This is my favorite so far, I busted out laughing multiple times and I really enjoyed all the characters/plot in this. Plus the plot twist shocked me but not in a bad way this time around lmao
Having learned more about the plight of the commoners, Claire decides to make it to the church on time. Enter the young cardinal, Lilly, who immediately has designs on Rae. While Rae being Lilly’s jam has Claire jelly, it’s a prelude to the story of Rae’s first love and all the damage that came in its wake.
It is as official as I can make such things - so, not very - this is the best version of this story. The best. It gets its points across, has fun, and the artwork is absolutely stunning. It isn’t perfect, but that’s down to the source material it’s working with.
By this point in the light novels, things were admittedly getting a little into baloneypants nonsense territory, but we haven’t seen anything yet. And, at any rate, this maintains the core of Rae and Claire with the social commentary the story does fairly well.
I will say, the art once again makes Lilly about twice as tolerable and three times as entertaining as she was in the LN. Her clinging to Rae endlessly is fairly lame, as gags go, but her foul mouth makes up for it.
Rae has a fantastic argument with two other sisters about homosexuality that is a lot more reasoned than any you’ll find in the real world, sadly, between people on two sides of that argument. As always, this series is about loving who you love (is it ever) and that remains the case.
The commoner movement gets its due, amidst all this, as Claire begins to see how badly the system is, but things go a whole other direction when she and Lilly get whiff of Rae’s backstory.
I barely remember this section from the novel, but it lands with a wallop here. Rae’s not always been the happy-go-lucky character we see and this shows where the edge that has mostly stayed buried underneath came from.
Knowing that this won’t end well even before it begins is the epitome of a slow-motion car wreck, as several characters twist together in a colossal mess of hurt feelings and snide comments about lesbians.
It goes to some dark places and pulls very few of its punches, although it does sort of let things work out to a degree by the end. Watching Rae’s joy implode as her sexual awakening turns so savagely awful is both great drama and truly sad.
Naturally, this then leads to dodgeball. Which I absolutely do not remember and who cares, truly, because there’s no way it was done this well outside the manga. The art and uniform design is frigging great and it lets off a ton of steam from all the feels of the previous chapters.
Claire’s minions have been very well served by the manga, honestly, turning out to be way funnier foils here than their original incarnations. The brief shot of Loretta’s abs is hysterical, as is Pepi’s bourgeoisie concept of ‘helping’.
This is such a fantastic interpretation of the source material and, while it can’t take care of all the original’s problems, it sands down way more than you’d think and brings out its best sides. This volume does an especially great job of showing off all the things that it does well.
4.5 stars - this one is a hoot and also makes for some fine, fine drama. As a whole, this story has always had some issues, but volumes like this remind me why I loved it to begin with.
Wait, damn. Don’t end on such a cliffhanger!! Did Misha know?
Wow, we got Rei's backstory from before getting isekai'd and even from her school days! Didn't think they were quite depressing. Didn't expect a love square either!
Lily is cute, but for the fact that Nuns aren't allowed to love anyone but God, she's taking this way too casual lol.
Loved Rae lecturing the other Nuns (in the church) about their own bible tho. Religious people really make no sense when it comes to queerness.
Je retrouve ce que j’aime dans la série avec ce nouveau tome qui nous présente un personnage des plus savoureux et permet une petite incursion dans le passé de Rae.
Pour moi, la saveur de I’m in love with the villainess c’est son humour et cela a fait totalement mouche dans ce tome. Les autrices introduisent en effet dans l’histoire une nouvelle héroïne farfelue dont la double personnalité m’aura bien fait rire. Qui est ce personnage mystère ? La none que l’on voit en couverture et ce n’est rien de moins que la fiancée du Prince Yu et la fille du Premier ministre du royaume de Bauer.
Avec elle, c’est l’occasion de revenir sur l’acceptation ou non de l’homosexualité dans la société, les autrices s’amusant mélanger critique du monde de RPG où a atterri Rae et son monde d’origine, c’est-à-dire le nôtre. A chaque fois, les femmes lesbiennes sont victimes de gens peu ouverts d’esprit. C’est le cas de Lilly dans son couvent où on la tient à l’écart. C’est le cas de Rae, quand elle raconte le souvenir de son premier amour et ses difficiles années de lycée malgré le groupe d’amis que cela lui a aidé à trouver. C’est en tout cas, ce qui lui a permis de forger son discours, celui qu’elle délivrera avec poigne aux collègues de Lilly. Bien envoyé !
La série est ainsi à la fois un bon divertissement plein d’humour et une série qui véhicule les messages qu’il faut. Au rayon de l’humour, l’arrivée de Lilly m’a ravie car j’ai trouvé fort amusant qu’une nouvelle rivale arrive pour Claire. En plus, Lilly semble s’accrocher et ne pas vouloir lâcher le morceau, cela annonce de belles séquences de jalousie bien barrées comme les autrices en ont le secret. C’est d’ailleurs déjà un peu le cas ici et qu’est-ce que c’est drôle. J’adore voire Claire exploser de jalousie et Lilly est pas mal aussi dans son genre quand elle vrille. Succès garanti !
J’ai donc apprécié ce renouveau de la série porté par ce tome entre souvenir et nouveau personnage. C’était drôle, punchy et dynamique, avec de belles diatribes contre les homophobes et un plaidoyer contre la crainte des personnes différentes. Les autrices savent maintenir ainsi notre intérêt et le petit twist de la dernière page va d’ailleurs bien dans ce sens, donnant envie de se jeter sur la suite pour comprendre.
A good solid read with an interesting delve into Rae's past school day struggles with her homosexuality before her isekai misadventures. It also showed how she became the care-free yet sometimes brutally serious girl of today, bound and determined to save her beloved Villainess in a world that has become a kind of living fix-it fanfic in itself. I'm suspecting the story might take a darker turn soon. There is unsettling foreshadowing of troubles ahead as the rumble of the Commoner rebellion against the Nobles grows ever louder.
Until then, we have wacky split-personality lovesick Nun antics and Intense Magic Battle Dodgeball to enjoy! Nice cliffhanger at the end. Will be interesting to see where that goes...
¿QUÉ? ¿CÓMO ME LO VAS A DEJAR AHÍ? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA TREMENDO FINALAZO ESTE TOMO.
Me encantó. No sabía qué esperar siendo que arrancaba el arco de la iglesia, pero me gustó la forma en la que van encarando la variedad de temas que se van presentando. Algo que me gusta mucho de esta serie es que, más allá de ser un mundo otome de fantasía, con momentos cómicos y que por lo general tiene un ambiente muy relajado, tiene momentos bastante realistas también, y ver cómo Rei planta cara y alza la voz siempre es satisfactorio; puede que sea un personaje cómico pero, cuando tiene que plantar los pies en la tierra, los planta.
This volume takes the time to explore what Rae was like in her previous life. From her time as a naive student to becoming a Yuri obsessed fangirl and how it affected her life are all addressed. It has some very emotional moments as Raei doens't have the easiest time coming to tears with her identity. It all leads to another emotional installment of this series.
5/5 Claire’s little bouts of jealousy when Lily starts making moves on Rei were my favorite! The story of Rei’s first love was also a very welcome addition to the story. I loved seeing Claire and Lily be ENRAGED on Rei’s behalf. I want to see more of Rei and Claire as a couple!!!!