My Little Monster - Episode 3

With both of its major parties confessing their love for one another, it seemed as though things were moving entirely too fast to the point where even Felix Baumgartner couldn't hope to break their speed records.

"Thankfully", that state of affairs is soon resolved, with Shizuku retracting her confession under the pretence of having lied about it, and Haru suggesting that he was relieved that she was only joking in the first place.  It's back to square one in other words.  Despite this, Shizuku's outlook on life has certainly changed in a way that can't be hidden, as she allows herself to be dragged into a weekend outing with Haru, Natsume and Sasahara to buy a coop for the show's resident rooster, who is now about to become a class pet.

This "mission" is in danger of being severely disrupted however, as Shizuku finds herself running straight into the bullies who had been bugging Haru back in episode one - a scenario which looked to turn nasty before things were turned around to at least some extent by Shizuku, who took advantage of their insistence that they wanted to talk and make up with Haru to use them to build the self-assembly chicken coop by themselves.  A day's work well-done, Haru and Shizuku head home together, leading to yet another confession from the latter with no signs of a retraction... but does Haru really love Shizuku in that way?  He seems unsure, but a promise to start over again and give him another chance to confirm his feelings from Shizuku seems like a perfect solution - at least, it does until something, or rather someone, prevents him from going home at all.

After a decent start ("that" comment aside) and a reasonable second episode, this third instalment of My Little Monster had some really sweet moments and some funny little asides, but also slid a little deeper into typical shoujo territory by halting the quick romantic progress of its main protagonists in favour of confusing things and slowing the pace markedly.  This may prove to be a wise decision in the long-term, but at the moment it seems a little disappointing; a disappointment which only gives us any comfort via Shizuku's continuation as a wonderful character and a feeling of progress when it comes to Haru's behaviour and attitude (as well as some relatively subtle filling in of his vulnerabilities).  I still like its characters for the most part, but it feels as if the show's story is starting to slip away from its grasp - something that it needs to rectify if it wants to do anything memorable.