My Little Monster Volume 2

“Love has but one word and it never repeats itself.” – Jean Lacordaire.

Having originally come across this series when it was animated and streamed on Crunchyroll back in 2012, I was glad to see Kodansha publishing the manga in English. They brought out the first volume earlier in the year, and this second volume came out some months ago, with the third and fourth volumes out now. 

The monster in the title (not a real monster, this is just a figurative term), is a rebellious student called Haru Yoshida, who for a large chunk of the school year has been absent because he got involved in a fight on the first day of school. The central character in the series, Shizuku Mizutani, is a girl who only cares about studying. One day she gives Haru some print-outs from school and Haru immediately seems to fall for her. Haru even starts to come into school, sits next to her in class, and manages to get the class to raise a chicken as a pet.

The manga follows their relationship, with Haru trying to become more civilized to those around him, and Shizuku becoming less of a bookworm, more open, and friendlier to those around her. At the end of the first volume, and for most of the second, the main issue that Haru has to deal with is his older brother Yuzan.  Haru hates both him and his father, and refuses to come into contact with him, let alone talk to him. Shizuku therefore tries to find out what exactly is going on. Also, Haru meets with another student, a committee member called Chizuru whom he helps because she gets bullied. 

The best thing about this manga, and indeed the key factor to any romantic manga is the relationship between the lead couple. Haru and Shizuku are a funny and lovely couple. The rebellious nature of Haru makes a nice juxtaposition to hard-working Shizuku. The new added element of Yuzan creates another element of tension in the relationship, and Chizuru also slowly starts to bring something to the series in terms of her slightly more pessimistic attitude.

It has to be said that this volume, in my opinion, is slightly less funny than the first one. I think I would have preferred more interaction between just Haru and Shizuku in order to get the laughs. Other than that, it is still an entertaining read.