English Dub Review: Monster Girl Doctor “The Lamia With An Incurable Disease”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Doctor Glenn has just returned home and gotten some surprising news from Sapphee when invaders attack! A group of cloaked figures storms into the clinic and our two main characters barely escape with their lives. Luckily, they run into Kunai, who tells them that an operation is being carried out to deal with the group, and their best bet is accompanying her to the slaver’s base of operations.

When they reach the villain’s headquarters, they find some harpy girls who had been kidnapped. One of them needs immediate medical attention. Glenn treats her while Sapphee fights off the hench people with her assassin abilities. She passes out, but awakens later on to find out everything went okay.

Our Take:

This was a pretty unique episode of Monster Girl Doctor. The first episodes all featured a monster of the week who needed medical treatment, but they were all found doing mostly mundane things like routine checkups and shopping. The Lamia With An Incurable Disease shakes this formula up by including a high-stakes operation against a group of slavers, as well as there being two monsters in danger: both the harpy girl and Sapphee, who reveals that she’s suffering from an incurable disease.

The start of the episode was pretty funny, with Sapphee going all in on the reveal to make Glenn believe she was pregnant. I liked how the gag tied into the main plot, with the slavers trying to retrieve the harpy egg. The overall setup of this week’s episode was so much more thrilling than usual, and I think that was a good choice. It added a lot of tension to the normally low-key plot of the series, while still keeping Doctor Glenn’s expertise involved in the resolution. The only thing I’m worried about is how much of a let down the next episode will feel like after coming down from this adrenaline high.

Lady Draconness continues her appearances in the series, which I enjoy. While first being talked about as a city council member who’s in touch with the locals, this episode presents her in a more negative light by showing us that she’s made a deal with Lulala to help transport them on their dangerous mission. Sure, she agreed to the deal, but Doctor Glenn rightfully points out that the wealthy politician is preying on the young mermaid’s poverty and lack of options for her own benefit.

The other big thing is Sapphee and Doctor Glenn’s dynamic. It’s revealed that Sapphee comes from a long line of assassins, and in fact, was sent to Glenn’s family’s house as a child in order to potentially take them out if negotiations went wrong. It’s a really cool reveal that had the potential to be dramatic and affecting, but the show plays it off as more of a comedic bit, with Doctor Glenn brushing it away by saying he knew all along. Then there’s the other secret Sapphee had been keeping, which now I’m not convinced is unknown to the Doctor either.

The fourth episode of Monster Girl Doctor does a great job switching things up to keep viewers on their toes (or fins, or hooves, or whatever.) It offers up a fast-paced race through the city at night that includes a few nice action bits from Sapphee and Kunai, and lets Glenn work his magic in a new setting and situation. I just hope the show can keep on breaking the mold like this instead of reverting back to the typical format. In short, I’m crossing my fingers that this episode is not an exception, but something that becomes the rule.