Liminal Species in General
This page is for the various species that appear in Monster Musume. open/close all folders
Arachne
Arachnes are a carnivorous race of demihumans who have the upper torsoes of multi-eyed, claw-fingered women attached to the bodies of gargantuan spiders. They are considered one of the more powerful and dangerous species because of their natural strength and speed, super-strong webbing, forceful personalities, and predatory natures.
- All Webbed Up: The ability for arachnes to rapidly cocoon others in their silk is one of the major reasons they are considered so dangerous. While several of the sub-breeds do not use their silk in this way, the "standard" arachne race have an outright compulsion to web up people on a regular basis as an outlet for their predatory instincts. Many enjoy experimenting with and learning new ways to tie up people, and while not necessarily sexual they often get quite excited about it.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Long legs arachnes are so fixated on hunting that they're prone to abandoning something that they just caught in order to catch something else.
- Extra Eyes: On average, an arachne has six eyes, but this varies a lot between specific individuals or family lines.
- Fantastic Drug: Like real spiders, arachnes react to caffeine as if it were alcoholic.
- Fetish: Bondage is stated to be pretty much a universal kink for Arachnes.
- Femme Fatalons: Chitinous plating on the arms of arachnes gives them built-in gloves that turn their fingers into talons, which they can use as natural weapons if pressed.
- Gentle Giant: Played straight with long legs arachnes, but averted with large breed ones.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: The jorogumo have eight arms (two human arms, six spider legs) and two humanoid legs, in contrast to the other arachne, who have only two human arms and eight spider legs (and two pedipalps positioned rather like human legs to hold men in place during mating).
- One-Gender Race: While their mythical namesake was a hint, they were confirmed to be all female in chapter 67, having depended on stealing men in secret for reproduction until the introduction of the exchange program brought their species into the light and compelled them to change. Their dependence on human men even plays into their body structure, as their strong pedipalps are there specifically to help hold a small and squirmy humanoid body close and secure during mating, being rarely used for anything else.
- Seductive Spider: The entire species is very attractive. Notably, their physiology is specifically tailored for mating with human men, their otherwise rarely-used pedipalps serving to hold the man in place.
- Spider People: As should be obvious by this point. The standard type are noted for their reclusive, even subterranean lifestyle hidden from the world at large, and their unwillingness to be forced into changing their ways beyond what is necessary for survival. They can be surprisingly affectionate and outgoing though once one gets past their initial reticence.
- Super-Speed: Presumably, this is a trait endemic to arachnes rather than something unique to Rachnera. Small breed arachnes are particularly known for their speed and jumping ability.
- Underground Monkey: Arachnes are one of the liminal races known to have distinctive sub-breeds. Currently, the following have been described:
- Small breeds are arachnes based on jumping spiders; the end result are hyperactive chibi arachnes with even greater Super-Speed and fantastic leaping powers, though they don't use their silk for anything other than tethers.
- Long legs, as their name suggests, are larger than normal arachnes and have distinctly longer and more slender legs, possibly based on huntsman spiders. They're not capable of using webs, but are active hunters. They have extremely powerful hunting instincts, to the point that they are naturally drawn to pest extermination roles or even law enforcement. The race does have a problem with forgetting about any "captured prey" to instead chase after something else. Despite this, they're quite gentle.
- Large breeds are bigger, fiercer and hairier arachnes based on tarantulas. Not much is known about them beyond the fact that they are so wild and aggressive they're considered unsuited for the exchange program; too many complaints about them assaulting humans or otherwise acting out. They are known to be the only species of arachne with venom, though it's not very potent.
- Jorogumo are an arachne offshoot only seen in the spin-off videogame; unlike normal arachnes, they are not tauric creatures, but instead appear as multi-eyed, clawed humans with a spider's abdomen emerging from the base of their spine like a tail and six spider's legs emerging from their back.
- Wall Crawling: As you'd expect, arachnes are capable of crawling up walls.
Beast folk
Humanoids sharing traits with various mammals such as cats, dogs and rabbits.
- Asian Fox Spirit: Kitsunes at first glance look like simple Fox Folk, covered in fur and possessing fox-like ears, noses, and tails, with the one weird point being that they can grow up to nine of them, but they also possess Voluntary Shapeshifter abilities like told in folklore, able to transform their bodies into any appearance they desire, though having a case of Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing.
- Cat Girl: Nekomimi look mostly human except for possessing cat-like ears and a tail.
- Cat Folk: Werecats have the appearance of humanoids covered in fur and possessing cat-like paws,ears, tails, and noses
- Carnivore Confusion: Averted; minotaurs have no problem eating beef.
- Easter Bunny: A bunny variant with a serious Sweet Tooth.
- Horned Humanoid: Jackalopes and various deer variants have antlers, while minotaurs and catoblepas have horns.
- Our Minotaurs Are Different: Minotaurs are an inherently large and muscular species possessing furred legs, hoof feet, horns on their heads, and a tail.
- Our Sphinxes Are Different: Sphinxes here are a much sexier version of the classic sphinx, mixing the traits of centaurs, harpies, and nekomimi into having the lower half of a lion, hawk-like wings in place of arms, and jackal-like ears, all attached to an otherwise human-like torso and head.
- Our Werebeasts Are Different: In this series species like werewolves, werecasts, werefoxes, and wererabbits exist as a race of Beast Man types, but rather than transform between human and Beast Man form like ascribed in legends, they instead shift betwwen animalistic humanoids and full-on animal forms.
- Pig Man: Orcs follow the usual Japanese image of porcine humanoids, though the females have noticeably less "pig" features.
- Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: The entire category runs the gamut from Beast Man to Little Bit Beastly and everything in-between. Some look like humans with a few animal features, others have their bodies be a mix-and-match of human and animal, while even more look like anthropomorphic animals.
Centaur
Claiming one of the oldest civilizations in the world, centaurs are a former warrior race with a great deal of pride in their culture and their traditions. They are one of the few liminals races so far confirmed as having both male and female genders. Unfortunately, their traditional values have led most of the males to degenerate into ugly, thuggish brutes, and the females have grown increasingly averse to mating with them. This led to a sharp decline in birth rates amongst centaurs, which was addressed by hiring human male "teasers" the female centaurs would select to arouse them before mating with the male centaurs. However, many other female centaurs opt to go find a human male "master" to serve as a knight or guardian, essentially an excuse to get a human man as a official partner.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Dairy breed centaurs are described as particularly thick-waisted and large-breasted, but are also very gentle, maternal and loving individuals who are clearly quite attractive.
- Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Downplayed. As per a common feature of works featuring Cute Monster Girls, whilst the women are attractive, the males are normally very ugly. This is explained as a side-effect of their cultural development; though both sexes were warriors, men traditionally favored strength and ferocity, whilst women favored technique and refinement. The result was that the males became ugly brutes whilst the females remained lovely.
- Blessed with Suck:
- Lightweight centaurs may be far quicker and more dexterous than their kin, but they're much frailer, being very prone to getting sick and easily injured.
- Night Mares have the ability to affect the dreams of others (and apparently control them down to the tiniest details). Unfortunately, they can only produce their namesake.
- Call to Agriculture: As the centaurs no longer go to war incessantly, the heavyweight breed has near-universally taken up farming instead.
- Dumb Muscle: Heavyweight centaurs tend to be rather dim-witted and are usually absent-minded. They're still the strongest of all centaur races.
- Exotic Extended Marriage: Centaurs traditionally engaged in polygamous relationships, presumably of the "one male and several females" variety. As a result of the dwindling birthrate, centaurs have instead turned to the practice of "Teasing", recruiting attractive human men to entice their females into an amorous mood, whereupon the males can then burst in and take advantage of their lustful brides. It's unclear if teasers usually remain with a given "family" or not.
- Fantastic Racism: There is apparently a huge prejudice against actually breeding between centaur females and human men, because this would supposedly "weaken the race". This is presumably enforced mostly by the male centaurs, given how much trouble they're having keeping their females willing to marry them in the first place. There is a movement among centaur females to prove that this prejudice has no basis, with Cerea's existence being presented as proof.
- Fetish: Centaur females find human men much more attractive than their own males, and from the discussion in chapter #29, it's implied that Pretty Boy types are often particularly preferred. An element of Forbidden Fruit is obviously part of the appeal.
- Force and Finesse: As mentioned above, this is the divide between the sexes' approach to combat, and is used to explain why the menfolk because so ugly whilst females remained attractive.
- Gentle Giant: The heavyweight centaurs, despite being the biggest, heaviest and strongest of all centaurs, are actually quite gentle and good-natured (unless they are seriously crossed).
- Gonk: Male centaurs are usually quite, quite ugly, and described as being very vulgar, brutish and nasty, so they don't even have the personality to make up for their looks. This was not always the case, with Chiron being a handsome and admired hero among centaurs, and some early background art implies some handsome and smart male centaurs are born on occassion.
- Netorare: The practice of Teasing basically falls under this trope. When a centaur male wants to have a baby, his wife usually rejects him, since the females consider the males to be ugly, stupid brutes. So, the male centaur has to hire an attractive human man to be his "teaser"; the human's job is to wine and dine the centaur's wife, seducing her until she's too horny to resist — which is when the centaur bursts in and forcibly copulates with her whilst she's in the mood, hopefully impregnating her in the process. Course it is debatable that this counts as netorare because force is not stated to usually be a part of it. The centaur females know full well what the teasers are for and even are the ones to select them, meaning they are complicit in the system. Omake material also reveals that if they really don't want to mate with a male centaur and are not strong enough to beat him in a straight fight (if they do then they can basically be allowed to never have sex with him), they just get him drunk and/or knock him unconscious with a surprise attack. As the example of real horse teasers notes, even if they wanted to it's quite dangerous for a male to actually try to force themselves on a female centaur.
- Our Centaurs Are Different: They're a proud martial culture whose females are skilled warriors as well, but the men have become so obsessed with brute force they've devolved into looking and acting like hideous thugs, forcing them to play upon their womenfolk's attraction to handsome and nice-natured human guys to breed. Also, they have ears that resemble those of an anime elf, but covered in fur.
- Underground Monkey: Centaurs are one of the liminal races known to have distinctive sub-breeds. Currently, the following have been described:
- Lightweight centaurs are smaller, sleeker, more delicate centaurs who have evolved to be faster and more agile, essentially the "racehorses" of the species.
- Dairy breed centaurs are voluptuous and maternal centaurs with even bigger breasts that constantly produce milk.
- Heavyweight centaurs are the biggest and strongest of all centaurs; once the mightiest warriors of the race, they have since turned predominantly to the agricultural fields, clearly being based off of the Clydesdale and similar "ex-warhorse" breeds of real-life equines.
- Pegasus centaurs have functioning wings and indeed are so adept at flying that they can sleep while doing so. The only given example is as much an airhead as Papi but it is not established if this is peculiar to her or if it is a common quality among pegasi.
- Unicorns have a dainty horn growing out of their head, are said to be attracted to virginal human women, and the horn is supposedly a magical cure-all for disease.
- Night Mares (introduced in chapter 69) are centaurs who have the supernatural ability to give nightmares to sleepers.
- Weird Currency: They use horseshoe-shaped currency in their own culture.
Devil
Mischievous, trouble-making tricksters, devils are a liminals race mostly known for being a nuisance.
- Big Red Devil: Zigzagged. They're tan-skinned rather than red, but they have the classic "succubus" traits; horns, bat-like wings and spade-tipped tails.
- Black Eyes of Crazy: Well, they're an exception to the "Usually Axe-Crazy" part of the trope, but devils are known to have black sclera and brightly colored irises.
- Charm Person: They have a natural form of magical ability, which mostly manifests itself through the ability to hypnotize people. They apparently can't control a person completely via this, but can insert powerful suggestions on the target and remove inhibitions. A sufficiently strong physical or emotional shock to the charmed person will undo the hypnotism.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The genuine "succubus" variety is first depicted briefly at the end of chapter 31 as one of the early guests for the "dating pool" events at the Arctic Inn, and again in an Imagine Spot in chapter 49 when Kimihito is thinking about monsters that seek to eat "human bodily fluids". However, succubi don't actually get identified by name or detailed as a species until chapter 64.
- Fashion Dissonance: Due to how long-lived they are, along with they're overall dismissive attitudes towards humans, devils are prone to falling into this.
- Hot as Hell: Elder Devils are known to be more attractive and seductive than their lesser kin, who tend to focus on being The Trickster.
- Mundane Utility: Their various special traits and powers are mostly used to harass and annoy people. Super-Hearing is great for eavesdropping, don't you know!
- Older Than They Look: Lesser devils look like children even when they're full adults, and greater devils likewise look like young teens despite their actual age.
- Super-Senses: Their sense of hearing is direction-focused and much sharper than a human's, making them excel at hearing things that they shouldn't.
- The Trickster: They're essentially an entire species of internet trolls, who cause drama and trouble wherever they go because the suffering and frustration of others is hilarious to them. The exception to the rule are the Elder Devil variant, which are generally more calm and relaxed.
- Really 700 Years Old: Not necessarily literally, but devils can live a long time, and look youthful throughout their lives.
- Sex God: Succubi and Incubi have one of the highest libidos in the series, on par with Melusine Lamias, even the lesser succubi that look like children.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Surprisingly, this is apparently true of Succubi, even though they are known for sleeping around: once they find a man they truly love, they remain extremely loyal in spite of their libido.
- Succubi and Incubi: The succubi and incubi are a sub-species of devils, and as expected extremely obsessed with sex. Visually, the most distinct differences between them and devils are that succubi/incubi lack horns, instead having tiny wings that grow out of the side of their heads and "Womb Tattoos" located just above their crotch.
- Succubus in Love: While the succubus subspecies do sleep around, they also want to find a good person to love. They also only have sex with them once they do find them.
- Underground Monkey:
- Devils are highly variable, with things like horn number (1, 2 or 4), horn shape, horn size, wing size and strength, and tail shape all varying from individual to individual. They're also divided into lesser (look like children), greater (look like teenagers) and elder (look like mature women) strains.
- Succubi/Incubi are a subspecies of devils. Like regular devils they have a wide variety to their appearance, though they lack horns and instead have a "womb tattoo" located above their crotch.
- Baphomets are a demihuman species with goat-like attributes in a similar vein to Satyrs and Pan Fauns but with the addition of raven wings.
Doppelgängers
A species of shapeshifters rumored to be connected to the Faceless God.
- Black Eyes of Crazy: They possess black sclerae and yellow irises, traits befitting their eldritch nature, though they're not necessarily malicious.
- Doing in the Scientist: Unlike the other species, Doppelgängers are explicitly supernatural in nature, being related to the Outer God Nyarlathotep.
- Humanoid Abomination: Their profile states that they're hinted to be connected to the Crawling Chaos of the Cthulhu Mythos — the artwork of Doppel with Nyarlathotep himself manifesting from her hair removing all ambiguity.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: They can transform themselves to appear as anyone they please.
Dragons and Dragonewts
Dragons are a powerful and rare species of reptilian demihuman, related to the dragonewts. They have only appeared in the online tie-in game so far and have not appeared in the manga or anime. Instead, their place has mostly been taken by their relatives, the "Dragonewts", who seem to represent a "missing link" between the dragons and the lizardfolk. Because they share so many tropes in common, they have been placed together in the same folder.
- Achilles' Heel: All dragons and dragonewts have a "reverse scale" (a scale that grows in the opposite direction to the others) somewhere on their bodies. Touching this spot temporarily makes them overwhelmed by docility and causes them to go limp.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Their scales are virtually impenetrable, but they need to be carefully maintained with a regime of moisturizing and clipping or else they become so rough they will tear clothing and be unpleasant to touch. Even when clipped, they have a bad tendency to catch on clothing, leading to awkward snags. Likewise, though their tails are very strong — dragons can actually use these as prehensile limbs in their own right — they're also so big and awkward that sleeping on their backs is effectively impossible, and they need specialized pants & underwear.
- Disproportionate Retribution: They consider touching their reverse scale a serious violation, to the point they will attack and maybe even kill you for it!
- Fantastic Arousal: Like lamias, the tips of dragon tails are extremely sensitive erogenous spots.
- Fantastic Racism: Dragonewts look down on lizardfolk as "lesser reptiles", mostly because of the fact that their tails detach. Hypocritically, they have the same trait.
- Logical Weakness: They're explicitly called out as being poikilotherms ("coldblooded", for laypersons). If it's too cold, they're basically helpless and could even die if they cool down too much.
- Multiple Head Case: The yamato no orochi subspecies sports eight serpents growing out of its head in lieu of hair, much like a medusa.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: Their scales are stronger than steel, to the point they can deflect bullets.
- Super-Strength: Though how they stack up to the likes of trolls is unknown, dragons are much stronger than humans.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Dragonewt flightlessness is explained as a result of their wings being too small and their chest-muscles too weak to make them capable of anything other than gliding. Wyverns are an exception because they have turned their entire arms into wings.
- Underground Monkey:
- Dragons come in several different varieties, even without accounting for their relatives the dragonewts. The most notable subspecies are the huan long (yellow-scaled dragons with deer-like antlers on their heads and a serpentine dragon's tail for legs, ala a lamia) and the yamato no orochi (wingless dragons with eight snakes coming from their heads and eight tails).
- Dragonewts, meanwhile, have the ryu-jin (wingless dragonewts with longer, more serpentine tails and deer-like antlers, noted for their much longer lifespans) and wyverns (dragonewts who have the same arm-wing body structure as harpies, but also have a harpy-like ditziness).
- Unmanly Secret: The fact that dragonewt tails can be detached if you pull on them.
- Winged Humanoid: Except for huan long, orochi and ryu-jin subspecies, they all sport draconic wings. However, only dragons and wyverns are capable of flight.
Dullahan
Dullahans are a mysterious liminals race mostly known for their detachable head and mystical connection to death and the afterlife.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: The main thing that lets you tell them from humans (unless their head's off, of course) is that they have unearthly blue skin, pale hair, and black sclera in their eyes.
- Black Eyes of Crazy: Zigzagged. They're not crazy or really hostile, but they do have the black sclera of the trope.
- Doing in the Scientist: While many of the other races have some sort of scientific explanation, the dullahan have nothing explaining how their head detachment works (though its been speculated the head and body are separate, symbiotic organisms), and in fact have some explicitly supernatural abilities.
- Losing Your Head: Their trademark ability is to detach and remove their heads at will.
- Psychopomps: They supposedly come from the underworld, and Lala has demonstrated exorcism abilities.
- Sinister Scythe: They're usually shown wielding one, as per the Grim Reaper tradition.
Harpy
Purehearted, cheerful, light-spirited bird-girls who are mostly known for being a bit dim. Free-spirited by nature, they technically have a lot of rules... they just tend to forget those rules and ignore them when it doesn't suit them. They have a nomadic culture due to strong migratory instincts.
- The Ditz: This is kind of the Hat for their race, though raptor harpies and garuda are exceptions.
- Ethical Slut: The standard in harpy culture is that they don't form permanent relationships with guys... they don't always follow this rule, though. Even when they do, they're not malicious or tasteless about the matter, it's just that they enjoy sex and aren't looking for monogamy.
- Exact Words: Regular harpies like Papi have a "three step memory"... so they can remember things perfectly if they fly instead of walking.
- Facial Markings: The Owl Harpies have these.
- Forgetful Jones: Regular and poultry harpies are extremely forgetful. Land harpies less so. Raptor harpies avert this.
- Harping on About Harpies: They're the "wings for arms, bird-like legs" variant and have the lovely singing voices that harpies often enjoy due to cross-pollination with sirens. Unlike most harpies, they're free-spirited, easy-going and generally nice girls.
- Hypocritical Humor: Their culture has a lot of rules in it... but, with their bad memories, they have a tendency to "conveniently" forget about the rules or just ignore them.
- One-Gender Race: One of the few liminal races explicitly called out as consisting exclusively of women.
- Pettanko : An entire race of them. Justified in that petite bodies are better for flying. Averted with land harpies, who are just as curvy as other liminals.
- Stealth Pun:
- The whole "harpies have poor memories and are generally silly" thing is basically rooted in this. It means harpies are all... bird-brained.
- Poultry harpies are cowardly bird-girls who resemble chickens. Stop and think about it a moment.
- Underground Monkey: Aside from their coloration mimicing various real birds, harpies have several different offshoot races.
- Land harpies are a larger, flightless strain of harpy based on birds like emus and ostriches. Though duller in color, they're smarter than other harpies (or at least have better memories) and have greater manual dexterity.
- Poultry harpies are the smallest breed of harpy and resemble chickens, complete with red crests on their heads. They are best known for their cowardice and the fact that they lay eggs every day, which the other harpies eat or trade for goods.
- Raptor harpies are larger, smarter and fuller-figured than other harpies, exclusively carnivorous and much faster at flying. They resemble various birds of prey, mostly hawks, eagles, and other raptors.
- Garuda, who have only appeared in the online game so far, are apparently the strongest of all harpies, and known for their enmity with a race of liminals called the "Naga" (presumably another lamia strain).
- Owl harpies are briefly seen in chapter 49. Not much is known about them (they may be a variety of Raptor harpy), other than that they're nocturnal and can see very well in the dark. They also seem to lack the airheadedness of most other Harpies, likely a play on the The Owl-Knowing One.
Lamia
Serpentine iminals native to desert regions, Lamias have the greatest interest in the exchange program; an all-female species who depend on human men to produce the next generation, with their traditional seduction/kidnapping (or at least misinforming men) approach now illegal, they need to willingly entice men to return to their villages.
- All Women Are Lustful: Their hat. Much like Satyr, Lamia have powerful sex drives. For scale, Miia, who's entire reason for being is to get into Kimihito's pants, is prudish by the race's standards. And Melusine take it even further, their sexual ethics being noted to be as fluid as the water they live in.
- Breeding Slave: Their "communal husbands" were possibly sometimes this, being tricked into the role by Lamia. The practice became illegal after the Broken Masquerade. Downplayed in that the examples we see feature men who willingly go to a Lamia village due to the promise of a harem of gorgeous women who will have sex with them. The only thing the men didn't count on being the gorgeous women being monster girls. Even then, the one that is plainly against it (well, against snakes rather than the sex) seemed to leave with no issue after the deed was done.
- Curtains Match the Window: Not their eyes, but a Lamia's scale color often corresponds to her hair color, such as green scales with green hair, pink scales with pink hair.
- Death Glare: The glare of a medusa is so intense that it terrifies anyone who sees it; their reputation for turning people to stone is based on exaggerated tales of this trait. Their kind have taken to usually wearing glasses in an attempt to reduce their intimidating gaze.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Subverted, as their practice of tricking men to be their Breeding Slave were put into a stop by government agencies after the Broken Masquerade came to pass, as it was considered a sexual assault, even if the men often enjoyed it and in fact came to the lamias seeking sex (just not knowing the sex would be with lamias).
- Exotic Extended Marriage: Lamias traditionally live in small village-groups that share a single male lover between them. Ideally, there will be more males, but it's not unheard of for there to only be one man per hundred Lamia. Changing this is a big issue for them, hampered a bit by how many lamia in the exchange program who get a man tend to decide they want to keep him to themselves or with a few close friends rather than share with their whole village.
- Exotic Eye Designs: Medusae have white irises and black-colored eyes.
- Face of a Thug: Medusae have a perpetual scowl, which has been known to scare anyone who looks at it.
- Fantastic Arousal: The tip of their tail is a very sensitive erogenous zone. Playing with it can easily turn them on.
- Flying Seafood Special: Zigzagged with Melusines; they have the bodies of sea snakes, and they do have wings, but because they lack the proper musculature they can't fly. According to one of their profiles, they use their wings to swim in the vein of underwater birds.
- Logical Weakness: They're explicitly called out as being poikilotherms ("coldblooded", for laypersons). If it's too cold, they're basically helpless and could die (or enter hibernation) if they cool down too much for too long.
- One-Gender Race: One of the relatively few liminal races explicitly called out as consisting exclusively of women.
- Only You Can Repopulate My Race: Because Lamia are all female, they need human males to procreate. In the past, they would kidnap men to use as "husbands" and breeders until the Broken Masquerade put an end to that practice. Now they are very dependent on the cultural exchange program to bring men to them. Steadily they are also coming to appreciate the idea of monogamy, or at least not having to share one man with the whole village, and are taking more opportunities to enter the exchange program and find a one true love.
- Overly-Long Tongue: Their tongue is extremely long, prehensile, and forked at the tip. It also has a Jacobson's organ, meaning it's used to detect scents. They find the scent/taste of men to be very alluring.
- Pointed Ears: Which is a little strange considering snakes don't have ears. Then again, they are also part-human, who certainly do have (non-pointed) ears.
- Power Incontinence: Medusas usually don't mean to glare at people; it's just that, as a species, they suffer poor vision, and so they squint a lot to try and see better, which people mistake as them glaring at people. This was later retconned to them just naturally having a piercing gaze rather than universally poor vision, and wearing glasses in order to reduce how much they otherwise intimidate people.
- Power Perversion Potential: Medusa possess a weak venom delivered via their bites that they are known for using on their human lovers during sex, the (temporary) paralytic effects spicing things up.
- Sex Goddess: Lamia are known for being talented lovers with a great amount of stamina, with their mating usually taking hours. Even the men they kidnapped usually chose to stay in the village due to their sexual skills. The Melusine subspecies in particular have the highest libidos amongst them.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Traditional lamia dress tends to be revealing even when it isn't outrageously skimpy, and there are scenes that indicate lamias have little or no concern over nudity. Furthermore, the visit to Miia's home village shows that lamia typically wear what could be considered "harem girl standard." Ironically, this makes the Lamia Arc one of the few times this ecchi harem comedy had women dressed as harem girls...and with the sole exception of Miia, none of these "harem girls" were part of Kimihito's harem.
- Snake People: Of the "human from the waist up, giant snake from the waist down" variety.
- Snakes Are Sexy: Even by ecchi standards, Lamias are among the most overly Fanservice-y of all the liminal races and possess a very strong sex drive, especially the Melusine variety (though succubi and satyrs give them some stiff competition in both areas). Miia has hardly any outfits that don't show off her cleavage and she still dresses modestly compared to most Lamias. Infamously they are known for just how long sexual encounters with them can last, with a single Lamia being able to go for hours on end if given the opportunity.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Echidnae are stereotypically masculine and gruff, but they tend to like romantic comedies, cute things, etc. and like men who can recognize their interests and call them cute.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Lamia are all just crazy about eggs.
- Underground Monkey: There are several different kinds of Lamias as well as the "common" ones.
- Echidnas, believed to be closer to lizardfolk, have scaly arms with claw-like hands and sport fangs that can deliver a hemorrhagic venom.
- Medusas are snake-haired Lamias whose reputation for turning people to stone is... exaggerated. Rather than real snakes, their hair actually consists of tentacles which lack bones and organs and can't feel pain. They also possess a venom, though it is just a weak paralytic. Said venom may have been another part of where the stone gaze myth originated, but now is used just to add spice to bedroom activities.
- Melusines are sea snake Lamias with libidos extreme even by monster girl standards, and vestigial dragon wings on their backs that they use for swimming in their aquatic habitats.
- The online game has also introduced sea snakes, who're a case of Exactly What It Says on the Tin, Lamias with the lower bodies of sea snakes, and Jormungands.
Merfolk
Hailing from various underwater liminal kingdoms, merfolk are half fish humanoids divided into a number of different subspecies. They are also among the few liminals in the series so far that are shown to have males that are as attractive as females. Male and female alike usually have a love for tragic romance and like to run off with humans due to the struggles involved in being with them.
- Determinator: A freshwater mermaid will never give up.
- Dumb Muscle: Shark mermaids may be stronger and fiercer than their kin, but their minds are notoriously weak.
- Fetish: Mermaids are known for their fixation upon romantic tragedy, which sometimes extends to the extent of Netorare fetishism.
- Logical Weakness: They need to keep their gills moist to breathe. Not only does this make aridity a problem for them, but the cleanliness of the water they have to rinse their gills with is also very important.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: They're attractive half-woman half-fish people with webbed fingers and fin-like ears. They produce slime to help protect themselves against drying out, and have breasts because they use fat to keep themselves warm in the water. There's no worrying about the Mermaid Problem here, though the nature of the series means we haven't seen exactly what lies between their pelvic fins.
- The Stoic: This is the Hat of freshwater mermaids.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: They survive on land by secreting mucus to moisten their gills, which means their ability to wear clothing is somewhat impaired and the moisture level & temperature of their surroundings impacts their ability to breathe. They also have webbed fingers and pelvic fins, to help propel themselves and steer, and swim bladders to control their buoyancy. Additionally, the webbing on their fingers prevents them from wearing rings.
- Underground Monkey: Several sub-species of mermaids have been identified. Eel mermaids can survive on land indefinitely because, as part of their eel-like bodies, they produce much greater quantities of mucus to keep their bodies moist — this makes it difficult for them to wear clothes, but also makes them great masseurs. Their snake-like form also lets them move on land more easily than other mermaids. Freshwater mermaids are based on fish that travel from the ocean to rivers, like salmon; this makes them much more determined and reserved than normal mermaids. Shark mermaids are aggressive shark-based mermaids who're known for being very wild, but mentally weak, and used to make a living as pirates. Tropical mermaids, introduced in the online game, are a rare subspecies prized for their beauty.
- A lamprey-type mermaid is introduced in chapter 49. Fittingly, they're very similar to the eel-type mermaids, with the addition that they drink blood, have circular gill openings (like real lampreys) and a pattern of circular dots under their eyes.
- Unscaled Merfolk: The Eel Mermaids, and the Scylla, who have octopus tentacles instead.
Monoeye
A race of liminal demihumans most notable for their possession of only a singular massive eye in the center of their face.
- Blessed with Suck: Their singular giant eye may give them incredible long-distance vision, allowing them to see things up to 3 kilometers away, but their depth perception when close to objects absolutely sucks, and they need to spend a lot of money on eye medication and moisturizers, as their eye dries out easily and is prone to getting something caught in it or becoming infected.
- Also, backbeards have powerful Eye Beams, but at the cost of having a body type that has gone beyond "pettanko" and well into "loli".
- Cyclops: Well, yeah. The trope-namer, though, is used to refer to a specific strain of monoeye.
- Eye Beams: The backbeards' specialty; they can hypnotize, emit a blinding light, and even shoot lasers!
- Mythology Gag: A literal one; their species log mentions the existence of "One Eyed Monks", who're literally described as nothing more than common monoeyes who have converted to Buddhism. They seem pointless... until one remembers there are actually several kinds of Yōkai in Japanese Mythology who appear as cyclopean Buddhist monks!
- Older Than They Look: Backbeards look like little girls no matter how old they really are.
- Shout-Out: The backbeards take their name from an antagonist in GeGeGe no Kitarō, who appeared as a giant, disembodied eye that used powerful Eye Beams to hypnotize other yokai or attack them. Their "gothic lolita loli" look is based on Backbeard's fan-created daughter Beako.
- Underground Monkey: Aside from regular monoeyes, you have backbeards, who're loli monoeyes with Eye Beams, and the cyclopses, who're unusually tall and busty monoeyes with a natural affinity for smithing, as they can see the temperature of fire and iron with their eyes.
Ogre
The biggest and the strongest of the liminal races seen thus far, ogres are easily recognizable. Trolls at least have male members to their race, but it's unclear if the other ogres also have males.
- Gentle Giant: Despite their size and strength, ogres as a whole tend to be very gentle, laidback and easy-going. The gigantes are particularly noted for their gentleness, to the point that when they have nothing to do, they tend to just sit quietly somewhere out of the way and avoid moving, so they won't hurt anyone.
- Horned Humanoid: All ogres have one or more horns, but these horns are growths from their skull and so can't be used as weapons.
- Our Giants Are Bigger: Overlaps with Our Ogres Are Hungrier and Our Trolls Are Different. They're a race of huge but gentle super-strong Cute Monster Girls (and boys) who average around two to three meters in height.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Invoked, but downplayed; Red oni are commonly supposed to be crybabies, whilst blue oni are supposed to be self-sacrificing.
- Super-Strength: All ogres have absolutely immense strength.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Not only are people intimidated by ogres, but their strength forces them to be exaggeratedly careful around non-ogres — especially the poor gigantes — and it's incredibly expensive for them to get any clothing, as it all has to be custom tailored for their stature.
- Underground Monkey: Aside from the common ogres, there are also oni (smaller ogres who come in red or blue shades and customarily wear tiger-skin clothing), trolls (three meters plus tall muscular ogres with green skin and tusks), and gigantes (enormous ogres, the biggest identified so far at over 10 meters, who're nonetheless the quietest and most gentle of their kind).
Plantfolk
Plantlike species such as dryads, alraune, mandragoras, matangos and barometz.
- Green Thumb: Some of them have the ability to control plants to some extent.
- Little Bit Beastly: Barometz resemble pan fauns to the point that they're frequently mistaken for Beast Folk, but they're actually more closely related to dryads.
- Mushroom Man: Matangos resemble mushrooms with a mushroom cap, tentacle-like hair, and volva-like feet.
- One-Gender Race: Alraune are all female and requires males from other species (typically humans) in order to breed. Dryads are also all female, but can fertilize themselves.
- Plant Person: All of them are humanoid sapient plants.
- Super-Scream: Mandragora screams are extremely loud and capable of rendering people unconscious (in rare cases, they've even been known to be fatal).
Satyrs
A humanoid liminal with fur on their bodies and horns on their heads.
- Lunacy: Because of their hypersexual natures, they actually remain pretty well in control and avert this condition so many other liminal races suffer from during full moons.
- No-Sell: The full moon has no affect on their mentalities. That said, as noted above, this is because they are already dealing with heavy sexual desires.
Slime
A liminal race comprised of sapient, gelatinous substances, the slimes documented in Daily Life are a specialized strain that has evolved to mimic the form of human women.
Slimes as a whole originate from the Greater Species known as Undines in a process similar to but distinct from regular reproduction.
- Achilles' Heel: Slimes have various weaknesses, but one thing they all share is a malleable spherical core hidden within their gelatinous bodies. On the one hand as long as this core is intact a slime can (with varying amounts of time) recover from any injury as it absorbs moisture and other material to reform the rest of its body. However, if the core is somehow removed then the rest of the body will rapidly collapse, and the core itself is essentially helpless. To protect it the core is normally camouflaged within the slime and difficult/impossible to see without removing a lot of the slime's mass first.
- Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Slimes reproduce by splitting a piece of themselves and letting it gain a consciousness, However this is not done to propagate the species but rather how a slime gains experience quickly. By re-absorbing the cut offed piece they gain all the knowledge and experience that the splintered piece gained and then proceed to split into newly enhanced individuals to repeat the process. Or at least, this is how slimes did things until Suu. It is noted humanoid slimes can reproduce via sex with men, though beyond mating being involved it is not clear if this would be conventional reproduction or simply taking in the man's genetic material to create new divisions.
- Blob Monster: The wording of their species writeup suggests that these exist in their "natural" state in the world, with this particular category being unique in that they are slime girls instead.
- Extreme Omnivore: While various types and varieties do have preferred foods, slimes can in general derive some nutrition from anything their bodies are able to absorb and dissolve. Taken to an extreme with red slimes, whose digestive enzymes can handle almost anything.
- From a Single Cell: A slime can survive almost any kind of damage as long as their core remains intact.
- Hollywood Acid: All slimes can digest a lot of things thanks to their powerful digestive enzymes. Red slimes can digest almost anything.
- Logical Weakness: Being amorphous, fluid-based organisms, slimes need some water to survive, but being immersed in too much at once will dilute them to the extent that they can't cohere again and if the dilution reaches their core they'll die. Naturally, drying out can also be lethal (they will lose mass as they dehydrate, to the point that they lose their humanoid shape, becoming ravenous to regain fluids). Lastly, freezing temperatures will rapidly render them immobile (though this will not kill them).
- Monster Progenitor: All of the humanoid slimes can trace their ultimate origins to Suu. Suu was an exceptional experience-gathering slime that achieved intelligence and a humanoid form. A nutrient-gathering slime, called Nega-Suu, sought her out and managed to become the second humanoid slime. After being captured, she was used to filter onsen water and the DNA run-off from several monster girl species allowed Nega-Suu to replicate and create enough humanoid slimes for them to be recognized as a species. Slimes in general have undines as progenitors.
- No Biological Sex: Due to the fact slimes are amorphous Blob Monsters that reproduce in a similar way to cellular division on a large scale, they probably do not technically count as either male or female. Even the fact they look and act like women isn't due to them being a One-Gender Race like lamia or harpies, but because the first member of their strain, Suu, developed a body and identity based on Kimihito's harem, with their originator Nega-Suu having copied that form into her genetic identity after absorbing part of Suu, as well as DNA from various other extraspecies later at Yukio's onsen (giving them the strong desire to find a male life partner that the extraspecies at the inn had), resulting in all future humanoid slimes looking and acting like women by nature. That said, an undine does refer to Suu and other slimes she has produced as her "daughters," suggesting even the amorphous form may be female by their standards.
- Poisonous Person: Green slimes are poisonous, though how they can deploy this poison is left unclear. Presumably, black slimes are also quite nasty to be around, seeing as how they've absorbed toxic waste.
- Power Stereotype Flip: The powers and diet of a slime tends to inform its personality. The strongly acidic red slimes are more aggressive and have acrid personalities. The poisonous green slimes subconsciously sprinkle "venomous" remarks throughout conversations. Pink slimes, which feed on flowers, are sweet-natured but very lustful. Black slimes, having absorbed human-dumped toxic waste, are extremely hostile and violent, especially towards humans.
- Sizeshifter: If a slime absorbs enough water, they can grow into larger forms as part of their Voluntary Shapeshifting.
- Transferable Memory: While the reasons are not entirely clear (it may simply be a way to show their progress), slimes will at times share their acquired experiences with the undine who is their progenitor.
- Underground Monkey:
- There are several different subspecies of slime, usually distinguished by color. Red slimes are smaller, more aggressive, and have much more potent digestive enzymes. Green slimes have absorbed poison from their food and are naturally venomous, which causes them to constantly bubble and be incapable of holding a solid form. The rare pink slimes feed on flower fields, causing them to give off a sweet scent. black slimes have fed on toxic waste and turned a nasty black-gray color as a result.
- For much of the manga there was only one humanoid slime known to exist, Suu. While looking like a basic blue slime, she was eventually revealed to be an extraordinary individual of the information-gathering portion that normal slimes split into, her experiences having given her levels of intelligence and shapeshifting that surpassed that of any other known slime. This made her a prime target for absorption by a far larger slime which itself had been altered by extended contact with human pollution and waste, and while Suu lived through the encounter the other slime became further altered and gained a humanoid form of its own, becoming the first known black slime. In chapter 66 yet more changes are underwent when part of this slime is experimentally used as a filter for the hot springs Yukio runs. The result was the birth of dozens of intelligent humanoid slimes of varying colors that likely will end up being the originators of the other various slime subspecies described above, as well as responsible for the spread of humanoid slimes in general.
- Voice Changeling: A experienced humanoid slime can copy the voice of anyone she has heard.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Being made of slime, they have amorphous bodies that they can manipulate at will. Skilled individuals can copy the shape and texture of pretty much anything provided they have enough body mass for it, even becoming rigid and dry if need be, though they may not be able to exhibit the abilities of what they copy. A hard enough impact will undo the transformation, however, and transforming repeatedly without resting can exhaust the slime.
Zombie
A unique liminal race in that they are not demihumans, but ex-humans. Originally human beings, they were infected with a strange virus that kills humans and then resurrects them as undead versions of themselves.
- Appendage Assimilation: Zombies can replace damaged parts by sewing on replacements; once it's been stitched into place, it works just fine, whether it's a hand, an eye, or even an entire body.
- Blessed with Suck: Yeah, zombies aren't dead and they don't feel pain anymore... but, they still decay. If they don't take deliberate steps to preserve themselves, eventually, they'll just rot away into nothing. Prior to the invention of the special preservative fluid that they use in place of their blood, their only options were either to remain cold at all times or constantly graft on new flesh to replace the old. Plus, they may not feel pain anymore, but they don't heal either; as a result, if they don't keep very careful track of their body, they'll eventually destroy it.
- "Early Zombies" apparently have it worse; given how they are discussed, it's implied that they can't be upgraded to use the new preservative fluid. To say nothing of the whole "their brains have already partly decayed" comment.
- Downplayed, but the jiang-shi are affected with a rigor mortis that they can't ever fully get rid of, causing all their joints to lock up every night. That's not a lot of fun, even if they are immune to pain (though stretching exercises mitigate the effects).
- Chinese Vampire: A variant strain of zombie that suffers from recurring rigor mortis, forcing them to practice tai chi and other exercises; unless they do their morning regime, they're forced to hop everywhere due to their joints having locked almost solid.
- The Ditz: Early zombies are noted as having suffered minor decay in their brains, leaving them very easygoing and sluggish by nature.
- Feel No Pain: Though they can still feel pleasure, zombies are basically immune to the feeling of pain.
- Frankenstein's Monster: A subspecies introduced in the online game, they're zombies created artificially, in that they were assembled from parts of human bodies that were stitched into a singular whole before being infected with the virus. This makes them "born undead", not converted like their kin.
- Mummy: A variant strain of zombie that originated in arid, desert-like environments; the heat and dryness killed the bacteria in their bodies that cause decay, so they can survive without preservative fluid. However, it also leeched all the moisture from their skin, creating a nagging need to regularly bathe in order to rehydrate themselves. They have been known to sap the life energy from humans to try and cure this, but any feeling of its restorative effect is pure placebo.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: They can be damaged, but their ability to function until totally destroyed, immunity to pain and ability to replace damaged or missing limbs makes them very tough to put down.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Plague Zombie type: they're humans killed and reanimated by a disease that lingers in their teeth, to the point a tooth pulled from a zombie's mouth can be used to infect another human by sticking them with it (provided said human is on the verge of death or has a very weak immune system, as otherwise the virus will be fought off). However, they have no cannibalistic urges or even any real changes in personality. The big problem is that the virus preserves their life, but not their flesh; they still decay, and they don't heal from injuries. Modern zombies have their blood replaced with a special preservative chemical array, whilst "early" zombies instead make do by living in cold environments or else staying in refrigerated rooms.
- Wound That Will Not Heal: Because their flesh is dead and, usually, preserved, it doesn't repair itself. Any damage they take is permanent unless they physically fix it.
