My Little Monster (which is known as Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun in Japan) is an anime series based on a manga series written and illustrated by Robico.

I do wish that when the title for the series was Americanized, that a different title than My Little Monster had been chosen. First off, the title potentially gives viewers who have no idea what the show is about the impression that it’s some cutesy show about monsters (which it isn't). Also, whenever I see this title, I keep thinking of My Little Pony. According to what I've found, the literal translation of the title is The Monster Seated Next to Me; while this wouldn't necessarily make for a good English title, I wish they could have found a way to preserve the school aspect of the title when they Americanized it.

Like I said earlier, this isn't a cutesy series about monsters; instead, it focuses on two students at a Japanese high school. The main character of the series is Mizutani Shizuku, an intelligent first-year student who is trying to stay at the top of her class. Because of this, Shizuku has trouble relating to people and doesn't really have any friends. In order to push herself in her studies, Shizuku needs to acquire a study guide, but is unable to afford one. A teacher offers to pay for a study guide if Shizuku will do a favor for her.

Shizuku is sent to deliver handouts to a boy in her class named Yoshida Haru, who has been absent since the first day of school. Before the day started, Haru had beaten up some upperclassmen and was immediately suspended from school. Haru is quick to pick a fight, but it turns out that he doesn't really know how to relate to other people, either. After some initial misunderstandings and awkward moments, Haru tells Shizuku that he's in love with her, and Shizuku has no idea how to handle Haru's declaration of love. As the first episode progresses, there's a twist about Haru that I didn't see coming. This twist affects the interactions between Shizuku and Haru.

The story of My Little Monster is off to a promising start by the end of the first episode. Admittedly, it starts start out a little strangely, but by the end of the episode, I found myself rooting for Shizuku and Haru as a couple. Hopefully future episodes of My Little Monster will live up to the potential that is seen in the first episode.

Animation-wise, the series is rather standard. It's not that the animation is bad by any stretch of the imagination, but there's not much to make it stand out from other similar shows in its genre, either.

My Little Monster is a series that I wouldn't mind watching more of in the future. Personally, I would recommend this series to anime viewers who are 14 or 15 years of age and older.

Title	Episodes	Release Year(s)	Director	Studio	N.A. Licensor
My Little Monster	13	2012	Hiro Kaburaki	Brain's Base	N/A