By Masamune Okazaki and Hayase Jyun. Released in Japan as “Mob Dōzen no Akuyaku Reijō wa Dansō Shite Kōryaku Taishō no Za wo Nerau” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Caroline W.
I’ve said before that the least interesting part of these villainess books tends to be “who will she end up with in the end?”. Either it’s obvious from the start, such as in Villainess Level 99; it’s obvious but the creator knows it won’t be popular so is delaying it as long as possible, such as My Next Life As a Villainess; or it’s not obvious but it doesn’t really matter as who she marries is mostly irrelevant, such as this series. Honestly, at the end of this second volume, the love interest with the biggest lead is still Lilia. The webnovel version of this series does list “GL subtext” as a warning, so they know what they’re doing, but I’m not convinced that’s an endgame – Lilia here suggests seducing Elizabeth’s older brother so that she can “be in the family” and get to be around her all the time. The good news is the worldbuilding is still pretty interesting.
There’s a new transfer student in school, and he surprises everyone by declaring he’s in love with Elizabeth and asking her to marry him. Constantly. At every possible moment. This is especially surprising to Elizabeth and Lilia, as they recognize him. Prince Yoh Won Lei is from the Eastern lands, and while he is meant to be a spy, he’s not supposed to be like this. Ffor one thing, shouldn’t he be going after the saint? Unfortunately, as the book goes on, absolutely nothing seems to put the man off, and the other random girls in the class all seem to ship it – to the point where they set up a play of Snow White with Elizabeth – in a dress – as Snow White, and Yoh as the Prince. He’s gonna go for a kiss – everyone knows this. More importantly… what’s he really after?
This book has three real highlights. The first is the play – after so many “Sorta Cinderella” bad high school plays in manga, it’s nice to see “Sorta Snow White”, and Lilia as the fourth-wall breaking narrator is a delight. The second is early on when the four male love interests corner Lilia in the student council room and try to get her to back off Elizabeth, as she was rejected. Lilia points out, correctly, that she was rejected as she actually confessed, something none of them have done. Then there’s the climax, which not only has Elizabeth coming to a dramatic (if mostly offscreen) rescue, but also has Lilia confessing that she’s figured out what’s wrong with this world – the gods, or whoever, are trying to keep the game script accurate, but she is now too powerful for it, so can alter the script. She’s not the only one – I think Elizabeth has that power as well, she just doesn’t know it. They may both need reality-breaking powers, though, as more and more people seem to have identified Elizabeth as the reason their evil plans are not working.
The author makes sympathy whining about this possibly being the final volume, but there’s at least two more in Japan. I’ll read more, though honestly, Elizabeth’s baffled density about why all these guys seem to want to hang around her may be the book’s big flaw.
0 Comments