Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa (My Monster Secret)

The only answer everyone has managed to come up with is "because she's a little sister". Other than that, it's a mystery.

Pretty much.

Protagonists of rom-coms and harems tend to be really weak in characterization, because if they don't have much of a personality it's easier to step into their shoes. They don't even necessarily have to be everymen or ordinary as long as they're easy to understand. It's a weakness of just about any cast in the genre - that the protagonist is often at the center of all the insanity but isn't actually all that interesting himself. The exceptions are few and far in-between.

I like Asahi, and he's better than most such protagonists, but he's like that, and it's not very good for generating popularity.

Honestly, the only exception I can think of is The World God Only Knows (and they toned down Keima's awesomeness in the anime, which everyone agrees was a mistake). What else? School Days?

Ryouta from Brynhildr is very unusual as a harem protagonist - he's a very smart guy that has trouble understanding women, and he's forced to help these girls that have been placed into mortal danger. Similar to Keima, even down to being the group's tactician and defacto leader. Brynhildr isn't entirely a harem or rom-com, but it has such elements from time to time, so I think that might count.

Besides Ryouta and Keima... I don't really think there's many other examples. Maybe if the harem aspects are really secondary to something else, like how in Code Geass Lelouch has a lot of love interests but most of the focus is the conflict between different factions.

edited 23rd Apr '15 11:13:45 AM by Crinias

Junpei from Nyan Koi! was fairly interesting if I remember correctly (although I saw the anime a while ago now…), but again the harem is only a side element in that series − though more important than in GnB…

Hum, how was Keima exactly?

Yamada from Yamada and The Seven Witches is also pretty cool. Honestly though, best harem (or romance in general) is where the focus isn't on the harem itself.

Oh, doy, Mahou Sensei Negima!. Don't know how I forgot.

What do we mean by weak in characterization? For example, Hayate is not the most vibrant character in the manga, but he's far from a personality lacking blob.

Oh yeah, there's them too. Yamada's actually pretty interesting and proactive once the body-swapping shenanigans get going, and I can't believe I forgot Negima.

When I say weak in characterization I generally mean that there's not really that much to them. They tend to be very typical, don't have other sides to themselves, rarely get any focus, don't change much, that kind of thing. There's a correlation in them being weak in personality as well - oblivious, not very assertive, shy, not very outspoken and so on.

It's been a while since I read Hayate but I'd say he's much weaker in personality than characterization - there's a lot of explanation as to how he's so skilled, what happened to him in the past, and so on.

Where are you reading these translations, or do ya'll just know Japanese?

Sen Manga, don't know about others, but I know jack shit of japanese (Occidental Otaku limited vocab thing notwithstanding).

Oh god my sides, my poor poor sides.

A succubus losing to freaking Youko of all people . And Rin not giving a damn about those two was too much.

Is it just me or recent chapter seems to focus more of the junior year here?

edited 23rd Apr '15 11:15:12 PM by styryder

This new character sounds like an absolute riot. It's great the scans are catching up to the series, since that means it won't be that long before we reach that gold.

@Little Sister: We can only expect her popularity to skyrocket, now that she's getting actual characterization.

@anime: Not blown away...But it is a relief that the faces seem to be keeping their craziness.

@Lynedith: Keima is a jerk beyond comparison. He's cold, calculating, intelligent, but most of all, he pours all his capabilities, and soul into dating sims and gives no damn about anyone else...At first at least. On top of being hilarious, he actually undergoes significant developments. He ends up being invested in the conflicts of the girls he "captures", and learns how to love real life.

Again though, the harem stuff in The World God Only Knows is a relative footnote, compared to the girls' personal problems, the world-shattering ancient conspiracy plot and, of course, Keima's own development. As Trueshadow said...Harem is at its best when there is as little of it as possible. Jitsu wa is a testament to that.

edited 24th Apr '15 1:04:12 AM by mrsunshinesprinkles

I see. Makes me curious… also, when you think about it, even Negima only became really interesting when the harem elements took a backseat.

109. It feels weird to have so many new characters introduced all of a sudden, considering there had only been one new character (Karen) in the last 70 or so chapters. It really feels like we're entering a new phase in the series. One with p… p… *takes a deep breath* plot!! ò.Ô I wonder if the romcom part is definitively over…

So after Ryokuenzaka (green) and Momochi (pink), we have Minagawa (aqua). The Colorful Theme Naming is still going strong. =3

Asahi being Shiho's victim again. Kind of funny that he knows every detail of Shiho's body, when he hasn't even properly kissed his own girlfriend (or has he?)… Also funny that the nosebleed is treated for what it is here: blood, with all the implications behind it. That last page what kind of scary, seriously.

That poor MC hasn't had a single line in 3 chapters now…

edited 24th Apr '15 5:57:11 AM by Lyendith

Some people have actually jokingly called it Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa Darkness

Wait a minute. If we got a succubus this chapter...

Does that mean we have yet another potential not-Shiho candidate for Charismatic Pervert the Second?

While we're on the coattails of speculation, here's a shot in the dark; what if swirly-eyes and Shiho get some interactions in the future.

He's unfazed by her pervertedness, because he "knows the real deal when he sees it", and Shiho spends an entire chapter pushing herself on him. That could totally happen.

edited 24th Apr '15 6:38:56 AM by mrsunshinesprinkles

Knox's 1st: The culprit must be among the characters introduced early in the story!

… hem, nah, I don't think a character who appeared out-of-nowhere would be the CPII. There aren't that many options, really. Either Shiho herself, Aizawa, or Youko The latter would be hilarious.

Don't really see Shiho trying to push herself on an underclassman… I kind of like the idea of the guy being "immune" to pervertedness though.

What? <.< What's there in common?

edited 24th Apr '15 4:04:44 PM by Lyendith

Oh my gah. Shiho's mom's pervert aura is off the charts. Also LOL at perverts being able to control just how much Censor Steam they emit to increase titillation. XD Reverse Enlightenment abilities? REALLY now Jitsu wa?

edited 24th Apr '15 1:10:55 PM by MyssaRei

@Lynedith: I

muh

guh

Gah, you got me. On both points.

Not sure, since I don't read To Love Ru myself. Going on tvtropes description, seems like Darkness introduces more plot points other than harem antics and switches focus to new protagonists. Might be similar to how Jwww introduces new characters that seem relevant to the "pervert" plot and how little screentime Asahi has been getting.

is Ms Succubus the class rep?she looks like it.

also,wow,that's a simple Succubus design.

hey,Lyendith,if you don't mind people asking,how's the next chap coming along?

edited 26th Apr '15 12:05:46 PM by alekos23

Err… hard to say. —'.`— Chapter 78's proofreading doesn't seem to be making much progress, I'm not sure why…

And yes Saki is the class rep, how did you guess.

… speaking of it, is there any example of a male class rep in any manga?

edited 26th Apr '15 1:26:09 PM by Lyendith

While manga seems to love the single-rep system for class, apparently many real-world high schools use a two-rep system for administrative ease (you see this in Assassination Classroom by the way).

Off the top of my head, Durarara has a boy/girl pair. Anri did it because she thought it's what her friend would want, and then she kinda bullied Mikaido into it... or something... the scene was a little weird in the anime. But he has a crush on her, so that was probably part of it. When boy/girl rep pairs show up in anime, there's usually Unresolved Sexual Tension one direction or the other.

Welp, looks like we're going art-shift◊ for the Anime◊ after all. :P Due to the base moe style it's NOT as extreme though, but it's there at least. :D

Also LOL Youko's smug face◊.

edited 27th Apr '15 4:17:26 PM by MyssaRei

It's a start, but that art is still a little worrying.

The series' premise alone sort of gives a sour first impression for anyone tired of romcoms, even if Jitsu wa does so much with an unoriginal set up.

edited 27th Apr '15 11:31:09 PM by mrsunshinesprinkles