Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou (私の推しは悪役令嬢)/I’m in Love With the Villainess is one of my anticipated yuri Anime adaptations since I heard good things about this light novel and manga series. I’m checking out the manga, which focuses on an office lady getting reincarnated as the female protagonist in her favorite Otome game.
Author: Inori (Original Story), Shimo Aono (Art, Story), Hanagata (Character Design)
Publisher: Comic Yuri Hime
Genre: Isekai, yuri, fantasy, romance
Release Date: December 18, 2020 (Japanese), March 25, 2021 (English)
Synopsis
Ordinary office worker Oohashi Rei is a big fan of “Revolution,” an Otome game where you win the heart of three handsome male love interests, Rod, Thane, and Yu. Eventually, Rei finished all the routes in the game and knew all the fan lore regarding the game, especially concerning her favorite character, Claire François.
However, Rei eventually passes away from overwork and is isekai’d into her favorite Otome game. She is reincarnated as Rae Taylor, the protagonist of the story, who is a commoner. Now, her sight is on the rival female antagonist, Claire François, who is a noble who is classist as she refers to Rae as a “commoner.”
Despite having prior knowledge of the game, Rae becomes very obsessive in showing her love for Claire. Misha, Rae’s roommate, has to clean up Rae’s mess. That is while Claire relentlessly bullies Rae, which backfires on her as she enjoys it or outsmarts her.
Eventually, Claire had enough and challenged Rae to an exam challenge to see who got the highest score. If Rae loses, she has to leave the school forever. However, if Rae wins, Claire must do one thing she wants. The funny thing is that Rae wins by default because of her overpowered magical abilities.
Later, Rae decides to apply for a job being Claire’s maid. While she opposes it, her father eventually overrules her, thinking he can rely on Rae. Not too surprising, given her unyielding love towards his daughter. Rae works alongside Lene, who is the current family maid for Claire.
After preparing lunch with Lene’s help and bathing, Rae went into Claire’s dorm room for a good night kiss, which Claire refused. Rae stares at Claire as she sleeps and asks if Rae loves her. Rae loves everything about Claire, but Claire doesn’t believe it. Before leaving the room, Rae tells her she will do her best to make her believe it in a rather intimate moment before leaving.
Thoughts
At a glance, Rae looks pretty obsessive, especially regarding her romantic advances towards Claire. While Ohashi Rei, a Shachiku (社畜, lit corporate slave) Office Lady who worked long hours, passed away from overwork. She sees something in Claire that is not apparent to most fans. After all, she revealed that she made fan works involving Claire during the exam challenge while having knowledge of the game’s story. Yes, it’s one of the aspects that she received while getting reincarnated in another world.
Interestingly, while Rae holds all the knowledge of the game’s lore and fanwork surrounding Claire, Rae acts like an obsessive lover of Claire. I must admit this leads to funny moments with her and Claire since Claire is a tsundere rich girl who doesn’t seem to have much interest in her. In fact, Claire’s bullying is pretty milquetoast since Rae seems to enjoy it a lot. Of course, Misha has to deal with Rae after she gets bullied by Claire.
Even after Rae beats Claire at the exam challenge, it’s unsurprising that she applies to become a maid for Claire’s family. While Claire detests this, given that she doesn’t get along with her, her father overrules her. While it’s obvious why Rae wants to do this to be with Claire all the time, Rae probably planned this along for something in the future but hasn’t revealed why yet. Still, it’s interesting to learn more about what made her decide to do this, although it’s apparent that she wants to get closer to Claire.
Of course, we learned a bit about Rae’s power during the exam challenge. While she did good on the knowledge test, she screwed up on the etiquette test for obvious reasons. The magic test shows that Rae has an ultra-high aptitude for earth and water magic. Yes, it’s the bonus she receives after being isekai’d, besides retaining her knowledge from her past life, including all the lore.
As expected, the first volume is just the beginning of Rae’s quest to win Claire’s heart. Sure, there is some classism with Claire calling Rae a “commoner” instead of her usual name. This is a common theme with otome games with social class conflict, also in Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei.
Either way, the first volume really interested me in the series, especially the art. I’m sure things are about to get interesting in the 2nd volume. I already finished that volume and a review for that volume is coming in the near future.
Japanese Reading Difficulty: Manageable at a JLPT N3-N2 level, the manga has furigana for most words.
Other Reviews from Other Bloggers
- I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 1…again! – Okazu
- I’m in Love with the Villainess (Volume 1) – Romancing the Rival – The Otaku Author
