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Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa
Actually I am…slightly disappointed?
Series in a Sentence
Kuromine Asashi, known by his friends as the worst high schooler alive at keeping a secret, discovers that his crush is actually a vampire and that the secret getting out will result in her having to leave the school.
What I liked
Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa, translated as Actually I Am and known in western publications as My Monster Secret, was all around a fun show. Despite the premise centering around having to keep a secret in order to prevent someone from leaving, the stakes throughout were relatively low. Coupled with a colorful cast full of memorable and unique characters, the overall feel of the series made for an easy watch. Were there some immature jokes and were there some over the top fanservice moments? Of course, but in the context of the show such moments weren’t too much for me and actually fit into some characters' profiles. Another thing that made for an easy watch was the idea that, while the main premise of keeping a secret was present throughout, no heavy story elements kicked in until the end. This let the high school setting naturally flow into an episodic format with episodes based on different characters or jokes. Speaking of the jokes, I generally enjoyed the humor. As I just said, a lot of episodes focused on specific characters or character interactions which meant that you could guess what jokes were coming based off the characters involved. Again, I didn’t find this as a problem and the misunderstandings leading up to some punchlines or scenarios got some good laughs out of me.
What I Didn’t Like
Writing-wise, the show was fine and in general I enjoyed its run. The issues for me stem from two things that will affect people differently: The first is the animation and the second is the manga. Now, hear me out, both of these issues alone are not inherently bad but they hampered my enjoyment of the show. Concerning the animation, it was about what you would expect from a shounen adaptation BUT it committed one of my biggest pet peeves with manga-to-anime adaptations: It changed the way characters look. I’m not talking about One Punch man levels of change (and that show did it right and it worked with the absurdity of the show), I’m talking about small changes made to make characters look more appealing. Things like different noses or slightly different eyes made the characters look more generic than their manga counterparts and took away from the original author’s style. Admittedly, this is an issue that only people who read the manga will encounter but unfortunately I am one of those people. The second issue, what I called the manga itself, emerges because this adaptation does not finish the series. Yes, the series was still going on while the manga was but the likelihood of this getting a continuation is slim to none. Thus, this falls onto my list of series that seem geared towards getting you to buy the source material. Again, not an inherently bad thing, but anyone looking for closure will just have to be content with a “life goes on” style ending.
Overall Feelings
Yes, I read the Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa manga in its entirety and was reading it while I watched this show. That means that cut scenes or gags annoyed me, changes in art style or character designs rubbed me the wrong way, and the incomplete feel of the story left more to be desired. However, I can’t let these biases obscure the fact that I had a fun time. After all, how many shounen adaptations don’t change a thing or two, how many don’t exclude things, and how many change character appearances to appeal to the more general audience? The answer is quite a lot but I enjoyed or plan to enjoy those shows anyways. For fans of the manga, going in with tempered expectations is best and for people that haven’t read it, and want a few quick laughs, go for it. I’m not going to say that this was a break out comedy but it was good enough. Secrets can be both good and bad at the same time.