My Little Monster

A refreshingly fast paced and bold anime rom-com that works as a great stress buster. My Little Monster derives a lot of its good elements from Maid Sama, quite noticeably. It follows the story of an emotionally confused girl who can't help being a workaholic, and a socially misunderstood boy with an extremely forward demeanor. It's like they took Maid Sama's plot and changed it a little to prevent getting caught, much like that homework assignment you "did yourself" back in college. That being said, My Little Monster introduces just enough of its own novelty to make it an interesting watch, especially because of how quickly the anime progresses and develops character relationships. 

The star crossed lovers in question are Shizuku and Haru, two contrasting personalities who somehow realize they complete each other in a ying-yang-ish manner. The plot starts with Haru's issues at school and inability to make friends, then progresses to his immediate infatuation with Shizuku who makes him feel safe but also confuses him. We see a lot of serious relationship commentary complimented by well done comedy and levity through supporting characters and ridiculous settings. There are small running plot points, but the overarching theme is understanding if Shuzuku can handle this kind of a relationship and figure out what she really wants. The people are real and likeable, and the story telling is succinct while engaging, what more do you need from an anime rom-com? (thank god because I can't do 100 episodes of build up to hand holding like with most other mainstream shows). 

What I don't like about this anime is that while it's fast paced, there's a lot of annoying back and forth where Shizuku keeps changing her mind about being in love or not. Additionally, Some of the humor is strained and makes certain serious scenes awkward, but all other aspects are fairly well done. 



My personal ratings are:

Story: 2/5
Character Development: 3/5
Dialogue: 4/5
Music: 3/5
Enjoyment: 4/5 

Overall recommendation: One angry chicken 

Shokugeki no Soma

Shokugeki no Soma or Food Wars is a shonen anime series about the culinary world. It brings a lot of color to this otherwise sparsely explored genre and is a must watch for you anime food lovers! This mouth watering and brilliant show has a great balance of exciting plot points, vibrant visuals and entertaining characters. It also does a great job in involving comedic elements so that it's not just an intense food anime with no other focus. Although Food Wars sounds like an innocent cooking anime, beware as it's very ecchi (suggestive sexual content). And I mean overtly ecchi moments, that can be off-putting. Since this is a culinary show let me put it this way: think of Food Wars as an Oreo Milkshake. You're blending milk, oreos, chocolate, ice cream...but bam someone throws a handful of broccoli in there! The un-necessary ecchi hits just like that broccoli (at least for me), but the rest is so on point.

The plot of Food Wars is not complicated. We follow the story of Yukihira Soma, a chef at his own family diner. Soma has no formal cooking accolades or fancy training but is an undeniably amazing cook. One day his father sends him to a prestigious cooking academy called Totsuki where only elite chefs can survive. Soma decides that he will outperform everyone at this academy but is up for quite a challenge. You get to see really entertaining story arcs about how Soma and his friends train to become better and how the existing egotistical chefs challenge them, only to realize they aren't ordinary chefs. All viewers get pulled into an expertly crafted culinary universe that's fairly educational and full of heated cook-offs. The show is also full of motivational content and unexpected reveals. My favorite aspect is that Soma has no special abilities, he gets his victories through sheer hard work and practice. A quote said by Soma's dad really gets me pumped, "people tend to dislike Soma because he wins but isn't special. Recognizing him means, realizing your own shortcomings and lack of determination."

While I have mentioned the shows ecchi natured drawbacks, I do also want to point out that the format of cooking battle after cooking battle can get tiresome. Food Wars will explain the science behind every chef's cooking, which is great, but can also cause an information overload if you're binge watching. 

    

My personal ratings are:

Story: 3/5
Character Development: 5/5
Dialogue: 4/5
Music: 4/5 
Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall recommendation: One Yukihira special. Glad you liked it! 

Shokugeki no Soma/ Food Wars can be streamed on Netflix or on Crunchyroll based on your region. You can use a VPN to watch on either platform.