Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun is a 2008 manga series.

Shizuku Mizutani only has one thing in mind: getting good grades in calculus. To accomplish this goal, Shizuku has little interest in anything else. However, after delivering lesson notes to her resident Delinquent classmate Haru Yoshida, the latter is convinced that they are friends. Initially, Shizuku is intimidated by such a troublesome person, but she gradually notices that Haru is actually a kind person. When Haru confesses to Shizuku, an unlikely romance begins to blossom between them.


Tropes used in Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun include:
  • Alliterative Name: Yuuzan Yoshida.
  • Almost Kiss: Between Haru and Shizuku in Chapter 5.
  • Aloof Big Brother: Yuuzan.
  • Ambiguous Innocence: Haru's extreme innocence can occasionally cross over from adorable into mildly disturbing.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love:
    • When Shizuku confesses to Haru, Haru gently rebuffs her as he doesn't think their "likes" are the same and thus it wouldn't work out if they dated then and there. However, Shizuku takes the rejection in stride and replies that she'll wait for him until he falls in love with her.
    • And when Haru finally does realize and reciprocate his feelings for Shizuku, it ironically ends up around the same time that Shizuku decides to completely focus on her studies and disregard any affection that she has for Haru.
  • Berserk Button: Don't interrupt Shizuku's studies. Or else. Don't make light of their importance, either.
    • If you do anything to hurt Haru's friends, he will kill you. Especially if it's Shizuku.
  • Bishounen: Haru, Yuuzan, and Yamaken.
  • Bland-Name Product: Ztarbucks Coffee in Chapter 18.
  • Brutal Honesty: Shizuku can be extremely blunt that sometimes her honesty comes off as insensitive.
    • Sasayan also does this if you get him angry enough.
  • Chick Magnet: Haru and Yuuzan. Natsume is a gender-flipped example.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Haru tends to come off as this, because of his lack of experience in normal social interaction.
  • Cool Old Guy: Haru's cousin Micchan, often giving helpful advice to Haru and Natsume, though he's not that old.
  • Cool Shades: Micchan wears a pair of them at all times.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Micchan may seem like just an easygoing nice guy, but he can go toe to toe with an enraged Haru, and win.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Yamaken.
  • Death Glare: Haru tends to make these not only when he's angry, but when he's confused, scared, or uncomfortable, causing severe misunderstandings.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen/Kuudere: Shizuku.
  • Delinquent: Haru.
  • Does Not Like Men: Natsume, who has a hatred for men due to the fact that guys asking her out often leads girls hating her because she's popular with guys and guys hating her because she rejects them.
  • Dogged Nice Girl: Ooshima.
  • Dumb Blond: While not blond, Natsume does share most of the traits. The first thing most guys notice about her is her looks and she's not exactly the sharpest pencil in the box.
  • Elegant Gothic Lolita: Natsume's zombie costume for the cultural festival.
  • Emotionless Girl: Shizuku.
  • Everyone Can See It: Everyone can see the UST between Haru and Shizuku and pretty much think they're dating.
  • The Faceless: Shizuku's mother's full face is never shown.
  • Generic Cuteness: Some characters, like Natsume, are explicitly stated to be very good looking but they aren't really drawn any cuter than the relatively more average lookers like Shizuku.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Shizuku has her first taste of jealousy when Haru becomes popular with the girls at school. And Haru definitely does not like it whenever he stumbles upon Shizuku and Yamaken hanging out, knowing full well that the latter has feelings for the former.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Haru. This tends to get him into serious trouble.
  • Hidden Depths: Haru comes off as an impulsive troublemaker, but he turns out to be rather innocent when it comes to things like friendships and girls.
  • Hot-Blooded: Haru.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Shizuku.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends: Haru, Natsume, and Ooshima.
  • In-Series Nickname: Sasahara's nicknames "Sasayan" and "Asa," Natsume nicknaming Shizuku, "Mitti," and "Yamaken" for Kenichi Yamaguchi. Haru calls Ooshima as "Class Rep" before she properly introduces herself to him, and Yamaken's gang has a habit of nicknaming Shizuku, "Study Bug."
  • Intelligence Equals Isolation: Played with. Shizuku has little to no friends prior to meeting Haru due to her constant focus on studying while Yamaken is intelligent and at times arrogant and merely hangs out with his gang because "idiots amuse [him]."
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Haru appears to be this to everyone else because he looks and acts like a delinquent but really has a Hidden Heart of Gold. Yamaken surprisingly turns out to be this as well, initially debuting as a gang leader but turning out to be rich, intelligent, and has a habit of looking after Shizuku, who he ends up developing feelings for.
  • Lap Pillow: When Haru finds a sleeping Shizuku by the roof, he does this for her.
  • Love Triangle: Quite a few. The first one is between Shizuku, Haru, and Ooshima. Two other love triangles later sprout between Haru, Shizuku, and Yamaken and Asa, Natsume, and Micchan.
  • Megane: Yamaken occasionally wears glasses. Haru attempted wearing glasses to gain more popularity (and failed).
  • Meganekko: Ooshima. She says that the only reason she was elected a class committee member was because she wore glasses.
  • Moment Killer: Haru and Yamaken are often each other's moment killers with it comes to both of them trying to spend time with Shizuku.
    • Haru tends to be this in general because of his obliviousness.
  • Nakama: Shizuku, Haru, Natsuma, and Asa. They are later occasionally joined by Ooshima.
  • Not So Different: Haru with Natsume and Ooshima in their shared loneliness and strong desire to make friends. Shizuku with Yamaken in their mutual intelligence, haughtiness, and being Surrounded by Idiots.
  • Not What It Looks Like: During the cultural festival, Shizuku and Yamaken get into this situation twice: 1) when Haru and Ooshima discover that they're together alone in a room (and eavesdropped on their conversation), and 2) when Yamaken's gang find Yamaken and Shizuku together and assume something happened between Yamaken and "Study Bug."
  • Oblivious to Love: Haru to Ooshima. Shizuku to Yamaken.
    • Natsume to Sasayan. In Natsume's defense, Sasayan's actions are ambiguous enough that it's not obvious to the other characters and even the readers that he has romantic feelings for her.
  • Peek-a-Bangs: Yamaken.
  • Rescue Romance: Ooshima develops a crush on Haru after he rescues her from bullies.
  • The Rival: Shizuku sees Haru and Yamaken as rivals when it comes to getting the highest grades. Also, Shizuku's love rival Ooshima for Haru and Haru's love rival Yamaken for Shizuku.
  • Running Gag: Haru bringing the chicken to school, Haru covering Shizuku's mouth and pulling her to a corner.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: Everyone merely assumes that Shizuku is Haru's girlfriend because they always hang out together, to Shizuku's annoyance on how the assumption has been apparently established as fact.
  • Shipper on Deck: Natsume and Asa for Haru and Shizuku, though Natsume's more vocal about it.
  • Shrinking Violet: Ooshima.
  • Smart People Wear Glasses: Yamaken occasionally wears glasses during cram school and has high marks that rival Shizuku's. Haru averts this by being quite intelligent but only tried wearing glasses to try and become popular.
  • Strange Girl: Though probably milder than most cases and definitely not as strange as Haru, Natsume is definitely not normal.
  • Sweet Tooth: Yuuzan.
  • Team Pet: The chicken Nagoya.
  • Teen Genius: Haru and Yamaken.
  • Those Three Guys: Yamaken's three cronies.
  • Troubled but Cute: Haru.
  • Tsundere: Yamaken.

Yamaken: I don't even care a tiny bit about you, okay?
Shizuku: Huh? What are you saying that for?

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