Currently watching: Youkai Ningen Bem

Three monsters (who normally look like people) live a nomadic life, moving from town to town each time their true identity is discovered as they search for a way to become human. We join them in the modern day living in the hull of an abandoned ship, as their search seems to be reaching a conclusion.

In the meantime, they solve crimes. They don’t mean to. They just sort of get caught up in things.

This series is funny and interesting and at least it’s trying to be different. The cast is good and the stories always move along quickly with little chance to be bored. Anne has a commanding screen presence as the female monster, but then she does have a cape, which helps. And the six-year old monster (Suzuki Fuku) falls just on the right side of childlike innocence, so he doesn’t become unbearable. Meanwhile the enigmatic one with the hat (Kamenashi Kazuya) looks suitably mysterious.

The moralising is pretty basic stuff. It’s either (a) why can’t people just be happy with who they are, or (b) just because someone looks like a monster, doesn’t mean they are.

And, er, that’s about it. It’s enjoyable, well-made, and the ratings are good so it’s clearly found an audience. Not much else to say, really.

But I will mention that, with a few scenes they've shot, I can’t tell if that’s CGI in the background or if they’ve just been very lucky with some dramatic-looking skies.