The Valdias are a seemingly normal family of nobles that no one would expect to face a future full of death and condemnation—a fate which is about to be rewritten. After a mysterious accident, former salaryman and avid gamer Hajime Kanda wakes up as their eldest child, Reid, in the world of an otome game he once fully cleared. And he knows the terrible future that awaits them all.

Reid may have been a petty villain in the main story, but he's got exceptional stats that will help him grow into a total beast. The hard part will be avoiding the conflict to come, and doing that means bringing the family together again. He's just got to be sweet to his younger sister, get in his father's good graces, and cure his mother's terminal illness, of course. Should be simple enough, right? Well, Reid's determined to save his family from a dark fate, and he's going to do it by playing by the rules!

The Petty Villain Plays by the Rules: Rewriting This Otome Game with Honest Work! has a story by MIZUNA and is illustrated by Ruki. English translation is done by sachi salehi. Published by J-Novel Club (February 6, 2026).

Erica Friedman
Rating:

There's nothing wrong with this series, except some small writing snafus that a beta reader could have fixed. There's also nothing innovative about The Petty Villain Plays by the Rules: Rewriting This Otome Game with Honest Work!. It completes the checklist of “guy is reincarnated into a fantasy world and fixes things.” He's cute, he's a genius (in this case because he knows the game), he's surrounded by attractive women, one of whom is an elf and another of whom is a catgirl. He has a doting sister.

In Reid's case, he comes with the baggage of some emotional stress and behavioral problems, which the story actually takes a moment to delve into and let him process periodically. That alone gives the story an extra star. In most of these rebirth light novels, the trauma just hangs there like a completely normal bit of backstory. Very “Oh well, yeah, I just had this horrible childhood, so now I'm doing revenge things, you know.” Here, the protagonist actually feels the child Reid's emotions, even as he desires to access more of Kanda's memories.

Aside from this, the story proceeds as usual for a story of this kind. Reid will create products that his world doesn't have, he will be amazing at magic and fighting, and all the women will love him. There is no doubt that he will do the things he has to do to change the character's trajectory and live happily ever after. No doubt and only a little conflict. There is some time spent on the details of how those bits of conflict are resolved.

The rest of the book is filled in with other people's perspectives, which do add a bit of information. The end of the book continues that trend with side stories that tie up some of the threads that become part of the main story.

As I said, there is nothing wrong with this book. In a genre of bookalikes, this one is another one of those.