katarina walks into the club like what up, i got another love interest
surprisingly i quite like him tho i see very little possibility of them going anywhere lol
my current rankings are basically maria, nicol, cezar. third place is v impressive for someone who's just shown up!
(nicol's ranking is less about the ship dynamic than it is me liking him a lot personally, every time he's quietly delighted at having friends my heart grows another size)
Although Katarina has a mountain of work to do trying to translate the Covenant of Darkness she ended up gaining, something more important has come up. The Assembly is a gathering of the nobles of nearby countries, and this time, her nation is hosting. Which means a lot of etiquette, fancy parties, and new trouble . . .
I love how Katarina's main problem with the Covenant of Darkness is that she immediately forgot all the ancient vocabulary she was required to learn in school and now has to re-learn it all. So while Maria is making decent progress acquiring spells and knowledge from HER Covenant, Katarina is still trying to finish the introduction. And the protections on the book mean she can't just write it out for someone else to translate.
Foreign nobles means, of course, a new love interest. (What otome game would be complete without some dashing foreign prince to spice things up?) So Katarina has her encounter with a stranger that she quickly charms. I do like Cezar and hope he shows up more in the future. He's got a much broader perspective on life and the various nations than any of the other people introduced so far.
As usual, there's a fair amount of backstabbing between Katarina's friends. I'm getting so tired of it by this point. Jeord is still developing in incremental ways, which is nice. He was originally one of the worst of the lot, but at this point I think he's truly one of the better options, if only because he's not trying to rip up someone else's engagement. Nicol finally says what he feels, but the story immediately backpedals on it and with Katarina's faulty memory, it will be like it never happened.
There isn't much progress on the main plotline that's been running through the last few books, but we do at least get a few hints. I rate this story Recommended.
Ah. Another day, another volume of My Next life as a villainess. And, I gotta say, i keep coming back for more.
So in this volume, Catarina has to prepare for and go to this super important several day length meeting of a bunch of different diplomats from different countries that is only hosted in their country once every ten years. Because of that, she needs to put her research on hold and go practice for, and go to that. And of course, along the way, another person falls in love with her. This time the prince of a neighboring nation who pretends to be a normal servant.
This volume was definitely better than the last one, one of the reasons being that everyone's actually involved in this one. Not just Maria and Sora, but Keith, Mary, Alan, etc all play a much larger role in this one which is nice. I like it when everyone's together (Except Jeord. i still don't like him)
I can't really say a lot HAPPENS in this one, but it's more of a slice of life volume where i don't mind if nothing happens. She gets to hang out with her friends and YES there's a part where catarina saves the day, but it's a small part towards the end of the book and isn't really the focus.
One thing i have to say, is when i started reading this series, i had a very medium/negative view of the game's original protagonist, Maria, but over the course of the volumes she's actually really really grown on me and now she's one of my favorites. It's rare that i enjoy 90% of a series character list. I liked Katarina, Anne, Keith, Alan, Nicol, Mary, Sophia, Maria...yeah pretty much every character. as i stated before the only one i don't like is prince Jeord. He kind of creeps me out. other than that, i'd be down for her ending up with anyone. I wouldn't even mind any of the girls. And it's rare that i'm down for Sapphic romances. Just because they're not my cup of tea. But hell, i'm down for this one since the writing is so good and the interactions are all so genuine and cute.
volume 8 was definitely up a notch from the previous volume even if nothing really "happened". excited for volume 9 which i'll be getting soon.
This installment may be my favorite yet since the first. It just check all the boxes for me and renewed everything I love about this stupid series. Katarina is as hilarious as always—and, she’s surprisingly getting character development? A little delayed, and I could be just imagining it, but it seems to me like Katarina’s maturing a little (very little). Hard to explain, but I swear it’s there!
Then, having most of the plot revolve around this important Assembly taking place at the castle was a genius way to not only bring the gang back together, but to keep the story feeling fresh when it was feeling stale at the ministry.
And the romance in here? I’m absolutely feral for some of the scenes we got in the volume. Being so starved of romantic interactions in the last few, I think Satoru Yamaguchi just woke up and chose violence with this one because damn. (Nicol in particular in this volume was just <3)
And I love the new love interest, our foreign prince Cezar! I’m dying for him to come back. I really liked how Katarina was the one taking an interest in Cezar~ and also he’s just very hot so. There’s that.
#teamjeord always, but Cezar, I’m free on weekends.
An international assembly is about to take place at Sorcier with 4 of its neighbours. Katarina is disappointed she has to attend such a large-scale event. To ease her mother's concerns, Geordo slyly invites Katarina to a seminar to prepare her etiquette and knowledge. In other words, she'll be staying at the castle earlier than planned. Of course Keith warns the others to join in. As the foreign nobility and royalty arrive, Katarina befriends Cezar, prince of Ethenell. At the assembly, Katarina realizes Maria is in trouble and goes to save her, only for the boys to have to save both of them. Geordo loses control and has to be calmed down by Alan. Katarina assures Geordo afterwards. Unbeknownst to Katarina, Pochi has been secretly guarding her from Sarah, who was after the dark covenant. Such a good dog! At the end, information Katarina overhears ends up being useful for a ministry mission. There is manga omake included where Katarina decides to take care of farm animals and her friends join her.
I was really pleased by this volume!! I'd been sorely missing the interactions of the main cast for so long that I'm glad we got a reason to see them all in the same place again. This book goes back to the format of each character having a moment with/about Katarina and then we get a POV switch to their perspective on things.
Cezar is definitely sort of a rehash of Sora's character but I like him a lot anyway lol. I think he has some nice chemistry with Katarina. I'd love to learn more about his nation/the world outside Sorcie, so I hope we meet him again in the future.
Putting aside the usual things that I like about this series, I wish we got a little more character development from our heroine and relationship development from the others. Every moment with any of Katarina's love interests always feel like "one step forward two steps back" ;( (poor Nicol...) A lot of things seemed to have screeched to a halt in service of the plot...
Another person charmed by Katarina yet again. It'll be interesting to hear how his role crosses paths with Katarina's again. I found the sections with her friend’s POV hilarious as they're all rivals coming in contact with Katarina. Except Jeord, his dance lesson sections and him ignoring Katarina's plea is just as Sophia's comment, that he is unforgivable, handsy, perverted prince. Although Sora is in this one, he barely appears. However, let's not forget that he said, “Do you seriously think I have a good personality?” Such a flirt, but an honest friend and I'm still hanging on the thread she'll choose him. We shall see though, especially because he's on the cover of the next book. And we'll see more plot with the Dark Magic and foreign policies. Overall, really enjoying the series.
This book is much better than the couple that came before it. We return focus to the original harem, who are all so delightful to read! The author did randomly introduce a new LI who seems to go away in this volume (no doubt he is a LI in the third game). I removed a star cause the substory came out of nowhere and involves KIDNAPPING.
Can someone please help the author understand there are other things that could happen that are not kidnapping???
This volume was fun. I thought the new love interest had the most chemistry with Katarina that has shown up so far. I’m sure he’s a long shot though. I’m hoping for more magical office lady adventures in the next volume. I like her former school friends but sometimes I feel like they’re so protective they keep her from growing as a person.
“Nonetheless, my life was dull... until I met Katarina. She was the first person who I ever felt a genuine interest in. When I approached her, everything suddenly changed. My dull world started shining with color, and I learned about new emotions which I had never felt before. All of this was because of her.”
We start to get other nations on the scene, and there's a great convocation of the nations, and Katrina manages to hook another fly in her net, however unintentionally. More stuff around the existence of the sequel. Again, you're not going to this for any particularly deep thoughts, and it continues to be a fun light read.
I love this volume so much and Katarina captured another target ~ Yay we get some cute actions of Katarina and her ever growing harem. Now we are back to waiting for the next volume, until then ~
Honestly I am glad this volume turned out great because I wasn’t feeling the last one. I love the new character that has been swayed by our lovely dense protagonist. I am kind of glad we had a break from the academy adventures because I have missed the original gang together.
I am a sucker for literally every trope Yamaguchi throws at us, including nobles that both think the other is a servant until they meet at the ball. I will cry forever that they didn't get to dance though!!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I love this series. It's not the most well written overall (largely because our main POV character, Katarina, is an absolute idiot) but it's still very fluffy and fun as Katarina charms her way into the heart of a visiting royal during the International Assembly arc!
The only complaint I have about this series is that there are not more volumes. I can't wait for the next one to be released. These are very fun to read.