The second volume of Monster Tamer Girls is also the final one. The girls of the Tamers Committee continue their work with their monsters, and this volume explores the past a bit as well as the relationships between humans and monsters.
This second volume contains chapters eight to thirteen, as well as two side stories.
The new girls of the Tamers Committee are coming into their own as monster caretakers, yet the monsters remain ever mysterious. As Ion and her friends explore the touching personal stories behind human-monster relations, can looking to the past pave a way for the future? Find out in this final volume of Monster Tamer Girls!
This volume of Monster Tamer Girls reveals a little of Sora’s past, and how she was saved by a monster when she got caught up in a fire. That very monster appears once again, though it it is not very active for some reason.
It’s not just Sora’s past, either. Ion has a neighbour called Ookawara, who was involved in exterminating monsters in the past. He’s an old man by the time of this story, and it seems that his age is catching up to him as well. He has a son called Nobuo, but Nobuo isn’t exactly what you might expect. This particular story is quite touching.
Ookawara isn’t the only one to get a touching story in this volume. A young girl called Nonaka is introduced, shortly after a monster appears that is said to grant people’s wishes. Nonaka has her own wish she wants granted.
Monster Tamer Girls continues to strike a balance between its human and monster characters – particularly with characters coming to realise that the monsters might actually have emotions even if they don’t openly express them.
The monster designs are diverse, and fairly interesting. Blue remains the best monster, though an old friend from volume 1 also returns here.
The designs for the monsters introduced in this volume are all pretty good as well – which very much puts this in line with the first volume.
This manga series also has some pretty good yuri potential. Sora is willing to put her trust in Ion, but it is Tsukiko and Koto who are the best example. Koto talks about going on dates with Tsukiko, and Tsukiko’s wish to the wish-granting monster is to spend time together with Koto.
I would love to see more from Monster Tamer Girls. One of the side stories introduces a couple of new characters and teases ‘a story a little further down the line’. With an all around interesting cast of characters, whether they are human or monster, I certainly would welcome more from this manga.
For now, though, Monster Tamer Girls is only two volumes in length. It certainly left me wanting more.
Girls’ Club aficionados should definitely check this manga out. Adding monsters to that formula and developing the world as the plot progresses makes for some very compelling reading.
Rory Muses 