3.5 stars

A solid storyline and illustration art style I could track, this manga is broken up with vignettes of the authors life.

'Kakushigoto: My Dad's Secret Ambition' is the story of a working manga artist intersecting his life as a single father to a 10 year old daughter and his secret life as an artist. We meet other characters who give us the lifestyle and laughs as he creates a facade for his daughter to not have the reveal to his true vocation until her 18th birthday.

This is a really fun manga, written and drawn with a lighthearted tone even when Kakushi Goto works on adult mangaka. It presents what a mangaka's life could be like, with scenes that is universally shared by writers, artists and creators all across the creative spectrum. The parts where he procrastinates and then ends up doing and finishing a lot of work is so funny and relatable to me, personally. I liked how he goes to great lengths not only to hide his "Secret Ambition" so he could protect Hime, but also just to show how much he loves and cared for his daughter. Hime, who for the most part is a 10-year-old kid, shows maturity and an adorable sense of personality that balances the comedic aspect of the whole book with heart and feels.

Apparently, the creator has been doing mangas for a long time (I'm sorry i didn't know) and it really shows in the way the story progresses how much he knows his material and how to navigate the world of mangakas. I also didn't know that this book was turned into a show and I would like v much to see if they were able to capture the fun and heart of this wonderful manga. I really liked it.

Tiny bit of irk for me though were the unnecessary upskirts, sexy poses of the women (while all the men looked like wimps), and the later part where women acted like airheads. That's maybe bec there's a different demographic who might respond better to that, but I just wish the creator made different choices with regards to those.

Still, it turned out well for Hime, and the parts where she accepts her father just as he is (leading to the ultimate acceptance later) is really good and was handled v well. It now makes me wonder where Kakushi Goto is in the "present" time, but maybe that's going to be in succeeding volumes so I'm looking forward to that.

*The eARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review. It doesn't affect my opinion of the book. Thank you.
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I always wanted to read a manga series and I decided to try this one out !!

It is a cute story about Kakushi Goto, who is a single father trying to hide his real job as a manga artist of a top selling raunchy series, from his ten year old daughter Hime. In order to hide this fact, he enters into numerous humorous situations, which is what this book is all about.

Overall it was funny in parts but I found it repetitive and nothing new happening.

This was such a fun story about a dad who hides the fact that he is an erotic manga created from his daughter. It was so hilarious what he does to hide it from her, but of course she knows something is up. Really enjoyed this one and excited for volume 2.

It has been a while since I tried a new manga series and I decided to give this one a shot. honestly it was really enjoyable and i would recommend you try it even if it isn't normally your kind of story type.

Synopsis
Kakushi Gouto is a single father who has one goal- to hide his real job from his young daughter Hime . His true job is- he is a top selling manga artist of a raunchy series. In order to hide this form his daughter he ends up in (often) humerous scenarios and this volume gives a glimpse into some of these.

Overall I really enjoyed the manga. The art style was clean and beautifully detailed for the story it portrayed. The plot followed as you would expect and kept me giggling at all of the hilarious mishaps Kakushi went through to hide his job from his daughter.

Characters and Plot
All the characters within the story were well developed however i feel like a lot of the side characters get more time to develop than Hime, who is one of the main reasons behind the story. I hope Hime and the side characters continue to get developed in order to keep the plot and story moving as otherwise the story would potentially fall a bit flat. Due to this the relationship i was hoping to see develop between Hime and her father felt a bit lackluster. I'm sure as the story develops this will pick up but at this point it just didn't work for me personally.

The comedy, the main reason i chose this story, was as you would expect. Lots of different issues and ways of hiding what Kakushi really does for a living, and the variety of different issues he faces kept me chuckling at the story throughout. It was a good manga to spend reading on a sunny Saturday afternoon for a few hours.

Final Verdict:
Overall an enjoyable read and I would definitely look into reading future releases. If you are not normally one for this kind of story at least give it a shot as i was surprised at how much I genuinely enjoyed the characters, story and art style and it's definitely something different!
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Kakushi Goto is a successful manga artist for a rather raunchy series, one which he desperately doesn’t want his 10 year old daughter to find out about. Leaving the house every morning in his suit, Kakushi Goto hopes to avoid Hime Goto finding out about his big secret.

KAKUSHINGOTO follows a few different storylines involving some truly fun characters, from Kakushi Goto’s staff, to Hime Goto’s teacher. Additionally, as a single dad, Kakushi Goto is seen as quite a catch by most of the ladies he interacts with, which leads to some very amusing misunderstandings.

The art style is sleek, with a fun element throughout, with the panels being easy to follow. Whilst the volume is black and white, the beginning and end parts are in colour using a simple colour palette which reflects the story nicely.

You also learn alot about the manga world throughout this volume; the editors' side, and even the influx of knock off merchandise. Kouji Kumeta even pops in to share his experiences and thoughts as a manga author.

The overall arc of the first volume in this series was very entertaining, with characters that I genuinely care for, and so I will definitely be hunting down the next volume in this series.

This was a cute little story about a man trying to hide the fact he writes dirty manga from his ten year old daughter, often going to large extremes to do so. While the family moments are cute and fun to read, there weren’t as many compared to the rest of the story.

I thought it was going to be more a family slice of life, but it was more the daily life of a manga artist. I liked the truth about the business excerpts, they really helped to paint the picture for us. Those moments were fun and often full of humour, but I felt like I was losing interest often. It wasn’t very easy to read at times, and the extremes the dad would go to hide his secret were a bit much. It would’ve been stronger if it had a tighter focus on having a continuous story rather than situational moments that broke up the flow.

I love the art style. It’s different from many others I’ve read and has its own identity, but fit well into the type of story it’s telling. I was reminded of the manga Bakuman a lot, and would recommend those two for people wanting to learn more about the industry.

DNF. I have tried to read it a few times but, unfortunately, it’s really not for me. I was interested by this manga because I have heard good things about it when it first came out in French. I think that the humor and the drawings could appeal to other and that I’m just not the targeted audience.

What I’ve read really confused me and it wasn’t easy to read which didn’t compel me to keep reading the rest of the volume.

This was actually a really refreshing read! Not something I would have expected to read about, but it kept me captivated the whole time. I can't wait to read more volumes!

I thought this comic would be an amazing read cause the subject is wonderfully promising. But I lost my interest while trying to focus on the story. I thought this was very difficult to follow and and not easy to read. Maybe it is the structure or maybe something is lost in translation, I am not really sure. I love drawing very much though. So I would definitely give the author and the artist another chance. But I didn't finish this book.

This one wasn't really for me. It did have some funny moments, but it felt like nothing really happened other than the same scenario over and over again, to stop Hime finding out that he was a Manga artist. The art was generally great, and some of the jokes made me laugh. But overall, I found the text a little disjointed, and I wouldn't plan to pick up any future volumes.

Diverting. The art is a little insectile, the characters rush off into wild flights of fancy that could easily be fixed by actually talking with each other, and the author's asides are amazingly self deprecating to the point I'm a bit worried about his mental health. But it was fun, good hearted, and full of some inside baseball about the manga industry and Japanese society. And the daughter is so good-natured and loving that I finished each chapter smiling.

This is the story of a man who so wants to keep his daughter in the dark about his being the author and artist of a raunchy manga that he goes to extreme lengths to lie to her. On the one hand, I understand how he wants to keep his daughter from being seen as weird for what he does. On the other, shouldn't a 10-year-old get the chance to really know her father? This obsession of Gotou's with keeping the truth from Hime is the main theme of the plot and I could never really decide if I agreed or disagreed with it. This ambivalence over how I felt over the overarching plot made all the little mangaka insider details and the funny lengths Gotou is prepared to go to not seem as funny or interesting as they could have been.
The art is cute. It matches the clean and bright vibe of the cover, so you're not getting a bait and switch. My one complaint here is that the male characters were sometimes a bit hard to tell apart, which matters greatly when it's a story with so few characters.
Overall, I enjoyed reading it, but it didn't really pull me in or make me want to read further. I guess it's just not really my kind of story.

Big thanks to Kodansha Comics and Netgalley for the chance to read it.

A quircky manga about a mangaka who wants the best for his daughter. He will, as far as I can tell, avoid anything manga related around his daughter. The art style is cute and sort of angular. It's new to read but I'm sure it will be popular and appealing to many. The characters, though strange at some parts, are fun and unique. Some of the jokes, though, are stretched a little too far to be funny.

This feels like a compilation book of all the best web comics about Kakushigoto.

I don't think this book is bad at all. Firstly I love the concept and know that the issue of a parents job is very much a priority in some cultures for various reasons. My problem was that it felt like the issue just kept come back and back again and again. There didn't seem to be any progression in the fact that Komi's dad didn't want her to know his secret.

That aside I thought the artistry was great!

A wonderful story filled with funny happenstances and heartwarming moments, Kakushigoto by Koji Kumeta, is sure to bring some joy to your bookshelves. Koji Kumeta is also the talent behind two other series, Katteni Kaizo and Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei. Kakushigoto is set for an anime adaptation airing this spring, April 2020 from Funimation.

Kakushi Goto is a manga author and apparent single father to a young daughter, Hime. While maybe not a household name, he does have a wide following with enough fame to be recognizable on the street. The problem? The series he writes is an irreverent gag series filled with raunchiness and humor not meant for kids. Kakushi’s goes to extreme lengths to hide his profession from his daughter, convinced she will see him differently and be disappointed if she ever knew the truth. He’s also worried that Hime’s friends and classmates would make fun of her because of his profession, especially considering the genre.

This manga is at once both a strangely heartwarming slice-of-life story and one that falls well within the realm of humor and gags. The story is told from Kakushi’s point of view and follows his day to day life as he attempts to keep his private and work lives as far apart as humanly possible. Of course, this leads to endless complications and misunderstandings.

Unlike other similar plots, Kakushi’s extreme lengths always feel a bit more grounded in true fears than just an exploration of funny or awkward circumstances. Real, understandable concerns lie beneath the surface. The worry and stress of raising his daughter manifests in understandable ways – the fear that his profession will make Hime a target of bullies, for example. Yet, as understandable as some of these fears are, they’re either blown completely out of proportion or approached from the wrong angle.

Universal truths and fears are touched upon here. Will your children think highly of you? Is your profession something to be proud of? How would you approach aspects of yourself and your life you fear might have some kind of influence the sort of treatment your family receive?

Kakushi’s worry over the content he writes and draws makes it seem like pens pornography when in truth its nothing more than a raunchy, humorous manga. The lengths he goes to in order to hide this from Hime are utterly extreme, funny as they are. But Kakushi’s actions are easy to understand and sympathize with, even when they make us laugh.

Kumeta’s art is full of simplistic beauty. Backgrounds are sometimes more minimalistic, usually when two characters are going back and forth in dialogue. Several quite beautiful full color pages are included at the beginning of this manga, featuring an older Hime.

If you are searching for a funny slice-of-life to enjoy in these trying times, Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition, Vol. 1 by Koji Kumeta is certainly a fantastic pick. Funny yet heartwarming, this one delightful series I absolutely continue.

My Dad's Secret Ambition Vol. 1 by Kouji Kumeta is a manga style graphic novel. Kakushi Gotou is a single father with a secret: He’s a top-selling manga artist of a raunchy series that perhaps isn’t suitable reading material for his young daughter, Hime. So he does what any doting father would do, he hides it all from her, no matter the hi jinks that ensue!

My Dad's Secret Ambition is a book that hit some really good notes. I liked the single father struggling to do right by his daughter, and the lengths he would go to in order to keep her happy and healthy. The social gaffes and caste of characters were interesting, but I was rarely fully engaged in the story and found myself having to go back to re read or look closer at a picture to decide if I missed something. The artwork style is nice, but it just did not match up with my personal preferences consistently. I did like the personal notes and writings from the author, which put some on the scenes and moments in context and made it more interesting.

My Dad's Secret Ambition is a good graphic novel, with some really good moments. It just did not wow me after having read some absolutely fabulous ones recently.

This was a pretty funny read! It has an anime adaptation here now for the spring 2020 season and therefore more folks are going to be privy to this title. That to me is all the more reason to give this book consideration. While neither main character is a teen for the bulk of the book, I still think the teen appeal is there with Kakushigoto. The jokes land, the situations are out there enough to make the reader want to keep trudging onwards. Art is nice and simplistic, and there a lot of guides throughout the story to aid readers with the characters, layout of the town they all live/work in, and certain terminology used in the book. The father's occupation is that of a dirty manga creator, so there are occasional scenes where some moderately risque language is used. I truly think though when anime fans peruse a best-of/recommendation list and see a title they recognize, they do get more excited. And again, with the anime now out, this title can seriously be a sleeper hit for 2020.

I couldn’t stop laughing!!!

Hime dad, Kakushi, is adult manga artist but he keeps it as a secret since her birth.

Hime is just as strange as her father. How is she able to tell what position meant what blew my mind! I love the characters, his team and the support! I highly recommend this, I actually wanna see this turn into an anime!!!

My first encounter with any of Kumeta’s works. I absolutely enjoyed this volume! It made me smile and laugh all the way. Absolute gem!

Kakushi Goto is a manga artist who goes to great lengths to hide his actual occupation from his 10-year old daughter Hime. An abundance of comedy and humour ensues.

Consisting of chapters, each only few pages long really keeps the momentum going. In some intervals, the author’s musings appear under “Writing the Truth about the Drawing Business”.

Excellent translation/adaptation which reads so naturally in English. Even the jokes and puns! Thank you so much. It’s one of those rare cases that I wasn’t thinking about how the source material is like in comparison.

5 stars!