Jun 2, 2017
Oh dear, where to start... A long, long time ago, back when the scanlations for this manga were still coming out, I used to love it. But re-reading it many years later with a more critical eye, Love Monster only stands out from the myriad of shoujo work through 3 aspects: self-insert fantasy, uneven pacing, and a rushed and strange ending. Let's take it one by one.
Story - 4/10
You know how sometimes an interesting idea with lots of potential pops up? This could have been it, but Miyagi proved to not have the writing ability to expand the plot too much outside the broad strokes
...
from the beginning. The biggest fault is probably the pacing, with certain arcs taking up surprisingly many chapters for the little content they offer. And, of course, most suffer from monster-of-the-week syndrome, except instead of monsters (well...they kind of are monsters), you have characters sexually/physically assaulting Hiyoko, then fawning over how perfect she is.
There are some aspects I would've liked to see more of, like the training and use of supernatural abilities, and the monster social hierarchy (which we see a glimpse of with the crow families). Unfortunately, every plot point that could be even remotely interesting is rushed through to make room for the forceful and unstable romance between the main couple. For me, the biggest "yikes" moment was in the first few chapters, when Kurou imprisons Hiyoko in his tower, then, to punish her for trying to escape, he rips her clothes off, ties her to the bathtub and forcefully fingers her while she keeps saying "no!". If that's not sexual assault, then I don't know what is. But, of course, this is a Z-grade shoujo so all of it is presented as romantic. I don't know why I kept reading after that; I probably hoped it'd have some bearing on the plot or characterization, but it's never mentioned again after it's over.
Characters - 3/10
Love Monster is guilty of introducing a ton of characters and not doing anything worthwhile with them. 90% of the time a male character is introduced, he falls in love with Hiyoko and tries to sexually assault her; if a female character is introduced, she will try to harm Hiyoko but eventually end up befriending her because of her "pure heart" (which is most likely airheadedness, but I digress).
Hiyoko is probably the blandest and most useless and annoying shoujo protagonist I've encountered since Kurumi from 'Haou Airen'. Aside from the first few chapters where she displays SOME agency of her own, she's the type of protagonist that things happen TO, otherwise crying, waiting to be rescued, and generally being pushed around between various factions without displaying any proactive qualities. Kurou isn't really any better, embodying the classic shoujo male MC trope of "tall, dark, abusive-because-of-LOVE, mysterious and handsome".
95% of the side characters remain mostly as they were introduced, personality-wise, save for their heel-turn moment of falling in love/friendship with Hiyoko. As a consequence, despite being more interesting than the main couple, they get very little screen time that doesn't tie in to Hiyoko somehow. I would've given this section a 2 if it weren't for Yuki, Gin, Haine, Shou, Maki, and Kurou's father - with the latter two being by far the most interesting characters in the manga.
Art - 5/10
Every character is either handsome or cute. Simple as that. Not an ugly or even average character to be seen. In an attempt to make the girls look even cuter, Miyagi dresses them up in frilly clothes so much that they end up resembling dolls more than humans (which is...fitting, considering their mental development). A particularly jarring example is Kurou's mother, and while her fashion sense is explained, her character still came across as an example of "trying too hard to shock and be original".
While pretty characters are normal and expected for shoujo, what I could not get past is how badly full body shots are done. The boys are significantly taller in order to make the girls look even more cute and dainty by comparison, but when Hiyoko and Kurou stand side by side it's like putting an elementary school student next to a college student. I'm not even exaggerating, the proportions really are that bad! Aside from that, there are only about 4 character templates, so everyone ends up looking quite same-y.
Enjoyment - 3/10
The first chapters were entertaining to read solely because the world building is interesting and the character interactions would make for a varsity-tier drinking game based on the number of times Hiyoko is sexually assaulted. But after that? Not even a so-bad-it's-good read. Boring, repetitive, and ultimately pointless. Hiyoko never grows a spine, Kurou is still an abusive asshole, everyone else may as well be dead, and who even cares about the main plot anymore.
Overall - 3/10
While the supernatural aspect is interesting, there is too little world building to make reading this worthwhile. The characters themselves could have been good, yet ultimately fell prey to cliches and lack of development in favor of a stale romance plot that's been done so many times before and brings nothing new to the table. I would advise avoiding this, especially given its length; there really is no point in investing the time to read 80+ chapters of such an all-around disappointing work. No, seriously, it's not even one of those so-bad-it's-good trashy stories.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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