My Monster Secret Volume 18 Manga Review
Jitsu wa Watashi wa/実は私は 18
My Monster Secret: “Actually, I am…” 18

–> Buy My Monster Secret Volume 18 from Amazon.com

Truly, My Monster Secret has to be my favorite manga of all time. And though I don’t know how it ends, I suspect it will have a good ending, based on some positive feedback from folks who enjoy the manga series. And so it is time to delve into the latest unread volume in my collection, My Monster Secret Volume 18.

NOTICE!!! In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I am the adapter for the official English translation of the True Tenchi Muyo! novels, which are also published by Seven Seas.

* * * SPOILERS * * *

The Story, in Brief

Things get kicked off in My Monster Secret Volume 18 with Asahi inviting Youko to his house for the first time. She’s desperate to suck his blood, but can’t bring herself to come out and say it. Next, Akane has a memory-dream of the former principle (Shirayuki) she usurped. Akane confronts the Box Girl, believing her to be Shirayuki, only to discover she’s wrong.

Mei seems depressed, so her friends try to cheer her up, not knowing she has a toothache. Meanwhile, the class works on their Space Kaguya play. Nagisa and Asahi encounter the Box Girl, who turns out to be Nagisa from then years in the future. Future Nagisa wants to change the future, thus her journey to the past. Future Nagisa ends up staying with her past self.

Nagisa has orders to return home with a promotion. However, she learns from Future Nagisa that this results in a lot of bad things happening, primarily due to her inability to let go of her feelings for Asahi. As such, Future Nagisa has purged her feelings. Meanwhile, Mikan has advice for Asahi regarding Nagisa. At the same time, Nagisa recalls chatting with her father, who’d infiltrated Earth in his teens and attended the same school as Nagisa.

Nagisa visits Youko’s apartment and spends the night. This leads Nagisa to decide to have a final chat with Asahi. She arranges things with Akane to have her real body turned human-sized, something Akane does for free. When she meets Asahi, Future Nagisa is also waiting. Future Nagisa has decided to kill her past self and take over Nagisa’s life. Thus she hopes to change the future. This leads to the two Nagisa’s engaging in combat.

Not Many Laughs

While the previous volume of this excellent manga series still makes me laugh, My Monster Secret Volume 18 didn’t have many laughs. That’s because most of the manga was devoted to Nagisa’s story. There was a bit of humor over a minor trolling moment by Akane. Also, Genjirou in an S&M outfit made me chuckle.

The only other laugh was when Shiho sees Nagisa and Future Nagisa together and assumes Nagisa has mastered ninja shadow cloning techniques. 😂 But otherwise, there really weren’t laughs.

Nagisa’s Tragedy

I honestly had no clue that “Box Girl” was actually Nagisa from ten years in the future. But once it was revealed in My Monster Secret Volume 18, I thought, “I should have been able to figure that out!” 😅

That said, I can understand why Future Nagisa would want to change the future so bad, she’s willing to kill her past self. I presume Future Nagisa experienced all of the things Nagisa is experiencing. That would include the sleepover at Youko’s apartment. Youko is one of Nagisa’s best friends. And she’s also good friends with Asahi even though she also has romantic feelings for him. But if Nagisa returned to Earth in the future under normal circumstances, everything would be fine.

However, Nagisa’s planet goes to war with Earth, and thus Youko and Asahi in the future view her differently. She’s part of an alien, invading army that is destroying Earth. I can completely understand how that would devastate Nagisa to the point of her going a bit nuts.

I can’t see Masuda-sensei killing either Nagisa. So I will be curious to see how the two resolve their fight. I am also curious on whether Masuda-sensei allows the future to be changed.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of My Monster Secret Volume 18 with some final thoughts.

• Youko and Asahi’s relationship progresses a bit further.
• How was Future Nagisa able to not only hide her presence from Akane, but prevent Akane from knowing who she truly was?
• We finally see the former principle of the school, Shirayuki. It seems she opposes mixed-racial couples (human race and demihuman race) while Akane is in favor of them. Now we get a glimpse into why the master troll actually cares for how Asahi and Youko’s relationship continues.
• What happened to Shirayuki after Akane deposed her? She must be around somewhere for Akane to mistakenly attack Future Nagisa.
• It is interesting how Akane has changed in appearance over the centuries. She had a more feral, angry look to her. But she apparently married a human priest, had children, and became a teacher for hundreds of years.

In the end, My Monster Secret Volume 18 was a good volume. While it lacked the humor of the previous volumes, it made up for that with a very interesting character arc for Nagisa. Further, it seems we are getting additional plot with what Akane is actually up to regarding Youko and Asahi.