Every now and then an anime comes along that leaves you wondering, “What exactly did I just watch?” First Love Monster was that anime for me.

I finished the entire series, and honestly, I’m still not completely sure why. Maybe it’s because I’m the kind of person who has to see something through once I’ve started it. Maybe it was because every few episodes another one of my favorite English voice actors showed up and convinced me to keep going. Whatever the reason, I made it to the end.

I can’t say I’d recommend anyone else do the same.

What First Love Monster Is About

The premise sounds bizarre because… well… it is.

A 15-year-old high school girl falls in love with a boy she believes is around her age, only to discover he’s actually a 10-year-old elementary school student. That’s the central joke the entire series is built around, and unfortunately it’s also the biggest hurdle the anime never manages to overcome.

Yes, technically they’re both minors. Yes, someone could point out that a five-year age gap isn’t unusual once people are adults. My own husband is five years older than me.

But context matters.

A relationship between a 10-year-old and a 15-year-old just feels fundamentally different, and the anime never convinced me otherwise. I kept thinking, “He’s only going to be 15 when she’s 20.” That thought never really left my head, and because of that, the entire series always felt like it was sitting right on the edge of being uncomfortable.

The Comedy Is Exactly What You’d Expect From 10-Year-Old Boys

One thing I do want to give the series credit for is that it never really pretends these boys are mature. Kanade and his friends constantly make fart jokes, p*nis jokes, and every other kind of elementary school humor you can think of.

Here’s the funny part: Some of it actually made me laugh.

The jokes make sense because these are, in fact, 10-year-old boys. If your sense of humor can appreciate that kind of childish comedy, you’ll probably find more to enjoy here than I did. I honestly think this anime might be a completely different experience if you watched it while not entirely sober.

At the same time, the character designs don’t help. Kanade and his friends look much older than they actually are. They often resemble teenagers instead of elementary school kids, so I constantly had to remind myself how old they were supposed to be. That disconnect made the entire premise feel even stranger.

The Anime Just Keeps Getting Weirder

As if the central premise wasn’t enough, First Love Monster occasionally throws in moments that feel completely disconnected from everything else.

I remember one girl becoming bizarrely obsessed with Kanade’s dad to the point of stealing his underwear, and then at one point she suddenly transforms into this monster-like creature.

I distinctly remember sitting there thinking:

“What the hell am I watching right now?”

That pretty much sums up the viewing experience.

The English Dub Deserved a Better Anime

This is, without question, the biggest reason the score isn’t even lower.

The English dub cast is absolutely stacked with some of my favorite voice actors. Every time I thought the anime couldn’t surprise me anymore, another familiar voice would show up.

Hearing Ian Sinclair, Austin Tindle, Dallas Reid, Anthony Bowling, J. Michael Tatum, and Alejandro Saab together genuinely made the experience more enjoyable than it probably deserved.

Ian Sinclair was especially fun to listen to. His character is kind of a jerk, but Ian has one of those voices that’s entertaining regardless of whether he’s playing the hero or the sarcastic adult in the room.

Honestly, the biggest tragedy of First Love Monster is how much talent was poured into a series that just never worked for me.

I’m so sorry they had to voice this trainwreck.

Final Thoughts

Was the show funny? Sometimes, yes.

Did I think it crossed into explicit inappropriate content? Not really.

But the premise never stopped making me uncomfortable enough that I couldn’t simply relax and enjoy the comedy. Every episode felt like it was balancing on that uncomfortable edge without ever convincing me the central relationship was something I could get behind.

When I think back on the series now, I don’t remember great character development or memorable emotional moments. I remember wondering why the English dub cast was so unbelievably good, laughing at the occasional dumb joke, and questioning my life choices every couple of episodes.

Some anime are so bad they’re entertaining.

This one mostly just left me confused.

Final Score: 2.5/10.

The incredible voice cast and a few genuinely funny moments keep it from being a complete disaster, but they aren’t enough to overcome a premise that never stopped feeling awkward. There are simply too many great romantic comedies out there to recommend spending your time on this one.