Tomodachi x Monster (トモダチ×モンスター, Tomodachi × Monsutā) is an action-horror Black Comedy manga written and illustrated by Yoshihiko Inui, which was serialized in Manga Action from 2014 to 2015. The manga is a gory, darkly humorous parody of Pokémon and kid-oriented Mons Series.
A lonely sixth-grader named Wataru Narimiya is lured into the wilderness outside of his village by a mysterious voice beckoning him. In the wilderness, he encounters "Peke", a strangely adorable creature resembling a stitch-mouthed purple bean with a prehensile appendage.
Soon, Wataru finds himself in a hidden world of monsters, dubbed "Friends", partnered with young kids. Together with his Friend Peke, he is embroiled into a horrifying battle royale against sociopathic kids with cute creatures to do their cruelty.
Examples:
- Art-Style Dissonance: The manga is illustrated in a bright, crisp artstyle typical of Mons Series aimed at a Kodomomuke and younger-leaning Shōnen Demographic, which disturbingly contrasts the gory violence and dark plot.
- Dark Parody: The main premise of the manga is a gruesome, Black Comedy-laden take on the usually kid-oriented Mons genre represented by Pokémon. For example, it depicts battles between Friends similar to Pokemon battles, but ending in a bloody death of the opposing kid.
- Duels Decide Everything: Averted. The human partners can be killed in the battles.
- Invisible to Normals: The Tomodachi are only visible to Tomodachi and their partners.
- Living Toy: One of the Tomodachi, Cutter, is clearly based on a kendama toy
. - Mons: The titular Friends, or Tomodachi in Japanese. They are adorable creatures that bond with children to become their partners.
- Necromancer: Puppeteer's power is that it can turn corpses into zombies under its control.
