Uchuujin no Kakushigoto
Secret of the Alien

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

I personally enjoyed this series. But I think it's because I didn't put much stock into caring about specific events within the narrative. I instead concentrated more on some of the themes it tried to convey and trying to understand them.

Secret of the Alien is kind of all over the place when it comes to what occurs in the story. At the start, you are presented with what you believe to be a high-school romcom - in the next moment, you're experiencing a thriller. The story takes some dark turns thereafter, leaving you a little confused. What is this all about? Why does the tone ... of the story keep changing? To be honest I'm still unsure. My best guess is that the author is more interested in subverting expectations, along with communicating certain themes. I can appreciate that, but I'm certain some people want something less abstract, or vague. If you're the kind of person who likes consistency in tone and genre, this probably isn't for you.

That being said, I did like how the series depicted aliens. We, as humans, often like humanizing things. Whether it be animals, objects, or aliens. In truth, who is to say aliens view time, consciousness, or even the universe in the same way we do? Haru's actions in this story prompt you to think about how humans form expectations of the world around them. Especially as it pertains to consciousness and morality. I found one user on MangaDex (called McAlastair) put it well: "At the end of the day, Haru truly is an alien; even if she looks somewhat human, her way of thinking and morality is beyond most of our comprehensions. Instead of a Black-Grey-White Morality, she runs with Blue and Orange Morality. And... goddammit, my head hurts thinking about all this."

Our lead in the story, often called "class rep" is also kind of interesting. He's strangely fixated on being "good" even though his actions often work against what is morally correct. As a character, I would describe him as hollow. One could argue this is due to poor characterization (a fair argument, considering the speed and pace of the story) but I intuit that it's intentional. It plays off of the absurdity of Haru's actions quite well.

The art style is good. It conveys what is going on appropriately and matches the style/tone of the manga. On many occasions I found myself rather disconnected from characters, sometimes having difficulty perceiving their emotions. I think this is because of how the eyes and faces were drawn. The pupils and irises were often shaded (sometimes seeming to blend together), making it difficult to "see" into the eye. On crazy or emotional characters this effect worked well.

All in all, I enjoyed "Secret of the Alien." But I believe it's because I tempered my expectations early on. For people who are looking for consistency or something that "makes sense," this one might throw you for a loop.

Shock value is considered by many to be a cheap trick or an easy way to get a rile out of someone without putting in much effort. To me, however, there's a sweet spot of shock value, an uncanny valley of sorts where the shock becomes comedy before it becomes outright disgust. This manga hits it dead on in the face, completely obliterating it and leaving nothing but a mess in the surrounding area.

It's clear from the first chapter that you're not here for a romcom with a decidedly more mature art style. You're here for the ride. Every character is pushed up to the ... max for the sake of driving everything up the wall, and as a result, we break through the roof into the stratosphere. Each chapter introduces a new baffling brazy batshit insane twist that you have no choice but to giggle at. To take this manga seriously is to fail yourself. There might be a sprinkle of real shit, a semblance of reasonable thematic elements, but in reality, we're just here to have fun, so don't be fooled.

If you want something grounded and logical, it's not going to be here. Yes, it's hard to turn off your brain completely and just enjoy the absurdity of it all, but life is absurd. At the end of it all you might wonder what you read all of it for. Sometimes you don't need a reason other than "cool as fuk yea", and that's fine.

Got lots of potential. The bait-and-switch in chapter 2 isn't just for show--at every turn, this "girl" is a dangerous fucking alien with zero alignment with human values when so often in manga differences that drastic end up as little quirks. As failures and mistakes pile up, the guilt drowning the protag, the already-strained rug gets pulled out from under him in the latest translated chapter. Stakes feel real, if a bit underdeveloped, but the shock value that usually ends up hollow and boring in most manga is surprisingly powerful here.

While the plot's strong, the characters are less interesting in a vacuum. It's less ... than 20 chapters in, rendering any critique inevitably short-sighted, but the author hasn't really stopped to examine anyone in-depth--without immediately killing them, that is. This is most noticeably a detriment when it comes to the protag. I get why he acts how he does--if my alien bitch started blowing people up, I'd be losing my shit too. However, as a discrete person, I honestly can't tell you much besides "altruistic to a fault". It's nothing that can't be fixed, and the author shows promise. Can't wait to see what's next.

Spoilers ahead:
Uchuujin no Kakushigoto might personally be the trippiest manga I’ve read which isn’t saying much but I have rather enjoyed its’ convoluted story so far.
The entire plot revolves around the idea of “altruism”, it’s literally mentioned every other chapter. This is not inherently creative but what I found interesting is the constant merger with mystery and horror and the authors ability to portray a grim atmosphere. I always say the strongest aspect in any story is its’ characters and that’s the biggest flaw holding this manga back. Not that some of them aren’t detailed but they are very inconsistent. Take the main protagonist, ... class rep, which is all he’s referred to. His convictions for being an altruistic person is that he essentially wants to fit it, so he helps anyone he can because that’s all he’s good for. This is exploited by a much more absolute character, our alien fmc Tamachi, who sees right through the bullshit facade he puts up. Then there’s the protagonist best friend Shirasaka and his “girlfriend” Karagaki. These characters needed more backstory as I’m still puzzled by the choices they make without the necessary information. It feels like many characters just act out to push forward the plot, yet if they had the opportunity to be expanded upon it would make more sense. Especially Karagaki. I honestly feel like half her character was cut out because there’s this sense of depth to her we never get to see. Also, it gets a bit physiological around chapter 16 with foreshadowing that I think should’ve been toned down; just with how sporadic it segues scene to scene.
All in all I have enjoyed this manga. It’s one of those “dumpster fire tragedies” that ratings will tank on MAL but are actually pretty decent if you’re willing to give it a shot.

At the start I do believe one thing it lacks was the weight aspect of it, there is no consequence. When something happens we can just rely on the alien girl to solve it, but it quickly subverts it when it reveals that nothing and not everything can just be fixed. And so we are now forced into understanding that their actions do have consequences. I like that.

I am into girls. Humans love control, there's a sub genre in horror about controlling monsters and our inability to do so, we project our emotions to it despite understanding fully that we are not in control of ... it. We hope that we are, but the uncertainty is what makes it exciting; which makes us love it. Similar to the Stockholm syndrome, is it really love?

I think the whole control is kind of a theme here, I think. Class rep tries to control one thing from another, trying to make things normal again but every time he thinks he can fix something, something else happens. I think I like what the author is doing, clearly it isn't just absurd things thrown at you just because it's interesting, every plot device has its purpose and it connects back to the previous one.

I like this manga, The alien girl is a perfect character for this theme of "control", her whole character is uncertain and she has power to kill us off, we cling on the hope that she doesn't kill us because she's in love with us, until that belief is quickly shot down because our human values aren't aligned with her alien values and her concept of love is different from ours and death is nonexistent. Is it really love?

I also like the writing of emotions here, a lot of emotional roller coasters. Big fan.

In conclusion, you don't know what's going on but you're curios to see what's going to happen, also hot alien chick kitaa ikuyooo. I think it's very important that you need to have a thing for the alien chick here and occasionally a yandere girl. It what keeps it going for me personally.

I dont know the history or what happened behind the scenes, all I know is that reception and sales matter more than any series that has an interesting potential. Often creations in this windmill of story after story of the manga industry might suffer to in never letting their wings expand. I think this story had a cool promise, the alien understanding human culture, the wild effects the alien forced people to be honest with themselves to a caricature extreme, the possible team up with a meh standard shonen woe-is-me protagonist who seems to get more resolve towards the end of this short story. The ... gory and surprising bits of this are the main marketing for people, and they are effective, but towards the end, that post chapter 20 period, the story suffers from a need to wrap things up. It is rushed, it lacks any type of development, it's an epilogue tacked on to a preface and a couple pages-length book. I wanted more than the finished product and with 20 chapters, the story doesn't grow enough to leave a lasting impact beyond the blood and bits within. I enjoyed the scribbly and wild art, but it is just a big meh-fest. Glad I read it though as I think the artist has great potential.

First off, 5/10 but still recommended read. Because it's short, and you don't really have to memorize too much plot points. I think it has something unique to offer, just didn't quite go through the way I like.

I think this manga had a superb start. It's unique, it's offensive, it's morally challenging. It plays what I call the "You wish things are under control, but shit just gets worse real quick, and you cannot go back" story. And like most popular seinen mangas, it gets psychological.

The alien girl is psycho and dumbass at the same time, yet can show human emotions and patience when ... it is convenient. Is this mixed personality contradictory and unbelievable? Very much challenging to deny. But then this manga made it kind of clear it wasn't trying to stick too close to logic, so you just gotta follow the flow.

But there is a point where things get too chaotic, all of the relevant characters turned out mentally unstable. While I get this is the tone the manga is trying to go for, it's just not my liking. Because when all hell let loose, I as a reader kind of just let loose of my expectations too, stop trying to make sense or treat this manga seriously, worse, I lost interest. I believe for chaos to be enticing, it has to be within the balance of order.

The psycho characters end their stories near the end though, then the main plot of the alien girl is resumed. She brings up this theory of common enemy and firmly believes it is the answer to her plot. Of course, I could shit on the major flaws and oversights on this answer or theory, but you know, this manga is a little stupid to begin with, keep reading, man. And it had a decent ending, it illustrates the future of the alien girl's answer.

Is it weird to lose interest because a story starts getting too freaky? I'm a vanilla person after all.

From the beginning, I was expecting something weird because of the title, the art style, and the Gore theme. Even so, it amazed me with the creativity and the mind-blowing events.

Personally, I liked the art style, which may be the biggest issue for most people. At some point, the decisions and the story went down slightly, but oh boy, after reading a few chapters, the author starts showing his sick imagination. He blows my mind one chapter after another. Not only did he create a nice plot, but he also took every amazing part of a movie or book I have read and spread it ... through his manga.

The potential for this is crazy, especially with such a creative author. Unfortunately, I don't see how he could create more interesting stuff after dropping a bomb on the last chapter.

Again, he amazed me more and more with each chapter I have read, meaning he may have lots of secrets up his sleeve.

I really recommend reading the first 20 chapters if you like "Romance" Gore, SF-ish Genres.

6.9/10


Yeah, this manga is pretty unusual. I expected a relatively psychological, wholesome romance manga involving aliens, however, the manga delivered a pseudo mystery, suspense conflict that is underwhelming.

The actual conflict or seriousness of the plot isn’t underwhelming or generic, considering the twist at the end of chapter two, but rather, the author seems to be solving it in the most intricate way possible. In other words, the actions of the characters are simply idiotic, considering how smart they should be/have been established as. With the plot being drawn out, the man lacks seriousness due to the rather unintentionally made humorous events.

The manga doesn’t ... have an issue with the plot line or characters in general, but it’s missing the one small detail of logic that would make it a tense, engaging read. Instead, the developments are hilariously made, with the conflict being entirely stupid.


Reading Rankings (Portnoy inspired + A Huang-Teizan Original)
10 - God’s penmanship
9 - Must-read. Drop everything else.
8 - Instant bookmark
7 - Entertaining
6 - Good to pass time
5 - Why are you reading this?
4 - Bad.
3 - Typical garbage.
2 - My head hurts.
1 - Retirement is a thought.
0 - “Did they even give you a story?!”