The Fall Anime 2025 Preview Guide - Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!

Melphiera is an earl's daughter who's shunned by most of the nobility, thanks to rumors about her proclivity for monster-based cuisine. When she attends a party in hopes of finding someone to wed, she's attacked by a vicious monster—only to be saved by Aristide of Galbraith, feared as the "Blood-Mad Duke." He begins to take a liking to Melphiera…and before long, he's even interested in the "hobby" she never dared to tell anyone else.

Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! is based on the light novel series by author Kanata Hoshi and illustrator Peperon. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Thursdays.

I promise I'm not projecting, but it's very sweet watching a show about a couple coming together with a particular hyper-fixation. Cooking anime can be fun because it can also serve as a good introduction to the art of cooking itself. I found that anime can make the most mundane tasks very interesting. However, Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! came and said, “What if we swap out that potential relatability for the sake of going in a more quirky direction?” Instead of preparing regular dishes that you could do in your own kitchen, we're preparing meals using monsters as the main ingredients.

I wish this episode had delved a bit deeper into the specifics of preparing many of these meals. The premiere focused on the reactions to people eating the meals and discussing how they need to be cautious with the meat, rather than focusing on how they can actually be made. I do hope that's something the rest of the show does, because that feels like a missed opportunity—crafting unique cuisines and using unorthodox ingredients. However, I understand why the premiere took this approach because this isn't a standard cooking anime, but a romance at its core.

I was surprised at how much I bought the romance between our monster-eater Melphiera and Duke Aristide in this episode. I understand why people might feel put off by a girl prepping ingredients that should be dangerous. It reminds me a lot of when I would come across people who were afraid to try exotic foods because of what they heard was in them. Sometimes that caution can be understandable, but people are also, unfortunately, just that shallow. That makes it all the more rewarding when she comes across someone who takes a genuine interest in what she is doing. You can tell that this knight is very weird and quirky in his own way, which is nice. He's not just eye candy for the sake of it, but a similar odd personality that she can bounce off well with. Even if we don't get a lot of insight into the cooking angle of the show, if we continue to explore this romance thoroughly, I think I'll be more than satisfied.

I would laugh at the idea of a show jumping from a chance encounter between two weirdos to a proposal of marriage, but considering the time period this fantasy setting is pulling from, where stuff like that was pretty standard, I shouldn't be surprised. What surprised me was just how funny this episode got when it started putting in more legwork to better establish our characters, both on a personality and a classism level. We learn a little bit about the duke and his family circumstances after getting introduced to his brother. We get a bit more backstory on how other aristocrats see the Duke, and we are formally introduced to our heroine's family. Probably my favorite bit in the entire episode was the father being flabbergasted by the Duke proposing to his daughter, not because he was overprotective, but because he thought his daughter wasn't good enough to live up to the Duke's family's reputation.

I do wish this episode framed the Duke's reputation in a similar way to how it framed Melphiera's in episode one. There, we actually got to see how others reacted to her monster culinary obsessions, but for the Duke, it's mentioned only in passing. Apparently, people think that he's crazy in more of a bloodthirsty way, and I find it humorous that people aren't too far off, considering how he describes Melphiera. When he explicitly says that she looked good covered in monster blood, I thought, “Oh, you're also crazy!”

But I think that's part of what I like about this show so far. We're still not going into the culinary preparation of any of these monster dishes, as it looks like it's going to be saved for episode three. But I like how the show is establishing how weird these two are and why they might be so willing to court each other. It really does come off as if these two are the first genuine people who didn't immediately disregard the other for their interests or quirks. I still think they probably need to know each other a bit better before they can jump into something like marriage, but that could also be another conflict down the road. For now, though, I like this one, and I can see myself giving it a couple more episodes before debating if it loses my interest.

This is an anime I'm predisposed to like. After all, I can't get enough of villainess stories—be they based on romance, revenge, or simply starting over. I absolutely love all the little twists on the genre and how each gives their show a unique story. Unfortunately for Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!, it is about as boring as a villainess story can go. While she may be called the “Voracious Villainess”, our heroine Melphiera in no way deserves the second part of her title. Rather than being a villainess in the archetypal sense, she is just an average noble girl with an odd hobby: she likes to turn monsters into fine cuisine. This has caused her to be shunned from high society—basically marking her as insane as everyone knows that monsters are poisonous.

Now, to the series' credit, they do make a point of saying that people have tried to eat monsters in the past but all attempts ended with those who consumed monster meat getting sick. It seems that Melphiera, likely due to her family's wealth and all her spare time, was able to figure out the secret to preparing the meat properly. Basically, monsters are like Fugu—a type of poisonous pufferfish that, when prepared correctly, are considered a delicious delicacy.

In this episode, she meets the only man with a worse reputation than her: the “Blood-Mad Duke” Galbraith. And so begins the love story of the man who fanatically slays monsters and the woman who wants to butcher and cook them. And… that's it.

There's no real conflict here—no drama. The two are immediately drawn to each other and see past the rumors to find a kindred soul. He's not pushy or standoffish. She's not haughty or cold. They're just two normal people who not only respect but also enjoy each other's hobbies.

Honestly, this almost feels like a one-shot—like we're done with their story after a single episode. They've found love and a partner that will support them. We'll just have to see next week if the story can craft a conflict for the two to overcome, because, as it stands now, this show is about as engrossing as staring at a blank wall.

Unfortunately, even with this second episode, I find my opinion unchanged in its entirety from what we witnessed in episode one. There is just no tension to this story whatsoever. Aristide accepts everything about Melphiera and vice versa. Heck, they don't just accept the “problematic” things about each other, they actually find these things fascinating. They really seem to be a perfect couple.

There's only one notable bit of opposition to their nuptials—and it's not the King, Melphiera's father, or anyone else of consequence. Rather, it's her step-mother who, while eager to marry Melphiera off, is inexplicably against the marriage. However, that matters little as she has next to no say in the process. (I mean, what is a mere Countess going to do? Go against a Duke and the King?) The only point of friction in this whole episode is said step-mother disproving of Aristide and Melphiera immediately announcing that she'll marry Aristide regardless. So, problem solved I guess. That was easy.

As for the rest of the episode, we get a bit more backstory about why Melphiera eats monsters—how it's both an altruistic thing to help her people in the barren mountains they live in and that it was a passion she shared with her deceased mother. The episode ends on a pseudo-cliffhanger with Melphiera worrying that Aristide won't accept her after seeing the contents of her mother's research laboratory but that feels like a red herring at the most.

If you just want to turn off your brain and watch two people that are perfect for each other fall in love, there are tons of worse shows than this one. However, for me, the lack of any kind of conflict—be it internal, external, physical or mental—leaves me uninterested in continuing to watch.

So, remember what I said about “artless shoujo adaptations” in my review of A Star Brighter Than the Sun? It's only been an hour (let's pretend that I'm writing this right after the show went up), but here we have a perfect example of what I meant. Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! has a remarkably sauceless production, with mediocre animation and directing that betrays the director's barely extant resume. However, the meat of it may just be flavorful and abundant enough to make up for that.

It's always a matter for concern when an anime that's supposedly about food doesn't know how to animate people eating, and it became clear almost immediately that was what was happening here. In the opening scenes, Melphie is enjoying her lunch on a bench when a gentleman stops and asks for a bite (rude!). She very graciously offers him a bite, and he holds it up to his face while opening and closing his mouth. It kind of looks like what you do when a toddler hands you a lump of playdough and says it's a cupcake. Melphie chomps into her sandwich from the side. There are plenty of other instances of awkward, crappy, off-model animation where everything looks like it's being lit from all directions instead of using proper shading, but if you can't nail the eating animation in a show about food, what are you even doing?

There are other bits of weirdness, too, that speak to a story that wasn't sufficiently thought through from the start. If Melphie is a highborn lady, shouldn't it be her parents' responsibility to find her a fiancé? Why does she call what appears to be a military camp a “splendid pavilion,” and why is it so close to a matchmaking fete for members of the nobility? Is that guy's name really straight-up just “Chaos”?

But damn, do Melphie and Aristide, whom I have nicknamed Artie, have a rare chemistry. I could really feel their connection; when he shows curiosity for her monster-eating instead of judgment, the way she lights up is outright heart-warming. Too often in romances, I feel like the main couple has nothing in common, and once all the drama passes, they won't have anything to talk about or ways to spend time together. But already the two are connecting over something real and tangible. There's also a charming carnal element to their sense of mutual attraction; let's just say that when Artie takes off his shirt, monsters aren't the only meat Melphie has eyes for.

At risk of flagellating the metaphor past the point of meaninglessness: when the meat has this much sweetness and spice, who needs sauce? (Sweet, spicy meat? What are you even talking about, Caitlin?)

Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! is in a weird spot where certain elements have too little friction, and others have too much. Melphie and Artie connected immediately upon meeting, bonding over a shared interest in monsters, whether hunting them or eating them. They're so compatible! And mutually attracted! And how convenient that she's found someone who she likes who likes her back, because her evil stepmother is going to set her to a nunnery if she doesn't get married right quick.

But then, when her family gets the letter proposing to her, they gripe because a duke is far too high-ranked for a barely noble family like theirs. Why? No explanation is given, really. You would think they'd be thrilled, especially since the whole purpose of daughters in patriarchal systems is to marry them off to higher-ranking men to secure alliances between families and gain social status. If there had been a throwaway line about, say, not being able to finance as expensive a wedding as this marriage requires or afford the expected dowry, it would make much more sense. Instead, it comes across as her father is fretting for no reason other than to add a bit of extra conflict.

Much like the first episode, I could sit and nitpick little bits and pieces from the writing for several hundred words. It's simply not a well thought-out story or world. But I don't want to, because Melphie and Artie are so stinking cute together. I have a huge weakness for when couples in stories actually have something concrete in common that they can talk about and shared interests that can help sustain their relationship in the long term—instead of a nebulous goal or ideal, god forbid, nothing more than existing in proximity. Artie not only likes what Melphie likes, but supports her by bringing her a magnificent beast for her to butcher and consume.

…Ideological vegetarians and vegans might want to skip this one, because I just made myself a little sad, even as a carnivore.

The episode introduces a bit of intrigue as Melphie takes Artie to her mother's research laboratory where they developed the techniques for making monsters safe to eat. Although I don't doubt that he'll be just fine with what he finds in there, I'm curious to see for myself what it contains.