By Kei Takano and kodamazon. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Suki no Ore, Oshi Character ni Tensei: Game Joban ni Shujinkou ni Korosareru Oshi ni Tenseishita node, Ore dake Shitteru Game Chishiki de Hametsu Flag wo Tsubushitara Akuyaku-tachi no Teiou ni Natteta Ken” by Dengeki no Shin Bungei. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Elliot Ryouga. Adapted by Gray Morrow.
It can be very hard to get past a lousy beginning. When this book began with our title character screaming “hell yeah, I’ve been reincarnated!” and then immediately shouting “Open Status” and getting a list of annoying stats, it dug itself a deep, deep hole. It didn’t help that the other main character is a young maid whose backstory we never learn but who is devoted to Weiss (the character our unnamed Japanese guy has become) to the death, and it was hard not to groan. Oh, there’s also an angry tsundere and a stoic nun who shows her cute side when around animals. This author writes tropes to order, and a quick glance at their other series suggests that, indeed, Seven Seas may have picked the best one. Alas.
Our unnamed hero, whose past consists of “I had a younger sister who was better than me at things”, is reincarnated into the body of Weiss, his favorite villain from a game he liked. Weiss also has an overachieving sister, who was made the heir rather than him, and he turned dissolute and evil as a result. Our guy loves that kind of tragic backstory, and this game is filled with them. Can he turn things around and save himself from an early grave, with the help of Rosalia, his overpowered maid who will do anything for him? (No, not that, the book is very PG-rated.) What’s more, can he save the other villains with really good tragic backstories, the “Evil Bloody Mistress” and the “Cruel False Saint”? And will they all fall in love with him?
By the end of the first book this rose to the level of adequate, though not enough for me to want to read more. Weiss (I have to use the name of the character) is the sort of person who loves a good Draco in Leather Pants – and he specifies they have to have a good tragic backstory and actual reasons for their behavior, when he meets a normal evil slave-owning trading bastard later he has no sympathy. Much as I dislike Rosalia’s over the top loyalty for no stated reason, she and Weiss do make a good team, and while she’d clearly do anything he asked, it’s also clear she seems to have some self-hatred issues that prevent any romance from getting further. Unfortunately, there’s one big reason this continues to not be very good – Weiss has no struggles whatsoever in getting overpowered fast. No, I do not count “passes out after using super cool magic” as a struggle, especially as he usually is caught by his maid. His game knowledge also makes helping defeat the narrative easy as pie. There’s one battle where he visibly struggles, against a literal god.
There are better OP harem romances out there, and indeed better “wow, I’m a villain” books as well.
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