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.

If I had a nickel for every villainess book that I read and thought that it was clearly influenced by My Next Life as a Villainess… well, I’d have about 50 cents or so. Which is still a lot! Fortunately, most authors know that they can’t simply straight up photocopy Katarina Claes onto the villainess of the hour, even as the whole “reverse harem starring a clueless protagonist who does not realize what she’s doing to the rest of the cast” plot is present and correct. Katarina is the cheerful, empathic oblivious type. Someone like Yumiella is the stoic, overpowered oblivious type. And now we have Elizabeth Burton (a name as subtle as you’d expect from someone with the pen name Masamune Okazaki), who is also strong, and also cheerful, but goes in a totally different direction. That’s her on the cover. In the center, between the two pretty guys. Does that means this is trans? Or yuri? Well… not really? Not yet?

So yes, as is standard for this genre, Elizabeth Burton eats a horrible bell pepper one day, which triggers memories of her past life in Japan, where she was a fan of the otome game “Royal LOVERS”… where Elizabeth Burton, the fiancee of the second prince, was a minor villain who was doomed, in the second prince’s route, to be rejected and likely live her life alone and unloved. Well, that just won’t do. Unfortunately, all the love interests in this game are bishonen, so she can’t exactly compete once the heroine inevitably arrives in ten years’ time. So Elizabeth, showing a startling, terrifying lack of common sense, decides to cut off her hair, dress in a boy’s outfit, get really buff and strong, become the perfect handsome playboy, and seduce the heroine. Oddly, her family and the kingdom put up only token resistance. That said, she has a problem: the love interests don’t care if she looks and acts like a man. They’re smitten.

Is this yuri? Not really. The heroine only shows up at the very end to be the cliffhanger. What’s more, Elizabeth has put ZERO thought into this beyond “seduce the heroine”, has no plan for what happens after that, and denies at first that she’s gay… then backs off and says she’s not sure. Is it trans? Not really that either. Elizabeth, aka Lizzie, dresses and acts like a boy but uses her real name, never denies she’s a woman, and gets annoyed when other people try to call her a man. Is this a weird little genderqueer thing? Boy howdy yes. She doesn’t fall for anyone here, thought Edward (the first prince, who is the ‘beautiful but sickly’ sort) comes close to breaking her facade, but the three male love interests (I’m ignoring her adopted younger brother) certainly fall hard for her… to the point that they all dress in women’s dresses at the big dance in the hopes of attracting her. Again, while this gets some shocked stares, there are no repercussions and no real opposition to it. It’s mentioned that men will get married but have male lovers (women with female lovers is NOT mentioned, I note). Basically, this world seems very casual about a lot of things.

I spoiled myself a bit by looking at the (still ongoing) webnovel, and the second book in the series should bring us a bit more yuri as not-Maria Campbell hits the scene. Till then, temper your expectations if you want this to be anything other than “reverse harem with clueless heroine”, but the heroine herself makes it worth the read.