My Little Monster

nathandouglasdavis Oct 16, 2020

6

It tries to create the impression of relationship progress, but it just feels like they keep arriving at the same epiphanies and retreading the same ground over and over again. The main couple literally has multiple confession scenes. They reaffirm and restate the same things they appreciate about each other. Especially in the beginning, it just feels like they're going in circles because the author needed to artificially create some semblance of romantic tension--they literally flip back and forth multiple times on who's the pursuer and who's the one being pursued. And the jealousies and awkwardness that stem from the love triangles aren't interesting. Probably because the love rivals aren't ever in a position where we readers would consider their rivalries to actually be rivalries. And in that sense, the romance is pretty linear. If we look at Ao Haru Ride in comparison, we can see actual uncertainty and legimitate shifts within the love triangles which this story just doesn't have. The only drama is the characters having some insecurities or wavering feelings, but there's never any question about whether this couple will actually end up together or not. While I don't necessarily encourage a soup opera plotline that seeps itself in relationship drama, if that's what the story is going for, then they should do it right. And it seemed like this story wanted to have all the love triangles, but without any of the actual tension and heartache that can stem from legitimate love triangles. Honestly, the only romantic yearning I found at all interesting was between Natsume and Mitsuyoshi. Even the main couple's romance was just alright. Other than the romances and love triangles (which aren't the best), this story leans heavily on its eccentric characters and the mass gatherings of friends. At first, the extreme nature of the main characters' personalities made them stand out, but over time I think it might've just made them less relatable. Haru isn't just a free spirit, fe's the freest of spirits who has unorthodox tastes in decorations and condiments and forms strong emotional bonds with a chicken (to the point that fe carries it with fem at feir wedding). Shizuku isn't just studious, fe's obsessive about feir grades and sees an ideal date as a study session in the library. They do include some character growth, and that's definitely appreciated, but the personalities can still feel like a bit much. As for the large-group hang-outs (which I think are intended to glorify "youth"), they got old pretty quick. They include a few too many trips and birthday parties and school events for my taste--in addition to being the primary excuses for the friend-orgies, they just felt like a cliched view of a high school experience. The best chapters were those that delved into Character X's daily life and the worst ones were those that just showed everyone getting together as a group. And it definitely felt like the story was more interested in the friend group than the friends, but maybe that's just me. I was relatively invested and entertained by the story until about chapter 26 or so, but then I went through a stretch of boredom (until chapter 39) because it felt like the story had already played through all the drama it needed to play through and anything beyond that was just going to be repetition of what had already happened. Chapters 39-45 did introduce a plotline that felt fresh and interesting again, with a touching coming-together that acts as the climax of the entire series. The only thing that mired it was the inclusion of an uncompelling love rival event--which not only lacked any tension, but was also retreading previous ground since there had already been a confession/rejection event by those same two characters.

BurntT0ast Jan 20, 2022

8

[I am going rewrite my review on this manga. I’ll still leave the old one up, so you can still read it, but I’m writing a new because I don’t think that the old review properly conveyed my feelings about this manga.]Now My Little Monster was something…Did I like this “something”?Yea obviously.But is this “something” slightly questionable at times?…Also yea (Tho like in small certain extents which I will talk about later)- First things first, I really quite like Robico’s artstyle.It’s not the“typical Shoujo-y artstyle”, as in, you won’t find any overly fancy or flowery panels in this manga. And while I do love my fair share “Shoujo-y panel” moments the artstyle of this manga actually lends well to the series itself. Like it quite fits the mood &, SPECIFICALLY, the characters of this manga. The series does have a bit more “serious”-ish tone at times & Robico’s artstyle each & everytime manages to convey the emotions of the characters & tone of that particular scene perfectly. - On to the actual characters in the series:I feel like the characters are the “meat” of this story.Like this is a very character driven story. A story where the characters themselves are the “plot”. Such is even evident by the fact that even the plot synopsis of this manga focuses a lot on trying to summarize the main leads’ circumstances & their personality. & Quite frankly, it is so incredibly nice that in such a character driven story the characters themselves are also pretty complex, & that complexity itself is fairly well written too.Take the FL Shizuku for example:She is flawed but also charming in her own right. Her closed off-ness may be a turn off for many people but I actually quite like her a lot. At times in the earlier chapters of the manga she did come off as inconsiderate, or even sometimes straight up rude, which again, may lead to some people disliking her, however, the entire manga is also literally her journey to realise where these “faults” of hers lie. [I’m refering to Shizuku when I say this] Like sure sure there’s nothing inherently wrong with not wanting to get out of your comfort zone, however, if it’s to the point where you are borderline pushing away people & being inconsiderate of their feelings under the pretext, “They are being an annoyance” then you too are no better than the “inconvenience” or “annoyance” you deem the other person to be. & this whole thing is the stuff going on with Shizuku. Haru [ML] & Shizuku are complete & total opposite & Haru specifically has a major problem regarding other people’s personal boundaries (he gets too comfortable too easily), & given the fact that Shizuku is such an incredibly closed off person this leads to a lot of the earlier conflicts between the two & the rest of manga is essentially focused on developing these two from there on. Having the two recognize where there faults lie & learn how to COMMUNICATE & overcome their own shortcomings.Additionally, the side characters too are also given a lot of focus. Which is great specially considering how important of a role almost all of them play in how our main leads develop. I’d honestly love to go more depth into the character developments of all the characters in this series, however, that’d be going into major spoiler territory so I’ll stop here.- Now I like this manga a lot, however I do also have my own qualms with it.I mean first of all this did not feel like 52 chapters. It definitely felt longer. I specifically remember one time when I was reading this manga thinking to myself “Oh man, I wonder which chapter I’m on. I’ve been reading this for a long time now”, only to then see the chapter number realise “I’m on chapter 16??”. One of the reasons for THAT being: Haru & Shizuku’s relationship.Now listen, I love these two just as much as the next person & I like the complexity of their relationship probably even more, but, not in a particularly bad way, but also not in a particularly good way either, & in the nicest way possible: their relationship had me coughing blood.Their relationship truly taught me what patience is 😃😭It is the reason why I can patiently sit through series like Your Majesty, Please Spare me this Time & Father, I don’t want this marriage (series where the misunderstandings [incase of the latter] & the complicated relationship between the main leads [incase of the former] gets resolved slowly by surely]. As I said, the best way to put this would be “ This manga taught me patience”, & at the end of the day all I can be is thankful honestly. Shizuku & Haru’s constant, “I love you….maybe…(?)”, was just, something. At this point what’s hilarious to me is whenever Haru would go “I love you Shizuku“, Shizuku would go, “…am I in love with you…(?)“ & whenever Shizuku would go, “I’m inlove with you Haru“, Haru would go, “….am I inlove with you…(?)“. Just the constant alternating flip flapping these two were doing at this point can only be funny to me. Maybe I’m losing my mind, I don’t know. Also Haru is a bit too touchy…& Yea I know that’s the whole of his character development & that he learns what one’s personal boundaries are & learns to respect them & understand why they even exist. & I love that character development but like in the initial quater-half of this series Haru was bordering creepo territory & while I like him I won’t not acknowledge this about him. Thank God for that development he got cuz his situation was not doing him good (or frankly ANYONE ELSE good) if I may say 😭🤦‍♀️Also these reasons are probably why I don’t think I can casually reread this series. Like listen I love this manga but unless or until I plan to binge read the entire thing I don’t think I personally can handle all the shenanigans enough to reread it in any other way lmaoIn conclusion, I actually quite like this manga. I read this like 2 yrs ago & even till now it stands to be one of my personal top favourite Shoujo manga. I actually legitimately teared up during Shizuku’s backstory. It wasn’t particularly sad but at that point I had simply become that invested into this manga. Same with Haru’s backstory I almost teared up.[Side note: I love how Haru literally runs out of the main wedding venue (during his wedding) because he forgot Nagoya’s bow tie. Like that scene was hilarious 🤣.]- Would I recommend this series?I mean as long as you keep in mind the points that I mentioned, sure! I personally liked this series because of its complex characters & if you share the same tastes as me & are patient enough you’ll probably end up enjoying this series as much as I did! X—————————X[Everything from this point on is my old review which I wrote half a year ago] Honestly this series is one of my top favs!  The manga is very character driven & I absolutely love the character writing in this series. None of the characters are perfect, far from it honestly. They all have their own flaws but are also appealing in their ownways. The story is not only just focused on romance of the main leads but the supporting characters alsoget there time to shine. They all had their own interests & issues they wanted to overcome &/or solve. They were there own person & were lovable in their own right. While the manga's main focus was obviously the relationship of the main leads l like that focus was also given to other characters, specially when they play a significant role in how the main leads are impacted & change as people over timeSpeaking of change, the character development is the biggest strong suit of this series, I'd say the character development each person went through was absolutely amazing to read. Almost every character (main leads specifically) have their own flaws, whether it being insensitive, or overbearing, or even being straight up annoying at times by the end of the series they all grow & learn from experiences, whilst this development of theirs still remaining very believable (aka they don't magically turn into some other person). They all get to discover & realise the issues they have & try to change & better themselves. The art is pretty. It's nothing ground breaking but gets the job done perfectly. It isn't rlly like your typical flowery or shiny shoujo artstyle but it fits the tone of the series extremely well. While its not the most special thing out there it's still very beautiful. So since l rated this series a 8/10 would l recommend it someone else? Now though l absolutely do adore this series, specifically its characters l don't think it's for everyone. So while l do recommend others to check this manga out it probably wont be up to everyone's tastes. So just check it out & see if you like it!

psyayay Oct 13, 2023

7.5

better than maidsama in my opinion and kinda similar- so if you want to read one, read this. if you want to read maidsama, read this instead.