My Little Monster - Episode 6

Considering the doe-eyed look she gave Haru towards the end of last week's episode, it's hardly surprising that Shizuku is finding it difficult to shake her worries about Oshima from her mind, regardless of how unaccustomed she is to such emotions.

For Chizuru's part, her sudden and unexpected feelings for Haru still take second place to her complete lack of friends at high school, as she laments the illness which prevented her starting at the school late and thus leaving her outside of all of the groups of friends which had formed.  Once Haru hears about this (while bemoaning how wearing glasses didn't net him the position of class rep) he proposes that his group of buddies band together to help out Oshima - something which Shizuku wants nothing to do with.

With Haru calling out Shizuku on her blunt and unhelpful nature, and Shizuku having a few things to say to Haru in return, there's a decidedly obvious cooling in the relationship between the two as they effectively refuse to talk to one another, with Shizuku effectively using that relatively small row as an excuse to run away from her feelings (despite still effectively blurting them out apropos of nothing).  While even Oshima can see what's going on, both Haru and Shizuku seem clueless in their own unique ways, and once the latter decides that it's time for her to refocus herself fully upon her studies it appears to be Haru's turn to be left out in the cold just as he's about to reconcile his own feelings for her.

Yes, that's right, My Little Monster has turned the state of its main romantic pairing on its head once again - now we're back to Haru being the one in love while Shizuku is the one coolly (and cruelly) brushing him off.  I have to wonder how much more mileage the series has got in terms of depicting these shifting sands, but for now I'm continuing to enjoy the series rather a lot - Shizuku's blunt honesty and strength of character never ceases to be one of the highlights of the series, and Oshima's proper introduction has actually revealed her to be far more than a generic insert character in an attempt to set up a love triangle as she has some strengths of her own.  With Haru and even Natsume also bringing something to the table, the strong character roster is certainly a big part of My Little Monster's appeal right now - I just hope it continues to have a strong enough plot to back them up.