I don’t really know how to review this book. ^_^;  There’s so much to tell you and so little I can say!

In Volume 1, we met former office worker Oohashi Rei, who wakes up one day in the world of her favorite otome game, “Revolution,” as the protagonist Rae Taylor. As Rae, she opts out of the usual romance routes and instead focuses all of her acumen and knowledge of the game on her actual interest, the villainess Claire François. Then the revolution comes crashing down over the two of them.

In Volume 2, Claire and Rae, now a couple, work together to create a better world for themselves, their friends, their country, and…

spoiler warning/ Because both these books are available from Seven Seas in English, I am going to assume you have read them. If you have not read them, this review will contain inevitable spoilers, starting with the cover, because it is right here next to these words and I can’t hide that. If you haven’t read the first two volumes, this review may be largely incoherent and there are even MORE spoilers ahead. Don’t keep reading if you want to avoid spoilers. Do go read Volume 2, then come back. ^_^ /spoiler warning
So, going back to my previous statement.

Claire and Rae work together to create a better world for themselves, their friends, their country, and…their children.

Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. Volume 3 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。), which I read on US Kindle in Japanese*, begins a year after the revolution. Claire, Rae, and their children Aleah and Mei**, the orphans they adopted in the tear-jearker epilogue to volume 2, are a happy family who are dealing with some major issues that are clearly foreshadowing future plots. Rae and Claire are teachers at the Academy they formerly attended as students, when they are approached by the government with a life-changing request: Diplomatic relationships with the Bauer Kingdom’s former (possibly current?) enemy, the Nur Empire is being established. A team of exchange students are being shared between the two countries. Several students from the Academy are going…and so are Claire and Rae, who decide to take Aleah and Mei with them.

We’ve already established that all norms are off the table in this series, so the plot here is a little bit of everything – school drama, romance, socio-political drama, and some other things and then the demons arrive. From this point on the book is spinning plates and juggling balls and then an axe or two on a high-wire.  And it all works, except I have about 300 questions. ^_^  I’ll just hope that some of that is clarified in future chapters and, eventually, volume 4.  I was worried through the entire first half of the book about two things that were never the problems I thought they’d be. But…what? Why? How? I’m not unsatisfied, I just want more!

I’m going to be really impatient until all of you have read it, too, so I can scream all my questions at you! ^_^

The second half of this volume are a series of deeply schmaltzy and satisfyingly goopy extra chapters that cover a number of celebratory events in Rae and Claire’s life, like birthdays and Christmas and their wedding. Rae and Claire get more and more touchy as the story goes on. Apparently Inori-sensei has offered up the bed scenes as an extra on her Pixiv Fanbox (which I think is a terrific idea and admit, I’m tempted. For the record, her Fanbox is being translated into English and Korean, so don’t be afraid to support her.) Rae and Claire’s wedding is a very pointed commentary on modern Japanese life and laws and an incredibly sweet scene. For a second time, the final scene of the book had me reaching for the tissues. How far Claire and Rae have come in a year is laid bare for all for us to see. (happy tears)

But, Erica! I hope you are flailing your hands at me in an attempt to get my attention. Did you say Rae and Claire’s wedding?!? Yes. And that is not the only wonderfully gay bit – nor is it arguably, the most important gay thing in this book. There are at least three other incredibly important conversations that I hope like heck have made a difference for someone, somewhere. And Rae and Claire are VERY clear about what they are to one another to the people around them in so many words.  They are physically affectionate with each other and with the twins, as well. I honestly loved that affectionate kisses and hugs and touching were just normalized in this story.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – Kind of? You’ll have to trust me that its fine, really.
Yuri – 10
Queer – 10

Overall – 10

Absolutely fantastic, but I have so many questions.

What about <spoiler>? What did they do?
What is the deal with <spoiler and spoiler>?
Were the <spoiler> there for shits and giggles?
What is going to happen with <spoiler>????
Why on earth is <spoiler>?????????

*The one thing I do honestly like about using Kindle for Japanese-language books is the translation function. It’s not perfect, but it helps not having to do more than highlight a term once the JP dictionary has been downloaded.

** In case it is not obvious, Aleah rhymes with Claire in Japanese and Mei rhymes with Rae.

Remember how amazed we were in Volume 1, when the characters of Claire, Misha and Rae had a frank discussion of sexuality? Well, I’m In Love With The Villainesss, Volume 2 has looked at Volume 1 and said, “Hold my mead”….

Rae Taylor is an extraordinary young woman, because in fact, she is not a young woman. She is a corporate drone from our world who has found herself in the world of her favorite otome game as the player character. Instead of romancing the princes, however, Rae has opted for a new route; one in which she is romancing the villainess, the aristocratic and strong-willed Claire François. Here in Volume 2, the holodeck controls are off and Rae and Claire run full speed towards a resolution that even Rae with her knowledge of the game can not predict.

As a reader and as a writer, I ascribe to what we called at the Fanfic Revolution called the “one-handwave” theory. This theory allows every world is allowed one massive, ridiculous, inexplicable thing that must be accepted at face value and cannot be questioned. This volume of I’m in Love With the Villainess, *immediately* blew that theory to hell in the most hilarious way I have ever seen. And then it did it again. And again. The rules? They are for some other story. This story could not have cared less what rules say. Massively important plot points were handled with literal magical handwaves, while actual time and attention were given to discussions of same-sex attraction, gender dysphoria, and, of course, the social impact of income inequality and political upheaval. It was compelling to say the least. It was a little too on the nose for this week, in particular.

This volume is significantly larger than volume 1. Given the resolution there’s only one thing the author left undealt with so Volume 3, when we get it, ought to address that.

In the meantime, this was an amazing read. Whatever benchmark might have been set by Volume 1, was shattered with sound-of speed waves as this volume goes blasting by it. It got exponentially queerer as the story went on. Final tally – 6 queer characters among the main cast, and a happy ending for our principles. And an epilogue that made me ugly cry at 2AM.

I give it my strongest recommendation. If you have not read this series, I hope you will. I know isekai isn’t everyone’s thing, but this is a shining example of exactly what I was talking about in my essay about queer representation Author Inori doesn’t consider that the limits of the worlds that previously existed are the limits of what the worlds could be. They’ve taken an already played-out plot driver and used it to explore very real-world situations in fantasy cosplay and come up with a different resolution. Rather than just assuming what was is what has to be, this series models a new ideal.  I feel even more confident that this was the right choice for my Top Yuri of the year for 2020, and it is going to be very, very hard to beat for 2021. But you know….I really hope something does beat it, because that would be something. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7 Okay. I’m still angry we didn’t get a picture of Claire in the tux in V1.
Story – 10 Perfection
Characters – 10
Service – 3 Yes, but…somehow this time didn’t bother me at all.
Yuri – 10
Queer – 10

Overall – 10

“Miss Claire, watch over me now.” I am slayed.

I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 1, written by Inori, illustrated by Hanagata, out from Seven Seas, was an extraordinary read. I mean that in the most positive way. This book was surprising in ways I would never have imagined it to be, in ways that blew me away.

Oohashi Rei, an adult who has always loved games, finds herself waking in the world of Revolution, her favorite otome game. Armed with encyclopedic knowledge of the world of Revolution, and skills given to the PC, Rei, now known as Rae Taylor, sets out to do the one thing she wants most….to romance the villainess, Claire François.

From the beginning, there were little touches that had me intrigued. For instance, the novel lacks Truck-kun. No one dies. Rei simply wakes up in the game as Rae.  Although Rae is a teenager, she has not lost her adult perspective and there are decisions or commentary we get from her which are decidedly mature. About a third of the way through the story, Rae discusses something with us, the reader, and I just sat back and said, “huh.” No child thinks that way. It was about that moment, I realized I was reading something completely different.

In my review of ROLL OVER AND DIE, I said, “The premise makes it completely possible to kill your brain cells reading [the violent scenes] and not feel much. In that, I think the author does the readership a disservice.” and I’ve called My Next Life As A Villainess, “lazy writing.” These are not capricious comments. I believe in world- and character-building being key elements in making an excellent story. I have been a voracious reader since I was a child, I’m usually reading 6-8 things at once. I was a comparative literature major in college. I care about the way writers write as a reader and as a writer. I expect that world-building be done with a thoroughness that provides the story a solid three-dimensional base, even if most of the details don’t apply to this story specifically. Overwhelmingly, light novels do not do this and isekai (or isekai-adjacent) LNs tend to rely on tropes and handwaves to skip the relevant world- and character-building. I’m in Love With the Villainess does the work.

And then you hit a moment when Misha, Rae’s best friend, roommate and foil, turns to Rae and asks, “Are you gay?”…and the characters have a frank discussion about sexuality. Rae analyzes her experiences and feelings and we watch her do so – in so many words – then watch her reach an unusual conclusion, given that this is a webnovel.

But wait, there’s more. This little web novel, this penny-candy confectionery of literary effort, doesn’t stop there. There will be discussions of abuse of authority, and unfair sentencing, of political protests and economic inequality. And, they will make sense in the context of the story. The otome game is called Revolution, after all. ^_^

While all of this world-building is happening, Rae is cheerfully teasing Clare into bullying her, and enjoying every second of it. Never for a second does Rae stop enjoying herself. The more we learn about Rae, the more we come to learn about Oohashi Rei, who seems like a decent person, one we might be able to be friends with.

The only complaint I sincerely have is that there is a scene (I refuse to spoil) that ought to have been illustrated but was not. That is the only negative for this book. Thankfully…there is a manga! Yesterday I mentioned that I’m reading the manga for this series as it runs in Comic Yuri Hime magazine. There are some small differences in functionality, with each medium providing positive and negative qualities. We have not yet reached that specific scene in the manga, but I fervently pray for a few good screencaps. This is where the manga will definitely provide a benefit. On the other side, the novel format allows Rae more internal monologue and she is, IMHO, more relatable as a result.

Absolutely shout-out to Jenn Yamazaki and Nibedita Sen for the translation and adaptation here. Some of the translation lines were in and of themselves, sublime. I’ve never thrilled so much at the use of “There it was.” George Panella’s logo also gets a tip of the hat from me. Everyone at Seven Seas really pulled out the stops here for what is definitely, positively going to be one of my Top Ten Yuri of the Year. No question, this is the series to beat right now.

Ratings:

Art – 7 Adequate, but once again fails completely to illustrate anything significant or interesting
Story – 9 Takes the banal set-up and flies
Characters – 10
Yuri – 7 one-sided in this volume, but…
LGBTQ – Yes!
Service – 2 Implied and some other stuff

Overall – 9

Author Inori thanks their partner in the author’s note. That might have something to do with that discussion of sexuality.

I’m in Love With the Villainess is available digitally on Kindle and Bookwalker Global next week, in print at the end of November.

The novel series, Watashi no Oshi ha Akujyaku Reijou! (私の推しは悪役令嬢。) is available in full in Japanese on webnovel site Syoetsu ni Narou!. Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3 are available in Japanese on JP Kindle. The covers for V2 and V3 are full of spoilery goodness.

Along with Yagate Kimi ni Naru Saeki Sayaka ni Tsuite, Volume 3,  which will make it over here as Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 3, in December, Yuri Light Novels got a lot gayer in 2020. ^_^

Many thanks to Seven Seas for the review copy.