Cactus's Secret, Vol. 01

サボテンの秘密 [Saboten no Himitsu] #1

by Nana Haruta, Su Mon Han (Translator), Deron Bennett (Touch-up art & Lettering)

Falling in love with a clueless boy would turn any girl into a cactus!

Miku Yamada has a longtime crush on classmate Kyohei Fujioka. But no matter how many times she tries to show him how she feels, clueless Kyohei just doesn't get it. Frustrated, Miku gives up on him, only to have him start calling her "Cactus" for being prickly when he's around. Will Kyohei ever figure out Cactus's secret?

Miku decides to try telling Kyohei her feelings by giving him chocolates for Valentine's Day. But Kyohei, unaware that he's the object of her affection, offers himself up as a practice partner for her love confession. Can Miku get through to him that he's the one she loves?

Genres: Manga, Romance, Shojo, Graphic Novels, Contemporary, Manga Romance, Young Adult

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 11, 2004

About the author

Japanese name: 春田なな. Her real name is Yuki Yamashita (山下由紀) She is a Japanese manga artist. Haruta made her professional manga debut while still in high school in the December 2000 issue of Ribon; at the age of 15, this makes her one of the youngest manga artists to enter the industry.
Her works are primarily serialized in Ribon Magazine, but she has also been featured in its sister magazine Margaret.

Reviews

[Laura A. Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Cute volume! Not quite what I expected, but it was enjoyable!

[Theresa ♫ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay.
As a young 7th grader, I LOVED THIS SERIES. Thought it was amazing. Kept REREADING the books over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

After 5 years, I pick this same book up again. And read it.
And then ask myself . . . "WHY DID I OBSESS OVER THIS THING?!"




Everything honestly seemed cliche to me. Your typical cliche manga love story . . . . . . . (*my fellow review readers, you KNOW Theresa doesn't like cliche, right?)

I guess 7th grade was my cliche lovey-dovey point in time where I liked cliche anime stories--I DUNNO. But how the heck could I stand this before? I hated cliche in 7th grade, too! (*dork.)



Alright.
So these characters . . . . . . . these freaking characters . . . they each had their own cliche things about them.

Mika. Muki. Miku. I DUNNO.

She was shallow.
She dyed her hair. Worked out. CHANGED HERSELF all so a guy could fall for her.
What if the world suddenly ran out of hair dye. WHAT IF YOU WERE NEVER ABLE TO DYE YOUR HAIR AGAIN, HUH?!
Your hair would brown out again and if he loved you for your looks, WOULD HE STILL LOVE YOU?! HUH?!

Love does not care about looks.
You could have your face run over by a horse, and true love will still stay exactly the same. EVEN INCREASE. But love doesn't care about looks. IT DOESN'T.


Fujioka.
He was REALLY dense.
REALLY, REALLY DENSE.
Dense to the point where the reader would just look at him and go, "Really? REALLY?"
Why are guys always dense. I personally might think guys are naturally dense and stupid, but NOT THIS DENSE. It made me want to slap him and go "FIGURE IT OUT ALREADY YOU ASGLASIDJGIBALDSFAHDSF!" .....(*hah, I spelt out "bald" in that . . .)

But seriously.
Then he'd randomly get those random dramatic moments where he'd wear his devilish, "hot-guy" face, and then turn away for maximum dramatic affect.


Usually, it'd make a girl go

"OH EM GEEZAY, HE IS SO AMAZING!"
or
"WHOA, that was sexy.

Me? I just snorted at it. Not a normal snort. That pig snort with the awkward -_- face that says "You're not as gorgeous as you think you are, punk!"

Speaking of that, what added to Miku's shallowness was the fact that she barely knew this guy, but she was in "love" with him. WHY? Because of his looks, of course. (*sigh.)



Okay.
So the funniest--probably the lamest part of this book was how Miku would try to either confess or show Fujioka her "love".
She never really did anything. She'd get teary. Then she'd do something dramatic, like give him one of those romancy, "kawaii" manga school girl stares.

Then Fujioka would look at her like, "Girlfriend, what do you want?" -_-
And not notice her "love" because all he saw was this moody girl flaunting her face at him. Her face and her dyed hair . . .

And then she'd get mad because he wouldn't get it. And she'd beat him up.

And he'd get up and be like, "Whoa." And still continue on with his dumbness.


Do you get why I'm mad?
THE GIRL WAS OVERLY SCARY. Not to mention girly and typical. Blushes a lot. Tends to punch the poor, unfortunate guy that she has a crush on.

This guy is HANDSOME. Of course. He's also stupid when it comes to girls liking him. OF COURSE.
He gets punched but he doesn't notice why. (Of course not.) BUT HE STILL REMAINS SO DUMMY-LIKE IT WOULD MAKE ANYONE FRUSTRATED.

And both are unnecessarily dramatic.



Well. I have volumes 2, 3, and 4 on my shelf because I wanted to reread all of them and actually write reviews for them, but I'm not so interested in this story if this is all it's going to be about.


.................

BUT if you're a fan of cliche anime romances or girly characters or dense guys, COME HERE AND READ THIS. You'll like it. (Boo. T_T)



AS OF NOVEMBER 5, 2011

I love this series.
I love this series.
AND I WILL LOVE THIS SERIES FOR EVAAAAR!

Saboten no Himitsu (Cactus's Secret) is one of my very favorite series, even if it's only 4 volumes long. It's extremely adorable. I LOVE IT.

I read all 4 volumes in one day not too long ago. This is a very adorable story that includes true romance as well as beautiful art. Now, for those of you who haven't finished all four volumes yet, here is a Theresa Review Warning: This review is for all four volumes--not just volume One. So please proceed if you wish. But if you haven't read all four volumes yet, you might wanna wait until you're done with the series before you get your butt over here to read my review!!


Alrighty, so moving on...

This series is about a girl named Miku Yamada who has been crushing on the same guy, Kyohei Fujioka, since middle school. Miku makes the fact that she likes Fujioka very, very obvious. However, since Fujioka represents density, he doesn't notice anything.

This is one of my favorite qualities of this series because I've experienced this very feeling before. In 7th grade, I liked my best guy friend in the same way, and he was so stupid...it's really cool to read stories about people in the same situation as I was. I like seeing what methods that other people would use.

And the idea is very original!! In most YA novels that I'm reading, I'm reading about a girl that likes a guy and the guy obviously likes her back, and the two of them fall in love and live happily ever after. THE END!!
It's nice to read about a girl that obviously likes a guy, but the guy is stupid and he doesn't notice that the girl likes him. It adds the hint of comedy into the story. What a creative idea!


NOTE: SPOILER UP AHEAD!!!!! READ ON . . . IF YOU DARE!!!

Further onto the story, after Fujioka does find out that Miku likes him, Miku and Fujioka go through events that include how Miku shows that even though Fujioka hasn't returned her feelings, she will still feel the same way about Fujioka no matter what.
THIS IS TRUE LOVE!!! Well...true, unrequited love, but it is love. When you love someone, it doesn't matter if they love you back or not! You'll still love them the same way!!

Ahh...I love manga.

Anyway, I loved this story because not only is it original, it shows true love. PLUS there's comedy and it was capable of making me smile!!!

I love this series!! FOUR STARS!!

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

SPOILERS!
I started this book, and I was really entertained. The basic plot is that Miku Yamada has had a crush on Kyohei Fujioka for years, but he's SO clueless that every time she tries to tell him, he doesn't get it. I've read Love Com and Kimi ni Todoke, which both involve hilariously failed love confessions, so I was quite interested. I love Miku, who's so spunky and loud, and Kyohei is also quite the character. Not only is he completely clueless with Miku, he was also clueless with pretty much every girl he's ever been involved with. He was also a rebellious delinquent in middle school and has terrible grades. Great I thought. A silly, light shojo manga about a girl continuously getting blown off. This should be fun. And it was fun. For the first few chapters. Miku and Kyohei are constantly arguing, mostly because Miku gets mad at him for being so stupid when it comes to her feelings. All of the failed love confessions are pretty funny. But I guess it wasn't doing very well in the magazine it was being published in in Japan, and so suddenly, she says she likes him, completely in passing, and he gets it.
So, in the very first book, the most entertaining part of the series is gone. Darn. There goes everything the series had going for it.
But everything else wasn't so bad! Sure, there were some fairly predictable points, but it's very obvious that not much in this book is meant to be taken seriously. It's a light, funny, cute shojo manga. One that totally ruined my favorite part of it in the first book. So I'd like to know what happens next, but I'm not so anxious that I need to hightail it to the library just to find out. I think you're better off reading Love Com or Kimi ni Todoke.

[Starbubbles · Rating 2 out of 5]

2021: update. Turns out I had read this, and thought it was meh then too.

I just couldnt get far into this. I bought this years (and years) ago and was on the brink giving this away. I got a quarter of the way through and just had to give up the struggle. I just couldn't continue. I was so bored.

I'm sure past me would have eaten this up though. There is sass, a clueless boy in desparate need of buying a vowel, decent artistry. I guess we will never know.

[Tory · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dang, I truly didn’t like a single thing about this book. The author did mention in note at one point that she was publishing this series while she was in high school (and had a deadline on the day of her graduation ceremony), which is pretty cool. But everything else about this was straight up terrible.

[Katie (Kitkatscanread) · Rating 5 out of 5]

aww so cute

[Hisgirl85 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars leaning towards a 3.5

[Luna's Little Library · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overall Series Rating 1.5 Stars

This is what happens when you’re stuck on a train (which is running slow) and have enough internet to download ePubs and then decide to persist in reading it to the end. Note to self; be less stubborn and just give up.

I do not get this series. I feel like somewhere I must be missing something but there is no character depth or development. When new characters are introduced (like Kyohei’s brother) there is this promise of backstory or intrigue but actually nothing happens.

[Holly Letson · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5*

I am really enjoying this series so far.

[Yoyomaus Die Büchereule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zum Inhalt:
Highschool-Schülerin Miku ist hoffnungslos in ihren Schulkameraden Kyohei verknallt, doch der rafft gar nichts. Jeder ihrer Annäherungsversuche scheitert und endet gar in ständigen Streitereien. Da nützt nicht mal mehr die Schokolade zum Valentinstag. Miku ist ziemlich frustriert und sieht in Kyoheis Exfreundin Nami die Ursache allen Übels. Wird sie etwa die Flinte ins Korn werfen?

Cover:
Das Cover ist ja wohl mal sowas von zuckersüß. Zu sehen ist hier die Protagonsitin Miku, auf einem Mofa, scheinbar ganz schön aufgedreht. Die Zeichnung ist wirklich niedlich und ansprechend, sagt aber erst einmal nichts in Hinsicht auf den Inhalt aus. Trotzdem finde ich das Cover aber passend, denn Mikus Leben ist durchaus chaotisch, zumindest, wenn es um ihr Liebesleben geht. Ich mag das Cover und auch die anderen Cover der Reihe passen sehr schön zu der Reihe, da das Motiv mit dem Mofa immer beibehalten wird. Wirklich gut gelungen.

Eigener Eindruck:
Miku liebt Kyohei, doch der scheint es einfach nicht zu checken. Denn immer wenn Miku ihm ihre Liebe gestehen will, dann benimmt sich Kyohei wie die Axt im Walde. Dass er deswegen mit Miku immer wieder aneinander gerät, schreckt sie aber nicht davon ab, weiterhin für ihn zu kämpfen. Dabei muss sich Miku gefallen lassen, dass er sie beleidigt, die beiden in der Schule fast nicht mehr zusammen sitzen, weil sie auch während des Unterrichts anfangen zu streiten und auch ihre Valentinsschokolade, die sie für ihn macht, kommt nicht bei ihm so an, wie sie es gern möchte. Egal was Miku anstellt, sie und Kyohei treten in jedes Fettnäpfchen was sie finden können, wobei die Situation für Miku meist peinlicher ist als für ihn. Dass Miku daraufhin immer wieder beleidigt ist und Kyohei endlich vergessen will, ist da nicht verwunderlich, aber sie kommt einfach nicht von ihm los.

"Crazy little Cactus" ist in meinen Augen eine wirklich gelungene Geschichte rund um die Liebe und zeigt, wie schwer man sich tun kann, wenn es darum geht jemanden seine Gefühle zu gestehen oder die Gefühle des anderen offenbart bekommt. Die Zeichnungen des Mangaka sind wirklich einmalig niedlich und auch die Chibifiguren sind ein echter Hingucker, wenn humorvolle Szenen dargestellt werden. Einzig muss man doch immer wieder erstaunt sein, wie schwer sich die beiden Protagonisten immer wieder tun, wenn es um die Liebe geht. Kyohei ist einfach schwer von Begriff und Miku kommt einfach nicht wirklich aus der Hefe. Das kann bisweilen dann doch für das eine oder andere ungläubige Augenbrauenzucken sorgen. Fast muss man sich schon ein bisschen fragen, wie schwer es sich die beiden dann noch tun wollen, wenn sie schließlich noch ein paar Mangabände durchhalten sollen. Ich persönlich muss Miku für ihr Durchhaltevermögen wirklich ein bisschen bewundern, denn ich glaube kaum, dass jemand sich so einen Stress antun würde wie sie.

Fazit:
Wer eine leichte, lustige und vor allem gut gezeichnete Liebesgeschichte lesen möchte, der ist hier genau richtig. Bis jetzt kann ich den Manga auch ruhigem Gewissens jüngeren Lesern empfehlen, denn hier ist auch nichts zu aufreizend oder vom Vokabular her unter die Gürtellinie. Top.

Idee: 4/5
Emotionen: 4/5
Zeichenstil: 5/5
Humor: 4/5
Logik: 4/5

Gesamt: 4/5

[alicé · Rating 4 out of 5]

Komik ini pernah gue baca di jaman-jaman gue masih kelas 2 SMP. Jadi temen ada bawa komik ini ke sekolah dan gue numpang baca tu komik. Saking senengnya sama ni komik gue gambar-gambarin tokoh si Miku ini di buku tulis gue. Kemarin waktu cari-cari komik Kanbayashi & Kirika Series gue nemu 1 set komik bekas ini seharga 25ribu thok bekas taman bacaan.

Komik pertama bercerita tentang Yamada Miku yang nembak Fujioka Kyouhei untuk jadi pacarnya. Sayangnya si Fujioka ini gak sadar kalo si Miku nembak dia. Dan mulailah keseharian dua orang temen sekelas yang sering cekcok ini.

Gue ngakak banget karena si Miku ini sering dikatain alien kaktus sama Fujioka. Mungkin saking geregetannya Miku menghadapi cowok macem Fujioka bikin dia jadi kayak kaktus. Gue baca ini lagi dan rasanya masih kayak dulu waktu SMP, geregetan dan bikin ngakak. Ditambah lagi cowok ganteng dan keren satu sekolah, Natsukawa Itsuki tau-tau minta alamat email si Miku. Nah ini yang bikin gue langsung checkout tanpa ragu. Gue mau tau reaksi Fujioka kalo si Miku dideketin cogan macem Natsukawa.

[Delanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this whole series when I was 11 years old and I thought I would give it anoother go. I never realized how much ABUSE is in this book I thought it would only be cringy at worst. Boy was I wrong. Miku Yamada, our main character, starts the book by uppercutting her crush for an ACCIDENTAL insult. She continues hitting him over and over again throughout the book (whenever she's not screaming at him) all the while wondering why he doesn't like her. The author revealed in the book that she's a high schooler and it made sense. It's possible that it's a translation error but the author follows in Miku's footsteps and calls her assistant stupid for making a simple mistake. There was only 1 actual funny scene in the whole book. Fujioka drops his eraser and he just stares at it and says "there it goes". Which for some reason is hilarious to me. Final thought: Abusive relationships aren't cute. 0/10

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨ 3.5 stars ✨

14th manga read for my 30 mangas in 30 days challenge

In Cactus's Secret, Vol. 1 by Nana Haruta, Miku Yamada is ready to give up on her longtime crush Kyohei Fujoka. She has tried to confess and show how much she likes him for years, but he is clueless about her advances. Yamada becomes repeatedly frustrated with Fujoka as he begins her call her cactus because she has been so prickly towards him.

I thought this was a fun introduction to the friendship between Miku and Kyohei. They have been longtime friends and hopefully, by the end of the series, romantic partners. The miscommunication between the two is goofy, fun, and sometimes frustrating. Although, I enjoyed Miku's reluctance to give up on her crush.

tropes: high school setting, childhood friends to lovers, miscommunication, unrequited love, tutoring, clueless protagonist

[Shanzida · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a really cute manga that was a lot less cliche than I thought it would be and loved the fact that Miku was such a badass female lead along with Fujioka being such an airhead....sometimes. They both equally got on my nerve at certain points but their too lovable to hate^_^ Really wish it was longer or they had at least gone in more depth about their personality and their past but I also loved how the second leads really didn't effect the story much. It was a pretty lighthearted and fast read.

[Wordsworn · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's nothing particularly bad about this series...there's just nothing really special about it either. It's fine, but it's nothing to write home about. Very early-2000s shoujo art and storyline. I could do with less of her actually hitting the boy she likes, but he's SO dense that honestly, there were a few times that I wanted to smack him too, so even though I'm firmly against any sort of domestic violence and don't generally enjoy "playground romance," I was still sort of glad that she socked him. X'D

[David Doel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 4-volume series that I bought long ago and just got around to reading. It is not particularly good although there were a couple of okay segments (hence the 3 rating). Too much of the font is so small that a magnifying glass is needed to read it. Also, there is extraneous crap on most pages. Perhaps 3 was too good. I can't recommend this except to the most ardent of manga fans.

[bug · Rating 2 out of 5]

this really wasn’t that good. the main character was annoying and like bipolar or something idk. she kept yelling at her crush and punching him and running from him and saying she hated him and then kept going back to being completely in love with him. maybe this is some kind of trope or something in manga and i’m just missing the point, but it was confusing and kinda annoying to read.

[Kaitlynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was feeling a little meh about this when it started, but by the end I was pretty interested in what was happening. Is it the most original story? No. Not yet at least. Have I read something similar about a hundred times? Yeah. But that's okay. Fun and sweet fluff that doesn't make me think too hard is exactly what I want sometimes.

[teacupsandunicorns · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is just ok.

Basically the girl does everything EXCEPT confess in a straight forward manner and then gets mad at the dude for being dumb and not taking the hint.

It’s ok. That’s it. I don’t think I can read any more of this series. I might check out volumn two. However miscommunication is my LEAST fave trope so I just don’t think this is for me.

[nandes.uka · Rating 2 out of 5]

Karena cuman baca Vol. 01 nya saja (dan belum nonton anime nya), jadi ratingnya tidak tinggi. Jalan cerita nya tipikal anime/manga romance Jepang yang light, cute, and funny. Karakter perempuan yang naksir cowok yang sangat tidak peka, dan dia berusaha keras untuk menarik perhatian si cowok hh

[Marie R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am invested in this one. Also I relate to Fujioka so much cuz I'm legit so bad at getting signals. Because like just straight up tell me or else it's a lost cuz. PURRR PERIODT. emoji dump:💀😭💅⚰️👻🥹😹6️⃣5️⃣4️⃣3️⃣2️⃣1️⃣✅❌😍💞✨💜🤣🌪️♋🐕🌹🐢👁️👇♥️🎱🫂©️♊🍄⬇️😿🤩

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

good

[TT · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geared towards slightly younger readers (prolly tweens) this didn't hold my interest and I quit the series.

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cuuuute!! Loving this series.

[read chelsea read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. I thought it was so fun. I need to get my hands on the rest of the volumes.

[Brianna Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I respect this Heroine

Although the mc has a quick temper you can’t help rooting for her when the guy she likes is that thick headed.

[FaTmA · Rating 2 out of 5]

I dont know why I couldnt really get into the story.

[Mira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this manga

[Oscar Manga · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[-moonprismpower- · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. I like that Miku is a “cactus”… but come on, can you blame her? Fujioka is an oblivious little shit lol