Before I begin the typical filler starting point I am going to do this and Monster Musume episode 1 reviews and then decide what to do from there. On another note the plot will be less described and I will talk about comparing it to the manga after the score that I would give.
Well, of the manga that is my favorite it is a close tie for the fifth spot being either Actually I am and Monster Musume. Luck would have it for both series starting to air in the same summer season. Now Actually I am looks like a harem, and from the opening people might think it is as well, but it is not. This series despite having a more female cast it is more comedy than anything, the romance element is more of a side thing. So, with that said let’s get started with the first episode review of Actually I am a, in Japanese known as Jitsu wa Watashi wa.
The Plot:
Ashai Kuromine is a terrible liar. Everyone knows it. He is known as a leaky basket. He cannot tell lies and he cannot keep secrets. However despite all this he does his best. His friends make fun of him. They also realize that he likes a girl in his class, Yoko Shiragami.
Well Kuromine has been thinking he has been keeping it a secret the entire time, trying to avoid her gaze in class. His friends tell him to go ask her out. They hope it is not like how it was last year with the class rep, which ended in disaster.
Well as he goes to tell Shiragami his feelings he discovers she is in fact a vampire and has keeping it a secret this entire time. He has seen her all alone. She cannot take part in gym, she has been known to show up early and leave school late for whatever reason. Well, with the discovery how she is a vampire and gets tans in the sun.
The two talk for a bit and since Shiagami revealed that now that her secret is known she has to leave school. Kuromine does not want that and tells her he will keep the secret and as long as no one else finds out they are fine. Of course when he goes to tell her his feelings he blurts out that they should be friends. She does not realize his feelings and decides to keep it a secret. The two walk home and the episode ends.
Overall Thoughts:
When I was looking at the concept art months ago I said I did not really like it since it got rid of the art style in the manga. That was my biggest problem with it. After the first episode I do not mind and it does look a lot better than the art in the concept. Putting that aside this episode was rather enjoyable. I am not sure if this was due to the fact that I enjoy the manga, or the fact that nothing really interesting has caught my attention this season. It did have the comedic moments and introduced several of the characters in brief scenes that will play a roles, although Kuromine’s friends appear less and less seemingly as the series progresses. I even forgot who they were at one point reading the manga. Anyway I am only bringing up the opening, since this is a weekly series I have no idea how many chapters that they will cover, but I know the school principal was in the opening, and appears in the late teens for chapters, and the other character I was thinking that is appears in the late twenties did not. So, as of right now I am not sure how much they will cover, the series itself is a little episodic, with no real way to feel completed. There is also no known amount of episodes, so for all I know this might be twenty-four or more episodes. But anyway, I did enjoy this episode as a fan of the manga, which I guess is good to say after the first episode since there are some series after the first episode I can feel indifferent if I read the manga before.
Overall Score: 75/100 (I would go higher but at that point it would be more bias than focusing on what the episode showed. This series is a lot funnier but this episode was just progressing the plot)
In Comparison to the Manga:
I actually went back to read a bit of the manga before writing this, mostly because last time I read the first few chapters was well, in a day with about forty others nine to ten months ago.
So, not much changed. Well like I said there were a few brief scenes that introduced some of the other important characters. There was a scene with Kuromine’s friends being harassed by Mikan. She did not do that. Also at the end with the Class Rep, she did not do that, in fact it was Mikan spying. Other than that this episode only covered the first chapter in the manga. It is weekly so I am going to assume it will cover more than likely the next two next week.
This series is being streamed by Cruchyroll.
So, did you like this episode? Also what do you think of the new format for the weekly reviews?
The Reviewer's Corner 
July 8, 2015 at 4:56 am
I watched this one the other day. Seemed like it could be interesting, but has the potential to get boring or poorly executed comedy real quick.
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July 8, 2015 at 8:16 am
I could see what you mean. To me this feels like an early on sort of thing in the manga. But even now there is a chapter every once in awhile that is not really funny and is not about plot progression. But some of the plot progression chapters are fairly funny. This series should kick off a lot more once the next person’s secret is revealed instead of just dealing with two of the characters. Good news is that should either be the end of next weeks episode or episode three depending on their pacing.
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July 8, 2015 at 2:16 pm
I plan to keep watching, so hopefully it’ll turn out to be a fun show. 🙂
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July 7, 2015 at 7:56 pm
Maybe it’s because I’m completely fresh to the series, but this one completely bored me. None of the comedy worked, all the characters felt uninteresting, and the entire first episode was just a twenty-minute explanation of the summary that I’d already read. This may be one of my drop-during-the-second-episode deals, unless things pick up next week.
Great review though, nice to read the perspective of someone who enjoyed it more. 🙂
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July 7, 2015 at 8:00 pm
Yeah I see what you mean. I know the comedy does pic up, but this episode was way more about development and setting up. This also only covered the first chapter so I can tell that they want to go a little slow with this. Not sure how many episodes this series will get since the anime is weekly and episodic like. I should hopefully be better in the comedic part once the next person’s secret is out. I think that might be episode 3 though, since more than likely it will be building the relationship for the characters more this one.
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July 7, 2015 at 8:05 pm
Guess it also has a lot to do with the fact I’m catching up on a lot of great KyoAni romances in the background to this season. I kept wishing I was watching one of them. xD But I keep telling myself not to do that as a critic, so I’ll keep trying the show as an exercise for just taking it as it comes. Hopefully the comedy does pick up and the premise is used for more than just the simple, unengaging plotlines I’m wary of.
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