in this case Claire is still 100% her "Ohohoho"-ing himedere self

Please, please, don't remind me of that hideous laughter, it's a blessing we haven't had to see it in the recent chapters. Seriously, every time I read that, my brain automatically recalled that annoying Nanami from Revolutionary Girl Utena and god, do I wish to forget her...

in this case Claire is still 100% her "Ohohoho"-ing himedere self

Please, please, don't remind me of that hideous laughter, it's a blessing we haven't had to see it in the recent chapters. Seriously, every time I read that, my brain automatically recalled that annoying Nanami from Revolutionary Girl Utena and god, do I wish to forget her...

I envy all you lucky people whose ears don't automatically hear Naga the White Serpent whenever that laugh comes up...

I envy all you lucky people whose ears don't automatically hear Naga the White Serpent whenever that laugh comes up...

I looked it up. Can anyone explain to me why I looked it up.

One thing about this chapter and which is a general thing about this story is that, as others have pointed out, Rei's ambitions are very limited to protecting Claire. What I think is very interesting though is how Rei is a goofy thirsty idiot most of the time, but can turn into this ruthless predator when it comes to protecting Claire. We see it in this chapter where she doesn't hesitate at all to put Claire to sleep and basically command Lene, something that is completely out of her usual character. Even her facial expressions are markedly different from her usual self, it's like a completely different side of her.

[...] Personally, I think that what makes her a good and interesting character. She is not interested in being good, in being the hero. She's scheming, she's ruthless and could just as easily become a believable villain, it's all down to the circumstances.

Even though I get how that can make for a more interesting character, and it's not like I was expecting or wanted her to actively try and stop the revolution, I just can't bring myself to like her. I don't know why, since I've definitely seen characters in other works that seem to be fixated on only a single person, with little care what happens to the rest *cough cough* Sorawo *cough*, who I've really liked. Maybe it's how this author seems to have gone out of their way to tell us practically nothing at all about this person, other than the fact that she likes Claire and wants to protect her. Like, who is Rei? At least in the manga, we know next to nothing about her and tbh this secrecy seems to only feed my dislike, rather than intrigue me. Also, the way she acts like two completely different people makes her usual behavior seem insincere to me. I'm not saying that it was, I'm just saying that, to me, her happy-go-lucky attitude —when she clearly knew what was coming and had probably been planning what to do all this time— feels fake. I can't believe I came to like the ohoho-ing ojousama more than her....

I'll mark this spoiler just in case, but Rei establishes later that she doesn't want to change too much because she risks losing her knowledge of what's coming if she makes too many drastic changes. This is also just a personal theory based on later parts in the series and the two books after this first series, but I also think Rei might be a bit of a sociopath. Like, she has empathy and people she cares about deeply, but would ultimately throw anyone under the bus if it meant protecting Claire. The real Rei is a lot more cunning and cutthroat than the goofy persona she's adopted so far would suggest.

I'm really excited that we're getting so close to the second half of the first story! For those of you who've only read the manga so far and not the novel, that's when the story really takes off and becomes next level stuff ^w^

FR, There is this one scene from the LN.... I don't know if they already adapted that into the manga or they just skip it. No major plot happens but that one time, (I don't quite remember) The scene that involving a child(I forgot) and Rei's not giving a sh¡t about the child but Claire does... I was SHOCKED to see that reaction.

in this case Claire is still 100% her "Ohohoho"-ing himedere self

May it last forever

I envy all you lucky people whose ears don't automatically hear Naga the White Serpent whenever that laugh comes up...

Best Slayers girl

last edited at Jan 28, 2022 6:12AM

Enjoying the series while it still on the cute side. Delving through the LN currently and omg, the dark tone is real. And Rei's past is like a depressing manga spinoff.

I envy all you lucky people whose ears don't automatically hear Naga the White Serpent whenever that laugh comes up...

I looked it up. Can anyone explain to me why I looked it up.

Human nature.

in this case Claire is still 100% her "Ohohoho"-ing himedere self

Please, please, don't remind me of that hideous laughter, it's a blessing we haven't had to see it in the recent chapters. Seriously, every time I read that, my brain automatically recalled that annoying Nanami from Revolutionary Girl Utena and god, do I wish to forget her...

I actually kinda liked Nanami though I kinda forgot she was an ohohohojou -- mostly I remember the cowbell.

I envy all you lucky people whose ears don't automatically hear Naga the White Serpent whenever that laugh comes up...

I had to look that up as wll as I don't think I ever watched Slayers. Luviagelita Edelfelt from Fate/ has both the laugh and the ringcurls: https://youtu.be/FW1QY76d-40

Whoever ends up being Claire's seiyuu in the anime adaptation has a tall task...

last edited at Jan 28, 2022 7:41AM

in this case Claire is still 100% her "Ohohoho"-ing himedere self

Please, please, don't remind me of that hideous laughter, it's a blessing we haven't had to see it in the recent chapters. Seriously, every time I read that, my brain automatically recalled that annoying Nanami from Revolutionary Girl Utena and god, do I wish to forget her...

I envy all you lucky people whose ears don't automatically hear Naga the White Serpent whenever that laugh comes up...

I'll admit, I have a real weak spot for ojou-samas and find the ohohoho quite amusing. It always makes me think of Constance von Nuvelle from Fire Emblem and she's just too cute

I can clearly see her starting to fumble around a change for the better... but its more so like she's from what we understand pretty anti-commoner within the bounds of the original game, and rei's presence has been softening that. Claire is the villainess! of a story that sets her against the low class hero. So whatever version most likely retained that opposition to the very end unless like a tropey, badly written "oh ill help you in the end" turn which i dont have any indication to believe is the case? As like its more riffing tropey isekai rather than riffing otome tropes. It's that version that rei initially fell in love with which i take umbrage with, and her affection has preceded any significant character growth. And not like in a "liking bad characters means your bad" type of way, but rather like if you like the classist/racist/etc villain romantically that is a step further, and when you don't have an immediate objection to that once they've become isekai'd into a real person... yeah? Like a real person is absolutely is capable of changing those views and deserves a second chance after the verbal abuse / bullying (which rei seems to indicate was a recurring part of the original game's iteration of her).

I don't think it's too spoilery to say that Claire is indeed much more nuanced than she appears. I think at the point of the story we're at, Rei in the LN had talked about falling in love with Claire because she was so much more than the 'villainess' persona gave her credit for, but was only explained in material outside of the main game. I'm hoping that the coming chapters of the manga will start to delve a lot more into that. Claire's biggest issue is internalized classism; she was raised to believe that the nobility were inherently better than commoners and had a right to rule. But you can see in this last chapter that her beliefs are being shaken, and she's starting to open her eyes to the fact that the system she's been benefiting from is not as justified as she was raised to believe.

This is one of my favorite romance/fiction stories for a reason, I just hope the manga is able to do the story the justice it deserves without glossing over important stuff!

last edited at Jan 28, 2022 7:51AM

me reading the spoilers in the comments REI IS WHAT?! And they are leaving me on a cliff hanger like this?! Someone point me to the LN I can not handle the anticipation

Even though I get how that can make for a more interesting character, and it's not like I was expecting or wanted her to actively try and stop the revolution, I just can't bring myself to like her. I don't know why, since I've definitely seen characters in other works that seem to be fixated on only a single person, with little care what happens to the rest *cough cough* Sorawo *cough*, who I've really liked. Maybe it's how this author seems to have gone out of their way to tell us practically nothing at all about this person, other than the fact that she likes Claire and wants to protect her. Like, who is Rei? At least in the manga, we know next to nothing about her and tbh this secrecy seems to only feed my dislike, rather than intrigue me. Also, the way she acts like two completely different people makes her usual behavior seem insincere to me. I'm not saying that it was, I'm just saying that, to me, her happy-go-lucky attitude —when she clearly knew what was coming and had probably been planning what to do all this time— feels fake. I can't believe I came to like the ohoho-ing ojousama more than her....

The biggest thing with Rei is that she's got abysmally low self esteem and she's not really an introvert at all; you don't see characters like that often but that pretty much explains why she's so hyper and self deprecating. Aside from the Cassandra problem she's really not in her head very much. She went from frumpy Japanese OL to frumpy self insert protagonist and doesn't think she has a chance with Claire anyway, she's just kind of enjoying things as they are and hoping to help Claire or keep her happy on some level.

I remember trying to read the LN and dropping it after some chapters cause the translation felt so difficult to read and I felt nothing for the characters, but I find it interesting that apparently Rei is about to outmaneuver some bitches in the revolution like the sociopath she is. I kind of dislike characters like her unless they actually get realistic consequences for the things they do. Hope she doesn’t plow through everyone easily.

last edited at Jan 28, 2022 9:51AM

Honestly, can't at all agree with the "Rei is a sociopath" idea.
Novel chapter 6, in my opinion at least, completely puts that theory in the water. I mean she decided to help out Yuu because she could understand how hard all of it was for her. It didn't do anything in regards to Claire's well being and in fact served to put both herself and Claire in some danger, yet she still decided to help out Yuu. Hell, she even went against what Claire herself wanted to do. Even beyond that the way she treats Lily in 8 clearly shows that she cares about her also.
Like, at least in the first WN she definitely has empathy and a clear desire to help others beyond just trying to protect Claire for her own selfish reasons.

But she also still sees this world as the world of a game and thus goes about her actions in a calculated manner as if playing said game. She knows where the story is heading and thus tries to act accordingly in order to reduce the amount of damage that happens as much as possible

If the lesson you're getting from the above is that there's no use complaining that we don't know enough about Rei, well, it's going to be a feature of the first light novel, the manga, the companion light novel AND the sequel. Because when you DO learn everything about Rei, everything's over. She's a walking spoiler. Plus, you learn about her as much as Claire, Misha, etc. do. But she definitely isn't a sociopath. She's just smarter than absolutely everyone else in the series.

last edited at Jan 28, 2022 12:16PM

Yuri Yuriyuri posted:

Aww Claire is a softie deep down, but i suppose we knew that already.

I think Claire's actually quite an interesting character. She's proud, arrogant, and classist but she's clearly intelligent and has a significant level of integrity as well. For example, there's the interaction between her and Rei where Rei says that one of the things she admires about Claire is how she doesn't force others to do her dirty work for her and she's right. Usually characters like Claire tend to rely on others to do their dirty work for them because they view it as beneath them. And in my opinion, she only becomes more interesting as a character the further we get in the story. I started out hating her but awhile back when I read through the translation of the web novel, by the end she was my favorite character.

Honestly, can't at all agree with the "Rei is a sociopath" idea.
Novel chapter 6, in my opinion at least, completely puts that theory in the water. I mean she decided to help out Yuu because she could understand how hard all of it was for her. It didn't do anything in regards to Claire's well being and in fact served to put both herself and Claire in some danger, yet she still decided to help out Yuu. Hell, she even went against what Claire herself wanted to do. Even beyond that the way she treats Lily in 8 clearly shows that she cares about her also.
Like, at least in the first WN she definitely has empathy and a clear desire to help others beyond just trying to protect Claire for her own selfish reasons.

But she also still sees this world as the world of a game and thus goes about her actions in a calculated manner as if playing said game. She knows where the story is heading and thus tries to act accordingly in order to reduce the amount of damage that happens as much as possible

I don't think this part is a spoiler since it only reiterates the beginning and the current chapter.
Rei knows the plot and events in the story and she can easily control the outcome in her favor anytime. Even with the current event where Lambert is behind the incident, Rei could have stopped him from the start, but if she completely stopped the natural flow of the plot, she will not be able to predict what happens next. She has to ensure the events occur chronologically and act accordingly with the minimum damage and above all protect Claire from the ending.

Even though I get how that can make for a more interesting character, and it's not like I was expecting or wanted her to actively try and stop the revolution, I just can't bring myself to like her. I don't know why, since I've definitely seen characters in other works that seem to be fixated on only a single person, with little care what happens to the rest *cough cough* Sorawo *cough*, who I've really liked. Maybe it's how this author seems to have gone out of their way to tell us practically nothing at all about this person, other than the fact that she likes Claire and wants to protect her. Like, who is Rei? At least in the manga, we know next to nothing about her and tbh this secrecy seems to only feed my dislike, rather than intrigue me. Also, the way she acts like two completely different people makes her usual behavior seem insincere to me. I'm not saying that it was, I'm just saying that, to me, her happy-go-lucky attitude —when she clearly knew what was coming and had probably been planning what to do all this time— feels fake. I can't believe I came to like the ohoho-ing ojousama more than her....

The biggest thing with Rei is that she's got abysmally low self esteem and she's not really an introvert at all; you don't see characters like that often but that pretty much explains why she's so hyper and self deprecating. Aside from the Cassandra problem she's really not in her head very much. She went from frumpy Japanese OL to frumpy self insert protagonist and doesn't think she has a chance with Claire anyway, she's just kind of enjoying things as they are and hoping to help Claire or keep her happy on some level.

For Rei, she thinks that the world is programmed to only give her a romantic route with the princes and the Claire is treated as a villainess for the entire plot, so she thinks her romantic route for Claire is non-existent. She is only focused on flirting with Claire and trying to protect her without considering that Claire can have the potential to have feeling for her. Like the incident with the slime attack during the class training, Rei was supported by Claire even though the original game options were only the three princes.

last edited at Jan 28, 2022 2:13PM

For Rei, she thinks that the world is programmed to only give her a romantic route with the princes and the Claire is treated as a villainess for the entire plot, so she thinks her romantic route for Claire is non-existent.

Its true that she's been stifled by the sequence of events at times but she tries to help Claire get closer to Thane as well so its clear she thinks she can change things. She just doesn't see herself by Claire's side, and is pretty candid about that.

She's hard to compare to other villainess or isekai protagonists though she references Main/Myne from Ascendance of a Bookworm in the WN.

Eh, I don't think it's realistic to prevent a revolution even if you have a superpower of a perfect knowledge of the future (more or less), even in this chapter it's clear that e.g. princes don't have all that much of a say in politics despite being mildly symphatetic to commoners to some extent. Even if you thwart some specific events you know about, people are already pissed, something else will spark that unless you're going to engage in some serious high level politics over the span of years to defuse the unrest, do reforms etc etc. Keeping your own ass safe is the smart choice.

(although I do realize I'm talking about realism in a series where we had a floating rpg game menu in the sky)

there is a misunderstanding here that ppl are assuming rei is trying to stop the revolution, she is very much in favor of the revolution. what she is trying to stop is the eventual violent turn where the commoners execute the aristocracy (no matter how deserved it might or might not be). she wants to protect claire and her other friends and get the fuck away from what she knows is coming.

I envy all you lucky people whose ears don't automatically hear Naga the White Serpent whenever that laugh comes up...

I looked it up. Can anyone explain to me why I looked it up.

One thing about this chapter and which is a general thing about this story is that, as others have pointed out, Rei's ambitions are very limited to protecting Claire. What I think is very interesting though is how Rei is a goofy thirsty idiot most of the time, but can turn into this ruthless predator when it comes to protecting Claire. We see it in this chapter where she doesn't hesitate at all to put Claire to sleep and basically command Lene, something that is completely out of her usual character. Even her facial expressions are markedly different from her usual self, it's like a completely different side of her.

[...] Personally, I think that what makes her a good and interesting character. She is not interested in being good, in being the hero. She's scheming, she's ruthless and could just as easily become a believable villain, it's all down to the circumstances.

Even though I get how that can make for a more interesting character, and it's not like I was expecting or wanted her to actively try and stop the revolution, I just can't bring myself to like her. I don't know why, since I've definitely seen characters in other works that seem to be fixated on only a single person, with little care what happens to the rest *cough cough* Sorawo *cough*, who I've really liked. Maybe it's how this author seems to have gone out of their way to tell us practically nothing at all about this person, other than the fact that she likes Claire and wants to protect her. Like, who is Rei? At least in the manga, we know next to nothing about her and tbh this secrecy seems to only feed my dislike, rather than intrigue me. Also, the way she acts like two completely different people makes her usual behavior seem insincere to me. I'm not saying that it was, I'm just saying that, to me, her happy-go-lucky attitude —when she clearly knew what was coming and had probably been planning what to do all this time— feels fake. I can't believe I came to like the ohoho-ing ojousama more than her....

It might be because there's nothing really compelling about her fixation with Claire, where it mostly feels like she's in love with Claire just because. Maybe Sorawo's a different case.

Even though I get how that can make for a more interesting character, and it's not like I was expecting or wanted her to actively try and stop the revolution, I just can't bring myself to like her. I don't know why, since I've definitely seen characters in other works that seem to be fixated on only a single person, with little care what happens to the rest *cough cough* Sorawo *cough*, who I've really liked. Maybe it's how this author seems to have gone out of their way to tell us practically nothing at all about this person, other than the fact that she likes Claire and wants to protect her. Like, who is Rei? At least in the manga, we know next to nothing about her and tbh this secrecy seems to only feed my dislike, rather than intrigue me. Also, the way she acts like two completely different people makes her usual behavior seem insincere to me. I'm not saying that it was, I'm just saying that, to me, her happy-go-lucky attitude —when she clearly knew what was coming and had probably been planning what to do all this time— feels fake. I can't believe I came to like the ohoho-ing ojousama more than her....

It might be because there's nothing really compelling about her fixation with Claire, where it mostly feels like she's in love with Claire just because. Maybe Sorawo's a different case.

At one point she did say that Claire "saved" her, but she did not elaborate. I presume she meant something along the lines of "attachment to a fictional character pulled me from my depression". But yeah, probably the root cause of my frustration with her is what the original poster wrote here. We are given next to no insight into her mind, and apart from her fawning over Claire and trying to protect her, we really do not have much to go on here. We know more about the mindsets of almost every other character than we do about the main one.

That said, I also can not help but feel that this is very much intentional and will be used in some sort of a twist later on.

A good portion of Rei's entire... thing is being an unreliable, or at the very least reticent narrator. It's fairly obvious that there's much more that's going on than she lets on, an effect which is exacerbated by the lack of her internal monologue which, while also rather reticent, was at least more consistently present.

Where I'm coming from with the Rei is "a bit" of a a sociopath ("a bit" being an important part of what I'm saying) is that in the web/light novel, she says that she doesn't really care about other people or even the commoner movement (although she agrees with their cause). She says that the only person who's important to her is Claire. Ultimately, given some stuff in the series later on, I can confidently say Rei would probably be fine with burning the world to the ground to protect Claire, but she would prefer not to. She cares because Claire cares, really. Although I do think LGBTQ+ issues are also important to her because of some things that happened to people she cares about from her past life. I hope they go into that stuff in the manga soon.

I've known a few sociopaths irl, and all of them have friends, family, and SOs that they love and care about deeply, they just don't have much regard for people outside of that circle. I think Rei has a bit of that in her. Not fully, or even much, but enough that it makes me think she's just a bit of a sociopath (warning, heavy spoiler for later series here) and enough that it could turn darker under the wrong circumstances...

last edited at Jan 28, 2022 10:53PM

me reading the spoilers in the comments REI IS WHAT?! And they are leaving me on a cliff hanger like this?! Someone point me to the LN I can not handle the anticipation

You should be able to find print or digital copies of the first three of novels online, which are the best translations! Books one and two cover the events of the [Revolution] game story and is a very self contained story on their own. Book three starts a 3 book sequel arc that delves more into the world as well as Rei's past. The English version of book 4 should be coming out soon, but after that you can find the last book translated on either the writer, Inori's Fanbox page (like Japanese patreon) so you can support her directly (and find some super special spicy material she's written for fans that support her page) or you can find the translations for free on the two linked wordpress blogs. The original translator stopped about halfway through book 5 so you'll have to continue from there with the next translator.

Inori's fanbox: https://inori-0.fanbox.cc/
Jingle translations for everything up to about the middle of book 5: https://jingletranslations.wordpress.com/i-favor-the-villainess/
Sephallia translations for everything after that, include a spinoff retelling of books 1 and 2 from Claire's perspective: https://sephalliblog.wordpress.com/author/sephallia/

last edited at Jan 28, 2022 11:46PM

Although I do think LGBTQ+ issues are also important to her because of some things that happened to people she cares about from her past life. I hope they go into that stuff in the manga soon.

Rei really sort of won me over with her take on transgender rights; that's not something Japanese works tend to address often and when they do it ranges between indifferent and problematic.

I found Rei really relatable though... she is highly intelligent, somewhat extroverted but with very low self esteem and without much to show for either lifetime... one of the few things that got her through in her previous life was writing Claire fanfiction and while it seems she'll do anything she is generally trying to find a balance I think. When you don't have much though its easy to get lost in defending what you have consequences be damned.

Something happened and Inori pulled down spicy content for now though. Though it'll be back soon, maybe.