I Have a Secret: The Complete Manga Collection 1

by Yoru Sumino, Zui Nieki (Illustrator)

The manga adaptation of the hit coming-of-age story with supernatural overtones from the bestselling, acclaimed author of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas!

Five high school classmates hold secrets close to their hearts—hidden talents, unspoken feelings, and buried pain. As they collide with each other on the path to growing up, they might jostle some of those secrets free. From Yoru Sumino, acclaimed author of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas and I Had That Same Dream Again comes a gentle, intriguing tale about love, life, and the things we leave unsaid.

Genres: Graphic Novels

538 pages, Paperback

First published May 12, 2026

About the author

Associated Names:
* Yoru Sumino
* 住野よる (Japanese Profile)
* โยรุ ซูมิโนะ (Thai Profile)

Yoru Sumino (住野よる) is a Japanese writer best known for I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, the novel that became a manga and two films.

Reviews

[Mark]

Well, making this a large-sized omnibus was very, very smart. The first chunk of this is fine, but it truly takes off when we start switching to other characters and the whole premise of the story becomes clear.

Kyou has a secret - he can see signs above people’s heads that let him know how they’re feeling. They take some interpretation, but he can seemingly use it to navigate his high school life.

His life includes Miki, a girl that he has a crush on, Zuka, his best friend, Looney, a strange girl who does what she wants, and Elle, who he accidentally caused to leave the school.

It’s all fairly benign, if amusing, for the first part. The cast is solid and it quickly becomes clear that people are rooting for Kyou and Miki. Zuka and Miki have a very strange relationship where he annoys her and she pummels him. Elle comes back and she forms a strong bond with Miki. Looney just acts as an agent of chaos.

However, the second set of chapters completely shifts the viewpoint and then reveals that Miki has her own special power when it comes to people, much different from Kyou’s. It also lets her navigate school in her own fashion. And so it goes.

What I like about these little powers is that they’re not free passes for success and they provide their own set of complications. In fact, they arguably make things worse for everybody concerned because they’re being used to replace communication rather than enhance it.

Kyou can’t make any progress with Miki and you’d think he could with what he can see. Miki is stranded alone with no idea about what the future holds for her and that’s nothing that her ability can fix. She assumes that her ability will let her handle everything, but it can’t decide for her and it completely lets her down in a most pivotal moment.

Even Looney, who seems like nothing but a female randomization engine, turns out to be something else entirely. Once again, her ability is defining her rather than aiding her. In fact, she, of all characters, feels the most miserable.

If these people talked, so much would be easier. That’s true in a lot of cases, but here there’s a good reason why they don’t and why some of them take on certain roles. It’s a solid twist just because it makes the story get more interesting as it goes on.

I wouldn’t say it’s perfect, but it is definitely an incredibly interesting read that tries something new and really gives some food for thought about what it’s doing. I’m quite excited to see it play out. It doesn’t hurt that the writing really made me care for all of them quite a bit.

What if you had secret information about others, but relied on it rather than being honest with yourself? Would that then come to define you? Or your relationships? How much is that shaping you or keeping you from anything you actually want or confronting your problems? I can’t hate a series that asks these sort of questions when it would be so easy to go a lazier route with the whole ‘special powers’ concept.

I still think I Had That Same Dream Again Last Night is the better of Sumino’s works (with the proviso that I still have not consumed any of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas), but this one is no slouch and totally worthwhile.

4 stars - intriguing premise and good execution, this takes a bunch of archetypes and makes them feel human, then uses its central conceit to make them even more compelling. Very recommended.

[Zero]

I feel like this book worked better as a manga than a light novel tbh. Although there is still nothing special about the plot. If I were to recommend you the light novel or the manga adaptation it would be this, partially due to the lack of depth in the writing in its original light novel format