Actually, I Am... Review: A Boy Who Cannot Keep Secrets Discovers His Classmate Is a Vampire

The joke at the center of Actually, I Am... is very specific and it works: the person who has been asked to keep the most important secret possible is constitutionally incapable of keeping any secret at all. Asahi Kuromine is not careless. He is not stupid. His face simply cannot hide what he knows. Watching someone sincerely trying and physically failing is funnier than watching someone not try, and the series knows this.

Quick Take

• A supernatural school comedy whose premise — world's most transparent person must protect a vampire's identity — generates consistent comedy from the gap between Asahi's role and his ability
• The cast of supernatural students expands steadily across 22 volumes without losing the core comedic dynamic
• Age Rating: T (Teen) — also known as My Monster Secret in some markets; complete at 22 volumes

Who Is This Manga For?

• Readers who want supernatural school comedy with gentle content and a sympathetic male lead
• Anyone who enjoys comedy based on character flaws — Asahi's failure is funnier because he is genuinely trying
• Fans of Rosario+Vampire and similar monster-school comedy
• Readers looking for complete longer-form supernatural romance comedy

Content Warnings & Age Rating

Age Rating: T (Teen) Content Warnings: School harem comedy with supernatural beings; mild romantic content; comedy slapstick

Appropriate for the rating. Nothing graphic.

Story Overview

Asahi Kuromine has one defining characteristic: he cannot keep secrets. His face communicates everything he knows within seconds of knowing it. His poker face is physically impossible. He has accepted this about himself.

Youko Shiragami attends his high school under a strict condition from her father — if anyone discovers she is a vampire, she must transfer immediately. She has managed to keep her wings and fangs hidden from the whole school. Then Asahi walks into the classroom when she has her wings out.

The secret she needs someone to keep has now been seen by the single person least capable of keeping it.

The series begins as a two-person comedy around this impossible situation and expands as more supernatural classmates are revealed: an alien, a werewolf, a demon, and others, each bringing new secrets that Asahi somehow has to protect. By 2017 when the series concluded, 2.5 million copies were in circulation. A 2015 anime adaptation aired on Crunchyroll.

Characters

Asahi Kuromine — His incompetence is the premise, but his genuine effort to help Youko despite total inability creates sympathy. He is more actively good-hearted than the standard harem lead. The series gives him a real character arc across 22 volumes.

Youko Shiragami — The vampire whose natural cheerfulness and innocent approach to her situation make her a genuinely warm protagonist. Her bat wings and fangs are the series' main slapstick tools; her relationship with Asahi is the series' emotional core.

Nagisa Aizawa — The alien classmate who keeps her true form hidden; her character design (short, alien-pattern hair) and her relationship with Asahi add another comedic and eventually romantic thread.

Akane Otokonoko — The demon vice-principal, a ten-year-old-appearing ancient demon who functions as a chaos agent and occasional ally.

Art Style

Masuda's art is clear and expressive — Asahi's transparent face is the series' primary comedy tool and it is drawn with genuine attention to comedic timing. Each new supernatural character's design communicates their nature without subtlety, which is appropriate to the series' register.

Cultural Context

Actually, I Am... ran in Weekly Shonen Champion from 2013 to 2017. The supernatural beings in school genre has deep roots in shonen manga; this series distinguishes itself by centering the comedy on the human protagonist's failure rather than on the supernatural beings' adaptation to human life.

What I Love About It

The consistency of the premise. Asahi does not get better at keeping secrets. The series does not give him a cheat ability or a sudden poker-face upgrade. He keeps failing in new ways, and the new ways are invented across 22 volumes without repeating the exact same failure. That is harder than it looks.

Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning

Any chapter where Asahi deploys a specific, carefully considered strategy for secret-keeping — something with steps and logic and preparation — and fails in a way that his strategy completely failed to anticipate is the series at its most reliably funny. The failure is funnier because the preparation was real.

Similar Manga

Title	Its Approach	How Actually, I Am... Differs
Rosario + Vampire	Supernatural school with monster girl cast	Rosario is more action-focused; Actually I Am is more pure comedy
Interviews with Monster Girls	Supernatural beings in school, calmer	Demi-chan is warmer and more slice-of-life; Actually I Am is a more traditional harem comedy
Kamisama Kiss	Human-supernatural interaction, romance	Kamisama Kiss is more shoujo in tone; Actually I Am is more slapstick

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Core comedic premise holds across 22 volumes
• Asahi is more sympathetic than most harem leads
• Supernatural cast has genuine variety and distinct personalities
• Complete; the ending resolves the central romance

Cons

• 22 volumes is a long commitment for the premise
• Later volumes add complexity that strains the simple setup
• The harem structure limits individual romance development

Is Actually, I Am... Worth Reading?

If you like supernatural school comedy with a warm, slightly bumbling protagonist, yes. The premise is stronger than most, Asahi's failure is funnier because it is sincere, and 22 complete volumes means the romance actually resolves. It is not deep, but it is consistent.

Where to Buy

Read the first volume. If it doesn't hook you, put it down. It'll hook you.

Start with Volume 1 →

---

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.