Jitsu wa Watashi wa (Actually, I am...)

One day after school, Asahi Kuromine stumbles upon the truth that Youko Shiragami, the girl he has a crush on, is actually a vampire. According to her father's rules, Youko must now quit school in order to keep her family safe. However, Asahi does not want her to go and promises that he will keep her true nature secret. Unfortunately, this turns out to be easier said than done, as Asahi is a man who is easy to read and is unable to keep any secrets to himself.

And this is only the beginning of his troubles—more supernatural beings enter his life, and he is forced to protect all of their identities or face the consequences. Jitsu wa Watashi wa follows Asahi as he deals with his new friends and the unique challenges they bring, struggles to keep his mouth shut, and desperately tries to win Youko's heart in the process.

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Hatano, Wataru
Japanese

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Takegawa, Shingo

Producer

Yamamoto, Yasutaka

Director, Storyboard

Tanaka, Kazuya

Sound Director

Shinohara, Keisuke

Episode Director, Key Animation

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Opening Theme

"Himitsu wo Choudai (ひみつをちょーだい)" by Ars Magna

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Ending Theme

"Ienai Ienai (言えない言えない)" by Hilcrhyme

Reviews

Sep 28, 2015

Stark700

Recommended

It seems there may be a new trend in anime in recent years. The concept of monster girls who lives in the human world is becoming more and more of a trend. Rosario + Vampire, Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?, Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou, and even to an extent, To Love Ru Darkness display traits where its main character cast composes of non-human female characters. So where does that put Jitsu wa Watashi wa? Nowhere too different really. To sum it up easily, this is a series about a guy who discovers that there are non-human beings living in his world. And one of ... them is not so far away as much as he thinks.

Adapted from the manga of the same name, Jitsu wa Watashi wa (Actually, I am…) is a harem rom-com. There’s two ways the series goes about this. One is the way the characters are introduced, one by one in oddball fashions to the main character. The second is how the main character connects with them with a variety of feelings. And if you can guess, it mostly steers into a road of romance. However, it is also interesting to note that the series takes itself more as a comedy rather than human drama. How can human even fit into the same phrase here?

Well, there’s the one human protagonist we meet from the very beginning. Known to his friends and peers as Kuromine and others as “Eromine” (there’s reason for this explained comically later), he is essentially the average teenager you can expect to see in any school related series. One day at school, he discovers a startling secret. He discovers that his secret crush, Shiragami Youko is actually a vampire. The key word here is ‘actually’. This is because the show is a matter of not ‘if’ but ‘when’. By predictable plot standards, it’s easy to guess that Kuromine will find out the secrets of other characters too. But for starters, his discovery of Youko lands him into some awkward waters. The way the show sets their relationship essentially begins as a form of pact. Kuromine likes Youko and vows to keep her secret from others. In turn, Youko begins to understand Kuromine and naturally begins to develop similar feelings. And as far as that goes, their school life begins to take into a road of misadventures as others get involved with their “relationship”.

As a series about rom-com, the main protagonist is hardly outstanding. He is the typical nice guy, the beta harem type that you can find literally in any similar series. What does make him slightly interesting is that he is honest and loyal. The first few episodes establishes this as he promises to keep Youko’s true identity as a secret. If not, Youko would have to be change schools in order to avoid shame. His personality seems to have influence on others as well as the characters encountered by him understands his intentions more than they originally had thought. This seemingly also attracts others towards him as they see Kuromine as a sincere person. Characters such as Nagisa begins to have conflicting thoughts about him as the series progresses, Youko falls further and further in love, while he attracts other weirdos like self-proclaimed pervert, Shiho Shishido. As amusing as this sounds, there’s hardly any good characterization on them. The series easily makes its point that it’s more of a comedy gag show rather than something to take seriously. The plot is also structured in episodic-like nature with some episodes that have little to no connections with the rest.

Despite this, I do have to admit that the show has genuine comedy. This comes mainly from the character face expressions. In essence, we get two types. The first is human-like ones from Kuromine and his childhood friend Mikan. Their reactions to many events in the show is priceless and often seems like a work of art. Although it’s not as powerful as to the manga, it still retains its clever facial tone. The second is the dialogues. Because Kuromine is helping to keep a secret, there will be a lot of times where he gets into complicated scenarios where he may have to make up something in order to avoid trouble. Think of it more as “lying with the truth” and the dialogues that comes from it is hilarious. Of course, expect misunderstandings and events to get complicated more than they seem.

The series ultimately can be a hit or miss for fans when it comes to adaptation. To me, it’s a bit of both. I wouldn’t say it’s a failure but neither is it compelling. Rather than following the manga straightforward, the adaptation reshuffles certain chapters to make the overall story flow better. While this seems like a positive at first, it can also lead to important elements of the original omitted or parts added in too quickly. The good part that comes with this is the better pacing as some of the episodic scenarios can be frustrating and almost like if it’s testing the patience of the audience.

TMS Entertainment is not a powerhouse but their involvement for this show does have some good values. The character designs aren’t outstanding as the characters looks generic and lacks the compelling feel of the manga. However, it makes it up for the facial expressions in particular Kuromine and Youko. Every episode has them and it’s hard to ignore. Otherwise, background work such as the school, neighborhood, and communities lacks concrete in detail. There’s also some bits of fan service used mainly for comedy gags. Don’t really expect much though as the show again often emphasizes comedy rather than eye candy.

In similar terms, the soundtrack is just fine as it is. The OP and ED theme song plays on note with comedy although can be easily forgettable. There’s also some spoilers in the theme songs so fast forwarding them if you want a better experience as an anime original viewer. There’s also a problem with Youko’s voice as she sounds like a character that is younger than she actually is. It will take some time to get used to as I did throughout the show. On the contrary, character voice mannerisms during “climatic scenes” are easily laughable for its comedic intent. When combined with the face expressions, the show really brings out a colorful side to the humor.

So what’s to say about Jitsu wa Watashi wa in the end? It’s probably a better idea to watch it for yourself. The show is something that should be watched if you want a fun laugh rather than any sort of realistic drama. The romance is almost like a satire at times as it feels dense yet amusing as the story progresses. And of course, who can forget about our colorful cast of monster girls? In retrospect, this show is more like an imaginative storytelling that can strike as peculiar when a guy learns what actually is…

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Sep 28, 2015

Nervin

Mixed Feelings

How can a romantic school comedy work if the main protagonist is someone who can't lie and the female protagonist is a very dense person? Jitsu wa Watashi wa, or "Actually, I am...", is a romantic school anime which incorporates supernatural elements as well as comedic ones to enhance the narrative.

As mentioned earlier, the story is simple and centers around Kuromine Asahi, the "leaky basket", and Shiragami Youko, who happens to be a "dense" vampire. Having a person who can't keep secrets can only lead to problems. The anime utilizes these situations to its advantage to present amusing situations and develop their relationship. However, the ... comedic situations are often similar, getting old quickly; the same applies to the story, which seems to have the same approach as other similar anime.

New characters are introduced as the narrative progresses, all with one common aspect: all have a supernatural background, whether it is an alien or a transforming werewolf. This is an interesting aspect that provides diversity to the characters and story, yet as the story unfolds, instead of exploring the supernatural nature of these characters, it just focuses on the romantic aspect and feelings these have for the lead character. I found this personally a letdown, making it not much different from the other romantic school comedies.

The cast of characters presented in Jitsu wa Watashi wa were unique in their own way, each with a supernatural background, though with generic personalities. There is Kuromine, who is a clumsy, shy, "leaky basket" but with a good heart. Then there is the vampire Shiragami, a dense and unaware person of her surroundings, who in the beginning seems to be very shy and unsocial person. There is the perverted werewolf who has double personalities,Shishido Shido; the alien Aizawa Nagisa with a very serious attitude, and the childhood friend, whose glasses are possessed. Not to forget the demonic director and her sister, as well as the usual cast of supporting characters such as friends.

Character development is not the strongest point in the anime, though throughout the anime the spectator observes how the romantic feelings for Kuromine affects the different characters.

The animation is well done, as well as the characters, who have a distinctive design comparing with the other modern anime. The comedy is enhanced through amusing face expressions. The eyes of the characters were toned down a bit to make the characters more appealing, comparing it to the manga. Some of the soundtracks used in Jitsu wa Watashi wa fits well, such as the rock themes, with other less interesting themes which is common in other anime. I personally enjoyed listening to some of the voice actors, as I like the Kansai accent. The opening had a catchy tune, though nothing outstanding.

Jitsu wa Watashi wa was overall an enjoyable experience, with interesting character designs, though failing into exploring these to its full potential, making the narrative itself rather dull and generic. Nevertheless, the occasional comedic situations managed to keep the story interesting. What could have been a good romantic comedy with interesting characters and interesting story progression, turned out to be rather lackluster in comparison, but entertaining.

Thank you for reading.

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Sep 28, 2015

TzKal-Zuk

Not Recommended

TL;DR: pacing is awful, characters are generic and removable, + for sound and animation, poor conclusion.

I felt like I've been betrayed after finishing this show. Yeah the general premise of it isn't by any means original, but given the circumstances of the show, it could have been a decent rom/com. Ironic enough the score I'm giving it is classified as "decent." The show has a promising first few episodes, filled with comedy more than anything else.

Really, there isn't too much to say about this adaptation because it lacked a lot of development in every aspect. The story seemed to follow the usual trend of ... boy meets girl, they fall in love with each other, beat around the bush for 10 episodes and then conclude with a cute scene at the end. Certainly I thought it was going to be like this but the last 2 episodes decided it was okay to do the inexplicable. Not going to spoil it, but what happens pretty much kicks everything prior down the drain. Makes me think that whoever did the anime adaptation decided (from what i heard) to change it from the manga. If the manga was like this then -_-. Overall for the story: worked up to nothing, falls flat and leaves a lot to be desired.

Characters are all very generic. We got the goody two shoes male protagonist, the dense main heroine, the jealous kuudere heroine, the childhood friend, and the hentai heroine. Nothing special by any means and as a matter of fact, this show really revolves around the male protagonist and the dense and jealous heroines. The other two seem to play no part in progressing the story and seem to be in on screen for no particular reason. All the other characters are generic side characters as well. The most interesting character to me was the principal, but she had very little screen time and it would've been nice to know more about her. Yeah the characters lacked a lot of originality, but some redeeming qualities were their interactions. It was funny for the most part, but most of the drama filled scenes seemed forced. Characters were not memorable.

Sound was overall decent. The opening animation seemed to give off the wrong impression of the show, but it was catchy. The ED has to be one of my more favorite ED's out there. Most of the soundtrack was forgettable, one stand out though being the one @ the pool scene. VA's were eh sound effects eh.

Animation in this show is different from a lot of other shows where it really focuses on the facial features of characters. It is really bubbly and does a good job projecting the emotions our characters are feeling. Action scenes could have been better.

I liked this show for the first 9 episodes, but it definitely dropped the ball with it's pacing. A lot of questions were left unresolved and some (what i think) key scenes were brushed over just to be one of those "remember when" moments. There were too many removable characters for me to really give a crap about the 3 main ones. I really am disappointed in how it ended because I was enjoying the slapstick humor. Too many plotholes and too many plotpoints that were completely disregarded.

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