My Monster Secret Volume 04 Manga Review
Jitsu wa Watashi wa/実は私は 04
My Monster Secret: “Actually, I am…” 04

–> Buy My Monster Secret Volume 04 from Amazon.com

***SPOILERS***

With this manga series having just ended in Japan (22 total volumes), I went ahead and grabbed My Monster Secret Volume 04. With this volume, this manga series has now easily moved into my top 5 manga favorites.

The Volume 4 Story

In chapter 26, Youko has set up a date for Asahi and Nagisa at a local festival after thinking Nagisa confessed her love. As Youko and Shiho tail the two, Youko goes into shock when Nagisa accidentally ends up in Asahi’s arms. Then in chapter 27, Akane decides to take advantage of Youko’s shock at school by disguising herself as Asahi and attempting to get Youko to confront her true feelings.

For chapter 28, a limited edition BLT burger has Asahi, Youko, and Mikan on the same train to get some. This turns into a mad competition when Akane shows up along with her 49 clones, to say nothing of Akari-sensei, Ryo, Nagisa, and Shiho being involved at various stages.

In chapters 29 – 33, Akari-sensei is taking Youko, Shiho, Nagisa, and Akane on a camping trip. At the suggestion of Akane, Akari-sensei grabs Asahi to come along. Akane cons Akari-sensei into getting drunk so that Akane can drive. However, Akane doesn’t know how to drive and so uses magic to get them to their campsite, destroying Akari-sensei’s car in the process.

The campsite turns out to be Youko’s family estate, where Asahi gets to see Youko’s giant, vampire father and normal human mother. Because Youko’s father keeps closely observing them, Asahi and Nagisa think he’s trying to discover if anyone knows Youko’s secret. Instead, he is only concerned about Asahi’s relationship with his daughter. His obsession with this causes Youko and Asahi to flee to her room, where they are trapped. Akane uses her powers to try to force the two together, but to no avail.

Finally, in chapter 34, a girl with a sword named KIRYUIN Rin shows up and starts clinging to Asahi at school. She identifies herself as Asahi’s granddaughter from 50 years in the future.

Working the Asahi x Youko Ship

While the first chapter of this volume does deal with the Nagisa x Asahi ship, its main purpose isn’t to advance that ship (though it does since Nagisa concedes that she is in love with Asahi). Instead, the chapter is designed to set Youko up to confront her feelings. Through Akane (and more on her in a bit), Youko is forced to confront her feelings, but in the end, Youko dismisses everything as part of Akane’s teasing. She returns to believing that Asahi loves Nagisa, and even Nagisa’s words won’t sway Youko.

And so Akane strikes again, this time via the camping trip at Youko’s family estate. This allows Asahi to meet Youko’s parents and vice versa. Thanks to Youko’s father being so overprotective of Youko, we get the comic situation of Asahi and Youko being trapped in her bedroom. Youko makes suggestions, then realizes that maybe they aren’t the best, such as sharing her bed. Of course even Akane’s attempts to force the situation, with Youko’s mom’s approval and observation, come to naught. I laughed when both Akane and Youko’s mom called Asahi a wimp the next morning.

When all is said and done, one could say that Youko hasn’t made any advancement and that would be correct. However, Masuda-sensei is clearly setting the table for when Youko eventually does accept that she too has feelings for Asahi.

Akane-chan — Devil Comic Relief and More

Akane continues to be the best character in My Monster Secret. On one hand, she’s used for a lot of comedic purposes. There’s her childish rivalry with Youko, which produces good comedy. There’s the conflict between Akane and her great-great-granddaughter Akari-sensei, which produces good comedy since Akari-sensei is the only one who can control Akane. Plus, she just loves to troll people, which always leads to good comedy situations.

For My Monster Secret Volume 04, we got to see more of this comedy gold. Her desperation to score those limited edition BLT burgers cracked me up since she cloned herself 49 times to increase her chances of getting more than one. (There were only 50 burgers being made.) Her attempts to levitate Akari-sensei’s car and fly it to the campsite cracked me up since she destroyed the car in the process. And her comedic attempts to get Asahi and Youko together cracked me up, especially since she wasn’t drinking sake to enjoy the show, but rather syrup used for shaved ice. 😆

Despite her obvious comedic role, I get the feeling that Akane has a greater interest in trying to get Asahi and Youko together as a couple. Youko’s parents were Akane’s students before she became principal of the high school. She’s obviously still close to Youko’s mother, based on how chummy they acted, to say nothing of Youko’s parent’s allowing the camping on the creek that runs through their estate after Akane made arrangements. Hopefully, her character gets fleshed out more while retaining her awesome, comedic role.

A Dragon Girl from the Future?

My Monster Secret Volume 04 introduces a new girl into the mix. Rin is introduced in a rather interesting way. For starters, she’s an unknown element to Akane, which causes Akari to become concerned. Second, she appears to either have a dragon at her disposal, or she is a dragon in human form. Third, she carries a Western longsword with an unusual (and seemingly impractical) hilt. Finally, she’s apparently from fifty years in the future and is Asahi’s granddaughter.

Hopefully, if Rin is Asahi’s granddaughter, we don’t get a creepy, incestuous element added to the manga. Obviously, her clingy nature and double entendre words were designed for comedic purposes. The reactions of Mikan, Nagisa, and Youko prove that. I suppose she’s very fond of her grandfather, but that is a bit too clingy in my opinion. I just don’t want to see Rin in Asahi’s harem.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Man, I’m so far behind, so I better wrap this up.

• The Nibley Twins are still translating here, so no problems there. As usual, full Japanese honorific usage is in play.
• Instead of the normal 4-koma comic strips, Masuda-sensei has an omake manga chapter showing the mischief Shiho was up to in the tent with Nagisa and Akari while Youko was trapped with Asahi.
• Who knows who’s secret is becoming more complicated.

In the end, My Monster Secret Volume 04 continues to put an interesting take on the harem genre. It works well, both as a harem title as well as a wacky, comedy title. Since volume 5 is out already, I look forward to reading it.