My Little Monster
While a lot of shows every season get licensed – and quickly in many cases – there are those that slip through the cracks for whatever reason and never get a pickup, at least in North America. One of those is the fall 2012 series My Little Monster, aka Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, which ran for thirteen episodes based on the manga by Robico. The manga itself finished up this past summer at twelve volumes and the thirteen episode run that it had also spawned an OVA that came out this past August. And while no North American pickup seems to be in the offing, French distributor Black Box has picked up the show for a 2014 release. They’re only bringing the main series itself and not the OVA but they do have TV, video and VOD rights for the country.
Plot concept: My Little Monster focuses on the relationship between Shizuku Mizutani, who has absolutely no interests except in studying and her plans for the future, and a boy named Haru Yoshida, who sits next to Shizuku in class but rarely attends school. After Shizuku is tasked with delivering class printouts to Haru’s home, she meets Haru, who immediately greets her as a friend, starting their new relationship.