My Monster Secret Volume 19 Manga Review
Jitsu wa Watashi wa/実は私は 19
My Monster Secret: “Actually, I am…” 19

–> Buy My Monster Secret Volume 19 from Amazon.com

I’m down to the last volume of My Monster Secret that I had in my insane pile of unread manga. And then I see a new volume is for sale on Amazon, which I will need to order and read. But for now, it is time to delve into the goodness of My Monster Secret Volume 19.

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 19 with Nagisa and Future Nagisa fighting to a resolution. Later, the class do their Space Kaguya play, culminating in Nagisa’s return to her home planet. Future Nagisa returns, shocking Asahi and Akane. And she has a confession to make.

Nagisa’s brother Ryou is having trouble dealing with the fact that Nagisa left him on Earth. Shiho battles Ryou, in his female exterior unit, for Shimada. Youko and Rin express an interest in devilish women, so Karen decides to train them to become that. Fuku-chan decides to help Okada and Mikan progress their relationship by handcuffing them together.

Asahi hunts for the perfect birthday present for Youko. He’s joined by Shiho, Mikan, and other classmates. Asahi decides to throw a massive surprise party for Youko’s birthday. Later, Youko and Asahi go on a date to an amusement park while Mikan makes a major discovery about Youko.

Nagisa vs. Nagisa

I have to hand it to Masuda-sensei. He turned the inner conflict people sometimes have within themselves into a literal conflict. And such was the case with Nagisa fighting her future self in the very literal sense. Future Nagisa is trying to change the past, and Nagisa is forced to see where things could go wrong.

What was really interesting was that after Future Nagisa supposedly disappeared into the ether, she returned after Nagisa returned to her home planet. Yes, there were comedy aspects here, and bringing Future Nagisa back was a way for Masuda-sensei to continue using the Nagisa character in My Monster Secret Volume 19. But it also allowed Masuda-sensei to address the issue of time travel and changing the past.

Changing the Past Paradoxes

To date, I’ve suspected that all of the time traveling characters in My Monster Secret are basically going to fall in to the Predestination Paradox. That means that the time travelers (Rin, Yuka, Future Nagisa) actually cause the future they claim they are trying to prevent. But, if these characters actually changed the past, they’d fall into the Let’s Kill Hitler Paradox. That means if they changed the past, they’d have no reason in the future to come back to the past to change it.

In My Monster Secret Volume 19, Future Nagisa made it seem like she was trying to change the past. However, she was actually closing the loop of a Bootstrap Paradox. Masuda-sensei kinda brushes over this aspect, but as I see it, the only way Future Nagisa knew to travel to the past was because she had seen herself do it. The impact of that encounter stayed with Nagisa and was important enough for her close the circle, even if subconsciously.

I still think that Rin and Yuka will be part of a Predestination Paradox. I don’t believe the future timeline we’ve seen will ever change. But it is interesting how Masuda-sensei is handling the paradox issues.

Youko x Asahi

The romance storyline between Youko and Asahi continues in My Monster Secret Volume 19. While Asahi’s story of trying to find a gift for Youko is somewhat cliched, I still liked it. Throwing Youko a surprise birthday party was a great idea. And I’m glad that they didn’t string out Youko too much in pretending to forget her birthday.

Interesting but scary bit is Youko’s vampire self. We’ve had indications that Youko’s transformation could go horribly wrong. While we don’t know what caused her father to lose control and become a monster (at least, for a time, though he’s still a giant), something similar could happen to Youko. And after snogging with Asahi in the Ferris Wheel, she did briefly show this darker side.

Even further is that Youko is no longer showing up in photos. Mikan makes this discovery, so I can’t help but think that she has to confront Youko about this. After all, Mikan knows Nagisa’s and Shiho’s secrets. So learning one more shouldn’t be an issue.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how Youko’s story parallels and diverges from her father’s.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I’ve run out of time thanks to work and other commitments. So let me wrap up my review of My Monster Secret Volume 19 with some final thoughts.

• I liked how Masuda-sensei forced some progression in the Mikan x Okada romance story. It was nice seeing Mikan concede that she doesn’t know how to deal with someone confessing their love for her.
• Akane wasn’t the chief source of comedy in this volume. That said, she’s still teaching Asahi by forcing him to watch Nagisa battle Future Nagisa. I wonder why Akane cannot easily sense Future Nagisa.
• The biggest comedy moment came from Shiho battling Ryou for Shimada’s affection. And then when Shiho transformed into Shirou, things became very funny, especially when Shimada doesn’t end up being the one who gets arrested. 😂

In the end, My Monster Secret Volume 19 is a very good volume. I really am enjoying the serious character story work Masuda-sensei is doing on top of his excellent comedy stuff.