Eiji MasudaRezensionen

With a major romantic development last volume, this book tries to settle into a new status quo wherein the leading couple is dealing with the awkwardness of their new relationship, coping with stressors from friends and family who have mixed feelings about the whole thing, and entering their final year of high school.

I don't have it in me to stick around for ten more volumes, though the early entries did have a certain stupid charm. I'd recommend the similar Nisekoi: False Love over this.

Okay, first, this volume has a cascade of love confessions that could very well be treated as the concluding volume of the series.

And I will be using that fact as a good jumping off point, especially since the creator decided to double down and revisit the homophobic situation from Vol. 8 that really bugged me.

I was hopeful that this panel seemed to promise an apology of sort for the previous scene:


But then, pages later we have the same character reacting in a horrified manner when this occurs:




Again, there are extenuating circumstances as these are all ostensibly straight characters involved in a comic mix-up (though there are some vague hints that this could be heading toward a Some Like It Hot "Well, nobody's perfect" ending).


So, with the two panels seeming to be in conflict with each other, I now have to wonder if the first panel is an accurate representation of what was said in the original Japanese, or if the American edition's translators, adapter and/or editor fudged things a bit to undercut some of the offensiveness of what is obviously going to be a running gag through the rest of the series.

Well, I have one more volume on hand from the library, and I'm going to read it just because I'm compulsive that way, but I will not be checking out any more entries in this series in the future.

Last volume's cliffhanger is not directly addressed in this book to any meaningful degree, but it becomes the impetus for two other members of the protagonist's harem to step up their games. A class trip to a tropical paradise becomes the setting for dueling romantic rivals to push each other to love confessions. In any other series, I'd think the series was moving toward a finale, but an internet search says there are at least 13 more books to go.

I read this series because it can be stupid fun with its dense characters and their inane antics. But it has always been problematic with its fan service and sexist depiction of teen females. Now on top of that, this volume is derailed by a scene with what appears to be an extreme homophobic reaction from the protagonist.

I'm putting an image in spoilers to give those who do not wish to be triggered the option to avoid it.


Image at https://images.gr-assets.com/photos/1538599112p8/3738513.jpg.

Sure, there are extenuating circumstances as these are all straight cis male characters involved in a comic mix-up, but the word "repulsive" over a same-sex public display of affection just hurts to see. And it actually goes on for several pages in the same tone.


Without that scene, the book was mostly below average filler chapters of the usual mindless shenanigans until a cliffhanger that pushes one of the romantic storylines to a new level and makes you want to immediately start the next volume.

I already have the next few volumes checked out of the library, so I'm probably going to read them, but it's going to be hard to see the series in the same light. On probation.

Sheer energy carried me happily through the first two volumes. But the energy seems to have flagged in this volume, and I'm starting to wonder if this silliness is worth following.

A screwball romantic comedy featuring an ordinary schmo surrounded by a harem of pretty girls with supernatural secrets, My Monster Secret offers nothing original but gains points for sheer goofiness and its creator's obvious enthusiasm for the material.

Pure goofy energy continues to carry this rather absurd series. A werewolf and a devil are introduced and the harem grows to 3 and a half. (The half is a character that flirts relentlessly with everyone including our hapless hero.)

This volume alternates between stupid fun and just stupid, but thanks to the presence of the vampire father and a charmingly idiotic new character, the scales tip to fun.

This is about the stupidest manga I read right now. I'm not sure how the charm of such sheer stupidity can possibly carry it through another dozen or more volumes, but as long as my local library keeps getting them I'll probably keep checking them out. I'm stupid that way.

This series is still kind of stupid fun, but the time travel story this volume was a bit of a drag as it tries to elevate one member of the protagonist's harem to true contender status against his main crush.

I inadvertently skipped this volume and read #5 first, and it is sort of telling that I didn't really notice as far as the story goes. That said, I really enjoyed the introduction of the vampire's father, but mostly because I could identify, being a large hairy man with a daughter.