My Monster Secret Volume 05 Manga Review
Jitsu wa Watashi wa/実は私は 05
My Monster Secret: “Actually, I am…” 05

–> Buy My Monster Secret Volume 05 from Amazon.com

***SPOILERS***

And so we come to My Monster Secret Volume 05, the latest in a manga series that has been a delightful find. Thankfully, the awesomeness continues.

The Volume 5 Story

The story for My Monster Secret volume 05, in brief, kicks off in chapter 35 with Rin discussing her mission to change the future. Because of Shiho’s presence, Rin ends up in a conflict with Shiho and gets temporarily banished to this past for revealing the future. In chapter 36, Nagisa becomes jealous of Rin, leading her into a battle in her UFO against Rin’s dragon.

For chapters 37 through 39, Akane kicks off the school’s annual sports festival. The events are open to students, family, and more.  It quickly becomes apparent to those who know her secret that she’s doing this event to win the prize, which is to have a wish granted. Akane won the previous year and scored a year’s worth of junk food. As Akane discovers more opposition to her, she steps up her game. However, Youko ends up winning the festival even though she wasn’t trying to.

Finally, chapters 40 through 43 start with Asahi tagging along with Mikan, who’s investigating the Seven Wonders of their high school, all of which are related to people like Youko, Akane, Shiho, and Nagisa. Because Akane is on a rampage at having lost her jackpot of snacks, Rin has her dragon eat Asahi and Mikan to take them to the future, Rin’s present. Asahi’s home has become the center of the resistance movement, who are fighting against the Nympho Icon II’s rule.

After Mikan gets over the shock of the future and Rin calling her “Grandma,” she eventually confesses her love to Asahi. Asahi turns her down, stating he loves Youko. Before they return to Asahi’s and Mikan’s present, Future-Mikan gives some advice to Asahi. After returning to the present, Asahi finds Youko there waiting for him in the class. So he asks her to meet him at the party after the School Festival.

Future Girl Rin

I’m a little disappointed that Rin isn’t a dragon in human form, but that’s OK. The fact that she’s from the future and has a dragon that can move through time is pretty cool. Although her sword isn’t practical because of the hilt, it does look cool. And how Rin uses it is awesome and funny. Her rivalry with Shiho is hilarious since Rin is opposed to Nymphos like Shiho. So when Rin uses the sword to button up Shiho’s shirt, it just had me laughing so much. Then when Shiho turned into Shiro, that had me laughing even more. Poor Shiro.

So in addition to having a natural rivalry with Shiho, made more clear after seeing the future Earth that Rin comes from, I find it funny that she has a rivalry with Nagisa. Rin’s main purpose here seems to be to force Nagisa to continue to confront her feelings for Asahi. I liked the idea of Rin’s dragon battling Nagisa’s UFO. Masuda-sensei didn’t give us much of that fight, but that’s OK.

I’m glad that Rin is not a part of Asahi’s harem, even though she clings to him so much. It occurred to me that Rin has to know everyone’s secret since she’s from the future.

Back to the Future

Having Rin come to the present from fifty years in the future is one thing. Having her take Asahi and Mikan into her time is something else. Talk about an interesting twist. I liked the nod to the cat UFOs in the sky. Since the world is not at war and there’s not a problem, I’d guess that Nagisa’s people and humans are living peacefully together. At least, that’s the vibe I get from the story arc.

Because Rin takes Asahi and Mikan into the future, it accomplishes two things. First, it continues to force Mikan to accept the reality that “normal” actually does contain devil women (Akane), future girls, glasses inhabited by a goddess, and possibly a whole lot more. After all, the Seven Wonders she speaks of at her school are all due to non-humans, even if she doesn’t know it yet.

The second thing going to the future accomplishes is that it forces Mikan to face her feelings for Asahi. For her to go from “Evil Queen” to confessing her love for Asahi in five volumes of the manga is pretty amazing. What’s more amazing is that Masuda-sensei really worked her character, taking her from a cliched foil to a rather interesting and complex character.

Finally, I loved seeing future Mikan and her glasses show up. Rin calls her “Grandma,” but that doesn’t mean jack. It is possible that Rin is descended from Mikan and Asahi. If that happens, I would guess we’d have a harem ending since Asahi loves Youko and Youko loves Asahi, though she hasn’t stated it yet. (Actions speak louder than words here. More on that in a bit.) If I had to guess, Rin addressing Mikan as “Grandma” isn’t a family thing, but a familiar thing. I’d guess Mikan is still close to Asahi and hopefully Youko.

The Twisted Devil Akane: Awesomeness!

As usual, Akane continues to be the best character in My Monster Secret. I’ve read a lot of manga and watched a lot of anime where the traditional school sports festival is shown. Certainly, some have been over the top, but none have been as awesome as the sports festival in My Monster Secret Volume 05. And that awesomeness is 100% due to the “horned woman” and secret principal of the high school (since only select few know about Akane’s existence, much less that she’s a devil).

Akane has her normal, comedic antics. It is amusing that Akane has apparently been gathering special students to her school. Considering Masuda-sensei’s writing to date, I suspect there’s more to it than just Akane wanting to show her superiority over a human from the future, a mini alien in a human sized mobile suit, a vampire, a wolf”man”, and more. Plus, there’s the fact that Akane used to be a teacher in the school, so Youko’s parents were her students. Akane seems to have another purpose, or maybe she just wants to see Youko and Asahi become a couple like Youko’s parents did.

Still, it is Akane’s twisted personality and her massive weakness for candy and snacks that makes her such a delight. Youko’s father is still looking for revenge for Akane punishing him for touching her macaroons back in the day. Youko’s mother is friendly with Akane, but the fact that she helps Akari-sensei for whatever wrongs Akane did to her in the past is funny. Akane’s twisted relationship with her great-great-granddaughter Akari is awesome since Akari-sensei is the only one to truly control Akane…most of the time.

Finally, Akane’s dark mood and her “Bloody trick or treat!” remarks at having lost the sports festival and thus lost a year’s worth of junk food is just awesome.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I was supposed to have finished reviewing My Monster Secret Volume 05 days ago. And I should be in bed now. So let me wrap this puppy up.

• The Nibley Twins are still translating the series, so no problems here.
• I loved that Youko won the sports festival without trying, mainly thanks to her dad.
• I didn’t like the fact that Youko is such an airhead, she doesn’t recognize her GIANT father when his disguise is simply a mask.
• It is sweet seeing Youko get startled by Asahi and briefly address him as “Asahi-kun” rather than Kuromine-kun as normal. Also, she was waiting for him at his desk after his jaunt into the future, which is also sweet.
• I really hope Asahi is able to confess to Youko in the next volume. I’m hoping that we see Youko and Asahi become a couple and then deal with the fun and issues that result from a female vampire and human male being in a romantic relationship.
• It would be fun if we could get a return trip to the future. I kinda feel we might get that to advance plot points. We’ll see though.

In the end, My Monster Secret Volume 05 has moved this series as one of my top two favorite manga titles (the other being D-Frag). The combination of wacky comedy, romance, but also some nice character development really makes this manga a delight to read.