Post-Valentine’s Day broken hearts!
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Robico
Translation/Adaptation: Alethea and Athena Nibley
What They Say
Shizuku’s mother gives her advice about having it all, success in studies and success in love. All it takes is effort! But it’s not only Shizuku who exerts the effort. Oshima reaffirms her love for Haru, and Natsume continues her hopeless assault on Mitchan’s heart. And Yamaken struggles to overcome his own arrogance to make an earnest attempt at prying Shizuku away from Haru. So much effort from so many people, will anyone have the energy to actually be happy?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
A lot happened on Valentine’s Day, and Volume 7 wraps up with the fallout. It’s much briefer than the back cover blurb would lead you to believe, but we hear a bit of Shizuku’s much-anticipated phone conversation with her mother, who is surprisingly encouraging about her boyfriend situation. We also get Mitchan’s response to Natsume’s Valentine chocolate. Although it’s obvious what his answer will be, Robico-sensei gets a couple laughs in by putting the two on completely different wavelengths and using Natsume’s subsequent depression as an excuse for a Haru/Mitchan brawl. Even so, Natsume remains unwilling to give up on Mitchan, and I wonder how much longer Robico-sensei can string out her one-sided crush before it gets tedious.
On the other hand, Oshima makes a completely clean break. In the previous volume, she managed to give Haru her chocolate sans confession, and I thought she would leave it at that. In an astonishingly bold move, she confesses her feelings to Haru in a way that’s extremely direct yet completely in character for the timid girl. It’s no surprise when Haru turns her down, but his response is much more complicated than you might think.
As if needing to cycle through all the romantic angles in the series, Yamaken circles back to Shizuku for a spring break interlude. His feelings for her are as inexplicable as ever to Yamaken and to the reader. However, their snotty rich boy/indifferent frumpy girl interactions do result in some sitcom style humor.
Then a new school year begins for Shizuku and friends, and for some reason, a new adult steps into the story. Actually, Ando has popped up before, but he was more like a prop to show off how wealthy Haru’s family is. Now, for some reason, the Yoshida family personal assistant gets fleshed out as an actual character. While Ando does provide a unique perspective on the Yoshida family history, it’s unclear for now why he is hovering around Haru and Mitchan.
Extras include bonus four-panel comics, short bonus manga, an afterword from the mangaka, and translation notes.
In Summary
A lot of feelings come out on Valentine’s Day, and most of Volume 7 is affirmation of those feelings. While interactions and dialogue are entertaining, there are no huge surprises or shakeups in regard to our current pairings. Haru and Shizuku do make more small steps forward in their relationship, but at its current rate, My Little Monster is going to need a big shakeup to keep things interesting.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: March 17th, 2015
MSRP: $10.99
