How I relate to Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

Hey! It’s been a while since my last post, huh? Well, I was busy with national exam so I didn’t have time to think about anything else but studying-_- But now that national exam is over, I’m free~  Well, not that free. I still have a college admissions exam -_-

So, I’ve been pursuing my old hobby for a while, which is watching anime and reading manga. Fyi, anime are Japanese cartoon and manga are the comic books. I said pursuing an old hobby because it’s been almost 3 years since the last time I watched anime and read manga. How did I get back to this hobby? It started when Ima and Cita, the twins from different parents, are interested in anime because Ino has a lot of anime and watches it at school like all the time. One of the anime I’m watching right now is Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kum characters

First of all, I’d like to tell you that I’m not going to review this anime. I just wanna share how I felt when I watch this anime.

So, the story is about high school students’ relationship, whether it’s friendship or love.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun  (となりの怪物くん, The Monster Sat Beside Me)  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.

While they were building their weird relationship (Haru said he liked Shizuku but at that time Shizuku didn’t like him the way he liked her. He said he was going to make her love him. When Shizuku confessed the way she felt for him, Haru said he had no more feelings for her. Then, Shizuku said she would make him like her, again. But after a few moments Shizuku said she didn’t like him anymore when Haru started to like her, again. And... you have to watch this anime by yourself if you want to know more :p), they were making friends with other people too which is a great thing for both of them.

Shizuku and Haru (ep. 12)

Have you ever felt like, somehow, you are connected to character(s) from a movie or a book? You know how they feel because you've been there.

If you have, then you might understand how I’m feeling. Somehow, I feel related to Natsume and Oshima, characters from Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun. It's not like I think to know how they feel, but really know how they feel because I’ve been there. 

Why do I feel like I can relate to them? These are the reasons.

Asako Natsume (夏目 あさ子) 

She is a girl in the same class as Shizuku and Haru. She has poor grades and does not have any friends outside of the internet. She primarily has an online life with mostly online friends. She initially asks Shizuku to help her with the retake test in order to pass, excusing her from remedial classes allowing her to attend a community gathering to meet her online friends. Shizuku initially refuses, but Haru decides to help her in exchange to attend the community gathering. However, she has difficulty understanding Haru's tutoring, causing Shizuku to eventually teach her. Regardless, the community meeting does not go well and her grades remain as is. Natsume treasures her friendship with Shizuku and Haru very much, also displaying slight/occasional possessiveness in their romantic relationship, if something were to interfere. She was bullied and ostracised by her friends and classmates in the past, due to her popularity with the boys. 

Natsume-chan

I feel connected to her because I once have an active online life. It started a few years ago when I was in junior high school. I felt, no feel more comfortable to tell my stories with the friends I made online. Some people think it’s weird, but to be honest, I never regretted it. It made me who I am now. I even consider some of them as my best friends as I still talk to them about my problems. Problems that I can’t tell my friends in real life because of some reasons. 

Chizuru Ōshima (大島 千づる)  

She is member of the committee class, chosen because she wears glasses. She was helped by Haru after he beat up an upperclassman that was picking on her, and after Haru said she was a nice person, she fell in love with him. She is very shy, a little pessimistic and anxious, and even though she likes Haru, she always gives him advice when he can't understand Shizuku.

Chizuru Oshima

As for Oshima, I feel connected because I am like her. I’m not a member of committee class, but I’m shy, lack of self-confidence and I get anxious easily, especially when I’m around new people and the guy I like haha

You know, I always believe that everything that already happened, is happening, and will happen to us is no coincidence. It has and will affect our life. The way we think, the way we see things. It makes us who we are. Maybe that’s why I always want to try new things eventhough people find it strange or scary. I want to see things from other perspectives. Perspectives that some people might never thought of.

Anyway, thank you for reading this post. Sorry for the grammatical mistakes, I’m still learning to speak and write in English well haha

Good  night.

Shabrina K.

Source: 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonari_no_Kaibutsu-kun

http://www.zerochan.net/1286040 (Oshima's image)

http://www.zerochan.net/1286031 (Natsume's image)

http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/26688/Tonari+no+Kaibutsu-kun.html (Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun's characters' image)

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/haru%20x%20shizuku (Shizuku and Haru's image)