Jitsu wa Watashi wa
My Monster Secret: "Actually, I am..."

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Ive never done a review before, but i just felt like doing it for this manga.

I dont really know how to do it either, i know tha a serious review would talk about art, story and all these thing that are importante for a good manga
but for real, i just want to say how much a apreciated the experience, this damn manga made me laugh SO MANY TIMES, and made me cry EVEN MORE times.

And thats all that i need in a manga, something that make me experience all these emotions, thats what i call a good manga.

I honestly can't do this manga justice, I really can't. If in your entire life, you could rate one thing, one manga, one anime, one anything, a 100/10, this would get my vote. Let's talk about it.

Jitsu Wa is about a boy who can't keep secrets falling in love with a girl who turns out to be a clumsy vampire. Along the way, he meets an alien, a werewolf, a demon, an angel, and so much more. From the basic concept, this story should fail, right? Right? No.

Jitsu wa is a manga that subverted my expectations.

The story is pretty simple, the end goal being to ... graduate, which is way harder than you would think. The art is a bit... odd at first, and changes around chapter 30 to be still odd, but you get used to it, and it suits the story.

The characters, despite there being a lot of them, are all well developed and have an good story, they feel real despite their absurdity.

The Enjoyment is 10/10. It's funny as hell, it's more heartwarming and inspiring than anything I've ever seen, it can be badass and suspenseful when it needs to be, it's a manga that is everything, and succeeds at being everything.

They subvert tropes, parody themselves, make non badass moments badass as hell, and somehow manage to make ridiculous things happen, and still remain consistent. A chapter could happen where the characters do nothing but study, and I would still die of laughter.

Chapter 30 is the turning point. From there, the art changes, the comedy becomes sharper, and it just becomes better. Then from chapter 111 and on, it changes again, this time, more seriously. The characters start developing more than ever, stories start coming together, details start adding up, and changes start happening.

This is a story where the more you read, the better it gets. I can't recommend this enough, just go watch it.

Normally I wouldn't recommend something that could be classified as a harem style manga (I like several but I know they aren't some people's cup of tea) but with this I am willing to make an exception.

If you like comedy in your stuff, then you owe it to yourself to check this out. As with most things the first few chapters may seem a little shaky at first but stick with it, IT'S WORTH IT!

The characters all develop very well and are highly unique and the author uses all of them hilariously. My personal favorite character in the manga is the closest thing to ... a comedy antagonist I've ever seen, a candy addicted super demon principal.

Unlike many harem type manga not EVERY female character under the sun falls in love with the MC (which is kinda refreshing as those six way love battles get old) a good chunk of them settle solidly into non-romantic roles. That being said there IS some romantic competition but the notable thing is it's not the majority of the girls.

If you'd like to get a feel for what this manga is about without having to read the whole thing I would suggest you read chapter 51 "Let's Save Earth!" It's a single chapter story that involves all the characters (other than the boy MC) and more or less is a solid example of the type of craziness you can expect from this manga. However I recommend just reading the whole thing.

A serious strong point in this manga is its comedic timing and various reaction faces. The reaction faces in particular are some of the funniest things I've seen as they vary wildly from situation to situation.

The fan-service is light, usually funneled through a very specific character and even then it's usually there more for a joke than anything else. You won't find yourself being beaten half to death with it.

Overall this is a very strong comedy manga with a fairly sweet romantic story line.

Would you be able to keep your crush's biggest secret from everyone knowing that you are the most honest person in the world?

MAL's summary of Jitsu wa Watashi wa might put off many readers because it implies it is just another "My crush is a vampire and I have to keep it a secret from everyone in school" but it is more than that. In fact, that only describes the first 3 chapters or so, which reminds me of the phrase "don't judge a book by it's cover".

After Kuromine, Asahi(our main character) finds out about Youko's vampire secret, Asahi goes through many absurd and hilarious ... situations when finding out that she is not the only one in their school with a secret. The many other characters with secrets that join them later on add to the spice of comedy on each of their occurrent bizarre and amusing situations.

Each character is given great detail in their developments that mostly further up the intensity of the ridiculousness of their encounters. From that cliched childhood friend and marriage promise, to the unlikely pairing with an extraterrestrial. And although it is a bit episodic, it does develop most of the characters with short arcs that always involve our lucky main character.

Of course, the strong point of this manga is the comedy, always with outrageous situations and wacky adventures that challenge our MC's ability to keep a secret.
The character designs also add greatly to the comedy behind each pun. The huge eyes and exaggerated facial expressions make every bit of conversation even more hilarious.

This is one of the funniest mangas out there without a doubt and it's no surprise an anime adaptation is already in production. It's English translation is perfect, and every joke and pun are easily understandable with no meaning lost in translation.

Jitsu wa Watashi wa is a rainbow of comedy filled with ridiculousness in every corner, and an underrated manga that also teaches many messages of friendship and kindness with a touch of silliness.

I couldn't stand not doing a review, I goddamn love this series. And while the first chapters might give you the wrong impression, all I can do is tell you to try to see what this manga is really about. You might think it's about outrageous comedy, perverts, many girls liking the main character and... well then, it's about that, but NOT ONLY about that. Let me explain further on.

Story -9
To me this manga was like living alongside the characters through all the comical to ridiculous, full of energy and passion, adventures of high school. It was so damn refreshing and unique. I could rarely ... find this kind of comedy and silliness that makes you laugh out loud. What was amazing was that this wasn't all the series had to offer. The author did a great job to mix gracefully comedy, heartbreaking and heartwarming moments. It does not go stale on any of these three. It showed us the fluff of being in love, the nervousness and courage of confessing, the toughness of unrequited love and moving moments of friendship.
Also note how interesting is that even though perverts are a sub theme of the story, this is not an ecchi manga. It's just not. Arousal is not the reaction the author wanted to get from the reader, thus this was all done in a comical way. It's far from the classic fan service where the author just uses provoking scenes as a way to fill the place of important story elements.
It manages to be a harem while not being a harem ?? But more of a story of requited and unrequited love. And the main character is really set on one girl.


Art - 10
No words, the character's expressions are priceless. Evil grins, blushing, laughing, horror, disgust, crying. Everything was either damn funny or emotionally moving, it's a delight for the readers. I loved the character designs too, all in all, the art was amazing.

Character - 10
This is what this series did right. Since it tends to be surprisingly more of a slice of life manga, the series was based on their adorkable, cute, quirky characters I came to relate to. Just to note, the focus is on the girls, but the pacing and story is so well done you begin to love and understand every one of them. Even Akemi Mikan, the evil queen of the newspaper club, even Shishido Shiho the pervert. To me it felt that the characters weren't just there to forward the plot, no, they were there to express all of their emotions, their hidden feelings they were afraid of showing. Ultimately it's a story about how they grow and develop whilst facing some of the most ridiculous incidents. None of the secondary characters was left plain, the story gave each of them the spotlight.

Enjoyment - 10
I laughed so hard, I sobbed so hard, I just loved it so much

Overall - 10
If you're looking for something unique and you are not put off by some weirdness there and the... EVERYWHERE, please give this a try. You might shed tears, be it from laughter or emotion.

Jitsu wa Watashi wa starts of with Kuromine Asahi, a man who is unable to lie properly without being caught. One day he learns about his crush's secret and tries to keep it a secret from everyone else or at least that's how it starts off.


As more and more whacky characters are introduced it moves away from it's original premise to become one of the funniest manga I have personally read. With ridiculous twists, turns and more secrets revealed that Kuromine desperately (and comically) tries to protect.

However the series does often have filler that doesn't feel like it adds anything to the overall story. ... Some of the filler can be funny but some can fall short.

The characters are undoubtedly the strongest point of this series with a colourful variety of characters none of which feels overly dull. With each character having their own unique trait/personality that differentiates them from the rest of the cast. While the MC is more or less a copy and paste from many other series he is still entertaining to follow.


In terms of art I think it looks pretty unique compared to many other series out there and it has many memorable reaction faces that will make you laugh. Although admittedly at the beginning the art felt extremely jarring and almost cringy but over time I got used to and began to love it. It is now one of my favourite aspect of the series.


Thankfully the harem aspect of the series never gets too bloated with only a few of the females introduced actually developing feelings for the MC. Also has enough romance progression for those few girls that won't make the manga feel like it's being dragged out.


Overall Jitsu wa Watshi wa is essentially what every comedy/harem manga should strive to be. Great comedy, great cast of characters, great reaction faces, isn't overflowing with fanservice and has enough romance progression to keep you thoroughly entertained.

When it comes to rom-com this is top performance.
This manga single handedly destroyed rom coms as a whole for me.
Whenever a rom com gets barely under my radar i inmediately think. It's not gonna be as good as Jitsu Wa, why even bother.
It goes without saying that i consider this pseudo harem supernatural comedy as a god damn masterpiece and every other rom com/slice of life with romance is not good enough to be even compared to Jitsu wa.

Expect from this review to be filled with nothing but praise.
In fact the manga is so god damn perfect that its easier to start by saying the ... stuff i disliked.
The final arc its incredibly powerful. Yet the events leading to it are never hinted.
Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa is filled with small gems and hidden background comedy like easter eggs and such.
So it baffles me completely how there wasnt a single reference to the final arc in any previous arc. There are so many interesting characters that could have been referenced with a hidden small panel size drawing and that would have added so much power to the revelations but that's kind of a personal gripe of me against Masuda Eiji because as i finished each chapter i was surprised at how every panel was brimming with life, i realized that when it comes to enjoyment this guy could easily fight on big leagues.

Shishido was kinda predictable. I'm not talking about her introduction, whenever Shishido appeared since you already knew her quirk there was very little in what she could pull off to make you laugh at your own inhability to predict the next events (something that every other character excels at).
Her arc was also the weakest and clumsiest of them. It also doesnt help that Kuromine was such a well written strong willed character by that point (which is a good thing tough).

Aside from those 2 arcs with slightly wasted potential the rest is just glorious.
Chapter 34 is by far one of the best manga chapters i have ever read and i found myself rereading it again and again at how brilliantly it played with tropes, delusion and comedy.
It's also a chapter that barely requires previous knowledge about the manga so its incredibly powerful as a standalone.

You might have heard it already but this is technically an harem manga. And as someone who despises this genre like my cat despises belly rubs, i found myself thoroughly enjoying it.
It also helps a lot that the MC is an actual character with his own toughts and the ability of express his opinion.
There is also the fact that the other male characters have a lot of participation in the manga.
Of the 3 of them at least 2 have their own arc and they are brilliant in their own way.
Masuda would have probably given all 3 of them an arc but Shounen Jump is shit so he probably had to rush a little. RIP "insert character name here but actually don do it so you dont spoil who wont receive manga time" manga time.
The manga its highly self aware of its characters and plot points so it is not afraid of criticizing itself or making characters that break the rules of the manga to put gripping conflict in the story.
This manga is an harem but it deviates from every single harem trope out there except the most basic one. Its hard to explain withouth spoiling it and going into Jitsu Wa blind was one of the best experiences i had the pleasure of goin trough so i highly recommend going blind as well.

Character wise every character its interesting and atractive yet uncomplete (which is good!). Trough each arc there is character development. "Wow x happened and now z is acting in this way that you never seen before"
And "z" is not gonna rewind back to its original state like every other shitty rom com out there. Every character trait that the characters show will stay with them.
The story feels real because the character growth feels real. All the characters have their story, their dreams, their fears and their goals. And whether they achieve them or not you are spectating them and admiring their growth.
Masuda Eiji must have some kind of stand pawarh to draw faces. Its absolutely funny and even if a joke/face is repeated a 100 times i could bet my kidney that Masuda Eiji will make you laugh on those 99 repetitions because thats how good he is.
The manga its lovable in an unique way and while you are enjoying the carefree but masterfully crafted comedy BAM. Everything goes to shit and suddenly everything is super serious and incredibly dark.
And despite the massive changes in tone that the manga goes trough, you never get the feeling that you aren't watching the same manga.
Whether it is horror, action, drama or comedy. The only story that can mix all of these elements as well as Jitsu Wa does its Mob Psycho 100.

Oh right the story?
Ah well there is this kid who isnt able to lie because he is easy to read, he mets this vampire girl and swears that he will keep her secret, so she doesnt have to leave.
From there Kuromine and Shiragami Youko will walk trought a path of clouded memories and use the power of their bond to succed where others have failed.
Graduating from highschool.
Yeah you were expecting some super inspiring line or something? Well if you read the manga you might understand why this apparently foolish goal is so powerful and tear inducing.

If you want to have a slight taste of what is the kind of power that a manga can (potentially, sadly not every mangaka out there is Masuda Eiji) reach just give Jitsu Wa a shot.

I started reading because I looked at the top review for the manga and it read "this damn manga made me laugh SO MANY TIMES, and made me cry EVEN MORE times." -AIIpha. I decided I had nothing better to do and coupled with the fact I'm a romcom junkie, I just had to give it a go... Wow. I genuinely can't accurately describe what this manga did to me over the course of 2 months of reading.


-To start off the story/plot is really good... surprisingly. You wouldn't think a stereotypical romcom would have a decent plot but I really liked this one. It moved ... at such a slow pace to allow us to enjoy the superb characters and comedy without it feeling pointless, yet not so slowly that when it was time for the main plot to kick it felt jarring and unnatural. Not much to say here as it has virtually no depth to it as it's not the focus of the manga for 75% of the time.


-The comedy is incredible, I laughed so much I lost count, even when I didn't laugh I appreciated the attempt and that alone made me smile. I actually believe this manga has some of the best comedic moments in the form of visual gags, they were all fantastic and nearly all of them had me laughing. Obviously not all of it was gold, there were a few repeated jokes that got really annoying but listen I'm trying to be biased here.


-Characters... Holy shit there's 16!?!?!? AND I LIKE ALL ALMOST OF THEM!?!?!?
A common troupe in long-running romcoms and just manga in general is what I call "character padding", basically the writer for one reason or another feels the need to add pointless characters to the story to keep us entertained, this normally ends up poorly; as the characters feel poorly written and just not-meant-to-be. This is not the case here (thank god I was so worried at the time).

All of the characters are incredibly endearing, even the later ones that showed up whom I sighed at, at first turned into characters I actually love and kept me reading along with existing incredible cast.
When it comes to character quirks it's extremely hit or miss, they can either be incredibly funny and entertaining or make me want to skip the chapter. Yeah all but three... 13 characters with incredibly funny and personalities and I got to enjoy up to 150 chapters of them all.


-Art. It's overall good, no complaints whatsoever and it shines especially with the character designs.



I can't describe this manga any other way than happiness, I felt pure bliss for almost the entire duration of me reading, possibly partially because it's one of the most wholesome things I've ever read, it's the definition of light-hearted entertainment with the FIRST cliché tripped into boobs scene being at chapter 150. There were mildly erotic scenes leading up to that which did annoy me at first but that quickly turned into insanely funny comedy as soon as Rin was introduced and after that all I could do was smile at the pair of tits instead of being annoyed at their existence. (This is not a joke, I had to take multiple minute-long breaks between reading because I was laughing too much at these)

At around episode 145 characters start getting conclusions to their progression, this is also when it stops being so light-hearted and the story begins to speed up a lot. Almost every character I care about got a satisfying conclusion to their aspirations and love interests which plays into the feeling sheer happiness I mentioned before. I can't even say the story is bad after it picked up pace, it's nothing ground-breaking but it was interesting enough to grip me and after spending a month and a half with some of my favourite characters of all time I hardly cared about the story despite how good it was, I just wanted to see everybody happy at the end.


I went into this show with the promise of tears, I can confidently say that might've happened; but not for reasons I expected. This manga had so many character arcs going on at once and it tried to conclude them in a manner that had impact without taking too many pages. As a result the author unfortunately used a LOT of teary eyed characters to try to replace the impact felt through thorough character building, unfortunately this meant that I came to expect tears from characters and happy scenes all around, this expectance obviously prevented me from getting too emotional as I could so much as predict what was gonna happen. Don't get me wrong some of these pages are still fantastic and contained great writing, it was just the expectation and the pacing that prevented emotions from me...
However I did cry twice. Once was at the end when something completely unexpected and a frankly masterful and incredibly emotional conclusion to one of the more troubled characters. The second was interesting... I cried when I closed the last volume. I was finished and I just sat on my bed and started crying.
This is the hardest case of black-hole I've felt in years and I hope this conveys how much this manga means to me and how incredible it is.
Thank you.

I am so glad i decided to watch the anime, The art style, the characters the story, the romance all of it drew me into the anime and made invest in the story enough to continue with the manga. The manga did everything better than the anime, The comedy in the manga is way better than anime. It was an amazing ride through this manga, with a cluster of emotions.10/10, It wrapped up so good and exceeded way beyond my expectations. I thank the author for not making this a garbage harem or give this an even trashier harem route ending. Finishing this manga made ... me feel complete and satisfied.
10/10 manga for me.
Overall i am extremely satisfied with everything this manga had to offer, as I said, Definitely a 10/10 for me.

I had my eye on this a while ago as I was waiting for it to be completed before reading it. Once I saw it was complete I started but unfortunately I didn't realise the scanlators didn't catch up yet so I've stopped at chapter 164.

From the concept of the story, I was taking back to thinking of 'Rosario + Vampire' as that involved Vampires and school settings in a similiar manner. The cover art shows you what kind of style it goes for and it looked pretty decent which also drew me in but unfortunately I have to say 'Jitsu wa Watashi wa' didn't ... really live up to my expectations.

Story:
I feel like I may have came expecting too much out of this, the general premise of the story is what you can get from the title "Actually, I am ...", which being with the main heroine depicted on the cover art is a Vampire (hope that wasn't too much of a spoiler) and the main character finds out and helps keep it a secret. So far so good, I'm okay with that as it's just standard. Although as the story progresses you see various characters introduced, some I am fine with and they have their own interesting appeal to but at times I'm just left thinking "In this manga, they are just adding as much weird things as possible" which I feel slowly reduces the quality. If you can imagine you were writing a story and then your friend comes along and says "Hey it'd be cool if you added X", you add X then someone else comes along tells you to add Y...then Z...then F, H, K, L, etc.

The story isn't a battle manga, it's just a school comedy romance. So nothing major really happens in it and personally I didn't find much of the comedy to be that funny, at times it felt quite tedious get through some chapters in hopes that some form of development would happen in the story. Although I did find some moments where I was intrigued by the story development at most times it felt quite a bore, if I had to say, it felt as if 3/10 situations was interesting while the remaining 7/10 was some boring filler. My main comedy segments I enjoyed involved the Principal with her crazed plans and whatnot.

As I'm only only chapter 164, with around 32 chapters before it ends, I can only wonder how things are going to end up.


Art:
The art was alright, majority of times it's not detailed but when it does go into detail you can tell how the theme/atmosphere in the manga is changing. Often during it's comedy scenes you will get characters that go into berserk mode and the transition from light comedy detail drawing changes to fuller detail drawings is a nice but at the same time as you read more you'll notice that the situations occur quite often and the appeal slowly fades as you seen it quite a bit by now. As it's a comedy, facial expressions help determine the mood but I found one style that often comes up when relating to food was a a terrible style as well as the story element that went with it.


Characters:
As previously mentioned, it felt like a lot of various characters were just thrown in for variety and I'm just left thinking "okay this character choice is just stupid", I'm sure most people who read it will understand when I say "glasses" but besides that, there are some interesting characters where they actually have some depth to them and you want to know more about their background (for me that would be the Principal).

I watched the anime and enjoyed it, but noticed right away that it ended on kind of an odd note. So I thought to myself, "I should read it."
**Note, spoilers in here will be restricted to what is contained in the anime, which covers the first few books**

Oh man, am I glad I did. Never would I thought that I would get sucked into a series called "My Monster Secret" like I did (no pun intended).

With that said, do not think because it has "Monster" in the title it's going to be a monster girl harem series like Monster Musume. It's not even remotely close. ... In fact, the monster aspect (which monsters here are less like lamia or harpies and more like dhampyrs and aliens), while important to the plot, is not the most important aspect in my opinion. It's the "Secret" in the title.

Now, above all the two biggest aspects I loved this story were it's plot and it's characters and their development. Let's start with the former.

So the story is pretty simple when taken at first glance: It's about a guy, Asahi, learning that the girl he likes, Youko, is a dhampyr (half-vampire with a vampire father and human mother). She made an agreement with her father, Genjirou, that if anyone found out she was a vampire, she would immediately leave the school. Asahi doesn't want to have just caused the girl he likes to leave the school so he decides to instead pledge that he'll be her friend and keep her secret, even though he is awful at keeping secrets; comedy ensues. That's basically volume one and what you go in with.
But that's not all of it. What is so important to this plot isn't that he's keeping her secret, but that everyone has a secret their afraid to tell anyone. That is what the story is truly about, while using extreme secrets like being a vampire or alien or "fallen" angel (God bless Karen, she tries so hard) to represent secrets that could make people change their entire opinion of you. And as it goes on, it becomes more and more apparent that this is the actual center point of the story, not the "monster" part, which is really a double entendre for "massive" or "giant" secret.

Next, the art. I give it a 9 because, while I like the art style that is through most of it, it does have a slight design shift early on from the first book that finally reaches the one that carries through it a few books in, which is the style I like a lot more.

If you want good and interesting characters, this is a series for it. Almost no characters in this, outside of late plot point characters like a few of Youko's classmates, are left out to dry. Even the three that the book calls "Asahi's Useless Friends" in Shimada, Okada, and Sakurada are explored, especially Okada and Sakurada. Every character in this series develops and learns something new about themselves or the world around them. Along with that, while this could have fallen into the trap of becoming an "everyone likes Asahi" harem series with it having six male characters of note and eleven female ones if I counted right, it never does that, which I think helps it so much. There may be romantic competition, but avoiding the "we all love him and are fighting over him" is so crucial to its story being so good. It never gets cliche.
It even diverts from the traditional expectations of the monsters: vampires burn up in the sun? Nope, they just tan quickly. Garlic kills vampires? Nope, their eyes just really tear up like allergies. Wolfmen transform from human to wolf form? Nope, it's a girl to a guy with some wolf-like qualities transformation and they have two different personalities.

This series was honestly one that blew me away and completely subverted my expectations from the title in the best ways possible. I read the entire series over one year, and I loved every minute of it and was excited for every subsequent book I got. All I can say is these two things:
Actually, I am a huge fan of My Monster Secret.
And a quote that I think describes my feelings of the series:

"You let me enjoy the happiest story ever told...the greatest love story between a human and a vampire."

Twilight eat your heart out, because this series is 100 times better at telling a love story than it could ever manage to do.

Good Gods, I'd forgotten how bloody brilliant this series was. I mean, seriously there are a few rom-coms about that aren't bad, possibly a couple related to vampires (including Rosario to Vampire, a personal favourite of mine, but not for the same reasons), but this one is the epitome of rom-comminess! It artfully mixes a nice romance story (with a little harem on the side) with well-timed humour and comedy. I could go on, but I feel that I don't have the words to fully describe this series, so go read it!

Anyway, I'll quickly go over the points, starting with the art: it quite good. ... I mean, like other series, you see the progression of the writer's mastery over his work, and in a way that deepens the characters over time, so that's an added bonus. Plus, his style allows for a good use of backgrounds as a comedic tool so that's really good as well.

Characters are next. Some might say that seeing as this is a harem-style manga, all the types of characters are extremely predictable: the shy one, the main girl, the childhood friend, the extrovert...And in a way, they aren't entirely wrong. But the thing is, the characters aren't limited to one single trait, and their background make it so they are quite complex, and become even more so over time. The MC is your typical "nice guy", who's always there for his friends, with the added twist that he can't hide his feelings (a plot which is pushed aside over time by the way), but even he manages to grow quite a bit, which is rare for this kind of manga (also, very few "lucky falls").

When it comes to enjoyment, as I said, the comedy in this manga is superb! A bit of slapstick, mixed in with some nonsense, an excellent use of backgrounds and character personas (I mean, half of the characters are idiots, so it makes for great comedy and makes you more attached to them). Apart from that, you can very easily be invested in the story, it's very heart-warming and nice (makes you regret your springtime of youth *sigh*).

The story itself, with its collected secrets and unravelments, its twists and turns as I said before pulls you in and keeps you there very easily. You learn to know the characters and their environment, feel for them when they are down, smile when they are happy and things are good. Really over all, this series is a comfy pillow, a black hole of serenity into which you can fall quite nicely, and forget about whatever's going on Out There for a while. It really is a masterpiece, and I highly recommend you read it and get your hands on a published version whenever you can. I guarantee you won't regret it :)

tl;dr: A rom-com that has a solid plot and solid comedy, but with each actively working against the other.

Jitsu wa Watashi wa, which translated literally to Actually I Am but is also known as My Monster Secret, is a rom-com about high school student, Kuromine, who falls in love with Shirigami, after which he discovers that she’s a vampire, but continues to stay in love with her and does his best to preserve her secret. She’s not the only irregular individual at their high school however, as the cast also eventually comes to include various others such as a wolfman, aliens, time travelers, angels, demons, ... and various others. Thus, the overarching plot is heavily centered around whether humans and ‘monsters’ can coexist. The core of this is the relationship between Kuromine and Shirigami, but it has a wider scope than that, also including Shirigami just wanting to make friends and graduate from high school while being treated like a normal girl and not a monster. Overall, I think is handled quite well, with everything surrounding it having a good build up in terms of backgrounds and good motivations provided to the eventual final villain, all coming to a reasonably satisfying conclusion.

The cast of characters were also pretty interesting. Kuromine isn’t an amazing protagonist, but how loyal he is to Shirigami and how hard he tries for her make him pretty likable. Shirigami doing her best to just live her life despite being a vampire also make her pretty likable. The relationship development of the two felt kind of slow considering that Kuromine is love with Shirogami from the beginning, but once it gets going it felt incredibly solid and they had really good chemistry together. The main characters beyond Kuromine and Shirigami are basically the rest of the characters in the love polygon centered around Kuromine. The relationship development of them with Kuromine is decent enough and works well off their characters, but just as importantly I felt was that they overall make a good group of friends. There is also a very large cast of very unique side characters that help spice things up, especially in terms of comedy. A very heavy portion of the manga is dedicated purely to comedy and and overall I’d say the comedy is pretty solid.

The problem arises from how the more serious aspects of the manga and the comedy are connected, wherein I think that both the serious and comedic portions of the manga in and of themselves are great, they don’t work well with each other. The manga starts off mostly comedic. It starts setting up some themes and concepts that will be picked up later and taken more seriously, but it stays incredibly lighthearted at first. The manga manages to stay decently solid while it’s pretty much just comedy thanks to having a lot of variety, but that variety comes at a price. The vast majority of the comedy in this manga arises from most all the characters being idiots with no common sense. It’s actually a major point that the final villain isn’t an idiot. Manzai type humor that relies on things like this is pretty common in comedy manga, so that’s not much of an issue in and of itself. However, to keep the humor interesting while basically only using a single type of humor, there needs to be variety in other areas. And thus, while all the characters are idiots, they’re idiots in different ways and each has a different supernatural gimmick so to speak. This too wouldn’t be much of an issue, but the author very quickly goes overboard with these gimmicks. If it was just standard monsters like vampires, werewolves, etc. as you find in similar manga, that would be fine, but the author throws in stuff like aliens, gender benders, and time travelers, all while focusing solely on the comedy. The circumstances surrounding them is ridiculous. The planet the aliens come from sounds hilarious. The gender bending is played off completely as a joke. And the future the time travelers come from is completely nonsensical.

Everything feels really random, and this works reasonably well for the comedy, but the problems arise later when the manga tries taking things seriously. It’s not like it can completely ignore all of these random elements so the manga actually tries to get everything it introduces to actually fit into the story it’s trying to tell. The central plot thread about Kuromine and Shirogami felt well written, but everything beyond that felt like a mess. The alien planet was always taken as a joke, so the character arc of a character involving them wanting to prevent a hostile invasion of Earth to take its resources is hard to suddenly get into. The nonsensical future is amusing, but when time travel and such starts being a central component of the plot that too is hard to take seriously as it makes no sense and is full of plot holes. Characters feel like they’re supposed to be going through solid character and relationship development, but within the context it’s kind of hard for it to really feel all that impactful. Something similar applies to most everything outside the central plot thread, and just makes it feel like the manga simply isn’t working at times for lack of a better way to explain it. Furthermore, to keep the comedy interesting, it feels like it’s constantly pushing old gimmicks aside to focus on new ones. This was weird in the case of the main characters at times, such as with Kuromine not being able to keep secrets pretty much not mattering at all beyond the beginning, but with the side characters it was a bigger issue in that I think it resulted in them not being fleshed out properly and thus overall feeling kind of flat.

Another issue I felt the manga had was that it didn’t feel like it flowed too well. Part of that I think could definitely be attributed to the overemphasis on comedy, which felt like the focus on was screwing up the pacing on the more serious plot threads. But just as importantly, it felt like the manga basically running around trying to get everything introduced for the sake of comedy to fit into the serious portions also dragged things down. I felt that this was especially true for the ending, wherein the climax for the manga is amazing and really satisfying, but the epilogue following that simply feels like it takes too long and tries to do too much after everything is over. I also felt the same about a lot character and relationship development. There are some really strong emotional beats there, but because they’re occurring after certain events, they just feel kind of awkward and out of place which diminishes their impact tremendously. I think because of that and the large focus on gimmicks, the cast outside of Kuromine and Shirogami simply never clicked for me, and I never really liked or got invested in them to the level I usually do with the cast in such manga.

The art style is good, but I don’t think it fits the manga very well. Faces are drawn with big eyes, mouths, and noses, so expressions come through really well. That works well for the serious portions. The author also tries to use it for the comedic portions by having really cool faces that are basically just there as a joke, but I don’t think that worked all that well. I think that’s basically my problem with the art in general. It can definitely look really badass when it tries to, but there really isn’t much opportunity for doing that properly, the only ones I can remember at the moment that stood out are the unleashed forms of the school principal and Shirogami’s father. And looking badass as a joke for comedic portions really begins to not be all that funny after it’s done so much. For a manga like this, rather than badass, I think art, character designs, framing, etc. that are just visually pleasing and cute would be better. Also, it feels like there are parts where it’s trying to be ecchi, but it isn’t simply because the art can’t actually make it ecchi. Honestly I think this mangaka has a lot of potential, but just overall in terms of art and story, I think the mangaka would do a lot better with a lighthearted battle shounen type manga that’s mostly serious but has some light comedy here and there than a rom-com like this that really doesn’t seem to capitalize well on the mangaka’s strengths.

Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa is roughly a harem monstergirl romcom, but none of those broad descriptors particularly do it justice. It's a fun, feel good manga with fun characters and a fun setting.

Story:7
The story is pretty average as far as high school ones go, there's a ton others with similar concepts: Our MC wanders into a classroom and finds some weird secret about a classmate and swears to keep it! But though the setting is generic, it feels good. It's a story about a cast of colorful kids trying their hardest to find love in a school, and keep secrets that may make them vilified ... in society if discovered. The story itself isn't the draw of it, and there's some pitfalls that plague many anime and manga. There's a lot of cliffhangers at the end of chapters, it gets kinda harem-y, the mystery the author wants to show really isn't that difficult with the slightest bit of logical thinking, and there's only about 1 twist that actually matters. The story isn't the draw of this, it's a vehicle to get everything else in.

Art:7
Not great. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing that really titillates the eyes. By far the best part of this though are sight gags. The author is great at drawing funny scenes, and great expressions when there's fun to be had. A favorite of mine is a repeating gag revolving around a character who can't seem to find a woman who will love him.

Character:8
The best part about this are the characters. They have varied personalities and interests that make them a delight to see what shenanigans the idiots will get up to. It's fun to see them interact and do things, and their lovable enough to get some feelings out of me. Downside is really everything getting just a bit too harem-y at some points. Like god damn get the mops these are some thirsty girls.

Enjoyment:9
It was fun, sometimes emotional. There were some points better than others but for the most part it was quite enjoyable, not much to say.

Overall:9
I really did enjoy this. Not the best i've read, but probably one of the better romance manga out there completed. Better than fuckin Nisekoi that's for damn sure. I'm rating this a nine in comparison to other's in the genre, not necessarily out of pure artistic merit of it, as there's others far better than this. Pure rating is near 8. But the reason why i give this a nine was it was truly enjoyable, and even made me tear up at a couple points. Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa stumbles sometimes and has some points I find kinda stupid, but I certainly don't regret it, and it ended strong, something so few manga really manage to do. It's fun, funny, and overall feel good. Really kinda makes you want a monstergirl waifu.

So here we are again. Oddly enough I started reading this again after I re read Nisekoi. I just finished and I still have tears in my eyes. The first time I heard of this manga was when the anime came out. I like the plot idea with a vampire and human falling in love. The art was a bit hard to get use to. The characters all were very different from each other and were quite enjoyable. I don't rate this manga too high because there is a lot that I believe could have been done to make it better. This manga is definitely ... worth a read.

The first thing that immediately caught my attention was the art style of this manga, I think it’s superb and the characters emotions are conveyed extremely well. This manga is about a boy whose crush turns out to be a vampire. Of course things don’t go as planned, but he plans to keep her secret and graduate together. This manga has everything from the childhood friend to the pervert in his harem and the tropes are done well, albeit overly exaggerated. Each of the girls have great backstories and arcs that work well and compliment the story in its entirety. None of the minor characters ... ever felt minor and seemingly played huge roles especially toward the end. I had a problem with some chapters basically being non-related to the plot and never progressing the story but they also had cute or funny moments so it made it worth the read. I felt the main girl and our MC grew throughout the manga and had me teary eyed near the end. This manga is something I’d recommend to any and everyone. It had twists and turns from time travel to other unexpected moments.

9/10 Art, Story and Characters make this well worth the read.

(December 24, 2021)

I stumbled upon a review video after watching "Jitsu wa Watashi wa". I wanted to hear other people's opinions on this show since it seems like no one I talk to has ever heard of this series before. But when I read the title that the manga was better I had to give it a shot. I personally have never read a manga series before so this would be a first for me.

(February 12, 2022)

Two months went by and I finally had all the physical copies of the "Jitsu wa Watashi wa" manga series. (I personally prefer physical copies over digital... I know ... I can find it online but I'm a boomer when it comes to this 😂) I started off slow, reading every so often just kind of getting information I already know, but once I hit Volume 6 my mind flipped a switch and I craved new content. Vol. 6 - 22 were completely read through in a week. (Chapter 44 - 196) I just finished the manga a day ago while making this review (12:40 AM) and I don't want to say a lot to prevent spoilers, but I can't express in words how I feel about this series.

With no timeframe needed, all the characters introduced had enough time in the spotlight to give their role meaning. I feel like that is what the show was missing and it's where the manga succeeded. Some stuff was still there that I have already seen but if you are a personal fan of this show and just finished the anime, I highly recommend reading the manga. It's sad we won't be receiving a second season for the anime, but the show gave me enough of a push to pursue my first manga read. I'll never forget this series, it has truly made a place inside my heart and I welcome it.

Here are some tips before you start the manga, for those who decided to start from the very start (which is chapter 1), the chapter 1 to around 10 or little more, its drawing sucks so bad, it isnt same as it is in the anime, BUT REST ASSURED, they fix it when you read a little more around like 15 or 20 or something, so dont worry the drawing went back to like that of the anime.

As for those who are wondering after the anime where to continue in the manga, let me give you some information first, the anime ending and how ... the manga portray the story is super different, only that part as for others there are some stories that are not so important that the anime didnt add so rest assured. SO HERE IT IS IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE AFTER THE ANIME START AT "CHAPTER 29: LETS RIDE THE BRAND NEW CAR," you want to start there because that is where the anime ending goes different with how the manga portray that part of the story.

HERE IS THE UPDATE NOW THAT I FINISH THE MANGA, and ITS EPIC I WOULD REALLY INVITE YOU GUYS TO FINISH IT TO THE END. I couldnt describe the tears of joy that kept pouring out my eyes as I finish the manga, its so warmth and so satisfying seeing their lives at the end, its totally worth the read. ENJOY GUYS

Long story short, this manga means a lot to me and I love it. It's not perfect. There are some gags and jokes that run on for maybe longer then they should have, while other sections feel shorter than what I would have liked them to be. But nontheless, this is a romcom manga that is special. Because it focuses not only on the romance side of things, but also the comedy as well. And the comedy (maybe minus some parts) is hilarious.

This manga is also a bit special to me. This manga started when I was in middleschool, but I didn't discover it ... until the end my 2nd year in highscool. I then fully started reading it while I was in my 3rd year and loved it. I was even able to find some friends that enjoyed it along side me. But... things started getting busy for me around this time. Had to take school more seriously and everything. So I had to take a break from this manga. And I never really got back into it. That was back near chapter 160, sometime in the first half of 2017.

And time continued on. I didn't fully loose my hobby of manga and anime, but I kept reading new stuff. Eventually I went to college. Eventually I had graduated college and starting working my field. Now it's been roughly 9 months that I've become a "full adult" in my eyes of my teenager self from years ago. I had some more free time recently and had a random thought, "Oh hey, what happened to that one manga I really liked about the vampire girl and the guy trying to keep her secret?"

So I looked it up. I had known already that it had finished some years ago, but I started reading it again from scratch. It was a great time remembering what I had read all those years ago and finally getting a conclusion to the story I started reading. I kinda regret not reading it to completion back in the day, but I guess I can't change the past so I might as well be happy that I have these memories now. This shall always hold a special place in my heart.

TLDR -> 7,75/10
This is... different. I... just read it all at once. When I realized it, I had already read all 196 chapters. So... yes, it's very good.

ART - 6/10
The art might be a bit strange for those who are not used to the author. I won't deny it, it can be disconcerting. When you start to observe, you might find it a bit odd. However, it's still worth it. The comedic moments are very good, the romantic moments are very good, and the dramatic moments are sensational.

STORY - 8/10
This story is really light-hearted. It's just this. It is really, really good to read. Once ... you notice, you're reading everything that is to read. It's funny, it's comedic, it's cute, it's... You really feel the love the author had for this. So, yeah, it is wonderful. I don't know how to describe how... captivating this series makes you. It's this good for a comedic manga.

CHARACTER: 9/10
For me, the highlights are the trio of women, Youko, Akane, and Nagisa. To me, they are the best characters. I have nothing against the protagonist, but the three of them, especially Akane, are what carry it for me. And that makes me love this work a lot, because the interactions between the characters are very good. You have to see, you have to read. You simply, absolutely, have to read this work.

ENJOYMENT: 8/10
As you can see from the rest of my review, I really enjoyed this series, so I will give a pretty reasonable rating for this run.