My Monster Secret Volume 03 Manga Review
Jitsu wa Watashi wa/実は私は 03
My Monster Secret: “Actually, I am…” 03

–> Buy My Monster Secret Volume 03 from Amazon.com

***SPOILERS***

Having really enjoyed the first two volumes of My Monster Secret, it was not difficult for me to pick up My Monster Secret Volume 03. If Seven Seas were to ask me for a blurb about the manga (and they haven’t), I would say, “The wacky awesomeness continues.” Feel free to use that, Seven Seas. 😉

The Volume 3 Story

To get things started in chapter 17, Nagisa discovers that Shiho has moved into the apartment next to hers. When Shiho transforms into Shirou, Nagisa thinks her classmate may be in trouble from a vile degenerate. In chapter 18, Asahi invites Youko to a public pool to practice swimming. This leads to all of their friends coming along for the ride. That night in chapter 19, Youko invites Asahi to sneak into the school’s pool to continue practice. While there, she tells Asahi the romantic story of her vampire father and human mother who attended this same school.

In chapters 20 and 21, rumors of a ghost fuel the rivalry between Youko and Akane. Akane discovers the female ghost is Nagisa’s older brother Ryo in a female mech body. Ryo sends a distress call, which Nagisa answers. Ryo doesn’t let on his true identity, but Nagisa ends up discovering the truth and decides to instill responsibility in her brother. For chapter 22, Shirou pays Asahi a visit as he and Shiho are currently both controlling parts of Shirou’s body.

In chapter 23, Asahi gets Youko to come with him and his male friends to a cake shop, where she nearly reveals her secret due to losing herself in eating cake. Then in chapters 24 and 25, Akane steals Mikan’s glasses, causing Youko, Asahi, and Nagisa to try to help her find them. Akane is published by Akari-sensei after revealing herself to Nagisa and Mikan. Mikan has her glasses back, but she and Nagisa are surprised that they can talk. They are possessed by the Goddess of Fortune, Fuku-chan. Thus Nagisa learns that the glasses were a toy gift from Asahi when he and Mikan were kids. When Fuku-chan threatens to confess to Asahi, Nagisa tries to spare Mikan by putting them on herself. However, the glasses confess for Nagisa.

The Harem Romance Stuff

The Asahi x Youko ship got some lovely work. I give Asahi some credit for actually inviting Youko to go with him to the pool, even though it ended up being a group outing. Two additional items came from this. First, Mikan reveals her opinion that she thinks Asahi truly loves Youko. Considering her status as his childhood friend, her opinion carries a lot of weight.

The other nice reveal is some backstory about Youko’s parents. Both attended this high school. Youko’s father is the vampire and her mother is human. Yet they met and fell in love during high school. As such, should Youko and Asahi do the same thing and get married, that would be a very lovely romantic bow on their relationship.

I like the reveal that Akane had been Youko’s parent’s teacher. Akane may be mainly used for comedy purposes (more on that in a bit), but I couldn’t help but think that she’s hoping for Asahi and Youko get together as a couple.

Finally, Youko briefly addresses Asahi by his given name. It is unfortunate that once revealed, she resumed addressing Asahi as Kuromine-kun, and strongly indicated that she didn’t want Asahi addressing her as Youko-san. It is a shame that they didn’t start using their given names, but then Youko has to be dense and Asahi has to be spineless at this point.

The New Monster Secret

With volume 3, Mikan suddenly gets a supernatural secret in the form of her talking, Tsukumogami glasses. At present, only Nagisa knows Mikan’s secret, though I suspect Akane knows. After all, Akane had them for a time and nothing happens at school that she’s not aware of.  That aside, this whole incident of Mikan desperate to get her glasses back allowed for her character to get some nice development. She’s moved from being a two dimensional character who simply acts evil and is there as a foil for Asahi.

At the same time, the Fuku-goddess glasses have dropped a bomb on Nagisa by confessing to Asahi for Nagisa when Nagisa attempted to help Mikan. That should lead to some fun developments, considering that Nagisa does have feelings for Asahi and Youko thinks Asahi still loves Nagisa.

The New Gender-Bender

With Shiho/Shirou, we already had one gender-bender character in My Monster Secret. Nagisa’s brother Ryo makes his introduction in the manga in a woman’s body. As with Shiho/Shirou, Ryo’s gender-bender identity provides for a lot of comedy. Inside the female human mech suit is a perverted, lazy guy. Contrast this to how his younger sister Nagisa is a serious, hard working girl who’s learning the benefits of friendship and such.

I can see a lot of comedy coming between the interactions of these two, presuming Ryo stays on Earth. Ryo spewed a lot of BS to Nagisa while they grew up, all of which Nagisa believed. Now, Nagisa can get some payback on her Aniue. ^_^

Akane the Devil is Awesomeness

Akane continues to be the funniest character in My Monster Secret. Despite being the oldest character in the manga (over 1000 years of age) and being the principle of the high school, she’s the most childish character in the manga. This element came back with her rivalry with Youko, when the two decide to visit a haunted building (hospital) to prove they aren’t afraid of ghosts. And yet when they visit the place, Akane feels the need to wear a miko outfit to exorcise spirits. (And Youko felt the need to bring a cross, even though they have a negative affect on her as a vampire.) It is so absurd, it is funny.

Akane’s pot stirring is why we got the story about Mikan and her glasses. I laughed so hard at how Akane trolls Nagisa and Mikan in order to have some fun. Yet without Akane’s twisted mischief, Mikan wouldn’t have a secret that only Akane and Nagisa know of. So Akane serves a plot purpose as well.

As an aside, I wonder how Akari-sensei is so easily able to control Akane. Akane has insane powers as a devil. Yet her great-great-granddaughter, who has no powers, is able to control Akane. Sometimes it is with candy or other junk food. Yet when Akane clones herself multiple times while trolling Mikan and Nagisa, Akari-sensei is able to grab one of the Akane bodies and force the whole lot to trudge into a classroom and return Mikan’s glasses. I’d love to have it revealed how Akari-sensei is able to do this.

Seven Seas

On the Seven Seas side of things, My Monster Secret Volume 03 is pretty much standard fare for them. I’m VERY glad that the Nibley Twins have the translation gig for this series. They do a good job of making things readable, but at the same time, they respect Japanese honorifics. As such, I was delighted to see “Aniue” show up as the term Nagisa addresses her older brother. Because the Japanese use honorifics as a literary device, I now have an even greater understanding of how the relationship is between Nagisa and Ryo.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Normally, I don’t have any other items to say in wrapping things up, but this time I do.

• The secrets going on are starting to grow. Until now, Asahi and Youko know them all. However, they don’t know about Mikan. Keeping track of who knows what about who has got to be a chore and a half. 😆
• Nagisa not knowing Shiho’s secret made for a humorous encounter between her real self and Shirou.
• The other Shirou/Shiho story where they are sharing different parts of the active body wasn’t so funny to me.
• I did enjoy getting to see Youko enjoy herself at the cake shop, where Mikan also happens to work. Pretty cool.

In the end, My Monster Secret Volume 03 is quite funny, but also manages to get some character work in for some characters, including pushing the Youko x Asahi ship forward. I can’t wait to read the next volume.