Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun - 03

Things appear to have gotten a lot more complicated here.

It’s interesting that I’ve come to like the male lead here better than the one in Sukitte, because that’s certainly not what one might have expected after the first episode. But my initial take on Haru seems to have been about right: he’s not a bad kid despite what he said in the first episode, just someone who has absolutely no sense of socially appropriate behavior and an excess of honesty. Kurosawa, by contrast, reveals himself to be considerably more calculating than it first appeared, and rather thoughtless of a girl’s feelings. I’m still not crazy about Suzuki Tatsuhisa in the role, but the character itself is rounding into form.

In many ways the supporting cast is at least as interesting as the leads, though, and they were much the focus of the first half of the episode. It’s all about building a chicken coop (No Future!) for Nagoya, the rooster so named by Sasayan. He continues to give hints that he could be an exceptionally interesting character – I loved the way he threw the shopping basket at Haru’s “friends” and ran, and he has a pleasingly skewed outlook on life generally. Plus, Ohsaka Ryouta is fast establishing himself as one of the best young male seiyuu since Miyu-Miyu himself. Are there flags between he and the adorably weird (what “distracted” here on the way back with the ice cream? I love the fact that we were never told…) Asako-chan? They seem like a good matched set of odd socks to me.

I’m not sure it was a good idea to give Haru a chainsaw, but the coop building scene was interesting, and established Yamaguchi Kenji (Terashima Takuma) as another face to watch. He’s clearly a level above his running mates in terms of cleverness, and may just have a thing for Mitty. I’m also convinced something more than pinball and batting practice is happening at Mapo’s gaming center – guys walking out with big wads of cash is a bit of a Chekov’s gun, and there have been other clues as well. And of course it’s to here that Haru’s brother Yuzan (Nakamura Yuuichi) returns from wherever he’s been hiding himself. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that he’s a no-goodnik – Mapo thought enough of him to warn Haru that he was back, and Haru was freaked enough to refuse to go home after finding out. What’s the story here – abuse? Drugs? Crime? Who knows – but with a big-name seiyuu attached to the role, it’s even more apparent that it’s going to be a critical one.

As for the main pair themselves, the development is somewhat different than anything I’ve seen in a shoujo romance before. Haru is, as Mitty says, “Seriously – so much trouble!”. After her confession of love – and lame retraction – it’s he who walks back the relationship a little. I think the gist of it is that even dense Haru realizes that Shizuku’s confession is loaded with emotional commitment, and realizes in a rare moment of self-awareness that he’s nowhere near ready for that. His love for her is real too, but there’s a much stronger purely physical component for him – and I think “turning her down” was actually the most mature and selfless thing he’s done so far. He’ll get there, but not yet – and of course, it’s going to be messy along the way, because he’s still a head case with a dark past and she’s still neurotic as all get-out. In terms of the “spend the night” suggestion, under the circumstances it was quite understandable.

While Tonari is quite a bit more theatrical and less “realistic” than Sukitte thus far, I still find the emotional core pretty genuine – and the show itself very entertaining. Good series sometimes have the quality of “no one left behind” – you get the feeling that every character, no matter how minor, matters to the author and no one is an afterthought. Little scenes like the one with Mitty’s Dad (Koyasu Takehito) reflect this – he has an actual personality, and it shows through in mere seconds of air time. I also like the fact that not everything is explained the moment it happens – we have little breadcrumbs of plot left to follow later on, like the Zashiki-warashi who spies on Haru in the shower (I’m guessing that’s Shizuku’s brother Takaya, who broke the alarm clock). I’m impressed – this is a genuinely interesting and well-written series, another example of Brains Base having a great eye for strong source material that suits their style.

8 comments

Vanth

October 17, 2012 at 3:38 am

Did you just assume that Yuzan is Haru's brother or was that mentioned somewhere in the episode?

And comparatively speaking this show is way better than 'Say I love you'. The male lead in that is grossly detestable (especially his dumb hairstyle) as is the girl, who easily melts in his arms upon being kissed by the popular heartthrob.

My Little Monster has kept improving with each episode so far and I hope that it keeps it up.

Doddle God

October 17, 2012 at 3:54 am

In terms of pure comedy shows, three stood out for fall 2012. This one, "Sakurasou no Pet no Kanoujou", and "Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne".

Speaking of "Onii…", I find it strange that Enzo can watch "To Love-Ru – Trouble: Darkness", which I didn't find funny at all, but totally ignores "onii…", which is the same shameless ecchi show, but very funny. (Anywho, the sister character's pervertedness in that show remind of similar long named title "my sister can't be this cute" or something a few while back, especially the female pervert laugh. aha ha ha. The first episode wasn't funny, but the 2nd one was).

As both sakurasou and onii are more or less ecchi comedy shows, (the former one is a bit subtly while the latter is blatant, shamelessly), I'd say Tonari is the only "clean" comedy show this fall.

Anonymous

October 17, 2012 at 4:08 am

Wow, you picked up all those little details in one sitting.

Anonymous

October 17, 2012 at 4:28 am

Hmm … well, I still prefer Sukitte Iinayo, but I have found thus far that the anime adaptation is more engaging than the manga original source in some ways. They are doing a very good job thus far imo.

I guess for me I was not only unable to feel empathy for the male lead in the manga, but I was never able to really "relate" to him somehow – even as the story unfolded over many chapters.

For me his extreme off the wall lack of social awareness just struck me as unconvincing (even extending the usual benefit of the doubt – or even the "great big benefit of the doubt" – when exposing oneself to other people's works). That really got in the way for me in the manga and still is getting in the way in the anime adaptation.

Even with that it still is very well done thus far, and the manga source is also a good read – but for me Sukitte Iinayo is more interesting, and in both mediums … at least for the moment. 🙂

– Flower

Beckett

October 17, 2012 at 6:46 am

"I’m also convinced something more than pinball and batting practice is happening at Mapo’s gaming center"

Some kind of Yak connection maybe? Is this show dark enough for that I wonder? He certainly looks like he could be a member the way he wears those sunglasses all the time.

Anyway I'm really digging this show, this is turning out to be a very good season. Plenty of shows that I'm actively looking forward to every week.

elior

October 17, 2012 at 9:09 am

@guardian enzo the ona of setokai no ichizon is out which is episode before episode 1 this week so please do review on this

BNV

October 17, 2012 at 3:53 pm

"I’m impressed – this is a genuinely interesting and well-written series, another example of Brains Base having a great eye for strong source material that suits their style."

You better thank the mangaka for that too! But really so far the animators are bringing this anime to life; I love every minute of it: the colors/music, the characters, and dat chicken. [I'm rooting for Sasayan x Natsume!]

"It’s interesting that I’ve come to like the male lead here better than the one in Sukitte"

I can answer that. The animators are butchering Yamato's character. Yamamto's coming off the too classic player-type. While I'm not gonna lie that, yes, Yamato is player, by the second episode Yamamto actually questioned Mei about her "stalkering" and even confronted Mei's obvious jealousy. In the manga, Yamato looked bothered by it, but in the anime Yamamto was just all smiles and acting all suave and cool… even coming off that he enjoyed that… he didn't… I'm not liking where the animators are taking Sukitte.
In another scenario during the first episode when Nakanishi and Yamato were climbing the stairs, and Nakanishi noted the girls wearing the short skirts. Yamato said he didn't like that the girls were wearing short skirts and noticed a girl who wore a long skirt, which was Mei. In the anime when Nakanishi "accidentally" pushed Mei, in which by the first episode the first major, inaccurate part of the anime, Yamato "noticed" Mei and then Yamato got butt-whooped. There's too much inconsistencies from the manga and anime; frankly, I'd recommend watchers to read the manga. Which is a downer because I look more forward to Tonari than Sukitte. I would've like to enjoy both animes.

GlassShadow

October 18, 2012 at 11:26 pm

I'm enjoying one as much as you are! It's fun, quirky, and overall well developed. I actually don't know what to expect next, which is a good thing and a rare thing in shojo. As for Sukitte, I think it's a good adaption thus far, but the source material itself has some limitations, in that no matter how much style the series is imbued with, we won't see anything ground breaking. It's shojo, in its truest shape and form. I much prefer the comedic approach Tonari is taking.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun – 03

Guardian Enzo

8 comments

Vanth

Doddle God

Anonymous

Anonymous

Beckett

elior

BNV

GlassShadow

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Lost in Anime

Guardian Enzo

Related posts

8 comments

Vanth

Doddle God

Anonymous

Anonymous

Beckett

elior

BNV

GlassShadow

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply