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I'm in Love with the Villainess Manga #5
私の推しは悪役令嬢。 5 [Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou. 5]
乙女ゲーム『Revolution』の世界に、
ヒロインのレイ＝テイラーとして転生した社畜OL・大橋零。
そんな彼女の推しは攻略対象の王子たち…ではなく、
悪役令嬢・クレア＝フランソワだった！
平民運動への関与からレーネが追放されて以降、
ふさぎ込みがちなクレアと、どうにか元気づけたいレイ。
そんなある日、クレアが「お姉様」と呼び慕う
隣国の王女・マナリア＝スースが王立学院に転校してくる。
最大のライバルの出現に、レイがとった行動とは…。
推し一筋のラブコメ・ファンタジー、第5巻！
ヒロインのレイ＝テイラーとして転生した社畜OL・大橋零。
そんな彼女の推しは攻略対象の王子たち…ではなく、
悪役令嬢・クレア＝フランソワだった！
平民運動への関与からレーネが追放されて以降、
ふさぎ込みがちなクレアと、どうにか元気づけたいレイ。
そんなある日、クレアが「お姉様」と呼び慕う
隣国の王女・マナリア＝スースが王立学院に転校してくる。
最大のライバルの出現に、レイがとった行動とは…。
推し一筋のラブコメ・ファンタジー、第5巻！
180 pages, Paperback
First published December 16, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 16, 2023
When Claire’s childhood friend (and princess) Manaria arrives in exile, Claire is thrilled to have her around. Less so, Rae, who simply can’t compete with a rival who outclasses her at every turn and is turning Claire’s head in a way that Rae only wishes she could…
This volume does a great job at exceeding its source material, as I absolutely cannot stand Manaria as a character, but at least now I can’t stand her and I have some great art to look at.
Genuinely, I do think this makes a way better way to digest this particular story arc, from its beginning to its terribly sweet ending. It engages in some tactics I’m not exactly thrilled with, but the end result is solid.
It certainly makes for a unique change of pace to have Rae constantly on the back foot, as Manaria’s entire purpose in the otome game was to be an ally who kept Claire off the player’s back.
Except Rae wants to be up in Claire’s business constantly as a general rule, so Manaria’s interference does nothing but tick her off. Up to the point where Manaria provokes her into an ill-advised duel over Claire, a nice change from the invincible isekai protagonist. Rae’s expressions this volume are golden.
What I do like is that this exposes Rae’s statements that she’s happy as long as Claire is happy, whoever she’s with, as a lie and an excuse Rae uses to keep herself from having to truly make a move on somebody who has thus far been staunchly hetero.
But then Manaria reveals the cracks in Claire’s gender identity and gets farther than Rae could ever hope and Rae… just gives up. It’s a pretty shocking moment, even knowing it’s coming.
The spiral of Rae’s depression is well done to the point where it’s kind of uncomfortable seeing her sink so low. She fights with Claire, stops eating, and she’s not the only one affected by the distance between them.
It would be an even better story arc if, again, I didn’t want to throw Manaria out a window. I think making your character’s somewhat dicey behaviour look better by introducing an even worse character is always an iffy proposition and Manaria’s a great example of why.
If Rae’s behaviour has been a little pushy, well, stand back because Manaria’s such a predator she could take on Arnold Schwarzenegger in the jungles of South America. She starts off as a rival, but gets worse and worse and worse.
For a story that’s been all about its representation, I guess it at least acknowledges that there are some crappy people out there, regardless of sexual orientation. I just wish it wasn’t a retread of such a worn-out trope though.
Naturally this is Manaria trying to push Rae into being honest about her intentions with Claire and Rae risks everything to finally show Claire how honest she’s been this entire time. And Claire also gets to change a little bit too, implying that maybe Rae’s doting isn’t so bad after all.
This is the story equivalent of all the makings of a gourmet meal being assembled by the burger line at McDonald’s. It has all the pieces, but it’s not brought together in a way that’s worthy of what it has to work with.
I suppose I can’t say much because a good foil for your protagonist should make you want to scream loudly, so mission accomplished there. It still doesn’t sit well with me though and it’s emblematic of what I find wrong with this series (I’m too busy to redo my earlier reviews, but they would not be anywhere near as glowing as they once were). It frequently doesn’t know how far too far is.
It wants to bring a big old ‘love is love’ message and it seems hell bent on making that a big tent that some stuff shouldn’t necessarily be under. Like, say, predators and incestuous siblings. The story basically pushes trying to lift all boats without acknowledging that some of them should probably be left on the ocean floor.
But, damn, what a gorgeous wrapper on this awkward moment in the story. Seriously, the art is pure perfection for the story and that’s what makes this one to down better than it did in the light novel.
This has great moments throughout, I won’t deny it - I think if it had stayed focused entirely on the relationships it does right, mostly Claire and Rae, it would still have the same affection for me it did originally. But the more times I dip back into this story, the more I see the really not okay stuff it’s trying to excuse as well.
3.5 stars - Claire and Rae save the day, but it’s a real struggle to not notice some of the worst aspects of the story when they’re front and centre like this. Your call on whether the art alone is able to hold that up, but I did find it made it much easier to take, at the very least.
This volume does a great job at exceeding its source material, as I absolutely cannot stand Manaria as a character, but at least now I can’t stand her and I have some great art to look at.
Genuinely, I do think this makes a way better way to digest this particular story arc, from its beginning to its terribly sweet ending. It engages in some tactics I’m not exactly thrilled with, but the end result is solid.
It certainly makes for a unique change of pace to have Rae constantly on the back foot, as Manaria’s entire purpose in the otome game was to be an ally who kept Claire off the player’s back.
Except Rae wants to be up in Claire’s business constantly as a general rule, so Manaria’s interference does nothing but tick her off. Up to the point where Manaria provokes her into an ill-advised duel over Claire, a nice change from the invincible isekai protagonist. Rae’s expressions this volume are golden.
What I do like is that this exposes Rae’s statements that she’s happy as long as Claire is happy, whoever she’s with, as a lie and an excuse Rae uses to keep herself from having to truly make a move on somebody who has thus far been staunchly hetero.
But then Manaria reveals the cracks in Claire’s gender identity and gets farther than Rae could ever hope and Rae… just gives up. It’s a pretty shocking moment, even knowing it’s coming.
The spiral of Rae’s depression is well done to the point where it’s kind of uncomfortable seeing her sink so low. She fights with Claire, stops eating, and she’s not the only one affected by the distance between them.
It would be an even better story arc if, again, I didn’t want to throw Manaria out a window. I think making your character’s somewhat dicey behaviour look better by introducing an even worse character is always an iffy proposition and Manaria’s a great example of why.
If Rae’s behaviour has been a little pushy, well, stand back because Manaria’s such a predator she could take on Arnold Schwarzenegger in the jungles of South America. She starts off as a rival, but gets worse and worse and worse.
For a story that’s been all about its representation, I guess it at least acknowledges that there are some crappy people out there, regardless of sexual orientation. I just wish it wasn’t a retread of such a worn-out trope though.
Naturally this is Manaria trying to push Rae into being honest about her intentions with Claire and Rae risks everything to finally show Claire how honest she’s been this entire time. And Claire also gets to change a little bit too, implying that maybe Rae’s doting isn’t so bad after all.
This is the story equivalent of all the makings of a gourmet meal being assembled by the burger line at McDonald’s. It has all the pieces, but it’s not brought together in a way that’s worthy of what it has to work with.
I suppose I can’t say much because a good foil for your protagonist should make you want to scream loudly, so mission accomplished there. It still doesn’t sit well with me though and it’s emblematic of what I find wrong with this series (I’m too busy to redo my earlier reviews, but they would not be anywhere near as glowing as they once were). It frequently doesn’t know how far too far is.
It wants to bring a big old ‘love is love’ message and it seems hell bent on making that a big tent that some stuff shouldn’t necessarily be under. Like, say, predators and incestuous siblings. The story basically pushes trying to lift all boats without acknowledging that some of them should probably be left on the ocean floor.
But, damn, what a gorgeous wrapper on this awkward moment in the story. Seriously, the art is pure perfection for the story and that’s what makes this one to down better than it did in the light novel.
This has great moments throughout, I won’t deny it - I think if it had stayed focused entirely on the relationships it does right, mostly Claire and Rae, it would still have the same affection for me it did originally. But the more times I dip back into this story, the more I see the really not okay stuff it’s trying to excuse as well.
3.5 stars - Claire and Rae save the day, but it’s a real struggle to not notice some of the worst aspects of the story when they’re front and centre like this. Your call on whether the art alone is able to hold that up, but I did find it made it much easier to take, at the very least.
October 28, 2023
So, uh, Claire's supposed to be straight, but her first true love was a girl? Mhm...
Didn't like this volume. I hate the love rival trope so much, especially when the "bottom" just sits there, does nothing, and even likes being fought for.
Would give it 1 star just for that.
However, the twist at the end was so unexpected and awesome, that it gets a better rating.
Still, though, my least favorite volume so far.
On the other hand, the brothers grew on me even more. They're becoming quite the comedy quartet, and I'm all here for it.
-27.10.23
Didn't like this volume. I hate the love rival trope so much, especially when the "bottom" just sits there, does nothing, and even likes being fought for.
Would give it 1 star just for that.
However, the twist at the end was so unexpected and awesome, that it gets a better rating.
Still, though, my least favorite volume so far.
On the other hand, the brothers grew on me even more. They're becoming quite the comedy quartet, and I'm all here for it.
-27.10.23
January 11, 2023
nopos esto ya lo vi en sekaiichi😎
October 26, 2023
I'm In Love With The Villainess continues to be one of the most fun and exciting series around. The romance and action both are elevated going into volume 5 with a big slice of drama as the stunning princess Marnaria comes into town. This butch woman was Clair's first crush and Rae is hella jealous about it.
The action is really amazingly depicted in this volume, I think the fights were really fun and they weren't over used. The drama was well executed and while I knew what Marnaia's true intentions were the whole time and never doubted my read I still found the way she got to Rae to be very compelling. Aonoshimo's art continues to be a total banger with stunning work on all the characters and amazing use of expressions, action, backgrounds and space to depict the depth of the emotions at play.
This volume touches on queerness again in brief and the moments here are pretty good. I do wish that Rae and Manaria could have had more time to talk about being lesbians and that the word Lesbian saw any use at all here instead of the words queer and straight exclusively but it was for sure more than we get from many manga.
Manaria is my favorite character in the series so far, she is utterly charming and very OP in a way that I just adore. I hope she gets a happy life and a happy ending of her own. Overall, a great climax that I think will be a great ending point for the anime.
The action is really amazingly depicted in this volume, I think the fights were really fun and they weren't over used. The drama was well executed and while I knew what Marnaia's true intentions were the whole time and never doubted my read I still found the way she got to Rae to be very compelling. Aonoshimo's art continues to be a total banger with stunning work on all the characters and amazing use of expressions, action, backgrounds and space to depict the depth of the emotions at play.
This volume touches on queerness again in brief and the moments here are pretty good. I do wish that Rae and Manaria could have had more time to talk about being lesbians and that the word Lesbian saw any use at all here instead of the words queer and straight exclusively but it was for sure more than we get from many manga.
Manaria is my favorite character in the series so far, she is utterly charming and very OP in a way that I just adore. I hope she gets a happy life and a happy ending of her own. Overall, a great climax that I think will be a great ending point for the anime.
November 6, 2023
Con la llegada de Manaria, la antigua amiga de Claire, Rei se ve desplazada de su lado, rindiendose ante otra chica que aparentemente quiere quitarle a Claire. Es Manaria la que la hace darse cuenta que no debe rendirse, que aunque el camino sea difícil debe seguir intentando ganar el corazon de Claire, no rendirse ante ella o Thane fácilmente. Nos dejan ver los verdaderos sentimientos de Rei, el cómo no quiere terminar como Manaria, otra chica lesbiana reprimida por el lugar donde nació, tratando de llenar el vacío con cualquier chica. Por su parte, Claire, empieza a demostrar esos mismos sentimientos por Rei, deprimiendose durante su separación, evitando que Manaria bese a Rei al reclamarla como suya y al fin llamándola por su nombre mientras toma su mano. De fondo, el conflicto entre reinos sigue presente...el Imperio Nur representa una amenaza para los protagonistas.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 12, 2024
5/5
I love the whole world of this manga, so I loved the addition of Lady Manaria as a rival for Rei and to help elaborate on the politics of the world. Lady Manaria is so toxic but I loved everything about her character, especially after getting her backstory.
Since this is as far as the anime went, I’m excited to read the next volume to get more content!
I love the whole world of this manga, so I loved the addition of Lady Manaria as a rival for Rei and to help elaborate on the politics of the world. Lady Manaria is so toxic but I loved everything about her character, especially after getting her backstory.
Since this is as far as the anime went, I’m excited to read the next volume to get more content!
February 2, 2024
The inevitable love triangle trope plays out here. It actually does a lot to help the characters grow a bit, even if it's a bit predictable. There are still little twists that are unexpected though and I've come to like the characters so I guess I'm along for the ride at this point.
November 6, 2023
I hate Manaria, but I like where the story’s going.
November 28, 2023
Great art. I look forward to this series
January 29, 2024
Chapters 21-25
March 17, 2024
3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews