My Little Monster (Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun) is a shoujo manga series that ran in the magazine Dessert from 2008 to 2013. It was adapted into an anime for the Fall 2012 season by Brains Base.
Shizuku Mizutani only has one thing in mind: getting good grades. To accomplish this goal, Shizuku has little interest in anything else. However, after delivering lesson notes to her resident delinquent classmate Haru Yoshida, the latter is convinced that they are friends. Initially, Shizuku is intimidated by such a troublesome person, but she gradually notices that Haru is actually a kind person. When Haru confesses to Shizuku, an unlikely romance begins to blossom between them.
The anime has been streamed by Crunchyroll
and the manga picked up for a North American release by Kodansha USA.
Completely unrelated to Kaibutsu-Kun by Fujiko Fujio A
Tropes:
- Adorably Precocious Child: Shizuku's younger brother, Takaya.
- Alliterative Name: Yuuzan Yoshida, Mitsuyoshi Misawa and Souhei Sasahara (though the latter two are going by their nicknames.
- Almost Kiss: Between Haru and Shizuku in Chapter 5.
- Always in Class One: Zig-Zagged. It starts as an aversion with just Ooshima in class A, but Haru gets moved there for second year.
- Ambiguous Innocence: Haru's extreme innocence can occasionally cross over from adorable into mildly disturbing.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Several instances:
- When Shizuku confesses to Haru, Haru gently rebuffs her as he doesn't think their "likes" are the same and thus it wouldn't work out if they dated then and there. However, Shizuku takes the rejection in stride and replies that she'll wait for him until he falls in love with her.
- And when Haru finally does realize and reciprocate his feelings for Shizuku, it ironically ends up around the same time that Shizuku decides to completely focus on her studies and disregard any affection that she has for Haru.
- And in the manga, while away for his studies abroad, Haru sends a love letter to Shizuku, clearly saying that time that he loved her for real.
- Natsume to Micchan. It doesn't end well at all for her since Micchan has no feelings for her and says clearly that he will never have any.
- Ooshima to Haru. In true Ooshima fashion, she does it with class and discretion but she knows deep down that she has no chance to obtain anything since Haru only has eyes for Shizuku.
- A more positive example is Yuu-chan with her long-distance boyfriend. When she confesses to him, so does he and, due to the distance that keeps them apart, they end up swearing loyalty to each other, becoming the official Beta Couple.
- Sasayan to Natsume. During the last volume of the manga Sasayan and Natsume's relationship is being explored more in depth. And while Sasayan never does anything out of line, when he feels that Natsume is starting to reciprocate, after waiting on Natsume for all this time, he decides to go all out with a very assertive and demanding "Now, just hurry up and fall in love with me."
- When Shizuku confesses to Haru, Haru gently rebuffs her as he doesn't think their "likes" are the same and thus it wouldn't work out if they dated then and there. However, Shizuku takes the rejection in stride and replies that she'll wait for him until he falls in love with her.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Micchan may seem like just an easygoing nice guy, but he can go toe to toe with an enraged Haru, and win.
- Bland-Name Product: Ztarbucks Coffee in Chapter 18.
- Blessed with Suck: Natsume sees her popularity among the boys as this.
- Haru's intelligence also counts. Since his parents were told about their youngest son's intelligence, they paid more attention to him than Yuzan. This resulted in Haru being ignored by his older brother and him being picked on by Kenji. In his late teen years, Shizuku initially resents him because of his intelligence.
- Book Dumb: Natsume and Sasayan get borderline passing grades, though he tends to fare better than her by a smidge. Otherwise, they're both grounded in common sense (well, except in areas relating to their own relationships), and play the secondary roles of either enlightening the emotionally clueless Shizuku and Haru or holding a discussion about the two.
- Cock Fight: Haru and Yamaken will often confront each other, sometimes quite violently, over the affections of Shizuku whenever they meet. And it's guaranteed to happen if Shizuku is present.
- Cool Shades: Micchan wears a pair of them at all times.
- Deadpan Snarker: Yamaken.
- Death Glare: Haru tends to make these not only when he's angry, but when he's confused, scared, or uncomfortable, causing severe misunderstandings.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Courtesy of Haruka Tomatsu.
- Domestic Abuse: Subverted. Just about anytime Shizuku gets hurt by Haru, it's by accident. Since Haru has such a terrifying temper, he somehow catches Shizuku in the crossfire of his rampage. These accidental attacks are the reason why Shizuku often demands Haru to stay away from her and glares at him.
- Drunk on Milk: Natsume tends to drink lots of juice boxes when she's upset, and acts like a sad/angry drunk when she does.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Natsume's zombie costume for the cultural festival.
- Everyone Can See It: Everyone can see the UST between Haru and Shizuku and pretty much think they're dating.
- The Faceless: Shizuku's mother's full face is never shown.
- First Kiss: At the end of the first episode of the anime. And Haru was totally disappointed by it. Shizuku on the other hand...
- Generic Cuteness: Some characters, like Natsume, are explicitly stated to be very good looking but they aren't really drawn any cuter than the relatively more average lookers like Shizuku.
- Gratuitous English: "Chicken! Chicken! I am a chicken!"
- Green-Eyed Epiphany: The whole point of Iyo's role in the story is to spark this in Shizuku. And Shizuku eventually realizes just how much she loves Haru after Iyo challenges her for Haru's affections.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Shizuku has her first taste of jealousy when Haru becomes popular with the girls at school. And Haru definitely does not like it whenever he stumbles upon Shizuku and Yamaken hanging out, knowing full well that the latter has feelings for the former.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Haru. This tends to get him into serious trouble.
- Hidden Depths: Haru comes off as an impulsive troublemaker, but he turns out to be rather innocent when it comes to things like friendships and girls. Also he's a genius.
- High School AU: Inverted when we get some omakes and the anime OVA, which is set in the Edo period.
- House Husband: Shizuku's father. Since his business has gone under six times, he gets to spend more time with his son and daughter than his Workaholic wife.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Haru, Natsume, and Oshima. Surprisingly enough, the latter has a friend named Yu, but she doesn't make an official appearance until later.
- In-Series Nickname: Sasahara is nicknamed "Sasayan", Natsume nicknaming Shizuku, "Mitti," and "Yamaken" for Kenichi Yamaguchi. Haru calls Ooshima "Class Rep" before she properly introduces herself to him, and Yamaken's gang has a habit of nicknaming Shizuku, "Study Bug."
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: Played with. Shizuku has little to no friends prior to meeting Haru due to her constant focus on studying while Yamaken is intelligent and at times arrogant and merely hangs out with his gang because "idiots amuse [him]." Averted with Haru.
- Just Friends: Defied, then Played Straight by Yamaken. After being rejected by Shizuku, he said had no intentions of remaining Just Friends with her. Later on, when he overcomes his pride and properly confesses to her and asks her to go steady with him, she rejects him again. This time though, he is less bitter about it and asks if he can take up her offer of being friends, to which she happily agrees.
- Kid with the Leash: Invoked in just about every volume's cover. In-universe, Shizuku's advice is just about the only advice that Haru considers thoughtfully, and he does what he can to not get in her way when it comes to studying.
- Lap Pillow: When Haru finds a sleeping Shizuku by the roof, he does this for her.
- Love Triangle: Quite a few. The first one is between Shizuku, Haru, and Ooshima. Two other love triangles later sprout between Haru, Shizuku, and Yamaken and Sasayan, Natsume, and Micchan.
- Moment Killer: Haru and Yamaken are often each other's moment killers with it comes to both of them trying to spend time with Shizuku.
- Haru tends to be this in general because of his obliviousness.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Afer Haru confesses to Shizuku a second time, he tries to get physically close to her. She draws the line after he licks her hand. He eventually learns to respect her personal space.
- No Social Skills: Haru really does not know how to deal with people and instead resorts to glaring and violence in order to interact with others. He's slowly learning how to do so without his normal tactics, but he tends to fall back into it fairly often.
- Not What It Looks Like: During the cultural festival, Shizuku and Yamaken get into this situation twice: 1) when Haru and Ooshima discover that they're together alone in a room (and eavesdropped on their conversation), and 2) when Yamaken's gang find Yamaken and Shizuku together and assume something happened between Yamaken and "Study Bug."
- Oblivious to Love: Haru to Ooshima. Shizuku to Yamaken. Micchan to Natsume.
- Natsume to Sasayan. In Natsume's defense, Sasayan's actions are ambiguous enough that it's not obvious to the other characters and even the readers that he has romantic feelings for her.
- Opposites Attract: Haru and Shizuku
- Pair the Spares: Takaya and Ooshima in the Manga's finale.
- Poor Communication Kills: Haru and Shizuku would avoid a lot of problems if both were more direct with each other. But Shizuku is naturally standoffish and isn't versed in anything couple-wise and Haru is quirky and jovial. Both have a hard time being on the same page but these flaws lesten drastically as the series goes by.
- Rescue Romance: Ooshima develops a crush on Haru after he rescues her from bullies.
- The Rival: Shizuku sees Haru and Yamaken as rivals when it comes to getting the highest grades. Also, Shizuku's love rival Ooshima for Haru and Haru's love rival Yamaken for Shizuku.
- Running Gag: Haru bringing the chicken to school, Haru covering Shizuku's mouth and pulling her to a corner. Yamaken emerging out the bush after getting lost.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Inverted; Shizuku is the savvy girl, while Haru plays opposite as the energetic guy.
- He Is Not My Boyfriend: Everyone merely assumes that Shizuku is Haru's girlfriend because they always hang out together, to Shizuku's annoyance on how the assumption has been apparently established as fact.
- Their relationship does eventually enter into this territory later, though.
- Shrinking Violet: Ooshima. Despite being the tallest female of the show, her personality is demure and discreet, which makes her often bashful in social situations.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Haru to Shizuku. Haru doesn't want anything to do sentimentally or physically with any other girl but Shizuku. His feelings are so intense that Shizuku often feels overwhelmed by Haru's conspicuous displays.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Yamaken occasionally wears glasses during cram school and has high marks that rival Shizuku's. Haru averts this by being quite intelligent but only tried wearing glasses to try and become popular.
- Team Pet: The rooster Nagoya.
- Those Three Guys: Yamaken's three cronies.
- Title Drop: The anime puts some posters with an Engrish version of the series title in the Micchan's batting place.
- Token Adult: Mitsuyoshi is a few years older than most of the main characters but often feels like more of a natural part of the group on their main outings than a chaperone.
- True Companions: Shizuku, Haru, Natsuma, and Sasayan. They are later occasionally joined by Ooshima.
- Tsundere: Yamaken.Yamaken: I don't even care a tiny bit about you, okay?Shizuku: Huh? What are you saying that for?
- Funnily enough Sasayan acts like Type B towards Natsume.
- When He Smiles: Haru quickly becomes popular with the girls at school once he stops scowling and starts smiling (per Shizuku's request).
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Sasayan can be quite insightful, on top of being one of the few members of the cast seemingly immune to Oblivious to Love.
- You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: When Haru gets angry, if no one stops him, he is prone to beat the subject of his anger into a pulp.
