Secret of the Alien is kind of all over the place when it comes to what occurs in the story. At the start, you are presented with what you believe to be a high-school romcom - in the next moment, you're experiencing a thriller. The story takes some dark turns thereafter, leaving you a little confused. What is this all about? Why does the tone of the story keep changing? To be honest I'm still unsure. My best guess is that the author is more interested in subverting expectations, along with communicating certain themes. I can appreciate that, but I'm certain some people want something less abstract, or vague. If you're the kind of person who likes consistency in tone and genre, this probably isn't for you.
That being said, I did like how the series depicted aliens. We, as humans, often like humanizing things. Whether it be animals, objects, or aliens. In truth, who is to say aliens view time, consciousness, or even the universe in the same way we do? Haru's actions in this story prompt you to think about how humans form expectations of the world around them. Especially as it pertains to consciousness and morality. I found one user on MangaDex (called McAlastair) put it well: "At the end of the day, Haru truly is an alien; even if she looks somewhat human, her way of thinking and morality is beyond most of our comprehensions. Instead of a Black-Grey-White Morality, she runs with Blue and Orange Morality. And... goddammit, my head hurts thinking about all this."
Our lead in the story, often called "class rep" is also kind of interesting. He's strangely fixated on being "good" even though his actions often work against what is morally correct. As a character, I would describe him as hollow. One could argue this is due to poor characterization (a fair argument, considering the speed and pace of the story) but I intuit that it's intentional. It plays off of the absurdity of Haru's actions quite well.
The art style is good. It conveys what is going on appropriately and matches the style/tone of the manga. On many occasions I found myself rather disconnected from characters, sometimes having difficulty perceiving their emotions. I think this is because of how the eyes and faces were drawn. The pupils and irises were often shaded (sometimes seeming to blend together), making it difficult to "see" into the eye. On crazy or emotional characters this effect worked well.
All in all, I enjoyed "Secret of the Alien." But I believe it's because I tempered my expectations early on. For people who are looking for consistency or something that "makes sense," this one might throw you for a loop.
