My Little Monster

My Little Monster (となりの怪物くん) is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Robico about the relationship between a girl named Shizuku Mizutani and a boy named Haru Yoshida. It was serialized in Kodansha's Dessert magazine from August 23, 2008, to June 24, 2013. An anime adaptation by Brain's Base aired from October 2 to December 25, 2012. It was licensed by Crunchyroll during the original run.

Plot

My Little Monster focuses on the relationship between Shizuku Mizutani, who has absolutely no interests except in studying and her plans for the future, and a boy named Haru Yoshida, who sits next to Shizuku in class but rarely attends school. After Shizuku is tasked with delivering class printouts to Haru's home, she meets Haru, who immediately greets her as a friend, starting their new relationship. Nicknamed "dry ice," Shizuku is renowned as a girl who is emotionless and cold. However, when she meets Haru she is touched by his innocence and his lack of knowledge concerning human relationships. Though known as a violent and uncontrollable monster, Haru is actually kind and gentle. Haru immediately declares his love towards Shizuku, but it takes much longer for Shizuku to realize and accept her own feelings towards Haru. Together, as two previously antisocial beings, they help each other learn how to care for one another and relate with their friends and family.

Characters

Supporting characters

Misawa Mitsuyoshi (三沢満善)

(drama CD), Tomoyuki Higuchi (anime)

Played by: Mocomichi Hayami[2]

Haru's cousin, nicknamed "Mitchan" (みっちゃん), who runs a batting cage center. He looks after Haru since his place is near Haru's school. He often comforts and encourages Asako about her situations, but when Asako develops a crush on him, he turns down her confession because of their difference in age. Haru notes that Mitchan can be clueless about relationships sometimes as he once did not realize his girlfriend had dumped him until six months later. He is always wearing sunglasses; the one time he did not, he had scared Haru because his eyes resembled Haru's father's. Mitchan's late mother, Kyoko (京子), was a scientific researcher who had taken in Haru during his junior high school years.

Yamaguchi Kenji (山口賢二)

(drama CD), Takuma Terashima (anime)

Played by: Yuki Yamada[2]

Haru's acquaintance, nicknamed "Yamaken" (やまけん) by his friends. He used to bother Haru for money until Shizuku stopped him, although it is later revealed that he comes from a wealthy family. He attends the same cram school as Shizuku, and gives her helpful advice on her relationship with Haru. However, over the course of the series, he is bothered that he is increasingly attracted to Shizuku and inadvertently competing against Haru for her affections. He eventually confesses to Shizuku, but is turned down, with Haru and Shizuku soon declaring they are a couple, though Shizuku and Yamaken remain friends. Besides his constant denial that he has a romantic interest in Shizuku, Yamaken is the subject of recurring gags of having a poor sense of direction and also fleeing on sight from Yuzan because he was beaten by him whenever he tried to bully Haru. He first met Haru in elementary school where Haru would best him both in academics and in sports. He attends an all-boys high school and hangs out with three guys who openly fawn over Asako Natsume, call Shizuku "Nerd Queen", and also like Chizuru. The three guys are named in volume 3: Tomio (トミオ) (Ryuji Tomioka (富岡竜二)) who has light spiky hair; Ma-Bo (マーボ) (Masahiro Ayanokoji (綾小路昌弘)) who has dark somewhat spiky hair and wears a baseball cap; and George (ジョージ) (Issei Jojima (城島壱成)) who has straight hair and wears glasses. They are later revealed to come from high society backgrounds like Yamaken.

Natsume Asako (夏目あさ子)

(drama CD), Atsumi Tanezaki (anime)

Played by: Elaiza Ikeda[2]

Asako is Shizuku and Haru's classmate. Before meeting Shizuku and Haru, she did not have any friends except for some people from an online community. She initially asks Shizuku to help her study for a make-up exam and so she can attend a real-life meeting with that community; however, the meeting turns out to be a disappointment as only the guys wanted to talk with her, so she unsubscribes from it and joins a new online blog group. She treasures her friendship with "Mitty" (Shizuku), and gets depressed whenever Shizuku turns down her interactions with her. She develops a crush on Mitchan because he often comforts her. She recalls that in her second year in middle school, she had turned down the boys' confessions 42 times in 5 days and was thus hated by her female classmates for stealing their crushes. She feels safe around Haru because he has Shizuku, and around Sasayan because he doesn't fawn over her like the other boys. After Mitchan turns down her initial confession, Asako vows to keep trying to win his heart, until Mitchan turns her down for good. She later spends more time talking with Sasayan but is bothered by his candid observations of her behavior and when he later mentions that he has grown to like her too.

Sasahara Sōhei (佐々原宗平)

(drama CD), Ryōta Ōsaka (anime)

Played by: Gaku Sano[2]

Shizuku and Haru's classmate is a popular boy in the baseball club who goes by the nickname "Sasayan" (ササヤン). He cares about Haru, and does not want a repeat of what happened in middle school where Haru stopped coming to school. He can be especially blunt when it comes to his friends, such as giving Asako truthful but harsh advice about falling in love with Mitchan, and opening Haru's eyes about Shizuku's true feelings. He later tells Asako that he likes her. He had been interested in Asako since their first year in high school as he got to know her.

Yoshida Yūzan (吉田優山)

(drama CD), Yūichi Nakamura (anime)

Played by: Yuki Furukawa[2]

Haru's older brother, whom Haru seems to dislike and tries to avoid. At first, he tells Shizuku that he has come to take Haru home upon their father's request, but after seeing that Haru attends school because of Shizuku, he agrees to let him stay. Although he is popular with the ladies, he is shy and inexperienced with women and often is a bit terrified when they make advances on him. Haru and Yamaken often flee from him when they see him in the area. Yuzan and Haru's mother had divorced their father when they were young and then she later abandoned her children. Their father, Taizo Yoshida (吉田泰造), is a prominent politician notorious for womanizing and is currently remarried to a woman named Michiru (みちる). Yuzan and Haru returned to their father's family when Yuzan was around ten years old and Haru was seven. Unlike Haru, he decided to adapt to the Yoshida society lifestyle. Though he initially hoped to create a place where he and Haru could belong, he began to resent how he was ignored in favour of Haru, who was unable to adjust to their father's household. Throughout the series he tries to interact with Shizuku, and give his advice about relationships. In the final volume's bonus story, he goes on a date with Iyo, which is cut short by Yamaken. Yuzan later also decides to pursue a future in politics.

Ōshima Chizuru (大島千づる)

(drama CD), Kana Hanazawa (anime)

Played by: Minami Hamabe[2]

Chizuru is a glasses-wearing representative for the neighboring class 1-A. She was helped by Haru after he beat up an upperclassman who was bullying her. She is very shy, a little pessimistic and anxious. Even though she has a crush on Haru, she usually finds herself putting aside her own feelings to give him advice towards his relationship with Shizuku. Before starting high school, she was out sick for a week, and was unable to make friends when she came back, but many of the boys find her cute. She eventually confesses properly to Haru and is formally turned down. She and Haru are put in the same class for their second year of high school. In the final volume, she works as a student teacher, and is courted by Shizuku's little brother Takaya who has fallen in love with her.

Miyama Yū (宮間有)

(drama CD), Sayuri Yahagi (anime)

Yu is Chizuru's friend from middle school and helps Chizuru get closer to Haru. She is a petite girl (Yamaken's friends nickname her "Tiny") with a bob cut who attends Otowa Girls High. She had met her boyfriend Tokita (時田) in middle school when she was 15, and accepted his confession the day he was moving outside the area. They play online games like Monster Hunter together every day. They vow to go to the same college.

Takashi Mizutani (水谷隆司)

Shizuku's father is usually the one who is taking care of Shizuku and her brother Takaya ever since his wife began living away in order to work. He runs a shop but it has gone bankrupt six times, so his wife has had to work more in order to bail him out. He later gets a part-time job with another shop.

Takaya Mizutani (水谷隆也)

Shizuku's little brother who has the same serious disposition and is mostly quiet. His hobby is collecting pictures on the Internet. Shizuku would often let him go play with friends so he could be social. He also shares his love for sweets with Yuzan. He grows up to be fairly tall in high school. He falls in love with Chizuru in middle school and high school when she was working as a student teacher. Although he stops briefly when Chizuru mentioned she had a boyfriend, Takaya later confesses his love for her and claims he will not give up.

Yoshino Mizutani (水谷吉野)

Shizuku's mother lives apart from her family because of her work as the breadwinner of the family. Shizuku looks up to her as how she wants to be growing up, and would often give status reports of her academic progress in her talks with her. However, Shizuku often hesitates to talk to her mother out of fear that her personal issues are too trivial to bother her mother with. When Shizuku tells her that she likes a boy but doesn't know what to do about that and school, Yoshino encourages Shizuku to double her efforts so she can do both. She also appears briefly at Yuzan's birthday party, where she had fended off a pass from Taizo Yoshida.

Takuma Ando (安藤拓真)

(OAD)

The young Yoshida family butler and third secretary to Taizo Yoahida. He looks after Yuzan and starts following Haru, being involved in his life after the latter had visited the family prior to the start of Haru's second year. He tries to pick up girls for Yuzan and sometimes for himself. At Yuzan's birthday party, he tries to eat as much as he can. He doesn't like sweets, but is often forced to eat desserts by Yuzan, much to Ando's consternation. He later becomes the manager of Yuzan's political career.

Iyo Yamaguchi (山口伊代)

(drama CD)

Kenji's younger sister. She is a first-year student who attends Shizuku and Haru's school when the main group is starting their second year. She is tall, has short blond hair, and is fairly reserved. She is aware of her good looks and uses it to prove a point sometimes. She falls in love with Haru, immediately thinking of him as "cool" upon first meeting. Iyo refers to herself in third person. Robico's early notes describe Iyo as "an annoyingly cocky but shy girl who desperately wants attention." She also develops a crush on Yuzan, whom she calls her Moebius. In the bonus chapter at the end of the series, she goes on a date with Yuzan, but her brother drags her away and yells at her for her "terrible taste in men". However, she wishes for her and her brother to find love with someone who would not reject them.

type	tv series
director	Hiro Kaburaki
writer	Noboru Takagi
music	Masato Nakayama
studio	Brain's Base
network	TV Tokyo, TVO, TVh, TSC, TVA, TVQ
first	October 2, 2012
last	December 25, 2012
episodes	13 + OVA
episode list	List of My Little Monster episodes

Plot

Characters

Main characters

Supporting characters

Media

Manga

Volumes

Volumes

Anime

Live-action film

Works cited

Reception

External links

References