It's better to be able to do something than not, but you know, you don't have to be able to do everything [Interviews with Monster Girls #QuoteNote45]

The quote I'd like to introduce this time is this one!

So, let's dive right in!

Who said it?

Midori Takanashi

What kind of person is she?

She is a fictional character who appears in the manga 'Interviews with Monster Girls' (Demi-chan wa Kataritai). She is the mother of the protagonist, Hikari Takanashi, a vampire demi-human high school student.

In the Takanashi household, the father is a stay-at-home husband and does not work for a company. Midori Takanashi, the mother, works hard as the breadwinner. She is what you would call a career woman.

However, her appearance lacks much context, and it almost seems as if she appeared solely to say this line.

The protagonist is a middle-aged biology teacher.

Midori Takanashi is a background character among background characters in the work 'Interviews with Monster Girls'. She barely has any screen time in the series.

She appears suddenly in her first scene without much context, leaves only the words, "It's better to be able to do something than not, but you know, you don't have to be able to do everything," to the protagonist and his friends, and then dashes off. The message is surprisingly strong, isn't it?

'Interviews with Monster Girls' may look like a slice-of-life manga/anime about beautiful girls at first glance, but when you read it, you realize that the author's ideas and philosophies are projected directly into the work.

• A vampire who loves blood and dislikes bright places

• A dullahan whose head and body are separated

• A snow woman who can manipulate the temperature of a space

These demi-humans are the main group, but with the addition of the biology teacher, Mr. Takahashi, the series takes on a different flavor than typical beautiful girl anime.

Regarding psychological descriptions and character perspectives, there are actually many from Mr. Takahashi's point of view, and although it is not explicitly stated, it is clear that structurally, the protagonist of this work is Mr. Takahashi.

This is the cover of the final volume; if you wanted to push the 'beautiful girl' angle, Mr. Takahashi, circled in red, would clearly be 'noise' and should be removed, but since he is the protagonist, he is drawn prominently.

Mr. Takahashi treats the demi-humans (demis) he encounters as individuals, respecting their unique personalities without holding any preconceived notions. He doesn't just find their unique demi-human abilities interesting; he tries to interpret their abilities "biologically," as an extension of the individuality that every human possesses.

As the story progresses, a character named Soma, a friend of Mr. Takahashi's from his university days, appears. He is a physicist who has his own laboratory at Musashino University of Science, which appears in the story.

The character Machi is a Dullahan demi-human whose head and body are separated, and he attempts to interpret why her head and body are separated using a "quantum mechanical approach." This refers to quantum mechanics, famous for the double-slit experiment where light changes its behavior depending on whether it is observed.

I'm not a science person at all, but I like concepts like the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, so to be honest, I really started to like this work after Soma appeared.

The Essence of "Education"

Now that I've digressed quite a bit, I'd like to return to the main topic and delve deeper into the phrase, "It's better to be able to do something than not, but you know, you don't have to be able to do it."

I'll start with the conclusion: I think this phrase is actually the message the author most wanted to convey in the work.

The phrase "It's better to be able to do something than not, but you know, you don't have to be able to do it" captures the very essence of "living."

Of course, there are countless things in life that are better to be able to do than not. Studying, sports, work, relationships, hobbies... the list is endless.

But are those things really "things you must be able to do"?

The things you truly must do to "live" are activities to maintain life, such as "breathing," "eating," "excreting," and "sleeping." Among these, perhaps "eating" is the one that requires conscious, active effort.

Setting aside whether or not one can live like a human (though the definition of "human-like" is difficult in itself), the things you must do to "live" are actually quite simple, and if you narrow the definition down to "things you must be able to do," it might not be an exaggeration to say that there are none.

However, once you have subordinates or children, or beings you must guide,

• "You must be able to do it just like everyone else"

• "You must be on time"

• "You must be able to clean up"

an "education" that endlessly points out "things you must be able to do" begins.

But who is this education for? Of course, it is important to learn social rules and manners to live in society, but sometimes I see guidance that makes me think, "Isn't that going too far...?"

The reason why education and guidance go too far is that I think a psychology is at work that says, "If you, whom I am teaching, cannot do it, it proves that I do not have the ability to manage you!" I think most people are unaware of it, though.

That is why parents who graduated from good universities have a psychological drive to get their children into the same or better universities, and in the workplace, a subordinate's mistake affects the supervisor's evaluation.

I am not completely denying these values or ways of thinking. I also study English, dabble in programming, and am writing this blog post right now, but these are clearly not things that 'must be done.' I think these activities are necessary to enrich one's life, but I feel that they shouldn't be forced upon anyone...

The author of 'Interviews with Monster Girls' (Demi-chan wa Kataritai) is someone who decided to take a 'Wait... hold on a second' perspective toward 'folklore' that everyone else accepts without thinking—such as vampires, dullahan, and snow women—and develop the story from a strictly scientific and neutral standpoint by bringing in biology and physics.

And since they made the protagonist a high school biology teacher, they must have thought deeply about 'education' as well. I imagined that the background for this was that they had a character in the story say, 'It's better to be able to do something than not, but you know, you don't have to be able to do everything' in order to convey that message to the reader.

However, since the protagonist, Mr. Takahashi, is a high school teacher, it might sound like he has completely forgotten his position if a teacher were to say to a student, 'It's better to be able to do something than not, but you know, you don't have to be able to do everything'.

That is why I thought they had the mother of Hikari Takanashi, the vampire high school girl who is ostensibly the protagonist of the story, say the line, 'It's better to be able to do something than not, but you know, you don't have to be able to do everything'.

Related Information

It seems like this turned into an introduction to the work 'Interviews with Monster Girls' itself rather than an introduction to a famous quote. I read this work as a manga. It seems it has been adapted into an anime, but I haven't watched that.

Since the protagonist is a biology teacher, the manga has excellent drawing skills, with very impressive sketches of the human body and overall composition. If you like art that expresses details with fine-touch lines rather than soft lines, you can enjoy it just by looking at the art. Well, that's me. Haha.

That said, it is a manga that also incorporates biological, physical, and quantum mechanical perspectives, so it is quite a rewarding read. If you are interested, please check it out!

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