Was digging through some old manga's i had on my "to read list" and by dear emperor on his throne i can't believe i held out on this.
Truth be told i had been planning to read this since 2014, but held off until it was all fully finished and translated.
I laugh at my hubris, i have never laughed so hard at a manga since Beelzebub, I'll be making a recommendation post about it in the near future.
Im only up to chapter 73 right now, but i am still laughing all the way, It's full of zany and wacky characters with different fantasy beings like aliens, vampires, werewolves and even angels/demons.
Too lazy to write the synopsis, but if you want a genuinely funny romance comedy gold, then read Jitsu Wa. If you want to laugh read Jitsu Wa, if you want to see an a story with amazing character development and story telling, read Jitsu wa.
Trust me on this. Just read it.
Oh, and don't watch the anime, it's a horrible adaption and isn't going to be given a season 2.
All right you punks and punkettes, I’m here to learn you things about the best dang comedy/romance manga in the universe.
THIS. Is Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa, or for the non weebish amongst us, My Monster Secret. Whatever you decide to call it, just know one thing:
Jitsu Wa Watashi takes one look at all the typical romance anime cliches and says:
I mean it. J-Wa is a friggin masterpiece of character writing. They’re funny, they’re relatable, they actually talk to each other about their emotions, and most importantly: IT DOESN’T TAKE 400 CHAPTERS TO GET ANYWHERE. (It just hit chapter 160, and its slated to go to 200 total)
I’m sticking this snippit in to entice you nerds to continue reading. Cause I got me some OPINIONS to share boi!
Just kidding.
So yo, let me lay this thing out for you as spoiler-free as possible. Our main boy Kuromine Asashi (aka: My BOI) is someone known for being super easy to read. So much so that he earns the nickname “Bag With Holes”. (I’m sure that’s a bit more scathing in Japanese, but whatever)
Asahi’s got himself a major crush on the Kewl Byuuti of the classroom, Shiragami Youko.
Youko’s a dumb vampire. A dumb vampire that reveals her secret by doing the following:
She was stretching. That’s it. That’s how her cover gets blown.
See, Youko made a deal with her vampire daddo that she had to keep pretending to be a human in order stay in school. Now that Asahi knows her secret, she has to kill him and consume his soul leave and go back home. Not wanting that to happen, Asahi promises to, despite being the most sucky secret-keeper in the history of the United States of Japan, never reveal her blood-sucky ways to anyone else.
That’s the general plot. Now, let me lay out why I love this manga so much: The characters.
I said before that the characters are wonderful, and each one deserves a spot on some Top 5 list somewhere, but Imma focus in on Asahi.
To sum up, Asahi is the world’s biggest BRO.
Let me ask you, in a typical romance manga, if there is a guy character that has multiple girls around, what kinda interaction does he have with them?
“OH NO WHICH ONE DO I CHUUUZE?!?2″ (Seriously, I hate this trope so much.) They spend 98% of the screen time trying to figure out who they love while the audience just rolls their eyes at how obvious it is.
NOT MY BOI ASAHI. Nah son, sure he gets embarrassed and flustered when given sudden opposite-sex attention, but he NEVER loses focus on who he likes. There’s a scene where a flirty character (and her talking crotch, just go with me on this for a second) is trying to mess with him for funsies. Again normally, in other, more terrible anime (coughcoughtoloverucough) the protag would be frozen stiff while the flirtee does their thing, only to be interrupted suddenly by some third force.
Asahi just backhands that BS with his trap card.
So he actually PUTS A STOP TO IT HIMSELF.
YOOOOO. My Boi Asahi has leveled up!
This kinda thing continues too! At no point does he ever go “Oh, well maybe I have feelings for this girl over here.” NAH SCREW THAT SON.
Youko is a treat too. She’s dense, she’s earnest, her character development is absolutely amazing to read, and she’s ADORABIBBLE
Uwow~
And the last thing I want to touch on character wise is....this:
This character. THIS CHARACTER. She comes right the frig out of nowhere and quickly establishes herself as the most evil character in all of anime. Like holy cow, anything I say to spoil what she does would be the biggest shame ever. If you love heartless villains, then she is definitely going to take your top slot.
“But oh,” you say, quivering with excitement at the thought of a new manga breaking through the hard shell of cynicism you’ve built around your heart, “What about the art though? A 200/10 story and characters I will remember until my dying breaths aren’t enough to keep me interested. How’s the art look?”
All of the things I’ve posted thus far are direct screens from the manga itself. (Yes, even the Bitch Hold On card.) In the first few chapters, the art is vastly different from what it is today, and you can actually SEE it progress as time wears on. It’s actually one of my favorite art styles out there now, it really has its own distinct personality.
Oh and did I mention that the author/artist wrote a horror manga before this?
So you could have a scene like above, but literally ONE PAGE LATER suddenly switch to this:
(FYI, this horn-girl aint in love with the protag, or anyone else for that matter, so no worries)
Here’s a reverse example! So a few characters are going to a supermarket to get some amazing deals. However, they have to compete with a bunch of beefed-up housewives to get anything. Luckily help arrives!
And then the next page:
Jesus Christ.
Going back on the “Completely throws out garbage anime tropes” point from earlier, here’s another pop quiz for you: What normally happens in anime if a girl character falls on a boy character?
Thanks Colourboy.
Now here’s Jitsu Wa’s take on that:
AND IT BECOMES A RUNNING GAG. ICECREAMINE ASAHI BECOMES A THING.
So let me ask just a few more questions! You wanna see our characters failing miserably at out-sexying each other?
You wanna see a pair of glasses gain sentience and go to a strip club run by OTHER sentient glasses?
You wanna see a tiny alien in army gear grappling a beetle with her bare hands?
YOU WANNA SEE NINJAS
RIDING PTERODACTYLS
FIGHTING A GIANT DEMON
WHILE HORNED METEORS APPROACH EARTH
JUST SO THEY CAN FIX SOMEONE’S SORE TOOTH?
HOLY COW. I cannot even begin to scratch the surface of what makes J-Wa so amazing. Please, PLEASE read it. There’s an anime adaptation too, but it isn’t as good. (It does that thing where it just skips most of the manga and makes up its own random ending. Watch it after you’ve read the manga or you’ll get a much worse impression of it as a whole)
Overall, if you’re anything like me, you’ll be busting a gut just about every chapter, and in the end Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa will probably make its way as your favorite comedy manga of all time.
Hey, Jitsu wa watashi wa/My monster secret/the truth is I’m... fans! I am searching for the chapter when Sakurada first reveals to his friends he is in love with Akari-sensei. Not he one where he actually confesses, but the one right before a sports fest when he tells his friends and his whole class goes like “whaaaaaaaa?!?!?”
I just spent the last half hour shifting through chapters because I couldn’t find it. I just want to reread the reaction - it is so funny.
