A declaration of love right from the start? Way to go, Shizuku!
What They Say:
No episode summary provided.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the cast slowly but surely coming together after the hectic opening episode, this one kicks off with a hilarious bit that has Shizuku admitting her feelings to Haru, who in turn becomes the mature and emotional one. The shift in power here is comical since she becomes all nervous and confused by events while he ends up becoming cool and mature. It’s the kind of gag that works well as you wait and wait for the dream sequence to end, only to realize that this is real. So when he handles it well and then asks her out, it’s not a surprise that she kind of blanks, plays it off and ends up saying no. But events will work in their favor overall as time goes on as the two of them are part of a group that’s being put together for a project.
With the project that they have to work on, it requires some supplies so we get some really fun slapstick material when the shopping trip itself goes horribly awry and just leads to chaos in the store – in slow motion no less. It’s light and silly but it also provides some interesting opportunities for the audience as it ends up putting Haru and Shizuku together for a bit by themselves. She doesn’t know how to act around him at this point and his nature just has him all up close and personal trying to figure out why she’s acting so off around him. Seeing this uncomfortable side of her is pretty fun, especially since Haru seems to deal with it far better than she expected.
There’s a very good progression to events here as everyone spends time together in general, but it’s the time that gets spent between just Haru and Shizuku that works the best for me. Things move in a seemingly odd (and fast!) direction at times, but Shizuku is taking the right approach to things. They’ve bounced off of each other in terms of personality a few times so far and she knows that she screwed up by not accepting his date request, so she has to find a way to get them back on even footing once again. Of course, once they do get to that point, events shake things up again and it’s just a mess once more. But the more you see of not just Haru but of Shizuku as well, the more you realize that this is going to be one of those opposites attract scenarios where there’s a lot of similarities between them that are just becoming more obvious now.
In Summary:
My Little Monster takes a few twists and turns here as it deals with the relationship between Haru and Shizuku, but it all works out really well in the end. The show is one that could easily turn into that will they or won’t they aspect, but it has a lot more fun by making the question much more obvious. Starting with it right from the beginning of the episode here and going all over the map with it, including a great bit with Shizuku bringing Haru home for the night, we see exactly how they impact each other. His half dressed nature fits him well but I loved the way she blushed and realized that her feelings and desires are definitely running deeper than expected. My Little Monster continues to really grab me, but it has such an odd pacing and nature to it that it keeps throwing me off balance.
Grade: B
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
