My Little Monster (Japanese: となりの怪物くん, Hepburn: Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun; lit. "The Monster Sitting Beside Me") 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.
Contents
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
Main characters
Shizuku Mizutani (水谷 雫, Mizutani Shizuku)
Voiced by: Mariya Ise (drama CD), Haruka Tomatsu (anime)
Played by: Tao Tsuchiya
Shizuku is a high school girl who focuses all her time on academics so she can have a future career with a 10 million yen annual income.Ch. 1 She is considered cold by many for her no-nonsense and blunt attitude, and has no friends. After encountering Haru, she starts expressing more of her emotions, standing up to situations seem wrong like when Haru had been used by his alleged friends for money. Although she is bothered by Haru and his antics, some of which are romantic gestures towards her, she develops feelings for him. She is proud of being number one in her class, but after meeting Haru, whom she thought would be her academic rival, she no longer enjoys the thrill of being top of the list. Her classmate Asako Natsume calls her "Mitty" (ミッティ, Mitti) and becomes her first female friend.Vol. 1 Although she styles her hair in pigtails and dresses rather plainly, preferring wool underwear and clothing she gets from sales from retail stores, there are occasions where she has let her hair down, although Haru prefers the tails because he would be unable to find her.Vol. 10
Throughout the story, Shizuku often questions why she is attracted to Haru and likes him so much. In the manga, she admits to Haru she was jealous of his personality, and he will never understand her feelings. When Haru runs away, she blames herself for it. However, when he returns, he wants her to share to him her feelings. Haru tells her he is going away for a year, so she is without him for her third year of high school. Nevertheless, she stills remains loyal to Haru and continues on with her life. She marries Haru after college, and there is a teaser at the end of the manga shows her working at a legal agency Vol. 13
Haru Yoshida (吉田 春, Yoshida Haru)
Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (drama CD), Tatsuhisa Suzuki (anime)
Played by: Masaki Suda
Haru, the title character, has a reputation of being a trouble maker, having been suspended from school for getting in a scuffle with schoolmates, and staying away from school even after the suspension was lifted. When he meets Shizuku, the first schoolmate to ever do something for him, he immediately considers her his first real friend and does many antics to be with her, following her around at school, and pulling her away from her routine life. He tells her he likes her and might even be in love with her, which often flusters Shizuku. He has a spontaneous and carefree personality and often takes his frustrations out physically on other people. Academically, he is very smart, having entered high school as the top-ranked student but skipping out on the entrance ceremony,Ch. 2 having studied most of the high school curriculum while he was sitting out most of middle school,Ch. 7 and frequently topping the school's exam scores, much to Shizuku's frustration. He has a rooster named Nagoya (名古屋), later bringing and housing it in school (with the reluctant approval from his teacher).Vol. 1
Supporting characters
Mitsuyoshi Misawa (三沢 満善, Misawa Mitsuyoshi)
Voiced by: Daisuke Ono (drama CD), Tomoyuki Higuchi (anime)
Played by: Mocomichi Hayami
Haru's cousin, nicknamed "Mitchan" (みっちゃん, Micchan), who runs a batting cage center. He looks after Haru since his place is near Haru's school.Ch. 1, 6 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.Ch. 17 He is always wearing sunglasses; the one time he did not, he had scared Haru because his eyes resembled Haru's father's.Ch. 37 extra Mitchan's late mother, Kyoko (京子), was a scientific researcher who had taken in Haru during his junior high school years.
Kenji Yamaguchi (山口 賢二, Yamaguchi Kenji)
Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (drama CD), Takuma Terashima (anime)
Played by: Yuki Yamada
Haru's acquaintance, nicknamed "Yamaken" (やまけん) by his friends. He used to bother Haru for money until Shizuku stopped him,Vol. 1 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.Vol. 4 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 directionCh. 11, 19 and also fleeing on sight from Yuzan because he was beaten by him whenever he tried to bully Haru.Ch. 11 He first met Haru in elementary school where Haru would best him both in academics and in sports.Ch. 40 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, Tomioka Ryuji)) who has light spiky hair; Ma-Bo (マーボ) (Masahiro Ayanokoji (綾小路 昌弘, Ayanokoji Masahiro)) who has dark somewhat spiky hair and wears a baseball cap; and George (ジョージ, Joji) (Issei Jojima (城島 壱成, Jojima Issei)) who has straight hair and wears glasses.Vol. 3 extra They are later revealed to come from high society backgrounds like Yamaken.Ch. 39
Media
Manga
The manga series is written and illustrated by Robico and published in the Kodansha magazine Dessert. It was serialized between the September 2008 issue, published on August 23, 2008, and the August 2013 issue, published on June 24, 2013. The series has also been released in 12 tankōbon volumes between January 13, 2009, and August 12, 2013. A limited-edition version of the final volume was bundled with an OVA episode of the anime series on DVD. The series has been licensed in North America by Kodansha USA, who released the first volume on March 11, 2014. A spin-off manga series was published in Dessert between August 24 and November 22, 2013. Its chapters were collected in a 13th volume, released on January 10, 2014.
Anime
An anime adaptation was announced in the July 2012 issue of Kodansha's Dessert magazine. The series was produced by Brain's Base under the direction of Hiro Kaburaki with Noboru Takagi as script supervisor. It aired between October 1 and December 24, 2012. An OVA episode was released on DVD with the final manga volume on August 12, 2013. NIS America licensed the anime for release in North America. Sentai Filmworks licensed the series for streaming in April 2021. Remow licensed the series in English and started streaming it on its It's Anime YouTube channel. The opening theme is "Q&A Recital!" (Q&Aリサイタル！) by Haruka Tomatsu and the ending theme is "White Wishes" by 9nine.
Live-action film
A live-action film adaptation was announced on May 15, 2017, and was released in April 2018. It stars Masaki Suda as Haru and Tao Tsuchiya as Shizuku.