My Little Monster

My Little Monster surprised me a lot, because I started this series thinking it was just going to be short little anime to pass the time, but I got more than that. If you want the short answer before I go blabbing on, it was a good series and I do recommend people watch this! However there are a few things I'd like to touch on.

The characters were cute, and the style is what I'd expect from this anime. The series main focus seems to be romance, which is a reason I chose to watch My Little Monster, and I'd say the series definitely takes an interesting approach on romance. Watching this was like a rollercoaster, it's up and then it's down. We have one person confessing to the other, and they're shot down, and all the sudden it switches just like that. I appreciate this series emphasis on romance tolerance. It shows that love can still coexist where there is chaos or trouble between two people. I couldn't the amount of times I watched Haru do something completely idiotic, creepy, or just plain ignorant where in real life, I don't think I could handle that person. And yes, while Shizuku does snap at Haru when things become too much, she clearly is still in love with him throughout the entire series. Love prevails, is what I would say to describe My Little Monster.

I didn't particularly like the characters in terms of personalities. They were standard, though Haru stood out, not in a good way (too clingy and ignorant, but nice in the end). Shizuku is stubborn and thinks things can only go when way or another. I think the animes message is a very good one. The only place I think this series falls short is on the ending, and maybe the pacing. The ending was weak, and it was unmemorable. One of the most important things you need to assure that you leave a mark on people with a series like this, is the ending, and My Little Monster harshly failed to deliver in that aspect. Every time Haru and Shizuku met on that stairway, they confessed their love to one or the other, and in the final scene where they met on the stairs, they simply had a cute little interaction and watched a firefly fly away in the distance. That was it. No kiss, nothing interesting. The final episode seemed like a regular episode rather than an ending, and I was disappointed. Another thing was the pacing. The pacing in this anime was too fast. A lot of things happened just in 1 episode, and while that's not terrible and keeps viewers interested in the show, it makes for a somewhat un-explained product that seems rushed. All in the first episode, we went from a lonely girl who only cares about her grades, to a confession from Haru within 15min of the show just starting. And, she's not even against it either. Maybe that's how it's supposed to be, but the pacing was just too much for me.

Overall, it was a good anime. I'm aware the manga has 13 volumes while the series only finished at the 4th volume, so I may just pick this read up if I ever get bored.

Would I recommend this to a friend? Yes, however I would warn about the lukewarm story and unsatisfying ending first.