Since ancient history, supernatural beings have been misunderstood as monsters, inhuman beings bringing doom and misfortune to mankind. But the advancement of science later proved that these supernatural beings like vampires, succubi, headless horsemen, and the like are just genetic mutations in humans and modern society has come to accept these “demi-humans” as part of mankind, believing they shouldn’t be shunned or nailed to a cross, and are against anything that could remove these unique individuals from this Earth.

The story begins with biology teacher Takahashi Tetsuo and his fascination with these demi-humans and his wish to learn more about them and how they go about their daily lives and have a more in-depth understanding of their unique quirks like blood-sucking or seducing men. Tetsuo didn’t have much luck back in his college days because demi-humans were quite rare but thankfully, there are 4 demi-humans in the school he’s teaching in, one of which is a teacher as well.

Let’s start our list with a simple and straightforward comparison, Demi-chan wa Kataritai and Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san just share two things in common: 1.) there is a vampire character in both anime and 2.) both are slice of life shows that focus more on these supernatural individuals. Other than that, there’s nothing much else to compare because Demi-chan is, in a way, a thinly-veiled harem anime where all of the main girls/demis are in love with Tetsuo, whereas Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san has an all-female cast doing cute things and with a hint of yuri subtext. Though if you’re also looking for the yuri bits along with the supernatural, then don’t worry! We’re just getting started!

Yasaka Mahiro was attacked by monsters and was promptly saved by a girl with some kickass powers. The girl later introduced herself as Nyarlathotep, also known as the Crawling Chaos. Nyarlathotep, or Nyaruko, is an alien law enforcer who is sent to Earth to stop aliens from engaging in illegal activities such as the slave trade. But the situation on Earth has changed and the Planetary Defense Organization has assigned Nyaruko as Mahiro’s protector against any alien invader trying to abduct him. But what is the end game here? Why is Mahiro specifically targeted? More importantly, why is Nyaruko falling in love with him? Or is it maybe because she gets free lodging and food?

Anime does everything. Everything. We get slice of life anime with aliens, robots, witches, angels, demons, zombies, mermaids, snake girls, horse girls, or even Buddha and Jesus Christ, and this absurd variety is one of the few things why anime is great and superior to any form of media. It’s sort of like Rule #41: “Everything is someone's sexual fetish.” And true to the rule, Haiyore! Nyaruko-san features the Eldritch Horrors and fetishizes them as cute girls doing cute horrifying things while looking for love. Yep, H.P. Lovecraft is still spinning in his grave.

Anyway, the MC is a guy and Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san isn’t a harem anime, but seeing how Akari loves the two vampires almost obsessively, it might be. Still, both are quite similar with the same slice of life set up, the aliens (though technically they’re otherworldly, shapeshifting nightmarish creatures) are living with Mahiro and the humor centers around Nyaruko causing chaos in Mahiro’s supposed normal life as a high school boy. And don’t worry, there are a good amount of yuri moments involving a lovely fiery vixen who has the literal hots towards Nyaruko. And she’s extremely persistent, by the way.

Sakura Ichiko has been blessed with good fortune since birth. She’s the perfect girl: she’s smart, well-mannered, athletic, all the guys are heads over heels about her and the girls are extremely jealous of her beauty. She’s also rich and sexy with a pair of finely-tuned breasts to boot. And to top it all off, her good fortune prevents her from dying of sickness, helps her get the upper hand in chaotic situations, and she could win the lottery if she wanted to. But with all the blessings bestowed upon her, Ichiko is very conceited, manipulative, talks behind people’s backs, and she doesn’t care what happens to them as long as she’s happy. Unfortunately, Ichiko’s fortune is abnormally high and she’s unconsciously sucking up the fortunes of everyone around her. If left unchecked, misfortune will befall on everyone, leading to sickness, famine, poverty, and even death. Momiji, a goddess of misfortune has been sent to Earth to balance the flow of fortune by extracting the excess fortune from Ichiko and return it to everyone. Unfortunately for Momiji, Ichiko isn’t giving up her good fortune without a fight.

The story may sound super serious and, indeed, there are some sad moments but overall, Binbougami ga! is a comedy anime with lots of Japanese pop culture and anime references, and Momiji getting under Ichiko’s skin with her constant plans to make her life a living hell. At its core, Binbougami ga! and Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san share the same premise and theme of the usual supernatural beings living with humans routine and both shows, for the most part, are all gags and slapstick humor. You either laugh or laugh your ass off watching these shows.

Mankind has been polluting the seas for far too long! The creatures of the deep have had enough of the garbage and toxic chemicals spilling over their reefs and into their deep-sea communities and one sea creature has taken up the challenge of swimming up to the surface and punishing these filthy apes once and for all! Invade, Squid Girl!

However, things don’t go as planned because the people at a nearby restaurant don’t consider Squid Girl an intimidating sea monster. Rather, people see her as a young girl cosplaying on the beach. And Squid Girl is such a good-natured, well, squid girl, that she ended up helping the folks at the beach by serving food, using her ink as a sauce for dishes, and doing chores like cleaning. Did Squid Girl admit defeat? or is part of her plan to learn about human society and when the time is right, exploit their flaws and achieve total domination? One thing is for sure: Squid Girl isn’t squidding around!

In Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san, Akari and her best friend Hinata easily and casually accept the fact that Sophie and Ellie are vampires, which is quite unexpected considering vampires are one of the most feared creatures of the night. And actually, modern vampires are living in society like normal people and there is no longer a need to hunt for humans because blood can easily be purchased online. Squid Girl doesn’t try to hide that she’s a resident from the deep and she flaunts her unusual abilities like being able to swim at superhuman speeds, breathing underwater, shooting ink, and using her hair as appendages to hold on to things. Some people find Squid Girl strange but eventually, the frequent beachgoers recognize the supposed invader and subjugator as part of the community. It’s easy to see that Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san will eventually follow this route and we may perhaps see it soon because even Akari’s classmates didn’t freak out when Sophie admitted she’s a vampire.

Dragons are powerful, gigantic creatures that breathe fire and the biggest obstacle for gallant knights trying to save the captive princesses in castles or damp caves. But in the world of Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon, dragons can take on human form and live among humans as a maid, a buddy during long gaming sessions, or an artist in doujinshi conventions. On one of her drunken nightly escapades, a computer programmer named Kobayashi stumbles upon an injured dragon in the woods and with half of her brain sedated due to the booze, Kobayashi helps the dragon with its injuries. With nowhere to go, Kobayashi—while still in her drunken asks the dragon to stay at her place as a maid. The next morning, bam! the dragon appears at Kobayashi’s doorstep. Seeing that it’s too large to fit in the apartment, the dragon transforms into a more familiar human form and introduces herself as Tooru—and states that she’ll be working as Kobayashi’s new maid. Kobayashi’s dragon maid.

Cute, funny, and sometimes touching, Maid Dragon nails the supernatural beings living with humans theme of Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san. Heck, the character stereotypes are quite similar: Both Kobayashi and Sophie are the token straight-faced deadpan characters, whereas Tooru and Akari are energetic, weird, and lesbian-centric types. Yeah, and, well, Akari isn’t as pervy as Tooru, but both do a lot of things that make their partners feel uncomfortable. Akari might not try to cook her tail or concoct a love potion to seduce Sophie, but she is still willing to have her blood sucked. Assuming that’s something Sophie would want.

Gabriel Tenma White is a top student in heaven and before she becomes a full-fledged angel, Gabriel must descend down to Earth and help out the humans and live among them. Gabriel is very diligent of her work on Earth until she eats the forbidden fruit: video games. Addicted to Earthly desires like paying for microtransactions in online games, Gabriel has become a shut-in who cares about nothing else but being glued in front of the screen for days. Will the self-proclaimed “Fallen Angel” continue to eat the forbidden fruit or will Gabriel snap out of it and become the best angel she hoped to become?

Watching Gabriel DropOut feels like it’s part of the same world as Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san because they’re so very similar—It has everything Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san has, from cute supernatural characters, colorful art style, and animation, to an all-female main cast, funny stories revolving around the characters supernatural abilities and upbringing, and the main characters Gabriel and Sophie share a deadpan demeanor and are otaku in some way. Sophie is more mature and dependant in a sense that she spends her time in front of the computer either following book authors she likes, ordering jars of blood, and maybe perhaps checking the stock market because, you know, Sophie has to earn money that will last her a lifetime. Gabriel, on the other hand, is a slob after tasting the forbidden fruit called video games and becoming a gaming whale (someone who spends a lot on microtransactions). She got so addicted to video games that Gabriel turned from a dependable clean freak angel helping humans with their daily problems to an antisocial girl who locks herself in her room playing video games all day long with the accompanying shut-in personality. While the two have different lifestyles, Sophie and Gabriel are so locked into their daily routine that doing anything else will be just a pain in the butt.

Gabriel isn’t the only angel to have descended from Heaven so along the way, she meets a few other angels living among humans and we also get to see demons ascended from Hell who, apparently, are more good-natured than the angels. The cast of supernatural beings in Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san pales in comparison to Gabriel DropOut, but the two still share a cast of supporting characters that are not human. Ellie (aka Elizabeth Bathory) is currently Sophie’s only vampire friend and is adjusting to life in the modern world (i.e. how to use modern appliances and not attack people at night for their blood). In Gabriel DropOut, we have the demons like the easily-fooled Satanichia and very responsible Vignette, and the sadistic angel Raphiel who loves to tease the gullible demon Satanichia.