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“Shizuku, a hardworking student who isn’t interested in socializing, finds an unlikely friend, Haru, an emotionally volatile boy at her school.” The show revolves around Mizutani Shizuku, an extremely self-centered person who only cares about her studies, and Yoshida Haru. Haru sits next to Shizuku in class but is absent most of the time after his fight at the beginning of the year.
Upon being tasked to deliver printouts to Haru by her class teacher, Shizuku meets Haru. Haru immediately greets her as a friend thereby starting their relationship. Although she is bothered by Haru and his antics, some of which are romantic gestures toward her, she develops feelings for him.
I personally am not a big fan of shoujo, but this changed my opinion towards the genre. While primarily focusing on Haru and Shizuku, we do get a lot of other characters and their stories are woven into the narrative. Apart from others in the genre what works best for Tonari no Kaibutsu-Kun is its characters.
The characters that stood out for me are Natsume Asako, Sasahara Sohei, and Yoshida Yuuzhan. Natsume seems very similar to Yoshioka from Ao Haru Ride in a good way. Yamaguchi Kenji is the typical romantic rival, if you root for Shizuku and Haru, he will get on your nerves. While the love triangle trope is often overused and feels forced, here it fits the characters and helps in developing the characters.
Overall Ratings
The prerequisite for any love story is having a pair you would root for and Tonari no Kaibutsu-Kun delivers on that front. Haru on the surface might seem like someone you wouldn’t want to be around but there is always more to people than they let on. He has a very innocent and childlike mindset which often puts him at odds with Shizuku.
Haru has a lot of issues to deal with as a result of his problematic childhood. He is a longstanding problem with his father and brother which often drives a wedge in his relationship with Shizuku. The same can be said for Shizuku as well. But despite these hurdles, their pair is a treat to watch.
While it is sad that the anime doesn’t conclude the story and there is a decent chunk left to be adapted, I would still suggest you watch it and continue the story in the manga.
