Review written by; Josh Rushinock
As reviewers, there should always be a system in place, even if it's just put in place by you and you alone, that prevents bias from coloring the experience of the media. Sometimes you'll be forced to take an in depth look into something you wouldn't normally review, and, when you do that, you should at the very least be able to understand the media enough to take an objective standpoint. Opinion isn't always the same thing as constructive criticism. Sometimes when you disagree with content of whatever it is you're putting your attention into, you have to take about five steps back and really see it from another person's perspective.
Luckily for me, this writing staff and this site has always put a strong emphasis on opinion, and opinion shouldn't simply be dismissed out of hand, either. If something makes you extremely uncomfortable, for example, something should be said. If something makes you so uncomfortable that you feel you absolutely need to talk about it... well, that isn't bias. That's self-preservation, and a self-given insistence to defend all that a person might thing is right in the world.... and for me, My Little Monster was an experience I simply could not look past without throwing in my two cents in, even if some of the issues that are dealt with in this anime are a little past my depth.
Be forewarned, this review is going to contain talk about very sensitive material, mostly revolving around all forms of abuse. Do not click on that read more button unless you are mentally ready to walk into such a conversation.
And remember:
Luckily for me, this writing staff and this site has always put a strong emphasis on opinion, and opinion shouldn't simply be dismissed out of hand, either. If something makes you extremely uncomfortable, for example, something should be said. If something makes you so uncomfortable that you feel you absolutely need to talk about it... well, that isn't bias. That's self-preservation, and a self-given insistence to defend all that a person might thing is right in the world.... and for me, My Little Monster was an experience I simply could not look past without throwing in my two cents in, even if some of the issues that are dealt with in this anime are a little past my depth.
Be forewarned, this review is going to contain talk about very sensitive material, mostly revolving around all forms of abuse. Do not click on that read more button unless you are mentally ready to walk into such a conversation.
And remember:
*Sigh.*
Alright, we’ve a lot of ground to cover if we’re going to cover this show. Even though it’s a short series, clocking in at about thirteen episodes in total, it has a rather dense atmosphere that causes the full explanation of what happens from episode to episode to be a bit difficult. Really, each episode is dense, as dense as I’ve seen for a twenty minute anime. When I started the series, I’d thought each episode was clocking in at about fifty minutes, just out of sheer volume at which the show moves. It’s not frantic, but it most certainly is plot heavy for a slice of life anime.
Finding a place to begin, beyond just the first title crawl, is going to be difficult. So I’m just going to reach into my mind and pull at the first lingering issue I have that this show brought up, and go from there.
Alright, we’ve a lot of ground to cover if we’re going to cover this show. Even though it’s a short series, clocking in at about thirteen episodes in total, it has a rather dense atmosphere that causes the full explanation of what happens from episode to episode to be a bit difficult. Really, each episode is dense, as dense as I’ve seen for a twenty minute anime. When I started the series, I’d thought each episode was clocking in at about fifty minutes, just out of sheer volume at which the show moves. It’s not frantic, but it most certainly is plot heavy for a slice of life anime.
Finding a place to begin, beyond just the first title crawl, is going to be difficult. So I’m just going to reach into my mind and pull at the first lingering issue I have that this show brought up, and go from there.
NO, NO NO NO! STOP! NOT THAT! AT LEAST, NOT YET! WE’LL GET TO THAT SOON ENOUGH!
GOD.
Alright, a wise man once said that if you’re going to be covering something you passionately have issues with, you should highlight what you like about it beforehand. Let’s start with a bit of that.
My Little Monster is a series based of a Japanese Manga with a similar name, (Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, or ’The Monster Sitting Beside Me’) and focuses on specifically the first two years of the main characters, Shizuku Mizutani and Haru Yoshida, and their rather random grouping of friends and allies as they traverse high school, and more specifically the main character’s complicated personal quarks and anti-social attitudes through a romance established from the very beginning of the series.
Shizuku Mizutani is our main protagonist, a rather sheltered and study-focused girl with a large IQ but an extensive wish to avoid familiar human contact, citing most relationships in her life beyond immediate family as a waste of time. Her life is a series of numbers and word problems that she navigates through with pure logic and high-scoring intellect. Her dreams are focused in a Calculus book, and she ignores the world beyond said book. This is all upset, however, when brash young Haru Yoshida enters her life, the boy who sat beside her in class and hasn’t come to school since he beat a boy very nearly to death on their first day. As fate would have it, she would find herself delivering assignments and, inevitably, convincing Haru to return school, despite his near obsession with her. But we’ll get to that shortly.
The romance between the two characters is hinted at and even acted upon in the first episode, and, while I originally thought that was likely to be a failing of the show, it quickly turns that into a strength. Or, at least, for parts of the story. My Little Monster opts to complicate the protagonists' relationships by adding personal lives to two very sheltered and anti-social characters, introducing characters to serve as anchors in the story and representations of social progress, and to its credit, it works. Each character crashes into the two to create havoc amongst the plot and thus further frustrate the main characters, pushing them beyond their social expertise, and it’s a partially refreshing formula to the usual inept system of meet, fall in love, argument, misunderstanding, break-up, make-up, happily-ever-after. Its dialogue and pace is, mostly, handled with care and allows the angst to come from the worries of Haru and Shizuku as they come out of their shells, and the main support cast does an excellent job of both ringing in the plot when needed and complicating it when the time comes.
GOD.
Alright, a wise man once said that if you’re going to be covering something you passionately have issues with, you should highlight what you like about it beforehand. Let’s start with a bit of that.
My Little Monster is a series based of a Japanese Manga with a similar name, (Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, or ’The Monster Sitting Beside Me’) and focuses on specifically the first two years of the main characters, Shizuku Mizutani and Haru Yoshida, and their rather random grouping of friends and allies as they traverse high school, and more specifically the main character’s complicated personal quarks and anti-social attitudes through a romance established from the very beginning of the series.
Shizuku Mizutani is our main protagonist, a rather sheltered and study-focused girl with a large IQ but an extensive wish to avoid familiar human contact, citing most relationships in her life beyond immediate family as a waste of time. Her life is a series of numbers and word problems that she navigates through with pure logic and high-scoring intellect. Her dreams are focused in a Calculus book, and she ignores the world beyond said book. This is all upset, however, when brash young Haru Yoshida enters her life, the boy who sat beside her in class and hasn’t come to school since he beat a boy very nearly to death on their first day. As fate would have it, she would find herself delivering assignments and, inevitably, convincing Haru to return school, despite his near obsession with her. But we’ll get to that shortly.
The romance between the two characters is hinted at and even acted upon in the first episode, and, while I originally thought that was likely to be a failing of the show, it quickly turns that into a strength. Or, at least, for parts of the story. My Little Monster opts to complicate the protagonists' relationships by adding personal lives to two very sheltered and anti-social characters, introducing characters to serve as anchors in the story and representations of social progress, and to its credit, it works. Each character crashes into the two to create havoc amongst the plot and thus further frustrate the main characters, pushing them beyond their social expertise, and it’s a partially refreshing formula to the usual inept system of meet, fall in love, argument, misunderstanding, break-up, make-up, happily-ever-after. Its dialogue and pace is, mostly, handled with care and allows the angst to come from the worries of Haru and Shizuku as they come out of their shells, and the main support cast does an excellent job of both ringing in the plot when needed and complicating it when the time comes.
Immediately, however, there is a rather large issue to be dealt with. While Shikuku is an introvert, Haru is on a spectrum of his own. He’s naturally violent toward anyone and everyone, he has no social skills whatsoever, he is air-headed and seems to have no real realization for his own mistakes or the issues around him beyond a loud and obnoxious nature. This is highlighted in a major way fairly early by the sheer gal of the blood spatter of an upperclassman stuck to the walls of the academy, done by him before the show even starts, and we’re lead to believe he merely needs help to fit in. As the show goes on and it reaches its strongest storyline points, you begin to see that he is far more aware of his surroundings and others feelings than the show's beginning would ever let on, and he almost seems genuine in all his attempts and advances in love toward Shikuku.
Almost.
Remember that picture I used at the start of the review? That’s a direct screenshot from the first episode. It is merely one of a great, great number of signs that Haru may be far more out of control than the show gives him credit for. He is treated as a sweet if brash and violent man with a passion for living and loving and always wanting to improve, yet he is shown just in the first episode as a completely unsafe human being for anyone to be around and has no intention of changing that portion of his personality. He picks fights for the fun of it, he threatens with unwanted sexual advances and worse, as is the case above, he shows no signs of holding back when threatened by a man or woman, and he even flashes the class at one point.
To top all of this off, at one point after a fit of rage where Haru hurt Shizuku, albeit accidentally, it was she who apologized to him for getting angry while he never bothers to return the favor. This is an incredibly, incredibly disturbing trend of abuse in their relationship and makes just the first few episodes a tough watch for anyone with even a slight understanding of abuse. In my first viewing I was of the belief that there had to be a supernatural element at work for any of this to be as redeemable as the show played it off to me, but that portion never came.
I’m certainly not an expert on domestic violence, and being male I certainly should not be qualified to talk about rape culture, but the first two or three episodes show such signs of violence from the boy we’re supposed to be liking that I found it altogether disturbing, and, if it were not mentioned and chastised in this review, I would be as ashamed of myself as the creators of this show should be. But sadly, Japanese culture has always had a bit of a turn on the treatment of relationships in their society. A lag, you could call it, so it may be that the creators aren’t even aware these are disturbing trends. That, however, just serves to disturb me further. For further thoughts on this beyond the ramblings I’ll have in this review from those more qualified to speak on these issues, I’d suggest this and this as good reads.
This is not a subject I’m prepared to drop, but, as a reviewer, I need to at least take a step back from my initial horror and pay the rest of the show its proper attention, so expect this to be revisited later. In the meantime, let’s take a look at how the plot advances and what our supporting characters bring to the show.
Almost.
Remember that picture I used at the start of the review? That’s a direct screenshot from the first episode. It is merely one of a great, great number of signs that Haru may be far more out of control than the show gives him credit for. He is treated as a sweet if brash and violent man with a passion for living and loving and always wanting to improve, yet he is shown just in the first episode as a completely unsafe human being for anyone to be around and has no intention of changing that portion of his personality. He picks fights for the fun of it, he threatens with unwanted sexual advances and worse, as is the case above, he shows no signs of holding back when threatened by a man or woman, and he even flashes the class at one point.
To top all of this off, at one point after a fit of rage where Haru hurt Shizuku, albeit accidentally, it was she who apologized to him for getting angry while he never bothers to return the favor. This is an incredibly, incredibly disturbing trend of abuse in their relationship and makes just the first few episodes a tough watch for anyone with even a slight understanding of abuse. In my first viewing I was of the belief that there had to be a supernatural element at work for any of this to be as redeemable as the show played it off to me, but that portion never came.
I’m certainly not an expert on domestic violence, and being male I certainly should not be qualified to talk about rape culture, but the first two or three episodes show such signs of violence from the boy we’re supposed to be liking that I found it altogether disturbing, and, if it were not mentioned and chastised in this review, I would be as ashamed of myself as the creators of this show should be. But sadly, Japanese culture has always had a bit of a turn on the treatment of relationships in their society. A lag, you could call it, so it may be that the creators aren’t even aware these are disturbing trends. That, however, just serves to disturb me further. For further thoughts on this beyond the ramblings I’ll have in this review from those more qualified to speak on these issues, I’d suggest this and this as good reads.
This is not a subject I’m prepared to drop, but, as a reviewer, I need to at least take a step back from my initial horror and pay the rest of the show its proper attention, so expect this to be revisited later. In the meantime, let’s take a look at how the plot advances and what our supporting characters bring to the show.
The supporting cast begins to trickle in within the confines of the first three episodes, with the first being our four bullies, who are made to be antagonists in the first episode but slowly re-join the group as the show progresses as an apology. These characters play little role in the story, but Kenji Yamaguchi, the group's blonde-haired leader, should especially be noted for later episodes. In the meantime, the bulk of this group’s existence is for there to be characters in the main cast to salivate over Asako Natsume.
Natsume is the first character beyond our protagonists to garner substantial background. Her wish to find friends that do not judge her beyond her looks and habit of drawing in almost completely male friends becomes a substantial plot element, as does the online community where she spends most of her time. At the start of her story arch, she seems easily upset and rather shallow, but her's is likely the best built character story in the show, going from being afraid to get near any male to finding her place within the group and being comfortable with it due to her closeness with Shizuku who, while still distant, learns from Natsume.
Learning from each other is a key element to this show, and because of that, a character that is central and non-shifting is needed. Sōhei Sasahara, otherwise known as Sasayan, is that character for this show. A softball player with talent and a lot of friends, it is hinted at that he has a very strong past connection to Haru, but otherwise he serves as a force of aligning, assuring the group as a whole stays tight knit rather than focusing on the budding relationship of Haru and Mizutani. It is his interventions that allow each member of the cast to make decisions such as Natsume stepping up to offer help to the rather distant Shizuku, convincing Haru to forgive his old friends and assuring that he stays out of trouble, all while serving as an outlier for the group while bringing his own teammates in as well. He seems an unimportant character, but that's far from the truth. He’s the mastermind that keeps this insane circus moving.
Later, two different key characters join the cast under specific circumstances. The first, Chizuru Ōshima, is a girl that was protected by Haru after an incident where he ended up in another fight. Haru had been making great strides to improve his standing with the rest of his old school, however, upon finding this school representative being bullied by an upper class-men, he beat them nearly senseless, and only stopped just with enough time to pull back from killing him. This caused Chizuruto to gain feelings for the man who saved her. Her presence from there on becomes one of a lesser rival to their relationship, though it’s never a forced issue nor does it harm the initial relationship the show presents. It’s presented in a way that protects her as a character and is more a side story of her own feelings and how she still becomes an honorary member of the group despite them. The calm and controlled way in which she gives up her wishes in order to help Haru makes her an endearing addition, and, if not, then at the very least a harmless one.
Late in the series, however, the main story gains a fourth angle to this growing love… square, I suppose? I must investigate the proper term for a four-way romantic entanglement further. Either way, the bland-haired leader of the bullies, Kenji Yamaguchi, becomes a central part of the plot and the one thing holding the two back from getting together. In order to understand how this harms the show beyond what its own writing already does, however, the actual plot of the relationship needs a once-over.
Natsume is the first character beyond our protagonists to garner substantial background. Her wish to find friends that do not judge her beyond her looks and habit of drawing in almost completely male friends becomes a substantial plot element, as does the online community where she spends most of her time. At the start of her story arch, she seems easily upset and rather shallow, but her's is likely the best built character story in the show, going from being afraid to get near any male to finding her place within the group and being comfortable with it due to her closeness with Shizuku who, while still distant, learns from Natsume.
Learning from each other is a key element to this show, and because of that, a character that is central and non-shifting is needed. Sōhei Sasahara, otherwise known as Sasayan, is that character for this show. A softball player with talent and a lot of friends, it is hinted at that he has a very strong past connection to Haru, but otherwise he serves as a force of aligning, assuring the group as a whole stays tight knit rather than focusing on the budding relationship of Haru and Mizutani. It is his interventions that allow each member of the cast to make decisions such as Natsume stepping up to offer help to the rather distant Shizuku, convincing Haru to forgive his old friends and assuring that he stays out of trouble, all while serving as an outlier for the group while bringing his own teammates in as well. He seems an unimportant character, but that's far from the truth. He’s the mastermind that keeps this insane circus moving.
Later, two different key characters join the cast under specific circumstances. The first, Chizuru Ōshima, is a girl that was protected by Haru after an incident where he ended up in another fight. Haru had been making great strides to improve his standing with the rest of his old school, however, upon finding this school representative being bullied by an upper class-men, he beat them nearly senseless, and only stopped just with enough time to pull back from killing him. This caused Chizuruto to gain feelings for the man who saved her. Her presence from there on becomes one of a lesser rival to their relationship, though it’s never a forced issue nor does it harm the initial relationship the show presents. It’s presented in a way that protects her as a character and is more a side story of her own feelings and how she still becomes an honorary member of the group despite them. The calm and controlled way in which she gives up her wishes in order to help Haru makes her an endearing addition, and, if not, then at the very least a harmless one.
Late in the series, however, the main story gains a fourth angle to this growing love… square, I suppose? I must investigate the proper term for a four-way romantic entanglement further. Either way, the bland-haired leader of the bullies, Kenji Yamaguchi, becomes a central part of the plot and the one thing holding the two back from getting together. In order to understand how this harms the show beyond what its own writing already does, however, the actual plot of the relationship needs a once-over.
The strongest and weakest point of this show is its two main characters and their romance. If you can get past the issues present and enjoy both characters, then you’re probably going to like this no matter what, but even if you are amongst those people, the structure of the show suffers from one grueling problem: It beats around the bush for far too long, so much so that it’s at least three episodes too long.
In the very first episode, you get an admission of love and a kiss, and that generally isn’t a good sign. From there, however, a combination of the characters' own faults and stalling tactics by the writers causes the romance to battle back and forth, between Haru’s initial declaration of love to his fears of being involved after Mizutani expresses her love, rinse and repeat several times over. The only things keeping them apart throughout the show, in theory, are the character pieces and friends they meet along the way, and that is both something that works in favor for the show, and against it.
Within the first five episodes, we delve a bit into each character's past, specifically Haru’s expulsion from his family and how that created his violent nature, and how going home is no longer an option, as his own brother pointed out. This, however, goes to prove that Mitzutani was the reason he’d come back to school and was slowly socially improving upon his own skills… supposedly. Meanwhile, Mitzutani has a small backstory that focuses upon her mother’s absence throughout her life and how she was raised by her Dad, who has time and time again started shops and then saw them fall under its own mismanagement. These issues are brought up throughout the show, mostly to show previous mindsets and to both divide and bring together the two when the plot called for it.
As these feelings are thrown back and forth like a volleyball, it spins out of control when Mitzutani refuses to even allow herself to admit she has feelings for her one-time (and basically still) stalker. This is the final piece pulled from the toppling Jenga puzzle. While these issues begin to come to a head and are seemingly solved over time, an agreement is made for her to focus on her studies and them to take a certain amount of time until they make their decision, knowing that they would keep butting heads while she tried to focus on both him and studying and that he would have trouble holding back without an answer. Around episode nine is where the show, however, reached a point of no-return.
In the very first episode, you get an admission of love and a kiss, and that generally isn’t a good sign. From there, however, a combination of the characters' own faults and stalling tactics by the writers causes the romance to battle back and forth, between Haru’s initial declaration of love to his fears of being involved after Mizutani expresses her love, rinse and repeat several times over. The only things keeping them apart throughout the show, in theory, are the character pieces and friends they meet along the way, and that is both something that works in favor for the show, and against it.
Within the first five episodes, we delve a bit into each character's past, specifically Haru’s expulsion from his family and how that created his violent nature, and how going home is no longer an option, as his own brother pointed out. This, however, goes to prove that Mitzutani was the reason he’d come back to school and was slowly socially improving upon his own skills… supposedly. Meanwhile, Mitzutani has a small backstory that focuses upon her mother’s absence throughout her life and how she was raised by her Dad, who has time and time again started shops and then saw them fall under its own mismanagement. These issues are brought up throughout the show, mostly to show previous mindsets and to both divide and bring together the two when the plot called for it.
As these feelings are thrown back and forth like a volleyball, it spins out of control when Mitzutani refuses to even allow herself to admit she has feelings for her one-time (and basically still) stalker. This is the final piece pulled from the toppling Jenga puzzle. While these issues begin to come to a head and are seemingly solved over time, an agreement is made for her to focus on her studies and them to take a certain amount of time until they make their decision, knowing that they would keep butting heads while she tried to focus on both him and studying and that he would have trouble holding back without an answer. Around episode nine is where the show, however, reached a point of no-return.
There are three giant problems with this show’s plot, and, while I’m certain at least one was solved in the manga, this is a review on a piece of media in its current state, no different from giving leeway whilst reviewing a superhero movie or an adaptation of a contemporary play. It needs to stand on its own and stand strong.
This does not.
The first few episodes are a gigantic hurtle, the first specifically being incredibly uncomfortable to sit through at times. The awkward and unfortunate way they establish Mizutani’s ‘fixing’ of Haru is by overpowering you with how bad he was, rather than giving us cause to believe more than her presence will make him better. It makes you worry for one protagonist and worry about the other.
I will, however, openly admit to enjoying the four-through-eight episode gap in between. This was where the antics of the show was downplayed, or at least to a certain extent, and they could at least cover up the blatant issues with strong dialogue and great moments, mostly by keeping the plot moving with both the romantic aspects and the group growing around them. It’s most assuredly not perfect, and Haru’s issues are still present and absolutely terrifying, but it had a good footing for something that worked, to a certain extent. It was no masterpiece, but it was enjoyable. Four episodes being solid out of thirteen, and, still most importantly, the underlying theme being what it is, that is still not a glowing approval as much as it is an acknowledgement of what little did work throughout.
The last four episodes, however, from an episodic point of view, killed it for me beyond my own obvious worries. In said episodes, Kenji becomes enamored with feelings for Mitzutani, and, while the two go to a prep school, Haru’s general attitude and care-not treatment of Mitzutani grows to disturbing levels, stalking her once more and threatening physical harm against Kenji, all while starting his unwanted sexual advances once again, showing that at the smallest sign of not being in his obsession's life he regresses to the terrifying creature he was beforehand. Kenji, to top it off, is a distant and utterly unlikable character with a holier-than-thou attitude and a bearing on the plot that lacked any of the subtlety of how the third wheel was dealt with earlier in the show. This becomes the entire plot, aside from one last, small push from the side characters at the end that amounts to little on-screen time.
Worst yet, it’s an unfinished product. One has to assume they thought they had a second season assured, because the ending of the series is a giant cliffhanger that leaves many unanswered questions and no true wrap-up beyond mirroring the show’s start. This fact almost made me drop the review or create an addendum where I read the last issue of the manga, but any season should rightfully stand on its own and have a clearly thought out finish that amps up the series, just in case, especially in anime where in most cases nothing gets picked up past season one because of the sheer number of shows running in prime time at any given time in Japan. That was not this.
As a love story, this is an old tale but in a bad way. The thought process of this relationship is one that hasn’t been acceptable in half a century and should not be praised in any way, shape, or form. These kind of stories need to be tweaked to work in the current format of the world and what we understand about the human condition, and this is almost blissfully unaware of the dangers of the way Haru and Mitzutani’s relationship is presented.
As a television series however, it’s a bit of a mess. I would assume it was cancelled in Japan, and that’s why it remains in this state, but even the majority of the show is either uncomfortable or disappointing so there really is no excuse beyond faulty direction and an idea so insulting that it should have never been followed up on.
At the end of the day, however, this is a show of disturbing and downright frightening trends. It plays off the old-fashioned 'You’re a brute, but I can fix you’ themes while never showing said brute ever truly moving on, instead opting to consider it an adorable quirk, and that is purely unacceptable. The entire tone of the show so revolving around Haru being harmless and his violence being cute character traits is nauseating to the point of pure worry. Repackaged, his entire story arc could easily stand as a terrifying horror anime of a man chasing an unknowing woman who is tricked into a relationship with a mad man.
Poorly planned out, suffering from a poor start and a poor ending, and above all else wrong in its representation of the main relationship to a point of encouraging abusive relationships if there is a chance to 'fix’ someone, My Little Monster is both a testament of the difference between our's and Japan's cultural level of evolution, and yet a failure still for it’s themes and lack of direction.
Rating: Burn it. Or just continue to ignore it on your Neflix feed.
This does not.
The first few episodes are a gigantic hurtle, the first specifically being incredibly uncomfortable to sit through at times. The awkward and unfortunate way they establish Mizutani’s ‘fixing’ of Haru is by overpowering you with how bad he was, rather than giving us cause to believe more than her presence will make him better. It makes you worry for one protagonist and worry about the other.
I will, however, openly admit to enjoying the four-through-eight episode gap in between. This was where the antics of the show was downplayed, or at least to a certain extent, and they could at least cover up the blatant issues with strong dialogue and great moments, mostly by keeping the plot moving with both the romantic aspects and the group growing around them. It’s most assuredly not perfect, and Haru’s issues are still present and absolutely terrifying, but it had a good footing for something that worked, to a certain extent. It was no masterpiece, but it was enjoyable. Four episodes being solid out of thirteen, and, still most importantly, the underlying theme being what it is, that is still not a glowing approval as much as it is an acknowledgement of what little did work throughout.
The last four episodes, however, from an episodic point of view, killed it for me beyond my own obvious worries. In said episodes, Kenji becomes enamored with feelings for Mitzutani, and, while the two go to a prep school, Haru’s general attitude and care-not treatment of Mitzutani grows to disturbing levels, stalking her once more and threatening physical harm against Kenji, all while starting his unwanted sexual advances once again, showing that at the smallest sign of not being in his obsession's life he regresses to the terrifying creature he was beforehand. Kenji, to top it off, is a distant and utterly unlikable character with a holier-than-thou attitude and a bearing on the plot that lacked any of the subtlety of how the third wheel was dealt with earlier in the show. This becomes the entire plot, aside from one last, small push from the side characters at the end that amounts to little on-screen time.
Worst yet, it’s an unfinished product. One has to assume they thought they had a second season assured, because the ending of the series is a giant cliffhanger that leaves many unanswered questions and no true wrap-up beyond mirroring the show’s start. This fact almost made me drop the review or create an addendum where I read the last issue of the manga, but any season should rightfully stand on its own and have a clearly thought out finish that amps up the series, just in case, especially in anime where in most cases nothing gets picked up past season one because of the sheer number of shows running in prime time at any given time in Japan. That was not this.
As a love story, this is an old tale but in a bad way. The thought process of this relationship is one that hasn’t been acceptable in half a century and should not be praised in any way, shape, or form. These kind of stories need to be tweaked to work in the current format of the world and what we understand about the human condition, and this is almost blissfully unaware of the dangers of the way Haru and Mitzutani’s relationship is presented.
As a television series however, it’s a bit of a mess. I would assume it was cancelled in Japan, and that’s why it remains in this state, but even the majority of the show is either uncomfortable or disappointing so there really is no excuse beyond faulty direction and an idea so insulting that it should have never been followed up on.
At the end of the day, however, this is a show of disturbing and downright frightening trends. It plays off the old-fashioned 'You’re a brute, but I can fix you’ themes while never showing said brute ever truly moving on, instead opting to consider it an adorable quirk, and that is purely unacceptable. The entire tone of the show so revolving around Haru being harmless and his violence being cute character traits is nauseating to the point of pure worry. Repackaged, his entire story arc could easily stand as a terrifying horror anime of a man chasing an unknowing woman who is tricked into a relationship with a mad man.
Poorly planned out, suffering from a poor start and a poor ending, and above all else wrong in its representation of the main relationship to a point of encouraging abusive relationships if there is a chance to 'fix’ someone, My Little Monster is both a testament of the difference between our's and Japan's cultural level of evolution, and yet a failure still for it’s themes and lack of direction.
Rating: Burn it. Or just continue to ignore it on your Neflix feed.
