series of misunderstandings, Mii gets back, safe and sound. And that’s really all there is to it.
If you are watching How To Keep a Mummy for the cute, this episode really hits you hard with the adorable. If you were hoping for something more, there’s not a lot to be found.
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