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REVIEW: My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Novels 1-3




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pharmboy23



Joined: 05 Oct 2018
Posts: 196
PostPosted: Sat May 11, 2019 12:47 pm Reply with quote
I won’t stop rooting for Sophia, dammit.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2599
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Sat May 11, 2019 1:13 pm Reply with quote
pharmboy23 wrote:
I won’t stop rooting for Sophia, dammit.


Her chapter in volume two is hands-down my favorite in the whole series so far.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13224
PostPosted: Sat May 11, 2019 1:20 pm Reply with quote
Of the otome villainess titles I've read, this one is probably my least favourite. Don't get me wrong, it's still really enjoyable but the villainess aspect feels arbitrary. She ditches it early on and ends up as the center of the harem instead (the simple solution to all these stories is just "don't be a terrible person" after all). I much prefer the titles where the villainess regains her memories close to/after she's been denounced and has to recover from that. Or that one where she decides to dive headlong into the villain role but is terrible at it.
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pharmboy23



Joined: 05 Oct 2018
Posts: 196
PostPosted: Sat May 11, 2019 1:29 pm Reply with quote
Princess_Irene wrote:
pharmboy23 wrote:
I won’t stop rooting for Sophia, dammit.


Her chapter in volume two is hands-down my favorite in the whole series so far.


Oh mine too. She’s probably the character whose feelings come across the clearest and that’s part of why I keep rooting for her, even as I highly doubt the series will go down that route (to my dismay).
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theilikepie



Joined: 30 Aug 2017
Posts: 60
PostPosted: Sat May 11, 2019 2:11 pm Reply with quote
Personally from female I hope Maria wins. And from males the prince's brother

And the good thing is that theres an equal number of people to pair off later if they dont win the bakarina bowl.
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#HayamiLover



Joined: 22 Jul 2018
Posts: 796
Location: Eastern Europe
PostPosted: Sat May 11, 2019 2:59 pm Reply with quote
pharmboy23 wrote:
Oh mine too. She’s probably the character whose feelings come across the clearest and that’s part of why I keep rooting for her, even as I highly doubt the series will go down that route (to my dismay).


Sofia? Lol The love interests with the strongest affection were always Mary, Gerald and Keith. Sofia is the only character from Bakarina's harem who support another character.

Given that the series has a harem, which canonically consists of both boys and girls, Bakarina can serve as a good source for studying the interests of the audience. Especially in matters of popular genres, because if you read comments on many resources, then you may get the impression that this work is exclusively about yuri and lesbian relationships.

No, at least two of the three girls are canonically in love with her (not to mention that suspicious Bakarina's admiration for Maria has long been a running gag) and this is not a question of interpretations, but it worries me that fandom basically ignores that this LN is a parody of the otome games and their Mary Sue's MC.

In any case, I can’t wait for the announced anime adaptation, after all this is the only shoujo LN that has been able to interest me lately.
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pharmboy23



Joined: 05 Oct 2018
Posts: 196
PostPosted: Sat May 11, 2019 7:05 pm Reply with quote
I have no problem voicing my support of yuri and lesbian relationships, no matter what genre Razz
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escahime65



Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 87
Location: Iowa
PostPosted: Sat May 11, 2019 9:51 pm Reply with quote
I am partial to the Alluring Count (Nichol) myself. It is funny to me that he is so seductive everyone around him passes out or goes nuts. This series has been a very enjoyable read and I'm happy to learn there will be a fourth novel. I thought it was only two books at first so I was very happy to see the third book. Can't wait for the next one!
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myskaros



Joined: 13 Jun 2011
Posts: 598
Location: J-Novel Club
PostPosted: Sun May 12, 2019 12:44 am Reply with quote
escahime65 wrote:
This series has been a very enjoyable read and I'm happy to learn there will be a fourth novel. I thought it was only two books at first so I was very happy to see the third book. Can't wait for the next one!

There are currently 7 books in Japan, so you'll have more to read as JNC translates them for the rest of this year at least Smile
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merr



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 462
PostPosted: Sun May 12, 2019 6:09 am Reply with quote
I agree with the critique that the characters lack distinct voices. I really wish the translation had smoothed this over. I only read volume one, and while the story itself was good, the clunky phrasing that every character seems to use was a huge distraction. Katarina in particular sounds like she’s speaking English as a second language at certain points, and it really took me out of the narrative after a while.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Mon May 13, 2019 10:09 pm Reply with quote
I find this highly enjoyable too, much for the reasons mentioned by the reviewer. There is a manga adaptation also in Japan. Nice to know we have 4 more volumes of the LN out there too.
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catbot158



Joined: 04 Mar 2017
Posts: 232
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon May 13, 2019 10:17 pm Reply with quote
I love this series! It's unique among other "reincarnated in an otome game as the villainess" stories mainly because of the humor. It knows the genre well, and pokes fun at it, while also delivering some genuinely heartwarming moments. Can't wait to read the next volume of this, and to catch the anime series! That was a pleasant surprise to find out! I wonder who'll voice Bakarina...

(P.S. Fan theory: Katarina's past self is a character in a 4-koma slice-of-life series where she's the Genki slacker, ala Konata from Lucky Star or Tomo from Azumanga Daioh. It makes the series feel more like something along the lines of The Irresponsible Captain Tylor; a character from a comedy is thrown into a more serious show and creates utter chaos due to the fact they're still following the rules of comedy.)
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Aquasakura



Joined: 01 Jan 2014
Posts: 700
Location: Chesterfield, Virginia, U.S.A
PostPosted: Tue May 14, 2019 8:24 am Reply with quote
I take it this would be a great light novel to start for anyone who has not read an otome story before. The fact it's digital only does not bother me since I do not have much space to collect physical volumes. I will see if I can give this story a try before the anime adaptation comes out.
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Johan Eriksson 9003



Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Posts: 281
PostPosted: Tue May 14, 2019 8:45 am Reply with quote
Wait, there are enough of these that they are a specific subgenre?
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Merxamers



Joined: 09 Dec 2013
Posts: 720
PostPosted: Tue May 14, 2019 10:08 am Reply with quote
johan.eriksson.9003 wrote:
Wait, there are enough of these that they are a specific subgenre?


The "reincarnated into an otome game" genre is pretty massive right now, with the biggest subgenre seeming to be "reincarnated as the villainess character." I'm sure this is partially due to the success of series like "Bakarina" and "Accomplishments of a Duke's Daughter," and i'm sure it's caught on for many of the same reasons that RPG Isekai do; the Otome setting provides a lot of established settings, tropes, and character types for an author to play around with and subvert. I've enjoyed almost every Otome Isekai novel, manga, and manwa I've tried, though it seems like many of them struggle with coming up with a story beyond the initial premise.
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