Haru Archives | 100 Word Anime

My Roommate is a Cat Series Review – It has a Cat in It, Enough Said

Posted on March 11, 2022March 5, 2022 by Karandi

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 2 Cute Moment

When My Roommate is a Cat, or Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue (what a mouthful) premiered, reactions were clearly split. The first episode by its very nature turned part of the audience away which is kind of a shame given this story ends up being one with a lot of heart and a dramatic climax that feels earned.

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 5 Haru and Subaru

My trepidation going into My Roommate is a Cat was the slice of life label on it. I’m not the biggest fan. Couple that with the bright yet bland promotional image of all the happy smiling characters and the jumping cat and basically I thought I was going in to something that was going to bore me to tears before I’d just stop watching and walk away.

However, the thing that was annoying a lot of first episode viewers was actually the thing that caught my attention and dragged me into the story.

And that was Subaru.

My Roommate is a Cat is more than just a cute cat, it is also Subaru.

As a central character I kind of understand why a lot of viewers didn’t like him and even why a few outright hated him. Another anime character with dead parents. Starting with a funeral sequence to garner sympathy for a character we don’t know or have any reason to care for. And then there was his general attitude. He was rude to his editor and really to everyone in the first episode. So yes, I get why a lot of viewers didn’t like him.

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 1 Subaru — Blunt – but given the circumstances potentially justified.

I didn’t like him either. But I understood him and felt a bit of a connection. Subaru is socially awkward and anxious. He doesn’t like interacting with others and when forced out of his comfort zone his defences are up. That comes across as rudeness but is really a self-defence.

I actually blamed the editor in the first episode more than Subaru. When he should know his writer well enough to know that meeting him in a public place was just going to set him on edge. For me the sequence established Subaru’s character beautifully and the underlying issue he was going to need to face and so while I agree that Subaru wasn’t a nice character, I was intrigued from episode one.

Then there was the cat.

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 2 Cat on Keyboard — My cat would love to do this but knows the keyboard is an absolute no-go zone.

While Subaru may have been the repellent for a lot of potential viewers, the as yet unnamed stray cat was the lure. Adorable and standing in for every cat everywhere in mannerisms, the eventually named Haru stole the show.

Interestingly enough, when Haru was rude or cagey or defensive people found it adorable and yet Haru and Subaru are literally two of a kind. That’s why the two form such a strong bond as they both grow over the course of the series.

However, most slice of life anime know these days that you do in fact need some kind of gimmick to keep people watching and clearly My Roommate is a Cat isn’t relying on the cute girl factor, although Nana is kind of cute. No, the gimmick in My Roommate is a Cat is that each episode tells the events twice. Once from the human point of view and then from the view of the cat. Mostly the cat view is a brief few minutes at the end of the episode but some episodes give more time to Haru’s perspective particularly toward the end of the season.

Yes, Haru isn’t just a plot device to inspire Subaru’s character growth. Haru is a fully fledged character in her own right going through her own healing character arc alongside Subaru. While I’ll admit that some of the cat sections added little in some episodes, they were always cute, and at times they did offer some interesting insight and certainly allowed Haru the growth she deserved within the story.

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There’s little more to say about the plot given each episode is just another day for the man and the cat who are now sharing a house. Various events occur, the characters react, learn something and we move on. It is slice of life and it does that well providing some very calm and occasionally amusing viewing.

What sets this one apart from so many slice of life anime though is that it did offer a climax that I felt was emotionally rewarding. I’m not going into detail here, but it brings the story of Subaru and dealing with the loss of his parents as well as moving forward to a satisfying conclusion and really consolidates the relationship that has grown between Subaru and Haru throughout the series. I couldn’t have asked for more from the final couple of episodes and just loved it.

Visually it works well enough. I’m not really into the colour scheme being used and it is all just a little bit bland really, but given the subject matter and tone the visuals work well enough for that. The animation for Haru is perfect and I’m sure if you are a cat lover you will see your own cat in her at various points, but there’s a lot of sitting and talking in this anime and a lot of very still sequences with little movement so while the animation works it isn’t exactly awe inspiring.

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 8 Subaru and Haru

However, I do have to mention the OP. Unknown World is an incredibly infectious song and I found myself happily bobbing along to it most weeks and occasionally even replaying it just because it made me smile. I also really enjoyed the imagery used during the opening as it fit the tone of the show perfectly even if it wasn’t the most exciting ever. I definitely recommend giving the OP a listen to even if you have no interest in My Roommate is a Cat.

Still, for cat lovers this is a must watch. For people who enjoy slice of life anime, this one works well enough. If you are looking for a character who is slowly opening himself up to new experiences and working through issues of social awkwardness and anxiety, there’s plenty to enjoy here. While My Roommate is a Cat is a far from perfect anime, it was a delightful intrusion into the season and ended up being one I looked forward to each week.

Images from: My Roommate is a Cat. Dir. K Suzuki. Zero-G. 2019.

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Karandi James

You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Til It’s Gone

Posted on March 28, 2019March 31, 2019 by Karandi

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 12 Review

The wild storm rages and Subaru is forced to take the train back home. Meanwhile he calls his friend to go and check on Haru. Alas, Haru escapes the house in a desperate attempt to find the strangely missing Subaru and so the search for Haru begins.

It is such a fitting final episode really to My Roommate is a Cat. With Subaru visiting the grave where the story began and he met Haru in the first place during his search, there’s a sense we’ve come full circle and yet we can also see how far Subaru has come as a character in the time we’ve spent with them. We also bring all the minor characters in on the search.

My favourite point was when Subaru was being rescued from the puddle and much like the child-Subaru was more concerned with saving his book from the water, adult-Subaru ensures Haru is lifted clear first. It is a touching and adorable moment made only cuter by the quiet moments once the two characters return to the house.

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I very much look forward to writing a full review of this one and Subaru and Haru are adorable as roommates and hopefully one day they’ll continue to have adventures together but if not this is certainly a nice place to leave the two.

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 12 - Haru and Subaru

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Karandi James

The Quiet Joy Of Sharing a Meal

Posted on March 15, 2019March 13, 2019 by Karandi

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 10 Review

There’s not much to say about this episode of My Roommate is a Cat. Subaru is exhausted after pulling all nighters to finish writing but Hiroto’s sister and her friend come to play. In the process they teach Subaru how to cook a meal for Haru and the remainder of the episode is Subaru first trying to buy the ingredients for the meal and then prepare it before we flip to Haru’s point of view.

If you are watching this because you enjoy Subaru’s awkward nature and the play between cat and human, this episode will be great fun. The payoff when the two eat together at the end is well worth it. However, there’s little else to this episode that would really stand out.

I do find Haru’s perspective is starting to wear a little thin with her constant worrying about Subaru not eating. Admittedly, it is a legitimate concern but it is starting to become a bit repetitive. There was very little added through seeing Haru’s perspective this week and the end of the episode felt a bit weak because of it.

Still, seeing Subaru stumped at the grocery store and Hiroto coming to his rescue was amusing enough and the final scene of cat and human, fed and happy, is certainly heart warming enough. This series remains cute enough and entertaining for those who relate to owning a cat (or being owned by a cat) but episodes like this one show the decidedly one note nature of the series.

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Dreaming of the Past and Protecting the Present

Posted on March 8, 2019March 6, 2019 by Karandi

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 8 Review

I’ve been really enjoying getting to know Subaru and seeing him soften a little from his original stand-offish character while still remaining essentially true to himself. He still dislikes noise in his house and people who won’t leave him alone but he’s also come to appreciate those who look out for him. It is a nice progression of his character and one that has been enjoyable to be along for. Episode 8 of My Roommate is a Cat continues this development by taking a bit of a look at how young Subaru grew into the author he is today.

Though, I’ll point out making someone choose between saving a cat or a book from landing in water is just cruel. At the same time, I assume my cat is smart enough that if she doesn’t want to land in the water to jump to the shore so I’d probably save the book. That and my cat likes playing in water when it is really hot (which is a good five months of the year) so she probably wouldn’t mind that much. Winter would be a different story.

As usual the episode flips between Subaru’s perspective and Haru’s with Haru’s part being quite adorable this week as we see the stand-offish affection a cat holds for their human. Haru perfectly embodies this and while her mannerisms may not be identical, most cat owners should see a bit of their feline in her antics.

All and all, this one remains a pleasant viewing experience and I’m finding myself enjoying it more and more each week. I would like to see Subaru get a little bit more of a push to deal with others but I’ve honestly loved seeing him grow so far throughout this series.

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 9 Review

It is time for Subaru’s book signing and as expected when it comes to actually doing it he suddenly realises just how far out of his comfort zone he’s decided to step. On that note though, Haru, left at home, is freaking out because her human started acting strange (was dressing in a suit) and then left for a day (usually never goes out).

Unusually, the story starts from Haru’s perspective before we see Subaru at the book signing before returning home, where we flip again back to Haru’s perspective. It works well though in framing the story and Haru’s tirade and mass destruction of tissues and books is again something as a cat owner I recognise. My cat tends to take out photos and ornaments when I leave her alone too long, though she usually waits until I return, makes sure I can see her, and then deliberately knocks them flying off a shelf (okay, my cat has a mean streak when ignored).

Despite enjoying Haru’s moments which are cute and touching as we see her fretting about being left alone, Subaru facing his readers at the signing is the stronger part of the episode. From panicking over signing crooked to worrying he didn’t thank his first readers, to reaching out to them, we see him really pushing himself personally.

I was expecting it, but Oukami’s appearance and realisation that Subaru is actually the author her brother likes is pretty adorable and yet another good character moment for Subaru as he tries to convey his feelings in words. While his shouting thank-you after her is a little over the top, the scene is otherwise really nicely conveyed.

All and all, another fun episode with Haru and Subaru and while they aren’t together for a lot of this episode, that allows them both to grow as characters.

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Finding Value In The Unexpected and Uncontrollable

Posted on February 23, 2019February 22, 2019 by Karandi

My Roommate Is a Cat Episode 7 Review

We know Subaru doesn’t really like dealing with people, hates interruptions to what he is doing, and generally isn’t great at dealing with the unexpected, and this episode gives him a dose of all three. However, rather than being an excuse to bring the curt Subaru back from episode one, the series of events this week shows just how much owning Haru and the interactions Subaru has had in the last six episodes have changed him. That said I think he would still prefer to be left alone so his inherent character hasn’t changed.

The episode begins with Subaru meeting his editor and they are picking out covers for his book. As usual the editor is prattling away and seemingly oblivious to the fact that he is incredibly annoying but Subaru actually just keep focused on looking at the options in front of him. It isn’t until the editor asks him about a book signing that Subaru actually shuts him down. All things considered with Subaru’s character it makes sense, though you have to wonder how that effects his career.

During this sequence though the childhood friend shows up with a tribe of siblings in tow. Apparently they came to play with Haru, because randomly invading someone’s house without notice to visit their cat is a perfectly sensible thing to do. It would have made more sense if Subaru had been involved with them growing up of similar but he didn’t even know the younger siblings, so the whole scenario is just kind of weird.

However, rather than venting frustrations, Subaru actually goes with things. Part of that is probably shock and inability to figure out how to throw them out, but that also is a sign of growth in that he actually cares about how to go about removing the problem rather than just wanting it gone.

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 7 Subaru and Haru

While there’s nothing overly profound here, the kids are actually surprisingly cute, their interactions with Haru mostly benign, and Subaru actually makes some progress by the end as he reconsiders at least thinking about the book signing. Of course, the real precious moment comes from Haru and Subaru both curling up and going to sleep, exhausted from dealing with others. Owner and cat are definitely very similar here.

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The Awkward Cat Belongs With An Awkward Human

Posted on February 16, 2019February 15, 2019 by Karandi

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 6 Review

There’s been no doubt that Subaru is a fairly socially awkward human being (or rather he has never tried to engage socially so hasn’t the faintest idea of how to do so). And they do say that owners and their pets resemble each other. I found it hilarious this week in My Roommate is a Cat where Subaru is sitting facing Nana’s brother in awkward silence and Haru, is in the shot staring awkwardly at Nana’s cats. While we later see what was going on from Haru’s perspective, the parallel between Subaru and Haru has never been clearer.

That said, I found this episode a little less engaging than normal, and part of that is because at only eight minutes in we go to Haru’s perspective. And while Haru’s thoughts on what is happening in the apartment are kind of sweet, we get an extended flash back of Haru and her siblings learning to live on the streets. The thing is, that we’d already pieced most of this together from existing flashbacks so this kind of felt like filler and it dominate most of the second half of the episode.

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 6 Haru's siblings

It doesn’t stop Haru from being utterly adorable. She’s now giving Fuzzy from The Morose Mononokean a good run for being cutest character of the season and I have a long standing love of Fuzzy. Apparently adorable is enough because while very little else of note occurs in the second half, I didn’t really dislike it.

One human development is that we learn Nana and her brother are both reading Subaru’s story as it is published in a magazine and it is perhaps his first time meeting people who read his work. Unable to figure out how to respond he ends up fleeing, but there is definitely a slow change occurring in his personality and I’m looking forward to seeing if that goes anywhere.

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This Week Witness Happy Sparkles From Pet Ownership

Posted on February 9, 2019February 8, 2019 by Karandi

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 5 Review

Is it possible that Haru could end up being a cuter pet than Mii-Kun from How To Keep a Mummy last year? I wouldn’t have thought so and yet this episode full of sparkles and adorableness may just push My Roommate is a Cat into a close second in terms of anime I end up liking not because of any kind of plot but just because they hit that special spot of adorableness that makes me just tilt my head and go ‘aww’.

This week we see Nana, the girl from the pet shop, drop by to try to give Subaru some advice on how to not overfeed Haru. Any new pet owner can sympathise with Haru being fairly clueless and a little panicky, though why he hadn’t just looked up the right portion sizes when he has clearly enjoyed ordering items and the like online is still a little bit of a mystery. Still, this sequence leads to some adorable play time with Haru that is fun both the first time from Subaru’s point of view and second time through with Haru’s thoughts.

But the super adorable moments just keep coming with Subaru running with Haru to return Nana’s house key. The moment Haru comes face to face with Hachi is just spot on (by the way, love the naming sense in this show with Nana owning Roku and Hachi – it’s terrible and yet brilliant). And then there’s the moment when Subaru calls Haru and for once Haru goes to him, prompted by Hachi given Haru does not mean food.

My Roommate is a Cat Epiosde 5 Haru and Subaru

Warm sparkles and sweet moments aside, this is just a fun episode. Subaru is making an effort to be nice to Nana and while he is incredibly awkward, there’s a genuine adorableness about him. Nana is just a bundle of sweet and while there are some shipping Nana with Subaru I’m feeling more of an older sister type with her. And Subaru could really do with one. But as always, the star of the show and the one who stole my heart again and made me want to hug my own kitty is Haru. Watch the anime for Haru alone, the rest is just kind of window-dressing.

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The Beginning of the Journey For The Cat and The Writer

Posted on January 26, 2019January 24, 2019 by Karandi

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 3 Review

It seems weird to say the journey is beginning when we’re at episode 3 but it feels right now like the emotional connection between the characters has finally been established and they are both ready to maybe let the other one be more than just an occupant in the house they happen to share. My Roommate is a Cat has done an excellent job at making Subaru’s character feel emotionally cut off from others to the point where he genuinely felt no need to form connections. For some viewers that made Subaru an unsympathetic character or they felt he was a bit of a jerk, however for me I saw him as an introverted character who probably already tended to be emotionally cut-off and then after the death of his parents just became adrift from others until he had lost sight of any path back.

More importantly, I kind of got Subaru because while I might not be the extreme introvert he seems to be at times when people in my life try and ‘help me’ by dragging me out of my comfort zone the end result usually isn’t good. Mostly because I was perfectly happy in the first place and my comfort zone is just that, comfy. So seeing Subaru not play nice in episode one when dragged out by his editor was something I enjoyed, and this episode reinforced the fact that Subaru’s editor really doesn’t get it.

Neither does Subaru mind you, but while everyone will be quick to point out Subaru isn’t picking up on social cues, an editor that invades his writer’s house on a daily basis in order to see his cat is pretty inept at reading the situation. And if he isn’t inept, he’s pushy and intrusive and neither one of those seems like a better option.

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 3 Subaru's parents

But what really sells episode 3 as a beginning is that we finally see the backstory on the death of the parents and we also see Haru and Subaru make a genuine emotional connection. The flashback establishes that Subaru was indeed a fairly anti-social child, but he did have some connections, mostly through his mother who continued to try to draw him out (though never pushed him). Finding the album in this episode and Subaru realising just how much effort his mother went to for him was a really great moment and for the first time we see Subaru really get in touch with the loss of his parents.

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 3 Subaru stares at Haru

Haru for the most part does behave pretty inexplicably in this episode until we see the cat’s perspective. Previously this gimmick of retelling events from the cat’s point of view has been cute but relatively unnecessary, but here it confirmed a suspicion you will have about the motive for the cat’s antics and adds further emotional weight to the finding of the album.

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 3 Subaru and Haru

So with the story started in episode one, of the writer who lost his parents young, now kind of resolved with him feeling their loss and accepting what happened and that it is too late to fix things now, we now have a clean slate and a story of a writer who adopted a cat and the two have found in each other something they need. I’m really enjoying this because it is just easy to watch and I really do like Subaru’s character and the cat gets cuter every episode. Hopefully it continues to be an enjoyable and emotional story until the end though with the parents part kind of resolved they are really going to have to switch the focus to Subaru’s development from this point or introduce a new character for this to not end up feeling stale.

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Super Lovers Series Review: Not Sure About the Super Part – But They Are Working on the Lovers Part

Posted on August 22, 2018August 4, 2018 by Karandi

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This is part of a series of re-posts of older reviews on 100 Word Anime. The original review came out in June 2016 and can be found here.

My overall impression of this anime isn’t great and that hasn’t really changed since my first viewing of it or during the second season. To be honest, this is kind of one of those shows you watch because you really want more or a particularly genre but given how little there is you just kind of watch anything that is available. While there are certainly warm and touching moments and some really interesting dialogue exchanges there’s just too much sitting around and waiting for one of the many emotionally stunted characters to say or do something that should have already happened.

Outside of the main relationships, everything that happens in the plot happens because of narrative convenience, including amnesia, success in business with very little risk, admission into school, friend appearing, mother returning to Japan. While each of these events is plausible in and of itself, they really feel forced on the characters to make them act in certain ways because the plot demands it.

Last time I reviewed this I steered away from really getting into the age gap, and to be honest I’m not going to debate the morality of it in the real world, because quite frankly it isn’t appropriate. Is it problematic for a work of fiction to establish a relationship like this? Well that entirely depends on how far you separate fictional what-ifs from real experiences and some people will find this distinctly uncomfortable and so would be better off steering clear. I will admit, I find Haru very hard to take seriously as a character because of some of his choices and general lack of impulse control but ultimately that is a minor nitpick in an anime full of other general issues.

Starting with the problems (and that way I can end on the positives):

01. Haru and Ren’s relationship doesn’t get a fair chance to develop in a cohesive manner. The time and continent jumps, and then the other characters who distract from this central story line just mean that everything about their relationship seems forced. Okay, some people are more concerned with the age difference and the fact that Haru is technically Ren’s key carer and with the power imbalance there is a lot wrong with the relationship in the first place. As I said above, I’m not getting into that one, but asking me to accept that Ren somehow imprinted on Haru as a child and just never got over that, despite having very little reason to continue feeling that way and even after being exposed to a larger group of people, just makes no sense. Granted, people do get fixated on others, but Ren’s level of mindless devotion is at times disturbing (more so then anything else about their relationship).

02. Haru’s brothers are all but completely unnecessary to the storyline and their characterisation is inconsistent at best. Is Aki actually angry with Haru? Apparently but then somehow he gets over it, except when he forgets he is supposed to be over it. Shima is little better when at times he seems all knowing and other times is just completely dense. And while a lot of what Haru does early in the season is so his brothers can all live together there just doesn’t seem much reason for this to need to happen. Particularly as the story then finds endless ways to send Aki and Shima off to school or work and remove them from the story. Just remove them in the first place and have them drop by when the occasion calls for it.

03. Haru’s mother, Haruko. Okay, Haruko needs her own entire post focussing on truly bizarre things anime parents sometimes get away with. Playing it off that she is super smart and probably has some master plan doesn’t make her a good mother. Or even a decent human being.Haru was hospitalised after returning to Japan and his parents were killed. He was not welcome in the house that took in his brothers. Why on earth would Haruko not do something to support her child in this situation? Why is he having to work as a host to save money to send his brothers to school? And even before then, who tells their kid they are dying in order to get them to fly by themselves to another country? Wow, she is horrible. Her final return at the end of the series did little to endear her to the audience or win her any points for mother of the year, either.

04. The pacing. After the initial time jumps and back and forths this anime settles into a very slow and languid style of story telling where time just doesn’t seem to be moving at all. That wouldn’t be so much a problem if the characters were interesting enough or if there day to day had some memorable moments scattered about but essentially they go to school or work and come home. Oh, I forgot, they found a dog.

05. Finally, the visuals. Normally this is not usually an issue for me with anime unless there is something particularly unusual about character design but I found the constant disappearing faces and vacant eyes when they weren’t doing a close up on a character really disconcerting. Again, not something that normally bugs me, but in this anime, when so much of it was characters sitting around talking so there wasn’t much else to distract, this really bugged me. I’ve read a lot of reviews with people saying how beautiful this anime is, and at times it really is; but that makes the times when it isn’t stand out more.

You might think from that I hated this series, but that isn’t actually the case. At no point did I want to drop this show even on a second viewing. I did however want it to speed up a bit and maybe have a little bit more happening in each episode. So what is good about the series?

01. Ren. That might seem odd but Ren is a character I found very interesting. The best parts of this anime were the parts that dealt specifically with the trauma Ren had encountered prior to Haru and his adjustments to Japan and then to school life. What I particularly like is that Ren’s development as a person (not his relationship with Haru) seems fairly logical and cohesive. There aren’t sudden 180’s in his personality but there are small changes that build up over time. Even Ren engaging in conversation with some of the sub-characters was usually interesting but would have been better if I’d cared just a little bit more about the other character.

02. Haru opening the cafe. Right, so his instant success is not particularly believable (no matter how many friends offer a helping hand) when you consider how many small businesses fail, but this move was a good one for Haru’s development. It showed him growing up and having an increasing sense of responsibility and allowed him to actually be in the story rather than at work or asleep. In terms of narrative devices the career change worked really well and seemed to fit with what we knew of the characters at the time.

03. The tone. This anime plays its story seriously and while there are sad moments and dark moments, mostly it has a very sweet tone. It feels consistent without abrupt changes in the writing style or music and while this does at times make it feel a little bit flat you aren’t suffering from the emotional whip-lash some of the other shows have given us this season.

On balance there are less positives here than in the problem list but that isn’t a deal breaker. Watching this through it flows nicely if slowly and it tells its story affectively even if there are occasional distractions and detractors from it.

That said, I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend watching Super Lovers. Even after the second season, there just isn’t enough going on with the characters and the plot and progress is pretty glacial. There’s certainly better out there to watch.

Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

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Tuesday’s Top 5: Characters Who Love Their ‘Darling’ To Death

Posted on March 13, 2018June 23, 2019 by Karandi

Yes, this post has been inspired by Darling in the Franxx’s Zero Two, unfortunately she doesn’t get a place on the list due to the uncertainty about how her character will develop from here.

Certainly she has all the traits of the characters below so far. Obsessively possessive of her chosen ‘Darling’, not entirely needing consent though does appreciate the thought, and willing to cut other people out of their ‘Darling’s’ lives if necessary. I’m pretty sure you can guess some of the names below but as always, I’d love to know who you would have included on your list. Which anime character do you think loves their ‘Darling’ to death?

Please note: There will be spoilers below.

Honourable mentions: Zero Two of course.

Number 5: Misa Amane from Death Note

There is no surprise that Misa made this list. The cute, sweet idol obsessed with Kira. She latches onto Light and promises to be helpful. She’ll follow his every command and do as he says. But no, he cannot date anyone else and no he cannot even pretend to be with other girls. Why? Because she’ll kill them in an instant and does not care that they may bring the police down on both of them. Misa was never one for a strategy. She went straight after what she wanted and what she wanted was Light’s absolute loyalty. And while Misa never did get Light killed, that was more good luck than good management. If it hadn’t been for her he would never have had to go through the whole confinement thing which would have made life a lot easier for him later.

Number 4: Haru from My Little Monster

Now, Haru is an interesting character and a lot of the time his bizarre actions are more a lack of understanding of norms than actual malice, and yet threatening to rape a girl the day after you met her is kind of extreme. The fact that these two end up being an adorable couple is kind of terrifying when put in that context, mostly because Shizuku spends a lot of time putting some very clear boundaries in place, particularly when he did punch her (technically an accident but still not cool). However, while Haru becomes far better at moderating his behaviour as directed toward Shizuku, Kenji Yamaguchi, who also kind of likes Shizuku, is not so lucky. At one point Haru nearly pushed him off a flight of stairs and was only stopped because he was distracted by Shizuku and another time Haru made it clear that his change in behaviour only applied to Shizuku. Not exactly an amazing example of reform or healthy relationships really. Fortunately though, no deaths in the show. It is a romantic comedy despite the serious doses of ‘what’ going on in Haru’s character description.

Number 3: Creed Diskenth from Black Cat

The guy is just obsessed with Train. That’s literally hit entire motivation and reason for being. He follows Train within the Chronos organisation and when Train leaves he completely loses it. The fact that Train left after being influenced by a friend (possibly closer than a friend) truly infuriated Creed and so Creed killed her. And then made sure Train knew that he had killed her. A lot of the time it is unclear is Creed is trying to kill Train or confine him or just mess with him but basically Creed is pretty stable as a character (as much as possible for a villain), until you throw Train into the mix and then he is a complete and utter psycho. I guess it never really occurred to him that Train legitimately did not care about him at all until he killed Saya. And even then, Train didn’t actually care about Creed. He just wanted to destroy the person who destroyed Saya. It didn’t matter that it was Creed. Again, Creed doesn’t manage to kill Train but he does come very close on multiple occasions.

Number 2: Yuno Gasai from Future Diary

I can already hear people asking, why is Yuno not number one on this list. And certainly, if we were just going with being crazy, Yuno is definitely a good contender. Still, in terms of loving their Darling to death, Yuno’s got some fierce competition. Mostly because I’m not entirely certain how much Yuno actually is in love rather than just obsessed with Amano. On the other hand, she’s one of the few people on this list who did in fact kill her Darling, even if it was in another timeline. So, basically, she swears to protect him in the death game, but mid-way through she tries confining him by tying him to a chair. Afterwards we learn that previously these two were the last two left standing and she killed him in order to be the victor and then she’s killed her past-self, inserted herself into that life, and done the whole thing again. You just have to wonder if she expected it to end differently the next time.

Number 1: Road Kamelot from D Gray Man

It absolutely had to be Road. She is a truly sadistic character who is, unfortunately for Allen, obsessed with our white haired exorcist friend. Mid-battle she can go from attacking him with kisses to shoving a spike through his eye in about the space of a heart beat and she sure doesn’t care about anyone near Allen, unless she thinks she can torture him by hurting them. Her obsession runs deep and she’s more than once allowed him to live when she could have killed him, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t had a fair go at inflicting quite a bit of pain on him. D Gray Man Hallow saw her assisting him from her doll form, though whether that will continue or whether she is just leading him to yet another disaster is anyone’s guess unless we get another continuation of the anime (or, you know I could eventually read the source material). Either way, Road was the first character I thought of for this list. She is ice cold, completely obsessed, and has a real taste for pain.

Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James

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