This Monster Wants to Eat Me Episode 10 Review & Analysis

The previous episode showed Shiori and Miko visiting the zoo, where parts of Shiori’s past were revealed. Episode 10 continues that thread and delves even deeper into her backstory. This review looks at Episode 10 from a Japanese perspective, drawing on Japan’s traditional mermaid folklore to deepen the analysis.

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Episode 10 review

Shiori once lived with a human child. That child had been thrown into a cove as a form of kuchiberashi—a practice where poor families reduced the number of mouths to feed. However, Shiori found the child unappetizing and couldn’t bring herself to eat them. (She had previously mentioned that humans who wish for death smell like rotting whales; the child was likely in that state and thus smelled terrible, which is why Shiori didn’t eat them.) Shiori and the child spent several years together. But when the tides changed, Shiori had to leave that place. As a parting gift, she gave the child a piece of her own flesh.

However, mermaid flesh is said to grant immortality. (This lore is explained in detail later in “Thoughts & Analysis.”) The child, angered that Shiori had forced immortality onto them, swore, “I’ll never forgive you—I’ll kill you.” Even after Shiori left, the child continued to pursue her. When a major war ended, the child approached Shiori with a bomb-like device and detonated it, blowing apart both their bodies as well as Shiori’s.

Having lost most of her body, Shiori drifted through the sea while waiting for her form to regenerate. She had no parents or siblings, and unlike Miko, she could not live close to humans. She felt as if she had no one with whom she could truly connect. One day, she washed ashore in a place where she met Hinako for the first time. Seeing Shiori in her monstrous mermaid form, Hinako approached her and gently asked, “Are you okay? Are you a ghost? A fish?” Shiori, who had lost her arms and couldn’t eat Hinako at that moment, simply stayed there.

Hinako and her family were visiting the seaside on a trip. Hinako offered food to Shiori, which gradually allowed her body to recover. When Shiori asked whether Hinako wasn’t afraid of her, Hinako replied that Shiori was beautiful—like the sea—so she wasn’t scared. In that exchange, Shiori realized that Hinako was the only one who had ever accepted her. She felt a desire to eat Hinako, but at the same time, she didn’t want to destroy her radiance. Because mermaid blood has healing properties and prevents illness, Shiori gave Hinako a bit of her own blood. She then cast a spell on Hinako to erase their memories together.

Later on, Shiori found a yokai carrying a handkerchief stained with Hinako’s blood. Realizing the blood had changed, she began searching for Hinako and eventually reunited with her—now a high school student. After hearing the full story, Miko encouraged Shiori to speak with Hinako and try to support her.

Thoughts & Analysis

In Japan, there is a long-standing legend that eating mermaid flesh grants immortality or eternal youth. One famous tale is that of Yaobikuni, a woman who lived for around 800 years after consuming mermaid meat. The idea that the child who ate Shiori’s flesh became immortal is likely based on this legend. Hinako’s name also appears to reference Yaobikuni, as the reading “yao” aligns, and yaotose means “800 years old” in Japanese.

The Japanese folkloric image of mermaids differs greatly from Western mermaid imagery. Modern Japanese audiences often picture mermaids as fairy-tale beings like Ariel from The Little Mermaid, due to picture books and Disney adaptations, rather than the horror-infused interpretations found in This Monster Wants to Eat Me.

Episode 10 introduces kuchiberashi, a historical practice unique to Japan, where families reduced the number of children to feed by sending them into servitude or adoption. As depicted in this episode, in some stories, children were even offered as sacrifices to yokai. This motif appears frequently not only in This Monster Wants to Eat Me but also in many Japanese manga involving yokai.

This episode reveals why Shiori is so deeply attached to Hinako. It makes me even more eager to see how their relationship will develop from here.

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