Rei's power was only "immeasurable" in that it broke the academy grading scale; Manaria is OP in exactly the same way but vastly moreso (in innate aptitude, Rei is at 'probably the best in a minor kingdom' while Manaria is 'unquestionably the best in the world')

last edited at Sep 16, 2022 12:06AM

That fight actually pissed me off. If this is what the story needed, then I'm fearful of the rest of the story.

Im with u this fight really pissed me off, really expect Rei to beat the crap out of her. Hopefully, she beats her in the future chapters hahahahah

The spell causes all of the magical power in a mage's body to go out of control, harming the mage. Rei possesses so much magical power that it can't be measured, meaning Dominator would cause far more harm to her than it would to anyone else. As I recall, Manaria wasn't aware that Rei was so powerful, so she may not have expected to hurt Rei so badly.

Ohh... That means she could've just killed Prince Rod in a very painful way on their fight using that spell...

Also, I agree that Manaria is stupidly strong because she wasn't supposed to be a boss you can win against, or even fight her. There are tons of these characters on videogames, sometimes the mission is just survive for a specified amount of time/turns or even worse, just lose the fight no matter what (and being rescued for some plot armor, depends on the game)-
Why does someone like her even exist? Well, remember this was just a otome game, don't think too hard about it...

Ch. 13 - Ooh, new hairstyle. Refreshing! A nice change of pace once in a while

Ch. 15 - Haha, nice! That little head tilt in page 6 is quite charming indeed. And the hairstyle! Yes. Just Yes.

Ch. 16 - The people vs nobilities part is pretty interesting, though the ending feels too clean. I don't mind them being alive, I just wish it was a bit more complicated than just "some people pulling the string" in the end. I hope there will be more of them later on.

Ch. 22 - "I'd pick onee-sama in an instant" Whoa whoa whoa! Where did that come from??

I had to take a short break from my marathon first binge-through of the novels because this arc was exhausting... now I get to wait months for it to finish but at least I'm immunized against what bothered me.

Thank you translators for this privilege! Large projects kinda suck when mood is uncooperative, and even movement can become draining. I know the feeling all too well. Thanks for putting time and energy into this. I didn't know what to say before but I want to say that much.

When reading the book this was a great arc to practice predicting later events based only on what is in that text and trope knowledge. I think the books revealed a very important aspect of Manaria's personality and past by this point, which the manga hasn't conveyed well or maybe at all. She still comes off twisted, especially in this version and the Rei-POV novels, but she's more than just a bully. The manga does have the clues (just demonstrated clues so far, not explanation, but spoilered anyhow because it's probably enough for a small thing even if not the big thing): she's lesbian + exiled + a support character + flirty + competing + got that callous calculating nobility vibe you see a lot in this story.

Basically the internal logic and the bones of the storytelling work here, but the execution is underwhelming in this and even the original book / web version of this story. I again (again) recommend reading the parallel side-novel chapters after this arc for much-needed Rei POV and Claire POV scenes. I love this series to death; the tone, the representation, how it's sometimes it's off the rails in amazing ways. But some parts are annoying - the logic here was neat though.

last edited at Sep 16, 2022 9:14PM

I miss them already.

While this is to some extent unavoidable when it comes to adaptations like this, I find it mildly annyoing that so many people seem to come in and use the argument "listen, this may seem stupid but it is totally explained in the novel as being such and such" etc. I'm of the opinion that the adaption should be judged as a thing on its own - if some aspect of the story wasn't presented to me in the manga, then as far as I'm concerned it doesn't exist (especially since I'm not interested in reading the novel).

As far as Manaria herself, I don't hate her, but this whole arc just makes my eyes roll, similarly to other people in here. I still enjoy the manga overall, but I somehow can't help but compare it to the Reincarnated Princess, which it feels to me like some sort of competitor - I think Villainess seems better executed (they resisted the temptation of insanely long artificial expository explanations far better, although they're still here to some extent), but it's starting to seem to me that the underlying story is worse since it just keeps getting stupider, while the Princess keeps getting more interesting. If I ever got the urge to actually read the novel based on what I saw from the manga, I'd rather choose this one :P

last edited at Sep 17, 2022 6:42AM

Thank you guys for the long ass infos , love to read them if i need more sause =D

and , i love the name of these scanlations btw :)

As far as Manaria herself, I don't hate her, but this whole arc just makes my eyes roll, similarly to other people in here. I still enjoy the manga overall, but I somehow can't help but compare it to the Reincarnated Princess, which it feels to me like some sort of competitor - I think Villainess seems better executed (they resisted the temptation of insanely long artificial expository explanations far better, although they're still here to some extent), but it's starting to seem to me that the underlying story is worse since it just keeps getting stupider, while the Princess keeps getting more interesting. If I ever got the urge to actually read the novel based on what I saw from the manga, I'd rather choose this one :P

I wouldn't say Reincarnated Princess is better executed, it is just more focused (so far) on its core themes than The Villainess, which seems to oscillate between wanting to be a wacky School life romcom and a social critique of both societal stratification and of the self-erasure that some gay folks (like Rei) perpetrate. Meanwhile, Reincarnated Princess says "feudal mores based on magical aptitude are bullshit, let us enlighten the crap out it" and runs with it in every arc so far. The resulting romance between Anise and Euphie is more incidental than central as a result, but that's also what makes it feel so much more relatable.

last edited at Sep 18, 2022 3:45AM

I wouldn't say Reincarnated Princess is better executed, it is just more focused (so far) on its core themes

Yeah sorry if I wasn't clear, that's more or less what I meant - IFTV seems to me as a better executed adaption of the novel to a manga (I'm assuming anyway, never having read the novel, but Princess just sometimes clumsily drops these walls of text which I really hate, and if someone told me that IFTV was just a manga from the start and I would never hear about the novel, I would probably believe it), but Princess, even though worse executed, probably builds on a better story which kinda makes me like it more than IFTV at the moment.

... I like both anyway.

last edited at Sep 18, 2022 5:42AM

i can't wait for next chapter

Having read the LN,I cant wait for the conclusion to this arc.

i started reading this and now im OBSESSED

I can't wait for English translation so I start reading Italian translation, and...
TORADORA BUT GAY!! PEAK TSUNDERE PERFORMANCE!! HELL YESH!! I can already imagine Kugimiya Rie voicing Claire xD
I'll save my full bliss when the English translation come out. I really looking forward to it!

I can't wait for English translation so I start reading Italian translation, and...
TORADORA BUT GAY!! PEAK TSUNDERE PERFORMANCE!! HELL YESH!! I can already imagine Kugimiya Rie voicing Claire xD
I'll save my full bliss when the English translation come out. I really looking forward to it!

Thank you for reading my Italian translation.... Yes, I also thought about that pool scene, but even if Claire is tsundere,
I can't really imagine Rie Kugimiya as her voice. Maybe someone who's used to dub the HOHOHO characters XD

Chapter 22 was the first one that Claire really pissed me off, it was thanks to her that things got to this point, she was very ungrateful this time

Anime adaptation is a-go

beeaggro posted:

Anime adaptation is a-go

There's no official announcement yet, it's been a rumor since yesterday I think but not even the author has talked about it.

Rei gets heavily hurt, badmouthed, humiliated and throw aside and on top of that Manaria who plotted the whole thing keeps shitting on her but Rei is the one who take all the blame.. Manaria gets away with 0 repercussion and Claire doesn't suspect a thing, they both made a bet but the one to blame is Rei only... This is beyond bullshit, is fucking trash, it takes me out of the immersion completely.

Responding to this:

Rei gets heavily hurt, badmouthed, humiliated and throw aside and on top of that Manaria who plotted the whole thing keeps shitting on her but Rei is the one who take all the blame.. Manaria gets away with 0 repercussion and Claire doesn't suspect a thing, they both made a bet but the one to blame is Rei only... This is beyond bullshit, is fucking trash, it takes me out of the immersion completely.

Response:

That's not what happens. How the school views the event is normal. Manaria is popular and Rei is not. That's how things go. As for Claire, she clearly didn't side against Rei. She wanted to talk with Rei and even told Manaria to leave them to speak privately. She asked Rei what had been happening and was concerned for her mental state. Then it was Rei who lashed out and quit. Rei did so out of insecurity of course but I don't see how we can say that Claire did anything odd.

last edited at Dec 4, 2022 10:53AM

SrNevik posted:

Responding to this:

Rei gets heavily hurt, badmouthed, humiliated and throw aside and on top of that Manaria who plotted the whole thing keeps shitting on her but Rei is the one who take all the blame.. Manaria gets away with 0 repercussion and Claire doesn't suspect a thing, they both made a bet but the one to blame is Rei only... This is beyond bullshit, is fucking trash, it takes me out of the immersion completely.

Response:

That's not what happens. How the school views the event is normal. Manaria is popular and Rei is not. That's how things go. As for Claire, she clearly didn't side against Rei. She wanted to talk with Rei and even told Manaria to leave them to speak privately. She asked Rei what had been happening and was concerned for her mental state. Then it was Rei who lashed out and quit. Rei did so out of insecurity of course but I don't see how we can say that Claire did anything odd.

That "normal" is bs is what I'm saying, for Manaria, is okay to get away with anything she does, even betting for Claire's company and she was gifted with all the powers to do so, and she won't be questioned at all, because of the settings, Rei is the villain now and no one doubts it, Claire notices something is very wrong but the though of asking Manaria didn't cross her mind, is all on Rei obviously even if they talk about it later in detail, is still really awful to watch... And what's worse, Manaria probably has 0 regrets, in fact I bet she's thinking "she's such a coward, good thing I'm here to help!"

last edited at Dec 4, 2022 11:56AM

That "normal" is bs is what I'm saying, for Manaria, is okay to get away with anything she does, even betting for Claire's company and she was gifted with all the powers to do so, and she won't be questioned at all, because of the settings, Rei is the villain now and no one doubts it, Claire notices something is very wrong but the though of asking Manaria didn't cross her mind, is all on Rei obviously even if they talk about it later in detail, is still really awful to watch... And what's worse, Manaria probably has 0 regrets, in fact I bet she's thinking "she's such a coward, good thing I'm here to help!"

Response:

Remember that the chapter ends before we've had time with Claire and Manaria. It's far too early to comment on how Claire is treating Manaria after hearing what Rei said. All we see is Claire literally crying because Rei left her (on her own, mind you). I think we can't just absolve Rei of responsibility for pushing Claire away here. Manaria can only do so much on her own and this "game" is all in Rei's head. Claire hasn't given any reason to assume she favors Manaria over Claire. That is all in Rei's head and she lashed out at Claire because of it.

I find it interesting that the Rei before being reincarnated is implied to be an "empty shell"... it poses a lots of interesting questions, but I don't expect they will get asked, it doesn't seem to be that kind of story at all.

b58 posted:

I find it interesting that the Rei before being reincarnated is implied to be an "empty shell"... it poses a lots of interesting questions, but I don't expect they will get asked, it doesn't seem to be that kind of story at all.

I talked about this before Some of these isekai and otome game stories are very creepy, the previous soul just vanishes? dies? this bit is most likely trying to lessen the impact and morals about it.

SrNevik posted:

That "normal" is bs is what I'm saying, for Manaria, is okay to get away with anything she does, even betting for Claire's company and she was gifted with all the powers to do so, and she won't be questioned at all, because of the settings, Rei is the villain now and no one doubts it, Claire notices something is very wrong but the though of asking Manaria didn't cross her mind, is all on Rei obviously even if they talk about it later in detail, is still really awful to watch... And what's worse, Manaria probably has 0 regrets, in fact I bet she's thinking "she's such a coward, good thing I'm here to help!"

Response:

Remember that the chapter ends before we've had time with Claire and Manaria. It's far too early to comment on how Claire is treating Manaria after hearing what Rei said. All we see is Claire literally crying because Rei left her (on her own, mind you). I think we can't just absolve Rei of responsibility for pushing Claire away here. Manaria can only do so much on her own and this "game" is all in Rei's head. Claire hasn't given any reason to assume she favors Manaria over Claire. That is all in Rei's head and she lashed out at Claire because of it.

If they talk about it, all those sides we didn't see and I'm just jumping to conclusions that's great but if they just skip it and everything just happens behind the scenes in favor of Manaria master plan then that's awful imo... As you said, we can't absolve Rei of her responsibility and bad behavior... But the story is making us understand that for Manaria, that's alright.

These are a lot of black bars so I'll stop for now.

last edited at Dec 4, 2022 4:06PM