Notorious No More: The Villainess Enjoys Feigning Incompetence, Vol. 2

Leave a reply

By Hanako Arashi and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Kitai no Akujo, Sandome no Jinsei de “Musai Munou” wo Tanoshimu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Jeremy Browning.

As with the first book, it frequently feels as if our main character is in a different book from everyone else. This makes sense, of course. Here is a woman who loved as a princess and died young, then lived for 85 years in modern Japan before dying and being reborn as the granddaughter of… well, the backstory of the “villainess”, while a lot clearer than it was before, is still missing a lot of data. In any case, she’s got the mind of an old woman, and she also really does not care for all the drama that her kingdom wants to throw her into again. As such, it makes sense that she wants to spend her time writing smutty romance novels and avoiding anything to do with responsibility and consequences. Unfortunately for Laviange, there’s someone manipulating things behind the scenes, and they’re not done trying to screw everything up. And they get a willing accomplice in Sienna, who is simply terrible.

After the events of the first book, Sienna is rapidly becoming persona non grata, the second prince is basically no longer in this series, and Heinz has been reduced to huddling in his room and avoiding everything. Unfortunately, a mysterious hooded figure is still trying to manipulate things, and gives Sienna an egg that she promises will allow her to get all that she desires. As for Laviange herself, she’s busy composing new books, getting rare and hard-to-cook meat from her friends, and working hard to at least show up to school (if not bother to try to get good grades) so that she can get the lunch special from the cafeteria. Unfortunately, Heinz shows up looking near death, Sienna is in full “I am a bratty younger sister” mode, and students are dropping like flies, their magic appearing next to them like a ghost. How can this be solved? If your answer is “giant paper fans”, you get this series’ vibe.

I understand that this series is not for everyone. Laviange makes a lot of her own problems by her sheer willful desire to not care, and the fact that she’s turned her older brother into a tsukkomi factory does not really offset that. It also clashes badly with a lot of the vile abuse of children that appears in the pasts of several important characters, especially her own past. There’s also a section about 3/4 of the way through the book where the characters stand around for a good thirty pages while the plot is explained to them, and it’s even more irritating that it’s still not the whole plot. This series has not once flashed back to Laviange’s first life, and I suspect it really wants to keep it vague. On the other hand…; Christ, Laviange is just a HOOT. The paper fans and ofuda, as well as her desire to have everyone shout out anime catchphrases as they’re used, cries out to be animated, if this ever gets one. I’m almost ready to forgive her everything. As are a lot of people, really.

So if your need in a villainess book is “complicated but funny bitch on wheels”, this is for you. If not, reader beware.

Engaging with the Plot: A Former Cat’s Attempt to Save Her Now Temporary Fiancé, Vol. 2

Leave a reply

By Usagi Hoshimi and Qi234. Released in Japan as “Konyakusha-sama ni wa Unmei no Heroine ga Arawaremasu ga, Zantei Konyaku Life wo Mankitsushimasu! Anata no Noroi, Kiraware Akujo no Watashi ga Toicha Dame desu ka?” by Earth Star Luna. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Minna Lin.

If I’m going to be honest, this series is, for the most part, fairly generic villainess stuff. We meet the heroine in this volume, and she’s very similar to most heroines who are not either evil or gay: she’s simply too earnest. Needless to say, this makes her face off badly against Lucille, who was a cat in her past life and is a cat in this one, even though she’s walking around in a human skin. Everything Lucille does is informed by her being a cat, including slapdash explanations, poorly thought out plans, and of course the inability to really recognize romantic love when it’s planted in front of her. She’s what makes the series worth reading, even as the plot rapidly advances towards the apocalypse… well, not really, but at least the destruction of their domain by demons.

Things are going swimmingly for Lucille at the start of this book, but she’s startled by the appearance of Elvira, the heroine, and like most villainesses in these books starts to try to get things to go along the lines of what she remembers even though she’s already completely messed up the events of the game. This means getting Elvira and Felix closer to cure his curse, which works on Elvira’s end, but he only has eyes for Lucille, not that she notices. Meanwhile, Lucille discovers that the “Great Sage” is her last owner, now locked into his unaging child body after making a literal deal with the devil. Unfortunately, this deal means that he’s also going to die, which is good (he’s the origin of the curse, so if he dies the curse can be removed from Felix), but also bad (he would die, and that would make Lucille sad).

The epilogues to the book may be more interesting than the actual plot (which ends with Lucille breaking the curse, in case you could not easily guess that). Felix is now free to return to see his parents again, despite the fact that his mother was driven nearly mad on hearing about the curse, and now that he’s better is dealing with guilt and misplaced anger. I liked her discussion with Lucille, who does not really believe in holding on to the past at all, despite her own past influencing the entire country. As for Elvira, she and Lucille get into an argument that amounts to “the few or the one” argument from Wrath of Khan, and no prizes for guessing who’s on the losing end of that one. I like that Elvira sees it as a learning experience (and also perhaps a way to get away from her crush who doesn’t love her back), and that she’s going off to a holy country to learn how to magic better and smarter.

Theoretically there could be more of this, despite a fairly definite “the main plot is over” ending here. After all, Lucille still regards Felix as just a swell guy, not a romantic lead. The author has written a bit more in the webnovel, but I suspect not enough for a third book, and this is probably it. It was fun.

Goodbye, Overtime! This Reincarnated Villainess Is Living for Her New Big Brother, Vol. 6

Leave a reply

By Chidori Hama and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō, Brocon ni Job Change Shimasu” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Rymane Tsouria.

At last, we are back at the school, and Ekaterina is back to worry about the plot of the otome game. Literally, she is worried that this plot makes no sense. As many other fans of villainess books have noted, if your family is ludicrously powerful, and you are found to have tried to murder a commoner… you’re not going to get the death penalty. At worst, you may get house arrest. But otome games in light novels (as opposed to real otome games, which until recently have rarely had villainesses in them) rely to a large degree on bad writing, which is what makes things so difficult… or easy… for the villainess. In this case, Ekaterina’s memories of her past and ability to use those memories to advance society (or write hit songs) allow her to evade this fate, but just as she can’t see that everyone is in love with her, she can’t see that getting executed is not in the cards anymore. For her, at least.

Alexei and Ekaterina are at last back in the capital, and Ekaterina can finally go back to school, catch up with her friends Marina and Olga, and do her best to avoid tripping any otome game flags. Unfortunately, given she’s the unparalleled prime candidate to be the next Empress, trouble is still going to find her. In this case, trouble is in the form of Lydia, the daughter of a marquess and another theoretical candidate for Mikhail’s hand… though he doesn’t really seem to care for her much. And she really doesn’t like Ekaterina. And since this is otome game world, it turns out that just as art is really important here, so is music. And as Olga’s barony is under Lydia’s marquessery, and Olga has a beautiful singing voice, Lydia discovers a way to make Ekaterina face a very difficult choice.

This is not nearly as silly as Bakarina, but it’s coloring in the same lines, and one of the ways that it does that is that anyone who comes into contact with Ekaterina seems to fall under her spell. In this case it’s not the God of Music,. mostly as he’s found two prodigies, but it is the former Emperor and his wife, as it turns out his wife is also one of the best singers in the country. And, oddly, it even turns out to be Lydia, who is smart but runs on anger and being told what to do by her parents, and after a hefty dose of humility, appears to actually learn her lesson. This series doesn’t like to have villainesses fall, lest Ekaterina join them. On the bright side, romance is resolved here. No, not that one. But Olga meets a music nerd and the two of them fall in beautiful music nerd love together, only we barely see this because the series is filtered through its protagonist, who has to literally be told they’re a couple by the prince. If only he could be more explicit about his own feelings, but I get it. It won’t work while she’s like this.

As long as there’s no sexual attraction, she and her brother can say they love each other and jump into each other’s arms as much as they like, IMO. A good villainess series for fans of “otome game analysis”.