Review: MY MONSTER SECRET

We return from hiatus with a monstrously good selection of manga to review this month. Our first review may be the most unnerving thing we'll see all month: a harem manga that's actually good!

MY MONSTER SECRET: ACTUALLY I AM... (Jitsu wa Watashi wa...), by Eiji Masuda.  First published in 2013 and first published in North America in 2016.

PLOT:

Asahi can't keep a secret to save his life.  Even when he tries, his complete and utter lack of poker face gives everything away in no time.  That's why it's no surprise that his friends quickly figure out that he's crushing on Youko, the cool-tempered beauty of the class.  When Asahi finally musters up the courage to confess his feelings, he discovers Youko's secret: she is a vampire.

Asahi swears to protect her secret at all costs so she can keep going to their school, but how long will he last when he has to struggle not only against his own feelings, but the efforts of his snooping classmate Mikan?

STORY:

I've been writing reviews for this blog for over half a decade, and virtually every time I've reviewed a harem manga in that time I've been disappointed.  Today is not just an exception, but possibly the best harem manga I've ever read (to say nothing of the best 'monster girl' series).  How is this possible?

It can't be due to the cast...well, not entirely at least.  The girls are fairly endearing, be it Youko (the vampire) or Aizawa (the class rep/tiny alien in a human mech suit).  That's not so much because of their personalities, but because the manga mines a lot of good humor between their public personalities and how bad they are at (barely) hiding their true identities.  Despite the fact that this is technically a monster girl harem, Masuda doesn't fetishize the girls' monstrous qualities in the same way other manga of this sort do, which keeps away the feelings of grossness and exploitation that ruined the likes of Monster Musume for me.

It's certainly not due to Asahi.  Aside from his inability to keep a secret, he's not much different than the usual bland putz protagonist.  The best character might be the one that's the closest this series has to a villain: Mikan.  She's a sadist who lives for gossip, and Asahi is her best source for both.  She quickly figures out that Asahi is hiding something and spends the latter half of this volume stalking him and Youko in the goofiest manner possible.  She's terrible yet hilariously inept, which makes her a great comic villain.

I think what won me over on My Monster Secret was its sense of humor.  A lot of harem manga try for comedy, but the wackiness is forced and they tend to lean too hard on the same old, overdone sex jokes.  Too many of them are convinced that fanservice alone is the funniest joke of all.  Thankfully, Masuda avoids these pitfalls.  The gags here aren't complex, but they rely more on farce than fanservice and virtually all of them are beautifully timed.  Compared to most harem manga, this one is positively chaste.  Asahi wants a girlfriend, but never once does consider perving on the girls around him (or their undergarments) and that alone is incredibly refreshing.

Maybe that was the secret all along.  Maybe if more harem manga focused on the quality of their jokes and cast, they could replicate My Monster Secret's own particular brand of irrepressible charm.

ART:

Even more so than the comedy, what I truly loved about My Monster Secret was the art.  Masuda's artstyle is kind of old fashioned where the casts frequently bursts into big, rubbery expressions and enormous grins.  These big reactions go a long way on selling the jokes to the audience and communicating the girls' personalities.  Youko has big, warm smiles that charm the reader as much as Asahi, while Mikan's maniacal grins and blank-eyed stares lend her fanaticism a wacky edge.  He also kind of undersells the girls' monstrous physical qualities.  Youko only possesses a pair of wings and fans, while Aizawa is largely imperceptible from human girls save for the giant screw in her ponytail.

RATING:

My Monster Secret easily rises above the rest on the strength of its goofy art and great sense of humor.  It's the monster girl harem manga for people who don't like monster girls or harems and it's one that comes highly recommended.

This series is published by Seven Seas.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 22 volumes available.  13 volumes have been published and are currently in print.