My Little Monster - Episode 4

Now that what seemed to be a fast-growing love has been cast into confusion, it's time to effectively start all over again in terms of Shizuku and Haru's relationship.  But how will she even start wooing him over?

It certainly seems that giving him handy advice isn't the best way to grab his attention, as her assertion to him that he should smile more to stop people being so scared of him all the time works entirely too well - the next thing we know Haru is the apple of every girl's eye as they realise that he isn't quite the violent beast that they assumed him to be... most of the time, at least.  Needless to say, this leaves Shizuku experiencing her first bout of jealousy as she feels left out in the midst of all of the female attention directed at Haru.

In the midst of all this comes school sports day, with some bullying of one particular girl bringing out Haru's darker side as he brutally attacks everyone involved in picking on the girl in question, causing Shizuku to jump in to the rescue.  Indeed, we spend much of the second half of this week's episode digging a little deeper into Haru's personality, whether it's his propensity to violence at times like the aforementioned example, or his hatred of (and seemingly odd relationship with) his brother.  In short, Shizuku realises that she knows next to nothing about Haru, and as he's largely reluctant to talk about himself in the slightest it seems that he's going to be a tough nut to crack.

After feeling disappointed with last week's episode as it seemed to undo some of its earlier good work, this latest instalment felt a bit more like it - there were only flashes of humour here and there but they were all worthwhile and well received on my part, while the promise of digging in to the mysteries of Haru's behaviour seems promising provided there's something sufficiently substantial behind it all.  All that aside, Shizuku's refreshing frankness and overall demeanour continues to make her one of the autumn anime season's best characters, and the show is almost worth watching for her alone.  Ultimately though, we need a little more depth to our male lead in My Little Monster, and the series feels as if it's ready to provide it.