No one truly knows when the darkness came into the world. In that vast black, a single cell divided itself into three separate entities. These three creatures are not human, but each one of them possesses a strong sense of justice deep within their soul. And though they are monsters, hideous monsters, they believe that by doing good deeds, they will one day become human.
A remake of the 1968 series Yōkai Ningen Bem, Humanoid Monster Bem is the story of three monsters trying to right the wrongs of other monsters. Along the way they hope to gain the approval of humans who fear and despise them, and to one day become humans themselves.They are:
- Bem: Team Dad, and oldest looking of the three. Uses a cane in human form. Looks like a tall guy in a suit, with pointed ears and blank eyes.
- Bera: Team Mom, and the only female. Uses a whip in human form. The most normal looking of the three, she's still dresses bizarrely, has pale skin, and wears heavy make up.
- Bero: The youngest looking of the three and most childlike. Doesn't use any weapons in human form. With olive Green Skin, pointed ears and fingernails, and an outfit that looks like it's right out of a circus act, he's the least normal looking of the three.
Another remake simply titled BEM, was produced by Production I.G with LandQ Studios in 2019, with a movie followup, BECOME HUMAN, in 2020.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Attractiveness: The 2019 version made the trio look more attractive then what they originally look like.
- Bera's human form looks less creepy and more easy on the eyes.
- Bem looks less vampiric and has hair.
- Bero looks like an adorable emo kid.
- Adaptational Skimpiness: The 2019 version has the trio end up naked every time they revert to human form for the sake of realism, though this does leave a Plot Hole as to where they get their extra clothes in contrast to the original versions where they transform with their clothes intact.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In the 2019 version Bera's human form has hair that matched her monster form, while Bero is given white hair in his human form.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: The whole point of the Trios transformations.
- Alien Blood: The trio bleed green.
- And the Adventure Continues: The "2019 anime" ends with Bem, Bera and Bero alive and continue to search for a way to turn themselves into humans. However while the main Big Bads are dead, the remaining minor ones are still active and the Humanoid Monsters are forced to leave behind their friends so that they won't be actively hunted down.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Subverted. Big time.
- Big Bad: Darna Osia (O'sea?)
- The Become Human movie introduces Manstoll, an old colleague of Bem's turned completely and utterly evil since the last time they met.
- Breath Weapon: Bera has freezing breath in monster form.
- Can't Grow Up: Bero is the same age as Bera and Bem, but is a perpetual child. He doesn't seem to mind though.
- Circus Brat: Bero is certainly dressed for the part, and was told by Bem to live on
diet of Raw Meat and Live Chickens.
- Emotion Eater: The Harpy survives off of the hatred abused animals have for humanity.
- Evil Counterpart: Vega to the trio in general as the only malevolent Humanoid Monster.
- Fantastic Racism: The overall opinion of any human aware of monsters is that they're all bad.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Everything from Minotaurs, Dullahan, and an Evil Guitar that sucks the life out of it's user.
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: The 2019 series revised the trio's powerset to fit this trope, applied to Bero, Bera, and Bem respectively.
- Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Not exactly what the three are, but they certainly look more like this than human.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: A Central Theme across multiple adaptations of the franchise. Bem, Bella and Bero see themselves being born monsters as a curse and sought to become ordinary humans, but along the way they meet many morally corrupt humans who act more like monsters than they do, sometimes bringing themselves to question if their quest is really all that it's worth if it means being susceptible to moral corruption themselves.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Bero's motivation, besides wanting to become human. Also The Gremlin.
- Immortality Begins at Twenty: Contrasting with Bero, Bem and Bera look to be in their thirties or late twenties respectively.
- Karmic Transformation:
- In an inverse of how this usually goes, the three heroes are doing good deeds in the hopes that they may one day become human.
- Rose is a straighter example, having a more Monstrous monster form than Bera.
- Kangaroo Court: Happens in the 2019 series when Bem and his allies get put on trial for their supposed crimes against humanity. Despite Sonia's best efforts, which almost lands her in equally as much hot water just by defending them while being suspended from the force, the trio are sentenced to be executed as an example to all monsterkind. Unbeknownst to everyone, this this gives the monsters an in for an all-out invasion to wipe out humanity.
- Looks Like Orlok: Bem has no hair, pointed ears, fangs and claws.
- Masquerade: Bem tells Bero not to show his transformation to any humans. Guess how long that lasts.
- Master of Illusion: Bem has used illusions several times. In the 1968 series Bera used illusions as well.
- Meaningful Name:
- Bem is short for Bug-eyed Monster, which is what both he and Bero are supposed to look like, though their eyes are pretty normal sized (Even though their "head lobes" do resemble a fly's eyes a bit).
- BECOME HUMAN takes this by the end, With Bem finally getting his wish granted by giving up his own life to save a dying Sonia after the collapse of the Big Bad's secret base.]
- Older Than They Look: Given the nature of their origins, Bem, Bera and Bero are all the same age. Also, monsters are effectively immortal, so the Trio has been around for a long time.
- Opening Narration: Gives us the basic premise of the show and the origins of the Trio.
- Our Homunculi Are Different:
- A Brother/Sister pair shows up in "The Tears of the Homunculus."
- Same can be said of the humanoid monsters being created by alchemy.
- Our Monsters Are Weird: A Chimera with Goats for eyes. Not Goat eyes, but full goat torsos coming out of the lions head. It makes the fact that it's body is only the lion's head and two legs seem trivial in comparison. Oh, and it has bat wings.
- Out of Focus: In the 2019 series, despite being the title character, Bem seems to be the main focus of fewer episodes than the other members of the trio. Even Sonia seems to get more screen-time in some episodes.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Sure their Human forms are less monstrous, but they'd never come close to passing for human.
- Pointy Ears: Yep, Bero's got 'em. So does Bem.
- Really 700 Years Old: The Trio seems to be created back when alchemy was still in vogue. But then again, they do run into a pair of homunculi created about five years ago, so it's hard to tell.
- Replacement Goldfish: Bera and Bero are this for the Alchemist, trying to replace his wife and son.
- Sadly Mythtaken: Where to begin. The most Egregious example would have to be The Banshee.
- Spell My Name With An S: Bound to happen at some point. Is it spelled Bero, Baro, Belo, or Berro?
- Token Evil Teammate: While certainly not evil, Bera is less forgiving of humans who have wronged monsters and is the quickest to lose her temper.
- The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: Where the monster from the first episode comes from.
- Ugly Hero, Good-Looking Villain: Compared to the heroes, the Werewolf from episode three could easily pass for human. In fact, this is true of any of the humanoid monsters. Anything that can pass for human will do a better job than the trio.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The movie ends on this as narrated by Sonia, Bera spends her days as a waitress in a diner, Bero goes around saving humanity as a vigilante, and Bem himself fulfilled his own wishes by sacrificing himself to save the one person he truly cared for from the brink of death and became human.
