What do you think?
Rate this book
I'm in Love with the Villainess Manga #8
I'm in Love with the Villainess (Manga) Vol. 8
In order to ensure her child, Yu, had the right to ascend the throne, Queen Riche used magic to change Yu’s gender from a girl to a boy as a baby. Having learned this, Rae asks her friend Misha for help setting things right. But before Rae and Claire can figure out how to reverse the spell, they must deal with a mysterious criminal organization that’s been kidnapping students!
204 pages, Paperback
First published April 17, 2024
3 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 19, 2025
I never usually rate the manga I read but holy shit a trans character written with care and respect in a manga? I never thought I'd see the day holy shit this is the best thing that has ever happened to me
May 24, 2025
[CW: Suicide]
There’s nothing here to dissuade my opinion that this is the best way to experience this story. The plot flows better as a manga, the art is better than the anime, ergo, I don’t see the downside. Also, we get the return of ‘actually, they’re lesbians’ Loretta and Pepi, plus Loretta’s ridiculous abs, which is a manga-only development I love.
As I said last time, this really makes even the things I wasn’t as fond of in the light novels, ie Cardinal Lilly and her unabashed crush on Rae, easier to take. When in doubt, just let the fantastic art wash over you.
Whether it is wholly successful or not, and I do think I may have over-praised the series a tad back in the day, it gets all the respect for not backing down in terms of addressing every sort of sexual identity thing it can think of.
I’m still torn on using a magic curse as a way of injecting body dysphoria into the equation, but I’d rather have it try and wobble a little than not make the attempt. And where else but a magic story can you do that anyway? Overall, it’s not awful, plus it gives Misha her strongest moments in the series. It does draw in the real world, but part of it feels a little inelegant.
(Still, by having the curse sound like something out of Harry Potter it also functions as a bit of a jab at a particularly awful human being.)
The driving action mostly revolves around the spy from last time and a plot to abduct people and, as if in response to my comments about the last volume of Frieren I read, a veritable panopoly of mind control.
Still, it gives almost all the student council something to do and lets it deliver on the action while also being an excuse to draw everybody in disguise (Rae’s peasant outfit is pretty adorable). Big shout-out to Rod’s flame troops, which I have never thought much of, but come off pretty cool (oops) this volume.
There’s very little of the Rae and Claire romance that usually dots the story; this is absolutely a plot-forward volume. But it does bring up some real ghosts from Rae’s past and a reason she works so hard to help Yu get the body she wants.
Despite the less than brilliant way that comes back at the end, it has a payoff that I don’t fully think pays off and was fine as-is, it is one of the volume’s highlights. So is Rae’s big talk with Misha, which has an ending that I felt actually did pay off.
I also appreciate that this has one thing that makes it entirely more interesting than most any isekai. It introduces uncertainty, with things unfolding that Rae isn’t familiar with from the game. It shows that her actions are having consequences and makes her and the world feel more real as a result.
And the rest is pretty good too. There are just a couple parts where I feel it just goes a little too hard for a big moment and doesn’t quite make the landing. The confessional at the end is very sweet, but melodramatic as heck.
Still, for actual social commentary plus yuri plus stunning visuals, it can’t be beat. The longer this goes the more we reach the aspects that didn’t quite achieve the designs of the author, however, and it simply cannot stay perfect forever.
The omake where Claire is trying to figure out how to tease herself in Rae’s absence almost wins it a perfect score on its own though.
4.5 stars - no rounding up; the plot is good, I do like the use of character’s and Yu’s story, but some of the execution is not quite there. You could do a lot worse though and I still enjoyed the heck out of it.
There’s nothing here to dissuade my opinion that this is the best way to experience this story. The plot flows better as a manga, the art is better than the anime, ergo, I don’t see the downside. Also, we get the return of ‘actually, they’re lesbians’ Loretta and Pepi, plus Loretta’s ridiculous abs, which is a manga-only development I love.
As I said last time, this really makes even the things I wasn’t as fond of in the light novels, ie Cardinal Lilly and her unabashed crush on Rae, easier to take. When in doubt, just let the fantastic art wash over you.
Whether it is wholly successful or not, and I do think I may have over-praised the series a tad back in the day, it gets all the respect for not backing down in terms of addressing every sort of sexual identity thing it can think of.
I’m still torn on using a magic curse as a way of injecting body dysphoria into the equation, but I’d rather have it try and wobble a little than not make the attempt. And where else but a magic story can you do that anyway? Overall, it’s not awful, plus it gives Misha her strongest moments in the series. It does draw in the real world, but part of it feels a little inelegant.
(Still, by having the curse sound like something out of Harry Potter it also functions as a bit of a jab at a particularly awful human being.)
The driving action mostly revolves around the spy from last time and a plot to abduct people and, as if in response to my comments about the last volume of Frieren I read, a veritable panopoly of mind control.
Still, it gives almost all the student council something to do and lets it deliver on the action while also being an excuse to draw everybody in disguise (Rae’s peasant outfit is pretty adorable). Big shout-out to Rod’s flame troops, which I have never thought much of, but come off pretty cool (oops) this volume.
There’s very little of the Rae and Claire romance that usually dots the story; this is absolutely a plot-forward volume. But it does bring up some real ghosts from Rae’s past and a reason she works so hard to help Yu get the body she wants.
Despite the less than brilliant way that comes back at the end, it has a payoff that I don’t fully think pays off and was fine as-is, it is one of the volume’s highlights. So is Rae’s big talk with Misha, which has an ending that I felt actually did pay off.
I also appreciate that this has one thing that makes it entirely more interesting than most any isekai. It introduces uncertainty, with things unfolding that Rae isn’t familiar with from the game. It shows that her actions are having consequences and makes her and the world feel more real as a result.
And the rest is pretty good too. There are just a couple parts where I feel it just goes a little too hard for a big moment and doesn’t quite make the landing. The confessional at the end is very sweet, but melodramatic as heck.
Still, for actual social commentary plus yuri plus stunning visuals, it can’t be beat. The longer this goes the more we reach the aspects that didn’t quite achieve the designs of the author, however, and it simply cannot stay perfect forever.
The omake where Claire is trying to figure out how to tease herself in Rae’s absence almost wins it a perfect score on its own though.
4.5 stars - no rounding up; the plot is good, I do like the use of character’s and Yu’s story, but some of the execution is not quite there. You could do a lot worse though and I still enjoyed the heck out of it.
October 2, 2025
¿Misha y Yuu? ¿Los hermanos dándolo todo por Yuu? El ritual de la danza, que me encantó porque siempre me gustan ese tipo de escenas, solo terminó de hacer que amara este manga, por no mencionar la cara de la reina :) Este fue uno de mis tomos favoritos. Me da pena haberme puesto al día porque podría seguir leyendo 20 tomos más y sería feliz.
April 16, 2024
5/5
I LOVED THIS VOLUME!!! I love Yuu’s storyline so much. I think also the part with Misha’s feelings for Yu and then Rei and Lily’s conversation about whether or not gender matters in love was very important and well done.
Plus, protective Claire gives me life!!!!
I LOVED THIS VOLUME!!! I love Yuu’s storyline so much. I think also the part with Misha’s feelings for Yu and then Rei and Lily’s conversation about whether or not gender matters in love was very important and well done.
Plus, protective Claire gives me life!!!!
June 26, 2025
DNF. I think it's been too long since I read the last volume. This volume was so confusing because I didn't remember much, and I thought about rereading the series to continue, but I felt no interest in the though.
June 4, 2024
Can we just focus on Misha please?
June 4, 2025
me before this volume: wow yu's story really seems like a trans allegory
vol 8: yu is basically trans
me: [surprised pikachu]
vol 8: yu is basically trans
me: [surprised pikachu]
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 26, 2025
its so pretty and on of my favorite parts
July 21, 2025
There are interesting ideas here that I'm sure would hit so much harder if this wasn't an adaptation
October 21, 2025
4.5 stars
December 24, 2025
We finally got a bit more of Misha, aaah!
April 16, 2025
This yuri has its ups and downs and I was sort of put off by the premise after the first volume but I was shocked by how well it came together. There is some really good and shockingly well-done social commentary here, though this is yuri so don’t get it twisted this is not like revolutionary or anything, more like social politics 101. Still, it works and adds some nice depth. I’ve enjoyed the transformation of Claire over the past 8 volumes and am excited to see how her character continues to develop. Rei is a very strong lead and I enjoy her very much. She’s also developed quite a bit and I liked watching her go from “bumbling fool in love with Claire” to “surprise! she’s actually super with it and woke and powerful and everyone should cower before her!” The whole premise is the most unique that I’ve read yet, and I love to #game so I’m obsessed with the idea of Rei becoming part of her favorite game literally when will I become part of Danganronpa and awe everyone with all my skills because I know the answers to all of the trials… Anyway I’m super excited to see how this progresses and I need this to be serialized faster because there are only so many weird anime ads I can be subjected to on the sites these scans are uploaded to
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews