- Interview Location: Anime Expo 2026
- Interview Format:In-person, One-on-One
Anime Herald: What is your origin story? How did you decide to enter the anime industry?
Ena Hamabe: Growing up, I watched a lot of anime. It was an everyday thing. Even as an adult, I continued to enjoy anime. That made me want to be part of the storytelling side.
Anime Herald: Were there any particular anime that touched you and made you want to be part of the storytelling side?
Ena Hamabe: As a child, I enjoyed Digimon and Pokémon. I learned hiragana through games.
Anime Herald:This Monster Wants to Eat Mebegan its production very early, given how young the manga was at that time. Can you share any stories about how you and the team were able to produce it, given that you didn’t necessarily know where the story was going?
Ena Hamabe: When I read the manga at the beginning, I saw aspects that seemed solid. I wanted to make that into an anime. We were fortunate to get a great team together so we could make a really good anime happen.
Anime Herald: How easy or hard is it to get a team together?
Ena Hamabe: Because it is something that takes a very long time, I don’t choose every single person on the team. I’ll ask fellow producers or other team members for people that they trust. “Do you know someone for this?” It’s a very trust based system.
Anime Herald: Is there anything you would like to share about Ehime prefecture?
Ena Hamabe: I was able to feel how beautiful and lovable it was through the anime. We are doing a collaboration with the prefecture for their fireworks festival. There will be a number of events and booths at the festival.
Anime Herald: If you were a mermaid spending a day with Hinako, how would the two of you spend the day?
Ena Hamabe: This is a good and interesting question. Most likely, Shiori would kill me, so I likely wouldn’t do anything.
Anime Herald: Do you think you would be tasty?
Ena Hamabe: As a mermaid or as a human? As a mermaid, I would probably taste bad. As a human, I don’t eat anything really weird, so I should taste good.
Anime Herald: What would you like our readers to know aboutThis Monster Wants to Eat Me?
Ena Hamabe: The anime has concluded. The original manga is ongoing. We’d like the viewers to follow the story along with the manga.
Anime Herald: You bring up something I find interesting. There are anime in America where it is easy for us to follow the story with the original manga or light novels depending on what the
It is very nice when we can read the originalthe viewers ofThis Monster Wants to Eat Mecheck out the
Ena Hamabe: There’s always a set endpoint for an anime. By having the anime, more people are driven to read the manga. We are very happy to be able to divert traffic to the original manga.
Anime Herald: That’s lovely. I am currently readingNo Longer Allowed in Another World.
Do you have any questions for us?
Ena Hamabe: As a viewer, what aspects did you like about This Monster Wants to Eat Me?
Anime Herald: The relationships. You often have this with male-female relationships, where the male is a monster and the female is a human. The male will come off as monstrous, but it is their way of trying to show love and be protecting. Here, we have that with two women and one is a monster. She is trying to do the best she can for the other person, but coming across as a monster when doing so.
Ena Hamabe: I enjoy these kinds of stories. Is this genre more of a niche market that people are unfamiliar with?
Anime Herald: Have you heard the team “romantasy?” It is incredibly popular.
Ena Hamabe: What would be a good example?
(Editor’s note: We had a brief discussion about various anime that didn’t quite fit the themes of romantasy. We decided Beauty and the Beast or The Shape of Water could qualify. It is more of a literary genre. I suggested Alchemized. Shockingly, it has not yet been translated into Japanese. Also, its author and fans deny it is “romantasy”, instead considering it to be “dark fantasy.” The best example of “romantasy” that has been translated into Japanese might be Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.)
Anime Herald: Thank you very much, this was wonderful.
Ena Hamabe: Thank you very much.
Header Image: This Monster Wants to Eat Me
