Jitsu wa Watashi wa Translated as Actually I Am and titled in English as My Monster Secret: Actually I Am is a Manga series written and illustrated by Eiji Masuda. It was published by Akita Shoten in Weekly Shnen Champion and ran from January 2013 February 2017. It has been collected into 22 volumes with Seven Seas Entertainment translating and publishing it under the name My Monster Secret in North America starting in 2016. It has also been adapted into an anime but Im going to stick with the manga here. I absolutely love this series and I firmly believe there is no reason for it to be as good as it is. It hits some serious No Im not interested in that before even starting: Its set in a high school Its a romcom Its a harem manga Its impossible to explain without making it sound like either you or the mangaka are on all of the drugs. Combine these things and you normally enter into the world of pure and utter trash and to me is the stereotype for what people think of when they think of everything wrong with manga and anime. It feels like there are at least a few dozen of them published in both manga and anime every year and normally if you want to read the good stuff the industry has to offer you avoid this concoction like the absolute plague. And then you get to the characters involved: The main protagonist: A high schooler who cant keep a secret his nickname is literally leaky basket The main girl: A beautiful and mysterious vampire who is dense as hell. A 6 inch tall alien girl who pilots a robot that passes as a human. The main protagonists best childhood friend a girl who bullies the main protagonist and everyone else to no end and is journalist looking to publish all the secrets and rumors she can find. Theres also a demon girl a werewolf girl a couple time traveling girls an angel who thinks shes a demon and so on and so forth and it gets ever more absurd and hilarious with each additional character. All of these characters are trying to keep their secret hidden from everyone else and pass off as normal people. To varying degrees of comedic success. As I said it absolutely should not work. And yet somehow it all works so well. By no means is it some kind of super deep or complex story. It knows what it is and doesnt try to be anything different. The shenanigans are hilarious the romance is cute and grows organically there are some deeply emotional moments near the end and all the wild disparate elements somehow coalesce neatly into a wholesome and heartwarming conclusion. The biggest downside of the manga to me is the art. It is very clearly dated and of a style that isnt very popular at all anymore. It did grow on me and I think it added to the overall charm of the series. I know some people have looked at it and passed by leaving it as something of a hidden treasure to those who do start reading.