This Monster Wants to Eat Me Vol 2 Makes the Yuri Manga More Dramatic

This Monster Wants to Eat Me might call to mind The Summer Hikaru Died. After all, both manga series involve young adults dealing with potentially romantic relationships with extremely dangerous and supernatural beings. In the first volume of this yuri manga, we’re presented with a lovely threat. Now in volume 2, the potential for lethal relationships increases as we learn more about those around Hinako.

Editor’s Note: There will be some minor spoilers for events leading up to the climax of volume 2 of the This Monster Eats Me manga below.

This Monster Wants to Eat Me volume 2 picks up pretty much immediately where the first installment of the yuri manga left off.  Hinako and Shiori are dealing with the after effects of the attack by smaller monsters. They head back to the festival they were attending, with Shiori remarking it is fine that they’re bloody. Because it is monster blood, allegedly nobody will notice it.

Except someone does.

Which is a perfect way to kick off the latest mystery of “hey, who else might not be an ordinary individual or even human.” Given the series establishes that there are monsters in the world, they very likely aren’t friendly, and Hinako is extremely attractive to them, it stands to reason there wouldn’t just be the bloodthirsty mermaid Shiori to deal with. It’s the first of many loose threads that start to be built up and yanked at throughout the chapters here, yielding results.

What’s fascinating is how the second volume of the This Monster Wants to Eat Me manga sets up the next reveal and possible yuri relationship in such a way that the reader might initially not be sure how it is going to go. Mangaka Sai Naekawa leaves these breadcrumbs of suspicion. Is Shiori just expressing jealousy and traits of a toxic partner by investigating the person Hinako is close to? Is this her still attempting to genuinely protect her out of concern for her meal? Is there another harmful element around Hinako?

I also enjoyed how, by going in the direction these latest chapters do, Naekawa also deals with a potential plothole. We’re told throughout the first volume that Hinako’s blood is especially delicious and desirable to monsters and undesirable entities. We see multiple attempted attacks in the first volume, even. So… why has nothing happened until now? What’s going on? But as we gradually go through this story and learn more about Hinako’s life and the person Shiori is investigating, things really start to make sense in a satisfying way. 

There’s an “ah ha” moment, to be sure. But what’s also great is that it isn’t cheapened by any immediate reveal. We’re given time to digest this. We get to see Hinako react to it. We also get to see a bit of the other person’s response to Shiori and the situation. In so doing, it also leaves me hoping a bit that Naekawa is setting up a possible love triangle in this yuri manga. Not everything comes up at once, even though we are starting to get more answers. No, those are being saved for further down the road, which I appreciate.

It leaves me excited to see what will happen next when it comes to character development and yuri relationships in the next volume of the This Monster Wants to Eat Me manga. Because now we know there are multiple individuals around Hinako who are interested in her. We aren’t sure of everyone’s intentions. We don’t know who we can trust. We aren’t even sure how many of the people she’ll get involved with will even be human. Even though this volume gets into more world-building and answers, it’s still good at helping set things up.

Volume 2 of This Monster Wants to Eat Me is available now, and Yen Press will release volume 3 of the manga on January 21, 2025.