My Monster Secret

My Monster Secret, known in Japan as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiji Masuda. It was serialized in Akita Shoten's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Champion from January 31, 2013, to February 16, 2017. Akita Shoten collected the series in 22 tankōbon volumes.

An anime television series adaptation ran from July to September 2015. AnimeLab has secured streaming rights in Australia and New Zealand.

Seven Seas Entertainment acquired the rights to translate and distribute the manga for North America, with the first volume being released in January 2016.

Plot

Asahi Kuromine, a normal high school student who supposedly cannot keep a secret, finds his demeanor quickly challenged when he spots his classmate and crush, Youko Shiragami, unfurling a large pair of wings from her back when he tries to propose. He learns Youko is a vampire, and she is only able to attend a normal school on one condition: no one must discover her true identity. This secret becomes difficult to maintain, as Youko herself is an airhead and Asahi's childhood friend Mikan keeps bullying the two of them. Love is blooming between Asahi and Youko but things are not very easy. Later on, Asahi discovers more girls in his school with secrets of their own: a tiny alien who rides a human-sized exoskeleton of herself, a werewolf capable of switching gender at any depiction of a moon, a thousand-year-old demon who secretly runs the school, and more who not only pose a challenge as Asahi tries to maintain Youko's secret, but also secretly like Asahi and despise the idea of Asahi and Youko being a couple, thus trying to separate them.

Characters

Main characters

Asahi is a second year high school student who seems to be unable to keep a secret, so much his nickname is "leaky basket". He often acts as the narrator through his inner monologues. Asahi is also susceptible to projectile nosebleeds when confronted with perverse situations, earning the nickname "Eromine" from Yōko. He has a younger sister named Mei, who is barely mentioned in the story until much later on.

Yōko is a classmate of Asahi and the daughter of a human and a vampire. Although she has long canine teeth, many other typical vampiric characteristics are downplayed, such as only getting tanned in sunlight or feeling guilty when entering a room uninvited. Yōko speaks in Kansai dialect, using honorifics to not expose her teeth. Despite initially coming across as haughty, she is bubbly and absent-minded on the outside.

Nagisa is a classmate of Asahi and Yōko as well as small alien riding a human-sized robotic exoskeleton of herself. She is usually meticulous and serious with her actions, though loses her composure when dealing with embarrassing situations. Nagisa has an older brother, Ryo, whom she initially respects and draws inspiration from, before learning he is less reliable than she initially realized.

Mikan is a childhood friend of Asahi who always bullies him. She is president of the Newspaper Club and has used her position to turn it into a supermarket tabloid. However, most of the time, the newspaper club members do all the work for her. Mikan secretly likes Asahi, but perceives her lack of femininity as a barrier she cannot overcome, and prefers instead to bully and tease him. She has two younger brothers who occasionally appear in the series.

Shiho is the dominant personality, and is aware of everything occurs when Shirou is in control of her body. While Shirou has a crush on Yōko and attempts to discover if Asahi is aware of her secret, Shiho is more playful and amorous, deriving enjoyment from being perverse. She often tries to force Youko into admitting her true feelings towards Asahi, and having a perverted crush on Asahi, and tries to expose herself to him. While her father is also a wolfman, her mother is only shown in silhouette and is referred to as the "Charismatic Female Pervert".

Supporting characters

Shishido is Yōko's childhood friend and a wolfman. Initially appearing as Shirō, an intimidating man with sharp teeth. Upon seeing any depiction of The Moon, he transforms into Shiho, a busty, self-proclaimed pervert.

Principal of Asahi's high school and a thousand year-old demon who has the body of a young girl with demonic horns. Despite her age, she is often quick to exhibit childish tendencies, such as playing large-scale pranks on the people at school and quickly getting excited whenever she believes sweets are nearby. She takes special delight in ruining Akari's life when given the chance. As a demon, Akane is capable of magically transforming herself and others around her, as well as multiplying herself.

Asahi's homeroom teacher and former delinquent known as "Akari of the Hundred Visits" due to responding violently after apparently being rejected by 100 boys across different schools. She is Akane's great-great-granddaughter. Her short temper and strong fighting ability allows her to rein in Akane's misbehavior.

Rin is a first high school student. She is secretly Asahi's and Mikan's time traveling granddaughter from the future. Rin is protective of Asahi, whom she treats like a grandfather, not adapting her behavior to his younger appearance.

, , and

Okada, Sakurada, and Shimada are Asahi's three male friends.

and

Yōko's father and mother who had a high school romance similar to Yōko and Asahi. Genjirō is over-protective of his daughter, while Tōko often ends up reining in his behavior through serious situations.

Introduced as a demon, Karen is a fallen angel who lost her halo, which Akane uses as a light bulb without her knowledge. Honest and gentle to a fault, her attempts to be demonic are often seen as angelic yet annoying. She was Genjirō and Tōko's classmate, as well as current student council president, having retained the position for over 20 years at the request of Akane. Her feathers can invoke one of the seven deadly sins in whoever gets stuck with them.

Nagisa's older brother, Ryo moves around in an exoskeleton in is the size of a human body. His exoskeleton is the body of a girl 'ghost' so Nagisa would not know he was in there. He is usually the victim of Shimada's continual flirtation, even to the point of almost kissing him.

Yuika is a ninja from a different time-period who tends to fall in love with the first guy she bumps into, including Asahi and Okada. However, her use of ninja equipment usually intimidates anyone she tries to attract. Revealed to be Shimada and Shiho's time traveling granddaughter.

Mei is Asahi's younger sister who is Yuika's somewhat supportive friend.

A student representative of Mei and Yuika's class, Saki is a succubus who drains men's energy when seducing them. However, Saki herself has little in the way of skills or experience doing so.

Sen is Vampire-Hunter who has no intention of actually hunting vampires. He occasionally imparts some advice to Asahi on how to deal with Yōko's vampire problems.

The principal of Morobare high school from Genjirō and Tōko's past, Shirayuki is a cruel person who feels absolute disgust at the thought of human and non-human species can coexist, believing it goes against the pride of non-humans.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Eiji Masuda, My Monster Secret has been serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Champion from January 31, 2013, to February 16, 2017, and collected into 22 volumes by Akita Shoten. Seven Seas Entertainment has licensed the manga for North America under the title My Monster Secret and published the first volume on January 12, 2016.

Volume list

Anime

The anime adaptation of My Monster Secret premiered on July 6, 2015, in Japan and streaming to North American audiences via Crunchyroll as Actually, I am.... the same day. The opening theme is by Ars Magna and the ending theme is by Hilcrhyme. Additionally, three character song volumes were released: Volume 1 featuring Yōko Shiragami (Yū Serizawa) and Shiho Shishido (Aya Uchida), Volume 2 featuring Nagisa Aizawa (Inori Minase) and Mikan Akemi (Reina Ueda), and Volume 3 featuring Akane Kōmoto (Mao Ichimichi) and Akari Kōmoto (Emi Nitta).

The anime is licensed by Discotek Media. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in February 2017.

Episode list

Reception

The manga had 1.5 million copies in print as of March 2016.

References

External links

• at Seven Seas Entertainment