A brand-new anthology brought to you by the highly popular doom-avoidance-strategy romantic comedy! This book features nine stories focusing on the heroines and their dazzling emotions!
Katarina Claes has managed to rack up an impressive harem, with many a suitor. Of course, a fair few women have designs on her as well, societal norms be damned. This anthology is all about those young ladies, but can they really do much beyond fawn over the series’ darling?
Anthologies. Sometimes, a brilliant collection of short form storytelling. Or a way to spend time with favourite characters that never got their full due in a regular series. Or a means to explore the possibilities that were ne’er to pass.
Or there’s this, which just does what pretty much every single short story or bonus chapter in the Bakarina series did except focused on the females exclusively and has as much teeth as a bulldozed denture factory.
As the Bakarina series of light novels began to stretch unto infinity, I slowly began to withdraw from them, as they began to feel very same-y after a while and, while I could see the appeal for their charming cast just trying to push past one another, it wasn’t for me.
Still, you’re not going to make a book potentially full of yuri antics and not have me take a little interest and I was curious if this would add a little oomph to things. Sadly, this is a lot of ‘whiff’ more than ‘oomph’.
The problem, as I said, is that this is just the stuff the author was already doing, but more focused on the girl characters. That’s not much of a plug for an anthology series - get the same thing you were already getting but with different art.
The Bloom Into You anthologies did so, so much with their stories as the authors took things that made sense or were hinted at for the characters and went all over the creative landscape with them. It was an homage to the series and lovingly crafted.
These stories are all the same thing. I hope you like plants because Mary and Katarina are going to bond over them so many damn times in the course of this book you’ll want to send out for steak.
What’s on offer is so mild and inoffensive that it’s hard to get too mad at these takes, but even with Mary as, genuinely, my favourite character in the series, the best stories feature Maria anyway. The one where Katarina shows up with pumpkins is the best story in the batch, hands down.
Like, no, this doesn’t need to be a full doujinshi or anything, but these are so hilariously chaste that it feels silly, if true to form for the series itself, which does not revolve around such things. But it’s hard to see the reason why this exists except to redress the lack of time given to the story’s females, which isn’t why you should be doing an anthology in the first place.
If you like the way the books do things, you’ll undoubtedly like this more than me. The art is decent to good for pretty much every story but one and it’s all hopelessly pure, except one incident with a boozy tart that turns that particular story into more male wish fulfillment than anything else.
3 stars - this is okay, but I dip into the side projects for this series hoping for something actually new. Instead they’re just doing the same thing as the main series via a different lens, which seems absolutely pointless and does nothing to alleviate the fatigue I was admittedly already grappling with.
This was a really cute collection of short stories that is in keeping with the original work, though I noticed not so subtle yuri undertones for Mary's, Sophia's, and Marie's stories. Not that I'm complaining, of course; if anything, the mangaka here are simply bringing each girls' hidden truths to light.
Anyway, this was a ton of fun and a great chance to see the other girls get the spotlight.
A collection of short stories all focused on Katarina's posse of lesbian love interests. These include stories about Mary, Sophia, Maria, and even one about Anne the maid. Overall, it's a bunch of extra fluffy fanfiction, since the main story tends to focus on Katarina's many other (male) romantic interests.
There is one story in here that is highly contrived fanservice. And though it had a cute ending, the fact that Katarina had to be drunk for the rest of it was not so enjoyable. Still worth the read though.
You know how the story goes. A high school girl wakes up to a new life – quite literally, for she's been reborn as Catarina Claes, a villainess and spoiled daughter of a duke. In other words, a big pain in the butt.
Catarina Claes has changed many people's lives over the years – not that she's realized it. First, there's Mary. She taught her to be bold and confident. Meanwhile, Sophia found the best friend she dearly craved. As for Maria, she found somebody that believed in her. All her girlfriends have reason to cherish the time spent with Catarina and intend to make the most of that time.
Review:
My Next Life as a Villainess Side Story: Girls Patch is a fun anthology focused on the girls within this series. Primarily, Mary, Marie, and Sophia take the lead – all thinking/talking about Catarina, of course.
Honestly, it's endearing seeing how each of the girls looks at Catarina. It's a strong reminder of her positive role in their lives. There are nine stories in this collection, swapping perspectives and overall just having fun.
While I enjoyed this anthology, I will say that some of the stories felt very similar. This is likely because of the same primary focus (Catarina). I'm unsure that all the authors/artists communicated their plans. But honestly, I didn't mind the slight feeling of repetition, as their stories did feel on point with their characters and the primary plot of the series.
Highlights: Isekai Strong Humor Clueless Lead Dating Sim Game Reverse Harem Short Stories
Upon re-reading this (which I'm sure I have), I definitely feel like I've read this before and forgot I did. If this is SOMEHOW my first read, it still feels like a re-read, because it's very samey. The main story, of which this is a "side" story, is itself very one-note, since "Catarina" (or, I guess "Katarina" in this volume) spends her entire time after regaining "her" memory trying to avoid triggering the DOOM flags that, in her prior life, caused the death or banishment of the villainess character Catarina in a dating sim she had played... with the end result of actually BEFRIENDING all the characters who would have spelled her DOOM.
Some of the trouble with side stories is they can't do anything to drastically change the plot, or to conflict with it too much, so the stories end up being on the bland side or, at best, expanding upon a subplot (though none of these stories do).
I mean, it's cute if you like cute stories about cute girls being cute. With a side of drunken boob pillow (YES, that's in here). It's just... you know... not what I originally liked about the series.
I’m really giving this a 3.5. I can’t decide if this is fanservice or queer baiting or what. I’m fine with this being (relatively) clean, because so are the rest of the books, when you get right down to it. No one has gotten more than a kiss, and it’s pretty clear that this is a fairly repressive society and that’s all that’s going to happen. BUT:
This may be possible for the Katarina of the anime (maybe), but the light novel is pushing towards a hetero ending with Geordo or maybe Keith as a runner-up. with Katarina kinda clueless. So to me, this feels a bit like “enjoy it while you can.”
But I could be wrong.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This series tries (but mostly fails) at distinguishing between the main story and side stories. They state it on the cover but numbering them or changing the font would be more helpful to the casual reader. That is not enough to take away from the luster, but it is very noticeable. There are a bunch of short stories that fill the book, and a lot of teatime events. I would say as the title implies...the side story is not necessary but can be a nice addition to the bigger fans. I recommend this only if you cannot get enough of the regular series.
So having read what's out so far for the main series, this is just some cute little stories. Mostly random tea parties. I will say, though the main books have made it clear the girls love Katarina just as much as the guys do, this one made it very clear how it's definitely romantic love. It almost got naughty with some of it all while Katarina is still oblivious.
5 stars Not quite yuri, but definitely is a teaser for those wanting more sapphic interaction. It'd be fun to read a book like this where the character actually swings that way and has multiple female love interests. I've always loved Mary, and she continues to shine the most out of the girlies in this manga. Overall, not a girls love but still enjoyable and fun.
Although I did like the stories and the art and the fact that ot showe the three firls rivalry its just a bunch of random stories. I wish they were added at the end of each volume instead of me trying to guess where they sat within the original story ark.
I really nice collection of short chapters of the three girls closest with Katarina. All of them were really nice to read, I wouldn't mind another Anthology with the guys next, would be an interesting contrast I feel.
FIRST OFF BY SECOND HAND, the author is a bad person i mean think everthying about keith ok enough said dont support or romatizie that part bro. besides that i really love this seris especially the girls.
2,5 I bought this on sale, knowing nothing about the source material these stories are based on. I can't tell if the reason I didn't find it as enjoyable was because of that, or if it was just kind of boring 🥀 Maybe I'm just not as fond of anthologies as I thought I was
Just a side story about how Katarina Claes affected the other woman in the series!
We already know how they met but this is just their reflection of that and the key events that would have lead to her doom. So kind of repetitive but still sweet.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.