Guest Review by Paul S. Enns

Becoming a Princess Knight and Working at a Yuri Brothel, Volume 1, by Hinaki, has a better story than you’d expect.

It’s a mashup of isekai , yuri, and gender bender. Like many isekai stories, there are some RPG-like elements dropped in for doing tasks and gaining ranks. It’s easy to consider these elements as part of the main character’s imagination.

Every character name has been translated into Latin, and provides an additional level of interest/humor. I will provide translations into English in parentheses after the first use of their name.

Lillion (lily) herself/himself is our protagonist. The soul of about-to-die, 38-year-old Naruse Soushi is thrust into the about-to-die body of Princess Reina (queen). Instead of the defiant, not-afraid-to-die Reina, it’s now the quite-afraid-to-die Soushi who begs to live. This is granted and she (the pronoun I will use to refer to Soushi-in-Reina’s body) is sold to a brothel. The brothel’s Madam, Acanthus (genus acanthus are plants with spiny or toothed leaves), renames Reina as Lillion for the duration of her stay.

Given it’s in the title, no surprise, the brothel services only women. Lillion tries to adjust.

Lillion provides most of the humor, thanks to Soushi being inside. Soushi also allows Lillion to endure the many humiliations Princess Reina wouldn’t be expected to get through. Or would Reina be able to endure these? We can’t know. It’s part of the problematic nature of the character.

I can’t really fault Lillion for the actions she takes in the book. Trying to get along in a new world, she is doing the best she can.

Who I can find extreme fault with is Precarie (precariously), the one who removed Reina’s soul and grabbed a random soul from another world to replace it. What is Precarie’s endgame here? What happened to Reina’s soul? Why is Precarie so interested in Lillion when Precarie knows that Reina isn’t in there? Too many unanswered questions.

After Lillion deals with Lady of the Moon (I’m disappointed this wasn’t translated to Domina Lunae), Precarie, and Alsea (sea), she faces the threat of Lapis Rufus (red stone, or ruby, associated with love and passion), Captain of the Vigilante Corps.

I’ve summarized enough and will stop, except to say that it doesn’t have an end and goes right into Volume 2.

While I have a problem with all of the characters, the world building done for this captured my interest. Hinaki obviously has a destination in mind for these characters, and has created a world to tell an interesting story. Just with lots of sex.

By accepting the premise, you accept the level of service. It’s part of the plot.

Translation is well done. Making all proper nouns into Latin words was a fun addition.

Ratings:

Art — 8 I can tell every character apart, and it has well done backgrounds.
Story — 8 Held my interest the whole time.
Characters — 4 Problematic, especially Precarie.
Service — 7 for how explicit it is, 10 for how much there is.
Yuri — 9 It gets a point knocked off for Lillion being occupied by a guy’s soul.

Overall — 7

This was way more entertaining than I expected it to be. I’m going to continue reading this story. Volumes 2 and Volume 3 are already available, Volume 4 releases March 4, 2024.