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.

Every so often with these Villainess books I have to double check the imprint to make sure if they’re a Heart title or not. You’d think with this one it would be obvious. The entire premise is that all the men in the series are in love with Elizabeth, and she is unaware that they are. And to be fair, the series does a good job of keeping a “balanced harem” so you’re not sure who the winning guy will be, or even if there will be a winning guy, as Elizabeth states multiple times that she has no real interest in marriage and doesn’t even know what being in love is like. But we’re six volumes in, and I admit that I’m probably biased towards the one yuri option, but still, I have to say: these guys are kinda dull? I really cannot imagine Elizabeth with any of them, and clearly neither can she. Isaac is her bestie. Robert is a loyal dog. It’s a bit sad.

We’re back at school, and Elizabeth has suddenly realized that what with all the stuff happening to her this summer, she never finished her homework. (Let’s be honest, she wasn’t going to do it anyway.) After attempting to copy off Isaac, she ends up having to do extra studying, which ends up with her and Isaac getting caught up in the Witch subplot from the last book, and Elizabeth accidentally being a bit dumber than usual (impressive given she’s not that bright) and giving away that she knows who her teacher really is. Oh yes, and her masochistic foreign stalker is worse than ever. Given all of this, it should probably come as a relief to her when she actually does get influenced by the ghost, but in fact it ends up being terrible for all concerned, because an Elizabeth with nothing holding her back is the most terrifying thing ever.

As always, the series is at its best when it’s deconstructing the otome games tropes it’s filled with. The identity of the witch appears to be something entirely out of left field (and, like Elizabeth, I had completely forgotten they existed), but if you remember the audience for this game, things make a bit more sense. I also like the fact that the second game was actually a bit of a failure, and they never made any more. For one thing, it helps make losers like Yoh a bit more tolerable. But yeah, sorry, once again it’s the chemistry between Elizabeth and Lilia that most interests me – mostly the fact that they have chemistry at all. The fact that Lilia has actually confessed means that she’s the only one Elizabeth consciously seduces in order to get her way, or to prove a smug point, or just for the hell of it – Elizabeth clearly loves being seductive. Which is good news for her, and whichever guy this series may end up choosing, but bad news for Lilia, who is quite rightly pissed off at all of this. Though admittedly her yandere tendencies are not helping at all. Also, Lilia, please decide if you are gay or just Liz-sexual.

There’s at least one more book in this series, but I must admit I find it far more interesting to see how Elizabeth’s mind works (notice how often she calls herself a villain in this book) than in who gets to marry her.

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.

All otome game villainess stories are, by definition, somewhat metatextual. It has characters who are trapped in a world based on a game, trying to avoid Bad Ends. Even if they don’t talk to others about their choices, they narrate to the reader about them. But Two-Bit Baddie is even more meta than most. We have two people who’ve both played the game and know what’s coming, and discuss it with each other. We have a narrative that occasionally tries to lure them back into canon, even if they both want to disregard it. More to the point, the entire reason Elizabeth dresses and acts the way she does is to avoid a bad end that’s already passed. There’s no need to keep doing it. So when Richard asks why she’s dressed as a man, she answers “because I like it”, and I think not only does this surprise her but she means it. This is who she is now.

The book picks up where it left off last time. Elizabeth, Christopher, Edward and Lilia have to stay a little longer than planned. Sure, thanks to Lilia accidentally turning Diana into a BL fangirl, the marriage seems to be off the table. But there’s the troubling information that people are kidnapping nobles, and then giving them back the next day. What’s going on there? Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Lilia get an opportunity to explore a dungeon, and while they don’t find any monsters, they do come across some very human villains. When they are finally allowed to go home, after everyone finally realizes that Elizabeth is a woman and her brother is rejecting the marriage proposal, Elizabeth finds new problems. Yoh, the villain from the last book, has joined the knights and become a masochist. And worse, the plot of the second fandisc is beginning… four years too early!

The otome game mechanics are not the only things analysed in this volume. There’s an extra bonus route involving Lilia getting romanced by her teacher, a forbidden love sort of thing, and while Lilia is not interested in anyone but Elizabeth, Elizabeth is furious at the very concept of the route’s existence. She delivers a multi-page takedown of “teacher/student romance” as a concept, stating that anyone who would take advantage of a student in real life is the worst of the worst. Lilia finds this baffling, but that’s because Lilia is still caught up a bit too much in thinking in terms of tropes and fiction – to her, teacher/student romance is hot because of the forbidden aspects. It’s a very interesting diversion in what ends up being a solid but typical volume in the series. Elizabeth remains handsome and seductive but unable to see the very obvious affection anyone has for her – except Lilia, who had to literally confess. Subtlety is not gonna fly here.

The main drag on this volume is that it ends not even 2/3 through, and the rest is taken up with other POV stories and side stuff. It’s the equivalent of a LaLa volume, and I hate it. But the bulk of this is still pretty good.

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.

The gimmick for this book, of course, is despite it being a villainess novel, and Elizabeth genuinely being a woman, it is essentially a BL harem in all but name. Lilia is the sole exception, and for the most part she’s started to get reduced to a combination of comic relief and sole purveyor of common sense. Lilia is, like Elizabeth, a Japanese girl who has been brought into this game world. Unlike Elizabeth, though, Lilia seems to accept that things are different and she can make different choices, and also seems to have awakened her sapphic side, in a PG sort of way. Elizabeth, though, who seemingly does everything in order to try to seduce someone and/or hook up the “targets” with someone else, seems to be completely asexual. And is, frankly, a lot better at being a sexy man than most of the men. Thus, as I said with the first book, you get a BL series that isn’t really.

Much to Elizabeth’s horror, her older brother Frederic has gotten a marriage proposal from a nearby kingdom. Unable to tolerate her big brother vanishing from her life, Elizabeth immediately decides to impersonate him and break up the match… and she’s supported by her father and Christopher, leading to her and Frederic having their first ever fight. Now she’s off to the west, along with Edward (who is delighted to finally get some time with the woman he loves), Christopher (ditto), and Lilia (ditto). When they get there, they find Princess Diana is a knockout, but seems somewhat inexperienced in the art of love. Meanwhile, her sister Marie, who is, according to Elizabeth, a classic tsundere. Can Elizabeth find the time to charm two princesses, convince them she’s a terrible choice for a husband, and not annoy everyone around her? Signs point to no on that last one, especially when Lilia reveals they may be in a spinoff manga plot.

The series continues to have one big, big, drawback, and unfortunately it’s Elizabeth herself. Generally speaking I tend to enjoy when a villainess is cheerful and oblivious (see Bakarina) or stoic and oblivious (many examples), but it’s hard when they’re an arrogant ass and oblivious. Yes, she’s putting on a persona, but I think everyone in the entire series, including Elizabeth herself, agree that it’s stopped being an act and become her. This did make it somewhat amusing then it’s actually Lilia who manages to sabotage the marriage talks, as she ends up turning Princess Diana into a BL fangirl, which ends up getting a little bit out of her control but she’s quick to take advantage of it by advocating for gay marriage for women as well. She’s snarky fun, and I enjoy when she’s in the book. As for Elizabeth, at least she is coming to appreciate that she does not understand anyone’s hearts. At all.

There’s at least three more volumes in Japan, and this plotline will continue into Book 5. Christ, though, Elizabeth is annoying.