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転生悪女の黒歴史 [Tensei Akujo no Kuro Rekishi] #1
The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess Vol. 1
Konoha Satou has a dark history, written throughout middle school—a fantasy adventure of love and magic about the Count’s daughter Konoha Magnolia and the knights who love her! But when it looks like that dark history is going to be uncovered by her mother, Konoha panics and dies in a traffic accident! Opening her eyes, she finds that she’s been reincarnated into the world of her own dark history as Iana Magnolia, the worst villainess of her own creation!
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 4, 2019
26 people are currently reading
176 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
November 17, 2021
A wee bit more fan-service than I would like, but solid story. The artwork is a tad confusing at times though. 4 solid stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2021
Konoha spent her entire middle school life preparing to be whisked away to another world of her own design. Didn’t happen. Ten years later, however, a fortuitous cameo by the famous Truck-kun sends her into the most horrifying story imaginable - a self-insert fantasy written by a horny middle schooler.
Oh, and she’s not her story’s heroine of the same name, she’s the evil villainess, Iana.
Boy, this is a great premise. I think the set-up is a huge part of my affection for this book - I would wager that many of us at one time or another have written incredibly dire fiction of some sort. To suddenly be sucked into your own youthful writing as an adult would be, as this manga rightly acknowledges, an exercise in cringe.
From the impossibly perfect Princess Konoha to the ridiculously gallant Ginoford, these are such stock characters, but things a particular sort of young girl would write about. It’s a clever conceit and I like the conflict of Iana having to deal with all the overpowering heroism she wrote, but now from the perspective of the story’s villain.
I mean, I think the book’s long game is pretty obvious, but it has an okay start and I’d like to see these characters get where they’re going (especially if they lean into the story throwing up new flags that Iana isn’t aware of). Bad girl makes good is a tried and tested premise.
So why two stars, you may ask, or you may not, I don’t know. But let me explain anyway - the execution of this is okay, not amazing. It feels like it should hit harder than it does and it is fitfully amusing. The art is mostly... fine. It doesn’t sell some moments nearly as well as it should.
And stripped of its setting, we HAVE seen this done many times over - My Next Life As A Villainess has it in spades over this book. Iana saving Konoha from a horny wolf beast of her own making doesn’t change the basic plot here.
I’d have given that a three stars with some potential on the whole, but that’s only a part of this book. No, the last third is a full 50 pages devoted to a previous one-shot of the author’s.
Look, this is just me, but if I buy a book about something I want the book to be about it. I can live with a little bit of one shot stuff, especially if it relates to the main story. This story is an awkwardly drawn, weirdly plotted thing about necromancy and exorcism that I could not have cared less about.
It would be like reading the Fellowship of the Ring and just before the council they cut to a story about Tim O’Shanter and how golf was invented. One thing has nothing to do with the other. I know this happens in manga, but... it still bugs me every time.
So, yeah, two stars. 120 pages or so that had a cracking premise, presented in an okay way, and 50 pages that wasted my time. I mean, how are you supposed to rate that?
Oh, and she’s not her story’s heroine of the same name, she’s the evil villainess, Iana.
Boy, this is a great premise. I think the set-up is a huge part of my affection for this book - I would wager that many of us at one time or another have written incredibly dire fiction of some sort. To suddenly be sucked into your own youthful writing as an adult would be, as this manga rightly acknowledges, an exercise in cringe.
From the impossibly perfect Princess Konoha to the ridiculously gallant Ginoford, these are such stock characters, but things a particular sort of young girl would write about. It’s a clever conceit and I like the conflict of Iana having to deal with all the overpowering heroism she wrote, but now from the perspective of the story’s villain.
I mean, I think the book’s long game is pretty obvious, but it has an okay start and I’d like to see these characters get where they’re going (especially if they lean into the story throwing up new flags that Iana isn’t aware of). Bad girl makes good is a tried and tested premise.
So why two stars, you may ask, or you may not, I don’t know. But let me explain anyway - the execution of this is okay, not amazing. It feels like it should hit harder than it does and it is fitfully amusing. The art is mostly... fine. It doesn’t sell some moments nearly as well as it should.
And stripped of its setting, we HAVE seen this done many times over - My Next Life As A Villainess has it in spades over this book. Iana saving Konoha from a horny wolf beast of her own making doesn’t change the basic plot here.
I’d have given that a three stars with some potential on the whole, but that’s only a part of this book. No, the last third is a full 50 pages devoted to a previous one-shot of the author’s.
Look, this is just me, but if I buy a book about something I want the book to be about it. I can live with a little bit of one shot stuff, especially if it relates to the main story. This story is an awkwardly drawn, weirdly plotted thing about necromancy and exorcism that I could not have cared less about.
It would be like reading the Fellowship of the Ring and just before the council they cut to a story about Tim O’Shanter and how golf was invented. One thing has nothing to do with the other. I know this happens in manga, but... it still bugs me every time.
So, yeah, two stars. 120 pages or so that had a cracking premise, presented in an okay way, and 50 pages that wasted my time. I mean, how are you supposed to rate that?
March 24, 2021
With a better author/artist, this could have been good.
February 8, 2022
Filled with typical reincarnated villainess tropes, but still a fun read.
November 23, 2022
*Updated Review 2022 (Will be further updated once I find my notes from last night)*
Be still my heart.
This series has been enthralling thus far (Vol. 6). So I wanted to return to where it all started and get a fresh perspective while creating a proper review for this series. The first novel introduces us to Konoha, a young woman who insisted that one day she would be reincarnated and began to write a novel envisioning what her reincarnated life would be like. She filled it with danger, questionable plot choices, and of course the handsome Ginoford Dandelion styled entirely after her type of man. However, when she's suddenly hit by a truck and isekai'ed into the world she wrote, she's not reincarnated as Konoha, but rather the young evil sister... Iana Magnolia! Suddenly desperate to not die so suddenly after regaining her memories, she tries to find ways to save her sister Konoha Magnolia and ensure her happily ever after to Ginford. Of course, there's more than one obstacle that stands in her way! She's not only on house arrest, but she has her future killer looming over her shoulder pretending to be her new butler, Sol!
This plot alone as I previously expressed is a breath of fresh air, and it provides a great storyline that will have you continually flipping to the next page dying to know what happens next... and if Sol really is the main love interest. Finally, the art alone is exquisite and pleasing to the eyes. Just trust me and pick this up.
*OG Review August 21, 2021*
What a fun twist to the stereotype of reincarnation!! Konoha invented a story for the purpose of reincarnating into the MC, and ended up becoming the Villainess! ~ Super cute plot with good humor and gorgeous art!
Be still my heart.
This series has been enthralling thus far (Vol. 6). So I wanted to return to where it all started and get a fresh perspective while creating a proper review for this series. The first novel introduces us to Konoha, a young woman who insisted that one day she would be reincarnated and began to write a novel envisioning what her reincarnated life would be like. She filled it with danger, questionable plot choices, and of course the handsome Ginoford Dandelion styled entirely after her type of man. However, when she's suddenly hit by a truck and isekai'ed into the world she wrote, she's not reincarnated as Konoha, but rather the young evil sister... Iana Magnolia! Suddenly desperate to not die so suddenly after regaining her memories, she tries to find ways to save her sister Konoha Magnolia and ensure her happily ever after to Ginford. Of course, there's more than one obstacle that stands in her way! She's not only on house arrest, but she has her future killer looming over her shoulder pretending to be her new butler, Sol!
This plot alone as I previously expressed is a breath of fresh air, and it provides a great storyline that will have you continually flipping to the next page dying to know what happens next... and if Sol really is the main love interest. Finally, the art alone is exquisite and pleasing to the eyes. Just trust me and pick this up.
*OG Review August 21, 2021*
What a fun twist to the stereotype of reincarnation!! Konoha invented a story for the purpose of reincarnating into the MC, and ended up becoming the Villainess! ~ Super cute plot with good humor and gorgeous art!
April 6, 2021
In Summary
The villainess subset of the isekai genre has been gaining steam as of late. Unfortunately, Dark History feels like a weak pretender rather than a strong representative of that category. While Iana’s efforts to avoid triggering death flags is amusing, the plot is predictable, the premise is lukewarm, and most characters are woefully flat.
The Review
Unlike many isekai where the main character is reborn/soul-dropped into a videogame world or an unknown landscape, Konoha Satou winds up in a story she herself created. A borderline shut-in when she was a teenager, she actually believed she’d one day be transported to a fantasy world and spent her days writing out the adventures that she, as the angelic heroine, would undergo. Lo and behold, it actually happens – except she’s reincarnated not as the story’s heroine Konoha but the protagonist’s villainous younger sister Iana.
Thus the main character is indeed transported with the ironic twist that she’s having to avoid the death flags she herself planted. What makes her task more difficult is that the Iana character didn’t last beyond Chapter 1 in her story. Apparently, Iana gets caught for her misdeeds in the prologue and is subsequently offed by Sol, a butler intensely loyal to the heroine. Thus the meat of the plot is the main character trying to show she’s not at all evil and protect the heroine (so she won’t get blamed for any ill that falls upon her).
While that aspect of the story is somewhat entertaining, especially the other characters’ misinterpretations of the main character’s actions, the plot is rather predictable, and the supporting cast is one-dimensional. Although the main character is not exactly flat, she is difficult to relate to. An aspect of her that I found particularly troubling is her almost cavalier attitude toward sexual assault. The main character wrote the story with herself as the heroine and with full belief that she’d actually live out its events. However, she has her heroine raped in Chapter 1 and then sexually assaulted in Chapter 2. Illustrations aren’t overly graphic but this offhand treatment of a serious subject means I won’t be recommending this title to my friend’s thirteen-year-old daughter.
The manga also contains a noticeable amount of fanservice. Not of the guys (although they are definitely eye candy in their dapper European-style suits) but the females. Judging from the bonus material, Dark History was published in Lala, but despite it being a shojo magazine, Konoha’s large bosom is the stuff of male fantasies. Iana’s chest is more normal sized, but she’s constantly flashing leg up to her stocking garter despite her long skirts. The rest of the illustrations (flower-filled backdrops, enormous sparkly eyes, etc.) are more in line with standard shojo artwork.
Volume 1 only serves up three chapters before concluding with a fifty-page standalone story. “The High School Necromancer” is a paranormal set in the Meiji Era with a male lead and rival. The plot and action are a little difficult to follow, but if you like bishounen in period clothes, it will give you something nice to look at.
Extras include translation notes, author’s afterword, and four-panel comic strips.
For more manga and book reviews, drop by my blog Keeping It In Canon!
The villainess subset of the isekai genre has been gaining steam as of late. Unfortunately, Dark History feels like a weak pretender rather than a strong representative of that category. While Iana’s efforts to avoid triggering death flags is amusing, the plot is predictable, the premise is lukewarm, and most characters are woefully flat.
The Review
Unlike many isekai where the main character is reborn/soul-dropped into a videogame world or an unknown landscape, Konoha Satou winds up in a story she herself created. A borderline shut-in when she was a teenager, she actually believed she’d one day be transported to a fantasy world and spent her days writing out the adventures that she, as the angelic heroine, would undergo. Lo and behold, it actually happens – except she’s reincarnated not as the story’s heroine Konoha but the protagonist’s villainous younger sister Iana.
Thus the main character is indeed transported with the ironic twist that she’s having to avoid the death flags she herself planted. What makes her task more difficult is that the Iana character didn’t last beyond Chapter 1 in her story. Apparently, Iana gets caught for her misdeeds in the prologue and is subsequently offed by Sol, a butler intensely loyal to the heroine. Thus the meat of the plot is the main character trying to show she’s not at all evil and protect the heroine (so she won’t get blamed for any ill that falls upon her).
While that aspect of the story is somewhat entertaining, especially the other characters’ misinterpretations of the main character’s actions, the plot is rather predictable, and the supporting cast is one-dimensional. Although the main character is not exactly flat, she is difficult to relate to. An aspect of her that I found particularly troubling is her almost cavalier attitude toward sexual assault. The main character wrote the story with herself as the heroine and with full belief that she’d actually live out its events. However, she has her heroine raped in Chapter 1 and then sexually assaulted in Chapter 2. Illustrations aren’t overly graphic but this offhand treatment of a serious subject means I won’t be recommending this title to my friend’s thirteen-year-old daughter.
The manga also contains a noticeable amount of fanservice. Not of the guys (although they are definitely eye candy in their dapper European-style suits) but the females. Judging from the bonus material, Dark History was published in Lala, but despite it being a shojo magazine, Konoha’s large bosom is the stuff of male fantasies. Iana’s chest is more normal sized, but she’s constantly flashing leg up to her stocking garter despite her long skirts. The rest of the illustrations (flower-filled backdrops, enormous sparkly eyes, etc.) are more in line with standard shojo artwork.
Volume 1 only serves up three chapters before concluding with a fifty-page standalone story. “The High School Necromancer” is a paranormal set in the Meiji Era with a male lead and rival. The plot and action are a little difficult to follow, but if you like bishounen in period clothes, it will give you something nice to look at.
Extras include translation notes, author’s afterword, and four-panel comic strips.
For more manga and book reviews, drop by my blog Keeping It In Canon!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2025
Meh... boring!
April 24, 2023
Today's post is on The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess, vol 1 by Akiharu Touka. It is 187 pages long and is published by Yen Press. The cover has three of the main characters on it. The intended reader is someone who likes humorous manga, isekai, and over the top tropes. There is some very mild foul language, mild sexuality, and no violence. The story is told from third person close of the main character Konoha aka Iana. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the back of the book- Konoha Satou has a dark history. Although she's not the only middle schooler who's dreamed about romance and adventure, Satou takes it to the next level when she writes herself into a reincarnation fic as the main heroine. But little does she knew, her fantasies will become reality when she wakes up in her Dark History! There's just one small complication... Instead of playing the role of heroine, she's the most despicable villainess- Konoha's little sister, Iana. Which means if she wants to avoid tripping her own death flags, she'll have to remember every last detail of her story...
Review- A really funny isekai story that engages with the tropes of the theme and all the chaos that comes with it. Konoha was killed in her first life and woke up in the novel she wrote as a teenager as the prologue villain, Iana. After surviving into the main story, she now is trying to help the real heroine survive the very dark story that Iana's fifteen old year self wrote. I really had a good time with this manga, it is silly and funny, and plays with the tropes of isekai and shojo manga. Iana is so funny, she is over the top trying to save the heroine and avoid getting herself killed by her own fiancée. If you are looking for new take on the isekai tropes, then you should read this manga. I am looking forward to reading the next volume.
I give this manga a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.
From the back of the book- Konoha Satou has a dark history. Although she's not the only middle schooler who's dreamed about romance and adventure, Satou takes it to the next level when she writes herself into a reincarnation fic as the main heroine. But little does she knew, her fantasies will become reality when she wakes up in her Dark History! There's just one small complication... Instead of playing the role of heroine, she's the most despicable villainess- Konoha's little sister, Iana. Which means if she wants to avoid tripping her own death flags, she'll have to remember every last detail of her story...
Review- A really funny isekai story that engages with the tropes of the theme and all the chaos that comes with it. Konoha was killed in her first life and woke up in the novel she wrote as a teenager as the prologue villain, Iana. After surviving into the main story, she now is trying to help the real heroine survive the very dark story that Iana's fifteen old year self wrote. I really had a good time with this manga, it is silly and funny, and plays with the tropes of isekai and shojo manga. Iana is so funny, she is over the top trying to save the heroine and avoid getting herself killed by her own fiancée. If you are looking for new take on the isekai tropes, then you should read this manga. I am looking forward to reading the next volume.
I give this manga a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.
November 16, 2025
Despite its title, this manga is anything but dark. The premise puts a brilliant twist on the villainess / isekai-into-your-own-story genre: the protagonist, a thirty-something with a dull life, reincarnates inside the fanfiction she wrote as a teenager… but instead of becoming the heroine who shares her name, she ends up as the villainess doomed to die in the early chapters.
Now she has to survive both the dangers of this world and the overwhelming cringe. The flashbacks do a great job of showing the awkward parts of her teenage years and how they pushed her to create a flawless, impossibly popular heroine. It’s hard not to relate to (at least some) of her past struggles.
She’s quickly becoming one of my favorite protagonists: she’s not a Mary Sue or a girlboss. She has no magical powers, no control over the plot, and barely remembers her own story—understandable, since she wrote it years ago. She’s a bit of a muppet sometimes, but she genuinely does her best, and she’s honestly moved to meet the characters she once created (even when they’re trying to kill her).
The reverse harem works precisely because the world is intentionally artificial and slightly ridiculous—it is her fanfiction, after all.
The first volume was a delight. The only downside is that part of the manga is taken up by an unrelated action story which has very cool art and very little substance.
Now she has to survive both the dangers of this world and the overwhelming cringe. The flashbacks do a great job of showing the awkward parts of her teenage years and how they pushed her to create a flawless, impossibly popular heroine. It’s hard not to relate to (at least some) of her past struggles.
She’s quickly becoming one of my favorite protagonists: she’s not a Mary Sue or a girlboss. She has no magical powers, no control over the plot, and barely remembers her own story—understandable, since she wrote it years ago. She’s a bit of a muppet sometimes, but she genuinely does her best, and she’s honestly moved to meet the characters she once created (even when they’re trying to kill her).
The reverse harem works precisely because the world is intentionally artificial and slightly ridiculous—it is her fanfiction, after all.
The first volume was a delight. The only downside is that part of the manga is taken up by an unrelated action story which has very cool art and very little substance.
July 21, 2024
A pretty standard offering of the genre with a lot of the fun tropes - reincarnated as the character doomed to die, cast of over-the-top comedic characters, being a diehard fan/author/person having to hold the fangirling inside, being omniscient because the protag knows the story in advance...
My main issue is that there's nothing particularly interesting to distinguish this from the others in the field. The concept is great, but it could definitely have pushed the envelope a bit further. The art is good, but sometimes a bit overdrawn and confusing. And the plot happens simultaneously too fast and too slow (maybe the panels are focusing on the wrong things?). That, plus the fact that there's a bizarre extra story at the end of the volume with no warning or reason for inclusion detracted from my reading experience and made it a bit confusing. I kept wondering what the tie in was between this new world of necromancers and exorcists and the original fantasy villainess world.
Overall, solid rather than exceptional. I don't think I'll be continuing the series.
My main issue is that there's nothing particularly interesting to distinguish this from the others in the field. The concept is great, but it could definitely have pushed the envelope a bit further. The art is good, but sometimes a bit overdrawn and confusing. And the plot happens simultaneously too fast and too slow (maybe the panels are focusing on the wrong things?). That, plus the fact that there's a bizarre extra story at the end of the volume with no warning or reason for inclusion detracted from my reading experience and made it a bit confusing. I kept wondering what the tie in was between this new world of necromancers and exorcists and the original fantasy villainess world.
Overall, solid rather than exceptional. I don't think I'll be continuing the series.
August 1, 2024
What if you reincarnate but instead of a whole new world it is your own fanfiction? Oh and you are the villainess instead of the heroine you had written to be you! This was such a fun spin on the isekai trope and I had fun seeing our MC try to figure out what she had written, be kinda shocked by what she had written (I mean, that rape scene was just a no girl), try not get any death flags, try to help out the MC, oh yes, and potentially fall in love with the guy who was supposed to kill her earlier. It was a lot of fun to read and there was never a dull moment. It is interesting to see what the story did when she changed things, plus that despite her being the OG author that the story did its own thing as well.
August 29, 2021
I liked the concept, but I think this book will quickly wear out its welcome if I continue with it. The main character has been pulled into the self insert fantasy novel she wrote as a socially stunted teenager, but not as the perfect and beloved character she intended. Instead, she's the first antagonist, and to keep herself alive she needs to use what she remembers of her (apparently long, involved, and full of nonconsensual sexual situations) fantasy to stay on the other characters' good sides. Again, sounds good at first, but even by the end of the volume it was a bit too much of the same thing, and the endgame seems really, really obvious.
January 24, 2021
Plot - 4.5 ☄
Character - 4 ☄
Writing Style - 4 ☄
World Building - 4.5 ☄
Art - 4.8 ☄
Cover - 4.8 ☄
Overall - 4.43 ☄
Haha! Thank god I'm not like the main character, who fantasize with character from books.
Character - 4 ☄
Writing Style - 4 ☄
World Building - 4.5 ☄
Art - 4.8 ☄
Cover - 4.8 ☄
Overall - 4.43 ☄
Haha! Thank god I'm not like the main character, who fantasize with character from books.
May 11, 2021
I dont wanna think about being carried away to a world that I created as a teen.
But hats off the MC for trying to remember what she wrote ten years and keeping her sister from dying while trying not to get killed herself.
But hats off the MC for trying to remember what she wrote ten years and keeping her sister from dying while trying not to get killed herself.
September 22, 2022
Interesting, in that the reincarnated "villainess" is the author of the world so she's fangirl'ing over the heroine (her sister) almost as much as the love interest, but overall a bit confusing and slightly more mature then I was expecting.
September 30, 2022
This manga focuses on someone who reincarnated into the story they wrote in middle school and it shares the cheesy/guilty pleasure quality expected of something written during that period of development.
May 22, 2024
i was hoping it would be good but i didnt like it a lot cause i think it was too fast paced, the characters not truly fleshed out (doesn't feel alive) and there was already beastiality in chapter 2....this aint it for me im sorry
July 23, 2021
this was fun but nothing special and a bit convoluted
tbh I liked the short story at the end more than the actual volume
tbh I liked the short story at the end more than the actual volume
July 24, 2021
Not the best but not the worst. Also why is there a 50 paged unrelated story at the end??
September 23, 2021
1.5 stars.
November 10, 2021
I really enjoyed this one 😊
November 27, 2021
10/10 i loved it! relate to iana/konoha way too much can wait for the 4th book
December 13, 2021
Honestly this was really good. My mom picked this one out for me too. I’m so excited to get to continue the series.
Read
January 13, 2022I struggled with this one, I really wanted to like it, the concept is a ton of fun. However, there’s so much going on, on each page, it’s hard to track. Overall the story, and art felt very messy.
July 3, 2022
I was beginning to get irritated at the repetition of “Death Flag” plots but that ending changed things 😶
November 22, 2022
HARD PASS.
December 28, 2022
I loved it.
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