I recall I first saw the first four episodes of the English dub of MM! when it was screened at Alamo Drafthouse Mason Park very soon after its release in 2014. I was a much younger anime fan back then and very much enjoyed the over the top "shock" comedy of this show and didn't think too deeply about it. I enjoyed it enough that I was motivated to order the physical release on DVD. However, being a younger, less experienced anime fan I did not know the production history and accidentally ordered a DVD copy of the earlier sub-only release from 2010 issued by Sentai Filmworks. I guess I didn't pay close enough attention to the product description but when I popped in the DVD and got Japanese only after having gotten used to the English voices I was Mio-level PISSED. I packaged it back up and returned it to Amazon for a refund. I wanted to get the bilingual copy; I was aware of RightStuf! but back in those days I was still using the RightStuf! Print Catalog and tear-out order forms and mailing a personal check (read: I'm OLD). Anyway, I was gun-shy of ordering the wrong edition again and so just never got around to it.
Fast forward to 2021, and I'm finally getting around to re-watching it on HIDIVE. I still enjoyed the "zany" humor and "shock" comedy much as before but a few things did hit differently for me than they would have back in 2014.
The "incest" and "oedpial complex" subplot is still weird and gross...chuckle worthy but ew:
The cross dressing best friend was intended as comic relief and still basically is, and he is depicted as a totally straight dude who just so happens to like to sometimes dress in drag. Such people do actually exist, then as now. But with greater visibility and awareness of actual trans people in 2021, I looked at Tatsukichi Hayama (葉山 辰吉, Hayama Tatsukichi) differently and with more empathy than I would have in 2014. Not least because I have actual trans friends now that I did not have in 2014. But a cross-dressing straight guy was just a punchline in 2010 when this was originally released in Japan and when the original light novels were first published. Contemplating him/her/them as ACTUALLY trans just wasn't in the cards in 2010.
The main story of course revolves around this potential love triangle....Low-key tsundere sadist Mio Isurugi (石動 美緒, Isurugi Mio) voiced by Monica Rial, hapless self-described "super Masochist" Taro Sado (砂戸 太郎, Sado Tarō) voiced by Blake Shepherd, and admitted "Androphobe" Arashiko Yuno (結野 嵐子, Yūno Arashiko) and unintentional original source of Taro Sado's awakening to "super Masochism" back in Middle School.
I had very nearly forgotten that Arashiko Yuno (結野 嵐子, Yūno Arashiko) has androphobia from a very specific incident shown to us in flashback, namely that she is a sexual assault survivor. The perpetrator was one of the most attractive & popular boys in school. He tries to force himself on Yuno but she resists...it's unclear from the flashback if she was also raped but regardless it is the source of her deep and prolonged fear of any and all men. Taro Sado does eventually confront Yuno's assailant and challenges him to a fight. It doesn't go particularly well for Taro until Mio lends a hand and the two of them open a collective can of whoop-ass on the dude.
Have to admit, was not a big fan of the Lolicon subplot either with Noa Hiiragi (柊 ノア, Hiiragi Noa) voiced by Brittney Karbowski. Brittney does a fine job voicing her and some of the episodes she's in are pretty funny....but the show pushes her as a potential romantic partner for Taro a little too hard and it feels skeevy....even though she's technically a High Schooler and actually of appropriate age for Taro, just a late bloomer & a bit, shall we say, under-developed....
Mio Isurugi (石動 美緒, Isurugi Mio) doggedly tries to "cure" Taro of his "super Masochism", usually involving all manner of cruel & unusual physical "punishment" that only exacerbates the issue...from stepping on his crotch in her spiked high heels to whacking him hard with a paper fan, usually escalating to a metal baseball bat with a cute bow tied to it, frequently defenestrating Taro out the nearest window and high into the sky....
The most uncomfortable episode for me was probably Episode 8, "A 'B and L' Patterned Love"
Transcription: "B de L na Hen'ai Moyō" (Japanese: BでLな変愛模様)....Mio resorts to the idea of using post Hypnotic suggestion as a behavior modification tool, with unpredictable results....the main "joke" being clued by the title, containing the letters "BL", the designation for "Boys Love", aka, Yaoi....in short, Mio unintentionally "turns" Taro gay for the episode and he develops romantic longings for his best friend, cross-dressing Tatsukichi Hayama, who does not feel that way about him, and tries to act on these longings in the most awkward ways imaginable, much to Tatsukichi Hayama's annoyance...Taro not being very mindful of consent, etc. Arashiko Yuno is devastated by Taro's apparent new orientation and tries to woo him back despite her androphobia by trying to get him to notice how sexy she is, which of course fails to move Taro.
It's played for laughs of course but it just feels uncomfortable and unintentionally homophobic in an era where social conservatives are still pushing bogus religion based "gay conversion therapies" and doing real emotional trauma to LGBT+ youth in 2021. And it's not super great when Mio realizes Taro is "accidentally" gay and curses him for still being "a pervert", especially considering the history of LGBT+ rights and the struggle for recognition and affirmation by Mental Health professionals.....like wowza, the 1960s called & they want their outdated psychiatric evaluation back, please.
Anyway, so the story can be done with this comedic sub-plot, Mio has to once again beat Taro straight and back into his square one, i.e. his baseline "super Masochism" that is specifically triggered when a "beautiful girl beats & curses him"....which Mio and Yuno deliver in equal measure....Mio by means of her subconscious sadism and Yuno whenever Taro accidentally gets too close and triggers her androphobia and she punches his lights out.
MM! is still entertaining in 2021 but more of a "guilty" pleasure now than it would've been for me in 2014 had I finished it then. The light novelist behind MM! has unfortunately passed away so there won't be any more of it, but if it were rebooted today it would need serious revision and updating. I do still think some of the "zany" comedy would still work but fetishizing various mental illnesses and abnormal psychological conditions as stock characters for comedy in 2021...just doesn't feel super great...it feels like a story that punches down. I think it could be re-written respectfully and still be funny & entertaining in 2021...I'm not the one to do it but I definitely think it's possible. Sidebar, I also noticed the repeated visual gag references to Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon (Tuxedo Mask) and laughed out loud every time....something I likely would've missed in 2014.
MM! is still streaming on HIDIVE and a re-issue of the Blu-Ray is currently advertised as coming soon on the RightStuf! website. I have not seen the MM! OVA and apparently Sentai Filmworks declined to license it for inclusion with the main series. Obviously this show is also VERY fanservice heavy....Mio and Yuno are very pretty, shapely girls and the camera leers at them often....they are the eye candy that sells the show and eventually become low-key romantic rivals for Taro's affections. Personally I think Yuno is more deserving....Mio gives it a good effort and wrestles with admitting her real feelings for Taro...but I don't think she's quite earned it by story's end....but everyone throwing her a surprise birthday party at the end was touching and sweet. Tears stream down Mio's face and she doesn't fully understand why she's crying, but she basks in the glow of her friends love for her. It's a Christmas Episode and a decent capper for the series. MM! is not for everyone and the humor feels a little dated and out of step with today's standards. It's a product of its time and should be enjoyed as such.
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