Archive for the I’m in Love With the Villainess Category


I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 4

March 3rd, 2024

We left Rae and Claire in the Nur empire at the end of Volume 3, and in I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 4 we get into the weeds of so many plots that I’m still reeling from the tone shifts.

Rae and Claire may be “exchange students” but they have revolution on their minds and spend the beginning of the book thinking how they can train Princess Philene up to be the revolutionary leader they need.

But first, we have a cooking contest! And a formal ball. And a murder mystery, and a mysterious magical item, and a kidnapping. And helping out many different people in their various personal issues.

And, of course, that revolution.

There are so many plates being spun that the foreshadowing is barely noticeable, except when it’s a bat to the back of the head.

This is a story that, despite the light-hearted opening, becomes quite serious by the end. Nonetheless, there are many funny scenes* here, as well as a number of sincere discussions of queer existence. When all of that is set aside, the story digs in and becomes both politically and magically, dark.

Once again, narrator Courtney Shaw does a fantastic job at voices. Pronunciation is still an issue, however. Pronouncing Lene “Lean” is a matter of interpretation. But sakura? How is sakura being pronounced “sa-KOO-ra” in 2024? Please.  Oh well. I blame the director. This kind of thing is easy to check. I had some qualms about accents, but I’ll get over listening to a German cook with a Italian accent and a lisp. It was kind of funny after a while.

This 9 and half hour book is a lot of entertainment for the money and while it sets up the final volume of the series, doesn’t really prepare you for it when it arrives

Once again, I think this audiobook allows for a different appreciation of the story for those of use who have read or watched it, and offers accessibility to folks who use audiobooks as an assistive tool. I’m 100% for that and glad to see more Yuri available in this format with Yen’s The Executioner and Her Way of Life added to the roster this winter.

Ratings (for the adaptation only):

Overall – 10

*I even laughed out loud at a breast size scene, possibly for the first time ever.

Volume 5, the final volume, is available this month from Seven Seas Siren.





I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 3

February 16th, 2024

Two young women, wearing white dresses, one with blonde ringlets and one with medium length brown hair stand with two blonde children, one in a pink dress, the other in a blue dress.When I reviewed Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!, Volume 3 (平民のくせに生意気な！), I said I would tell you all about my weakness. Well, as I read this volume I realized that my weakness is, of all things, the twins. I don’t much like children, or children characters and stories that show or use violence or exploitation against children usually make me really angry. But these two….youch. They gouge me right in the feels.

So Courteny Shaw’s narration of I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 3 had me a blithering mess for pretty much every scene that covered the changing circumstances and lives of twins May and Aleah, the adopted daughters of Rae and Claire.

Shaw’s voices for the characters are very good. I could half-listen and still know exactly who was speaking. Her iteration of Aleah’s voice is especially interesting, as we know Aleah grew up int the slums, but she speaks with an approximation of Claire’s highborn accent and style.

The story wraps up the final pieces of the Revolution arc, then quickly launches us into the Nur arc, which gives Shaw a chance to crete voices for key characters like Philene and Dorothea, as well as Frieda’s excruciating mishmash of accent.  ^_^

By this point in the story, inori-sensei’s writing had really settled into a rhythm which makes this book move incredibly quickly. It helps too, that this volume includes many side stories from other character perspectives…and a big ole’ goopy happy scene for us to enjoy.

Ratings (for the adaptation only):

Overall – 10

As I have said of Volumes 1 and Volume 2, the only downside is the occasional odd pronunciation, but as the audiobook is in every other way, an excellent production, I’m just rolling with it at this point. Most importantly, this series makes the light novels more accessible  and I am 100% for that! Maybe reading the LNs wasn’t to your taste, but you want to know what happened after the anime? Try the I’m In  Love With The Villianess audiobooks – they are worth a listen.

Volume 4 hit devices this month, so we can even more demons, Sword Gods and food battles in the empire!





Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!, Volume 3 (平民のくせに生意気な！)

January 18th, 2024

Two young women in fantasy school uniform, one with medium-length brown hair and one with long blonde curls, and two little girls with blonde hair, in matching pink and blue dresses, look up and reach towards us.It is not often that a book makes me choke up. Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!, Volume 3 (平民のくせに生意気な！) made me choke up three times…even though I knew what was coming.  I appear to have a weakness, which I will discuss eventually. ^_^

This is the final volume of the Claire perspective of the events in I’m in Love With The Villainess, with a lot of “intermission”s from the perspectives of other characters. When the first two volumes came out, I noted that there are characters in this story that did not appear in the original… and many of the characters that do, are seen from such a vastly different point of view that what we thought we knew about them turns out to be not entirely true. Or truer than we thought.

This story also goes deeply into the circumstances around the death of Claire’s mother and the secrets being carried by the people around her.

Above all, in this story, we are given Claire’s perspective of her vastly changing life, from a high-ranking noble’s daughter to that of a commoner, with a beloved partner in Rae Taylor and two beautiful adopted daughters. It’s not the family life she expected, but she loves it, all the same.

Generally speaking with Light Novel “other” perspectives, I find them a little dull, but in this case, so much depth is added that it is well worth reading this series. She’s So Cheeky For A Commoner, Volume 1 (which I reviewed last year) is already available in English from Seven Seas and Volume 2 will be out in a few months. If you enjoyed the main series, whether Light Novel, anime or manga, I highly recommend you read this iteration. It’s going to add a lot of new information to what has happened. And may even move you to tears.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 10 Outstanding writing, yet again
Characters – 10 I cannot express to you how *good* the characters are here
Service – 3? 4? A bit, sometimes
Yuri/LGBTQ+ – Why yes, actually.

Overall – 10

 





I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 2

January 12th, 2024

A girl with collar-length brown hair wearing a fanciful red school uniform grips the shoulders of a blonde girl in the same uniform as she kisses her. Pink flower petals fly around them.Rae and Claire are about to face their reckoning, once again, in I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 2.  The revolution is upon them, the various forces are arrayed against them and their allies are dispersed. Will Rae Taylor, reborn into this world, be able to save her Villainess love?

This second volume is even better than the first in terms of story. Everything between Rae and Claire moves more quickly, as the forces pushing the revolution increase the pressure. The wave of change catches the two of them up and some significant things are done and said. Narrrator Courtney Shaw is absolutely brilliant, especially as Claire at the climax of the narrative. Equally, she’s delivers devastating pathos in the final chapters of the book. Those of you who have read it know why. Those who have not, may wish to have a tissue or hanky at the ready. The only complaint I have is the continued (and in this volume, expanded) odd choices for pronunciation of a few names, but it’s not worth getting upset over. It’s just a small minor objection to what is otherwise a fantastic narration.

If you reading the light novel did not appeal to you, or you’d just like to know what happens after the anime ended, this audiobook version is highly recommended. If you are already a fan of the series, I’d say this a really terrific way to experience the feels all over again. Shaw does a very good job giving Claire and Rae personality and charm. She makes Rod slightly unpalatable, Yuu fragile, and Thane impenetrable…until we understand him better.

And for those of you already enjoying this audiobook series, Volume 3 was released this week and is up on the Yuricon Store, with a number of purchase or streaming options. Book 4 is coming in February, you can pre-order it now on B&N and Bookwalker Global. It is clear that Seven Seas Siren is getting these out with alacrity, while the series is popular. I have a fannish hope we’ll hear some news about a second anime season before these are completed in March. ^_^

Ratings (for the adaptation only):

Overall – 9





Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. (- 私の推しは悪役令嬢。) レイジョアハンズ!!～Raise Y/Our Hands!!/O.C.～Optimum Combination～

December 24th, 2023

A woman with brown hair pulled into a short ponytail in a white and blue tuxedo, dips a woman with golden curls, in an orange evening dress, as they dance at a formal dance.While in Japan, I had a very short list of things that I wanted to pick up. Usually I come with a long list, but this time, I had already decided that I wouldn’t be buying much media, only things I didn’t know – and goods. Media is the easiest thing to get shipped. That said, there was one manga series I was looking for, that sadly I did not find and one CD, which I did!

Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou.  私の推しは悪役令嬢。) レイジョアハンズ!!～Raise Y/Our Hands!!/O.C.～Optimum Combination～ is the CD of the opening and closing themes of the I’m in Love With The Villainess anime. It was apparent to me from the credits that some interesting manipulation of the lyrics was going on, so I really wanted the whole CD to get the lyrics.

Well…I’m blown away. Absolutely gobsmacked at the effort put in by everyone involved. From the awesome cover image, you know you’re not getting something generic. I’m not saying I’m burned by the G-Witch drama or anything, because that was merely annoying and somewhat silly, but it still feels real and important to have something like this image being a genuine reflection of the contents of the music.

The music is suitably sticky and I will now sing the choruses to Raise Y/Our Hands!!  and O.C. ~ Optimum Combination~ over and over for the next week undoubtedly. But as I sat with the lyrics and listened to the music, I was quite overcome with the sense that the writers really understood the story. I wondered if inori.-sensei had been the writer, but to my surprise lyric, composition and arrangement were credited to TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND. I’m going to give those guys serious praise for the music, but even more for the lyrics.

Most of the OP/ED CDs I bought back in the day had 4 tracks. One each of the OP/ED sung and one each of a karaoke track. This CD has five tracks. The OP, of course and 4 different iterations of the end theme, as we saw on the anime. Both Rae and Claire have their own individual tracks. But as the text bubbles of the ED animation make clear, this is meant to be a dialogue. The first track is O.C. ~ Optimum Combination~ -Side by Side- which remixes Rae and Claire’s verses to respond to one another. The final track O.C. ~ Optimum Combination~ -Side by Side-/reverse (which surely has to be the most punctuation ever used in a title) which remixes the verses *again* for another take on that conversation.

The more I listened to these…the more I liked them.

Serizawa Yuu acquits herself very well, while singing in Rae’s silly voice, with occasional flashes of her real voice, but Nanami Karen is the star here, bringing a lot of varying emotion into very quickly sung lyrics.

So for a series that put lesbians in the top ten rankings for weeks, is still out there giving us a ton of queer rep (I just finished Volume 2 of the audiobook yesterday), even the animation opening and closing themes are worth your time and money!

Ratings:

Music – 9
Lyrics – 10
Art – 10

Overall  – 10