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I'm in Love with the Villainess

I'm in Love with the Villainess (私の推しは悪役令嬢.), often translated as I Favor the Villainess, is a Japanese light novel series written by Inori and illustrated by Hanagata. It was serialized online between January 2018 and February 2021 on the Japanese novel self-publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. It was acquired by Ainaka Publishing, who published the first light novel volume digitally in February 2019 under their GL Bunko imprint.

A manga adaptation with art by Aonoshimo has been serialized in Ichijinsha's yuri manga magazine Comic Yuri Hime since June 18, 2020. It has been collected in twelve tankōbon volumes. The light novel and manga are licensed in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. An anime television series adaptation produced by Platinum Vision aired from October to December 2023.

Plot

Rei Ohashi, an ordinary office worker, is overworked to death and suddenly finds herself reincarnated as Rae Taylor, the heroine of her favorite otome game, Revolution. However, Rae has no interest in the game's three original romance routes with the Bauer Kingdom's princes. Instead, she sets her heart on Claire François, the game's main antagonist. Using her knowledge of the game's events that are yet to come, Rae tries to give Claire a happy ending before the coming revolution destroys any chance of it happening.

Characters

  • Rae Taylor (レイ＝テイラー) / Rei Ohashi (大橋 零)
  • An office worker who died of overwork and reincarnated as the player character of her favorite otome game, Revolution. Being a lesbian, she has no interest in the game's designated male capture targets and has instead developed feelings for the game's villainess, Claire, and aims to use her knowledge of the original game's plot to give her a happy ending. Underneath her happy-go-lucky demeanor, however, lies a woman beset by trauma from poor romantic experiences in her previous life.
  • Claire François (クレア＝フランソワ)
  • The villainess of the original game and the current target of Rae's affection. She is a noble who believes in the current aristocratic system within the kingdom and often has a low view of commoners, especially Rae, though this only serves to make her flustered and confused by Rae's interest in her. Over time, however, she begins appreciating Rei's attempts to bond with her, often resulting in slapstick punishment, which Rae does not mind.
  • Rod Bauer (ロッド＝バウアー)
  • The eldest heir within the Bauer Kingdom's royal family and the most popular of the romance options in the original game. He is often followed by a legion of devoted female admirers for his looks and skill. He is an energetic young man who becomes deeply interested in Rae due to her unrivaled abilities stemming from her knowledge of the original game, much to the latter's dismay.
  • Thane Bauer (セイン＝バウアー)
  • The second heir within the Bauer Kingdom's royal family and one of the romance options in the original game. He is often stoic due to suffering from an inferiority complex as he feels that his abilities are inferior to his brothers, causing him to be considered the least popular capture target. Claire has had a long-standing and obvious crush on him, especially apparent in his route.
  • Yu Bauer (ユー＝バウアー)
  • The third heir within the Bauer Kingdom's royal family and one of the romance options in the original game. While putting on the guise of a charismatic prince, it is later revealed that she is afflicted with the Crosswire Curse, which inverts genders; actually being a girl but having been cursed by her mother to gain eligibility for the throne. Originally, only Misha (her childhood friend) knew of her secret; with even Rae having been unaware of it. However, after Rae learns of her affliction and offers her a cure, she decides to break her curse and live by her true gender.
  • Misha Jur (ミシャ＝ユール)
  • Rae's roommate and best friend. Her family was once a noble house, but they fell from grace and were demoted to commoners. Having known the real Rae before Rei reincarnated as her, she becomes increasingly suspicious of her and eventually learns of the reincarnation. She also mutually loves Yu, being the only one aware of his gender-swapping curse, and continues doing so even after said curse is broken; showing she is pansexual.
  • Lene Aurousseau (レーネ＝オルソー)
  • Claire's maid who has worked for her as long as she can remember, sharing a bond that is closer to sisterly. She is a commoner and the eldest daughter of a wealthy merchant family. She is also in an incestuous romance with her brother, which disgusts even Rae. It is later revealed that her family is part of a revolutionary movement seeking to overthrow the nobility and she and her brother are exiled after the plot fails, Claire and Rae having bargained to spare them the death penalty.
  • Loretta Kugret (ロレッタ＝クグレット)
  • A childhood friend of Claire's, later revealed to have a crush on her. She is from the House Kugret, a family well known for their history of military service. She has a boyish face with freckles.
  • Pepi Barlier (ピピ＝バルリエ)
  • A childhood friend of Claire's, who later develops a crush on Loretta. She is the daughter of the House Barlier, a family with deep-seated connections in Bauer's business world. She has pink hair.
  • Manaria Sousse (マナリア＝スース)
  • A princess of a foreign country who has known Claire since childhood. She is a tomboyish and open lesbian who transfers to the Royal Academy after being exiled from her kingdom following a scandal where she was revealed to be in a relationship with her maid. After transferring, she develops a crush on Rae and gets close to Claire to make her jealous. In the end, she transfers out again after her status is restored, having left a profound impact on Rae and Claire's relationship by getting them to seriously pursue each other.

Production

Light novels

Conception

Inori, the author of the light novels, had wanted to be a writer since she was a student.[5] She decided to apply for a light novel contest hosted by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko,[6] and her first submitted work ended up getting third place. Following that, she became more interested in pursuing writing as a career.[5] However, she fell ill shortly afterward, and did not begin writing I'm in Love with the Villainess until after she graduated from university.[6]

Inori stated that her work naturally tended to focus on yuri relationships; though she wrote stories with heterosexual relationships, she felt that it "didn't quite fit". She named Shinobu Saeki, a light novel writer, as someone who had a "huge impact" on her.[5]

Inori based Rae Taylor, the story's protagonist, on her partner, Aki, though with exaggerated traits.[7] Inori described Aki as a "very humorous person", and felt that a story featuring a character like her would be fun to write.[5] In addition, many of the conflicts that Rae faces in the story were inspired by Inori's life experiences.[8] As for Claire, Inori modeled her off a "villainess" character archetype popular on the novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō,[5] but stated that had "no special attachment" to the archetype's genre itself.[7]

Development

Inori first serialized the work from January 2018 to February 2021 on Shōsetsuka ni Narō.[9] She often wrote irregularly, with the time taken for a single chapter ranging from one week to three months. One time, she wrote about 40,000 characters of text in a single day.[5]

Inori felt it was important to address societal issues, especially since she identified as part of a minority group. While doing this, she sometimes struggled to balance between the work's value as entertainment and its value in addressing serious themes. Despite this, she remarked that she was pleased with the series overall, and did not wish to rewrite it.[7]

Inori noted that yuri stories often tended to emphasize subtle emotions, whereas her writing focused more on stronger and vivid feelings. Furthermore, rather than focusing on an individual relationship, Inori sought to connect her writing's yuri aspects to a greater narrative.[6]

Publication

After hearing that GL Bunko was looking for yuri stories, Inori submitted I'm in Love with the Villainess. After six months and forgetting about the manuscript entirely, she received a publication offer.[6] Her story was then officially published in Japan as an ebook.[5]

Although sales were initially poor, Korean and English fan translations led to the work becoming popular overseas. Eventually, publishers in South Korea and North America officially released the series in print form, following which a manga adaptation began being serialized in the magazine Comic Yuri Hime. In late 2021, the series was published in print form in Japan for the first time.[5]

Conception

Inori, the author of the light novels, had wanted to be a writer since she was a student.[5] She decided to apply for a light novel contest hosted by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko,[6] and her first submitted work ended up getting third place. Following that, she became more interested in pursuing writing as a career.[5] However, she fell ill shortly afterward, and did not begin writing I'm in Love with the Villainess until after she graduated from university.[6]

Inori stated that her work naturally tended to focus on yuri relationships; though she wrote stories with heterosexual relationships, she felt that it "didn't quite fit". She named Shinobu Saeki, a light novel writer, as someone who had a "huge impact" on her.[5]

Inori based Rae Taylor, the story's protagonist, on her partner, Aki, though with exaggerated traits.[7] Inori described Aki as a "very humorous person", and felt that a story featuring a character like her would be fun to write.[5] In addition, many of the conflicts that Rae faces in the story were inspired by Inori's life experiences.[8] As for Claire, Inori modeled her off a "villainess" character archetype popular on the novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō,[5] but stated that had "no special attachment" to the archetype's genre itself.[7]

Development

Inori first serialized the work from January 2018 to February 2021 on Shōsetsuka ni Narō.[9] She often wrote irregularly, with the time taken for a single chapter ranging from one week to three months. One time, she wrote about 40,000 characters of text in a single day.[5]

Inori felt it was important to address societal issues, especially since she identified as part of a minority group. While doing this, she sometimes struggled to balance between the work's value as entertainment and its value in addressing serious themes. Despite this, she remarked that she was pleased with the series overall, and did not wish to rewrite it.[7]

Inori noted that yuri stories often tended to emphasize subtle emotions, whereas her writing focused more on stronger and vivid feelings. Furthermore, rather than focusing on an individual relationship, Inori sought to connect her writing's yuri aspects to a greater narrative.[6]

Publication

After hearing that GL Bunko was looking for yuri stories, Inori submitted I'm in Love with the Villainess. After six months and forgetting about the manuscript entirely, she received a publication offer.[6] Her story was then officially published in Japan as an ebook.[5]

Although sales were initially poor, Korean and English fan translations led to the work becoming popular overseas. Eventually, publishers in South Korea and North America officially released the series in print form, following which a manga adaptation began being serialized in the magazine Comic Yuri Hime. In late 2021, the series was published in print form in Japan for the first time.[5]

Media

Light novels

I'm in Love with the Villainess was originally serialized online from January 14, 2018, to February 21, 2021, on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. Five volumes of the official light novel were published digitally as Amazon Kindle exclusives by Ainaka Publishing under their GL Bunko imprint from February 26, 2019, to August 26, 2021. The light novels featured cover art and additional illustrations by Hanagata.[9]

In April 2020, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they had licensed the light novel in North America.[10] On March 19, 2021, Seven Seas issued a statement that they would be releasing a new version of the first volume due to the localization decisions in the original omitting several paragraphs.[11]

I'm in Love with the Villainess: Revolution

In 2021, Ichijinsha announced that it would begin publishing the light novels in paperback as expanded "Revolution" editions, exclusive to Japan, with the first volume released on December 18, 2021, under their Ichijinsha Novels imprint. In order to incentivize purchases by fans who may have already owned the original e-books, these editions feature refinements both to the editing and to existing illustrations, as well as additional bonus stories, additional illustrations, and other extra content. Several bonus stories which were originally published with the third light novel were also moved forward in order to better fit chronologically with the mainline story, with the result being that the existing second light novel's content is covered in two books instead of one. As of November 2023, only three novels (corresponding in mainline content to the original two novels) have been released in Revolution editions.

Spin-off

I'm in Love with the Villainess: She's so Cheeky for a Commoner (平民のくせに生意気な！) is a retelling of the original series from Claire's perspective. It began serialization online on May 25, 2021, on Shōsetsuka ni Narō.[25] Ainaka Publishing published the first light novel volume digitally under their GL Bunko imprint on February 28, 2022, with Hanagata returning for cover design and additional illustrations. At Anime Expo 2022, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they licensed the spin-off for English publication.[26]

I'm in Love with the Villainess: Revolution

In 2021, Ichijinsha announced that it would begin publishing the light novels in paperback as expanded "Revolution" editions, exclusive to Japan, with the first volume released on December 18, 2021, under their Ichijinsha Novels imprint. In order to incentivize purchases by fans who may have already owned the original e-books, these editions feature refinements both to the editing and to existing illustrations, as well as additional bonus stories, additional illustrations, and other extra content. Several bonus stories which were originally published with the third light novel were also moved forward in order to better fit chronologically with the mainline story, with the result being that the existing second light novel's content is covered in two books instead of one. As of November 2023, only three novels (corresponding in mainline content to the original two novels) have been released in Revolution editions.

Spin-off

I'm in Love with the Villainess: She's so Cheeky for a Commoner (平民のくせに生意気な！) is a retelling of the original series from Claire's perspective. It began serialization online on May 25, 2021, on Shōsetsuka ni Narō.[25] Ainaka Publishing published the first light novel volume digitally under their GL Bunko imprint on February 28, 2022, with Hanagata returning for cover design and additional illustrations. At Anime Expo 2022, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they licensed the spin-off for English publication.[26]

Manga

A manga adaptation is written by Inori and illustrated by Aonoshimo. It began serialization in Ichijinsha's yuri manga magazine Comic Yuri Hime on June 18, 2020.[33] In February 2021, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they had also licensed the manga adaptation.[34]

Spin-off

A 4-chapter cooking spin-off manga illustrated by tsuke, titled I'm in Love with the Villainess: Maid's Kitchen (私の推しは悪役令嬢. メイドキッチン), was serialized in Comic Yuri Hime from June 16 to September 15, 2023.[59][60]

Spin-off

A 4-chapter cooking spin-off manga illustrated by tsuke, titled I'm in Love with the Villainess: Maid's Kitchen (私の推しは悪役令嬢. メイドキッチン), was serialized in Comic Yuri Hime from June 16 to September 15, 2023.[59][60]

Webtoon

A manhwa adaptation written by Kim Migyo and illustrated by TSTeam, titled, began serialization on Ridi Books' webtoon platform on January 13, 2023.[62]

Anime

An anime television series adaptation was announced on December 13, 2022. It was produced by Platinum Vision and directed by Hideaki Ōba, with scripts written by Ayumu Hisao, character designs handled by Yōko Satō, and music composed by Noriyuki Asakura and Usagi to Uma.[63] The series aired from October 3 to December 19, 2023, on Tokyo MX and other networks.[64][65] The opening theme song is "Raise Y/Our Hands!!", while the ending theme song is "O.C. Optimum Combination", both performed by Yu Serizawa and Karin Nanami.[67] Crunchyroll streamed the series outside of Asia.[68]

Reception

Accolades

In March 2021, I'm in Love with the Villainess placed fifth in AnimeJapan's annual Manga We Want to See Animated Ranking.[72] In June 2021, the series was nominated for the Best Printed Manga category in the Next Manga Awards and placed seventeenth out of fifty nominees.[73] It was nominated for the same award and placed eighth out of fifty nominees in 2022.[74][75]

Critical reception

Light novels

Erica Friedman of Yuricon awarded the first light novel an overall score of nine out of ten, acclaiming the "extraordinary" and "surprising" work in almost all respects. She praised Rae's portrayal through the use of narrative voice, and favorably compared the story's worldbuilding and character writing compared to similar series. She concluded by commending the English-language translation and calling it the "series to beat" for 2020.[76]

Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network gave a generally positive review to the first light novel. She opined that although the female leads "start off as almost intensely difficult to like", they developed throughout the novel in a way which made them "much easier to root for." She also praised the story's same-sex representation, saying that the "book's heart definitely feels like it's in the right place", and concluded that it was "worth reading".[77]

Kevin Cormack, also of Anime News Network, praised the audiobook version of the light novels for reinstating segments missing from the English-print books which explained Rae's motivations through the lens of Japanese culture. He was particularly positive about the series' social commentary regarding inequality and social status, as well as its "complex and endearing" characters and "exciting" story.[78]

Anime

The anime adaptation received mixed-to-positive reviews. In a review of the premiere episode by Anime News Network critics, James Beckett found the plot repetitive and was unenthused by the visuals, while Rebecca Silverman disliked the portrayal of Rae's interactions with Claire. On the other hand, Richard Eisenbeis commended the premise for its originality and potential, while Nicholas Dupree called the series "hilarious" and "infinitely funny".[79]

Cormack named the anime as one of his favorite series of Fall 2023, stating that it stood above its "subgenre competitors" and had "humor [that] serves its characters". Though he found Rae "initially offputting", he felt that Rae and Claire were portrayed as "multi-layered characters" later on. However, he lamented that the series ended partway through the main story arc.[78]

Andrew Henderson of Anime Feminist found Rae's actions toward Claire in the first episode grating, though they described it as "kinda funny" in small amounts, and hoped that their dynamic changed as the series went forward.[80] After watching the second episode, they decided it "[held] potential" but, as of that episode, was still struggling with "uncomfortable gags".[81]

Cy Catwell, also of Anime Feminist, was more positive reviewing the series as a whole. They were "charmed" by Rae and praised the show's portrayal of the deeper reasons behind her behavior. Noting the series' positive LGBTQ+ representation, they hoped that the show got a second season, particularly because the finale left the story in a "fascinating" position.[82]

Light novels

Erica Friedman of Yuricon awarded the first light novel an overall score of nine out of ten, acclaiming the "extraordinary" and "surprising" work in almost all respects. She praised Rae's portrayal through the use of narrative voice, and favorably compared the story's worldbuilding and character writing compared to similar series. She concluded by commending the English-language translation and calling it the "series to beat" for 2020.[76]

Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network gave a generally positive review to the first light novel. She opined that although the female leads "start off as almost intensely difficult to like", they developed throughout the novel in a way which made them "much easier to root for." She also praised the story's same-sex representation, saying that the "book's heart definitely feels like it's in the right place", and concluded that it was "worth reading".[77]

Kevin Cormack, also of Anime News Network, praised the audiobook version of the light novels for reinstating segments missing from the English-print books which explained Rae's motivations through the lens of Japanese culture. He was particularly positive about the series' social commentary regarding inequality and social status, as well as its "complex and endearing" characters and "exciting" story.[78]

Anime

The anime adaptation received mixed-to-positive reviews. In a review of the premiere episode by Anime News Network critics, James Beckett found the plot repetitive and was unenthused by the visuals, while Rebecca Silverman disliked the portrayal of Rae's interactions with Claire. On the other hand, Richard Eisenbeis commended the premise for its originality and potential, while Nicholas Dupree called the series "hilarious" and "infinitely funny".[79]

Cormack named the anime as one of his favorite series of Fall 2023, stating that it stood above its "subgenre competitors" and had "humor [that] serves its characters". Though he found Rae "initially offputting", he felt that Rae and Claire were portrayed as "multi-layered characters" later on. However, he lamented that the series ended partway through the main story arc.[78]

Andrew Henderson of Anime Feminist found Rae's actions toward Claire in the first episode grating, though they described it as "kinda funny" in small amounts, and hoped that their dynamic changed as the series went forward.[80] After watching the second episode, they decided it "[held] potential" but, as of that episode, was still struggling with "uncomfortable gags".[81]

Cy Catwell, also of Anime Feminist, was more positive reviewing the series as a whole. They were "charmed" by Rae and praised the show's portrayal of the deeper reasons behind her behavior. Noting the series' positive LGBTQ+ representation, they hoped that the show got a second season, particularly because the finale left the story in a "fascinating" position.[82]

Themes and analysis

Various critics commented on the series' LGBTQ+ representation, with many feeling that the Rae's open expression of her sexuality was unusual for the genre. Silverman noted that Rae has "zero problems" coming out, and that Rae's straightforward lack of heterosexual attraction "eschews a lot of common tropes" compared to similar works.[77] Similarly, Friedman commended a scene in the first book where Rae and Misha had a "frank" discussion regarding sexuality.[76] Catwell opined that the show used its directness to engage with "real-world issues" and explore what it meant to "be queer using queer language".[82]

See also

External links

References

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