For years, Saint Evelyn has protected her country with her powerful healing magic, earning her the love of the people. But then, the first prince breaks off their engagement and strips her of her title, only to name her incompetent half sister as the new saint. Cast out from the only life she's ever known, Evelyn is forced to find her place in a world that suddenly feels all too vast.

Fate smiles upon her when she stumbles upon a young boy from the streets who shows her a new path: making a living with her healing magic. The next thing she knows, she's earned her first commission—and a handsome count is proposing to her?!

With discontent growing in the royal family over the prince's folly and adoring fans flocking to her side, Evelyn must navigate political intrigue, newly realized fame, and unexpected romance in the air. Now if only she would realize just how much everyone adores her!

Even Exiled, She's Still the Beloved Saint! St. Evelyn's Weird and Wonderful Friends has art by Yanagiyamaro and story by Harunadon. English translation is done by Alexandra Owen-Burns and lettering by Kelly Cotaquispe. Published by J-Novel Club (September 24, 2025). Rated 12+.

Caitlin Moore
Rating:

One of the most fascinating things about being a critic is watching microgenres spawn, evolve, gain an audience, and calcify into a formalized set of tropes. Right now, “exiled saint” stories seem to be gaining traction as a mutation of the villainess genre. A woman occupying a feminized seat of power, known as a saint, is spurned by her royal fiance because her competence makes her come across as cold or calculating, or because he prefers her sister, or what have you.

I confess, as someone who generally craves narrative novelty, I struggle with these seemingly-endless variations on a theme. I try to tell myself that it's all in the execution, that people have been telling and retelling stories for most of history, that it's like how there are dozens of versions of Cinderella from all around the world. After all, are these stories not in some way Cinderella tales of their own? A young woman who has become downtrodden and denied her nobility must use her wits to regain her rightful place in the world. It's merely a renewal of tradition, not just narrative laziness.

All of that is to say, I tried not to let Even Exiled, She's Still the Beloved Saint!'s tropiness bias me against it. Keeping an open mind as I read, I feel I can safely say that it's… well, it's fine. Not my favorite example of the genre, certainly, but not unpleasant to read. Evelyn is a perfectly acceptable protagonist, appropriately naive for someone brought up as sheltered as she was, but resilient and good-hearted. On the other hand, I did get tired of her and other characters' insistence that she's not pretty and a dried-up old hag at the ripe age of 28. There's the seed of a good story with potential to germinate in future volumes as well, as Evelyn's exile may have been illegal and have far-reaching consequences, even beyond her spoiled little sister's inability to perform the role in her stead. Maro Yanagiya's bouncy, energetic art, handsome bishounen, and paneling have a distinct shojo sensibility, despite the manga running in a shonen outlet.

Unfortunately, there's one area where Even Exiled, She's Still the Beloved Saint! is not up to the task, and it's perhaps the most important one of all: the character writing. Evelyn may be an acceptable heroine, if a touch bland, but everyone else is as flat as a paper doll, to be moved about as the plot demands. Her ex, Prince Alex, is exactly the same as every prince in every villainess series: mean-spirited and stupid. The new boyfriend-type character, whose name I can't remember, has no personality other than wanting to date Evelyn.

Even Exiled, She's Still the Beloved Saint! has some potential, even if it doesn't stand out in a crowded field. If you don't mind stories that follow preset formats, this could be a nice one to spend some time with.

Erica Friedman
Rating:

As well-intentioned as it is, Even Exiled, She's Still the Beloved Saint! St. Evelyn's Weird and Wonderful Friends, suffers from a fatal flaw. Yes, Evelyn herself is genuinely kind, as one might hope a “saint” should be. Her magic is, well, magical. She clearly can and will bring peace and healing to a land that badly needs it. But for the entire story to function as presented, Evelyn needs to be naïve to the point of near-idiocy, some of which we can write off to trauma, but Prince Alex and Evelyn's conniving sister and venal parents also need to be extremely, irreparably, dumb.

This means that even though we are supposed to relax and enjoy how popular Evelyn is among the people, and enjoy her new life with the handsome Theodore and his family, where she will obviously build up a lively cult of admirers and friends. But we are also very aware that having been repeatedly told by Alex that she is “too old to marry” at 28 (this is my gritting my teeth at haha, how funny, misogyny, hah), no amount of obvious courtship is going to make Evelyn stop believing she's too old. At 28. It's too funny to let go, y'know.

What is actually funny are two running gags in this volume. One silly gag about healing hangnails was amusing to me because we have a similar joke in my household. The second running gag, that since Evelyn is so popular, many families had children named Evelyn, was used repeatedly and stretched pretty thin since, as we learned 17 million times, Evelyn is 28, there could not be Evelyn older than her that fit the joke. Eh, it was one of the light spots, we'll allow it.

If you set the premise of the reverse villainess aside, Evelyn's meeting with young street urchin Kira sets off a blandly pleasant fantasy about a good person being rewarded for being good. We'll allow it.

Kevin Cormack
Rating:

“At least this isn't another isekai,” I sighed to myself as I read through another seemingly lazy take on an established light novel/manga/anime fantasy story, in this case The Saint's Magical Power is Omnipotent. It seems that there's now a “young lady with saintly powers” subgenre, though in this case, the story in question shares a common setup with innumerable “villainess” franchises too. At what point will Japanese popular fiction stop relentlessly cannibalizing itself? Those subgenre corpse bones have surely been picked clean of meat by now…?

Even Exiled, She's Still the Beloved Saint! is a light novel series from the author of Even a Replica Can Fall in Love, the first volume of which I read, reviewed, and adored last year, so I know Harunadon can produce good work. This light and frothy manga adaptation may not be the best medium by which to judge the author's writing, but at least it's lots of fun.

While The Saint's Magical Power is Omnipotent is essentially a romantic drama, Even Exiled, She's Still the Beloved Saint! is far more comedic, most pages filled with silly expressions and daft gesticulations. Protagonist Evelyn is supremely ditzy and loses her place as her country's powerful Saint after she's betrayed by her former betrothed, the crown prince, and replaced by her snotty younger half-sister. So far, so rote.

Evelyn doesn't seem that bothered, though, and apart from a few freak-outs about how she's meant to financially support herself, she falls in with a street-smart urchin called Kira, and together they earn money using her healing magic. One thing leads to another, and she attracts the attention of a powerful (and handsome) nobleman after she heals his magical affliction. Evelyn proceeds to spend her days in a loopy romantic comedy, while elsewhere the kingdom falls apart without her influence.

This is a really silly story, and I don't know if the original novel is quite so goofy, but the art leans into the deranged comedy of the setting. That makes it very hard to take seriously, and while the humor is fairly amusing, it's rarely laugh-out-loud rollickingly hilarious. The ongoing joke about Evelyn's self-perceived old maid status (she's 28, but looks 20, is gorgeous by any standards, and can't seem to understand why anyone might want to marry her) is funny, though it begins to outwear its welcome. Unlike with Harunadon's other work, I don't feel overly inspired to read much more.