Thursday Recs
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queerly_belovedIt's time for Thursday Recs again!
This week, I'm recommending the manga and light novel series, "I'm in Love With the Villainess" by inori.
There's a trope in Japanese light novels recently where the main character wakes up or is reincarnated as an important person in one of their favorite game or novel series. In a subset of this trope, the main character ends up as the primary female rival in a girls dating sim, where the player has the option of romantically pursuing one or more of several handsome male love interests.
"I'm in Love With the Villainess" splits the difference with the main character, Rae, waking up as the game's heroine, but rejecting all of the male love interests in favor of her own favorite character: The game's villainess/main female rival, Claire. The series is primarily a comedy with some very serious undertones; there is also a good amount of actual queer representation, starting with Rae herself, who is a lesbian and unshy about her attraction being solely to other girls. There's also a character that we later learn is sort of a trans woman, in a similar way to Cheery Littlebottom from Discworld or Ozma from The Wizard of Oz universe; we also learn about some of Rae's queer classmates from her past life's high school years, and the tangled knot of romance and emotions the four of them ended up in. There's more, including a happy ending for Rae, but those are some highlights.
I will note that there was some translation controversy in the original release of the first volume in English, which has since been resolved. There is also some side-character incest, so if that's a major squick or trigger for you, here's your warning.
And that's it from me this week! One more note from me, I'm running pretty low on things I've had planned to review, so I may just be making blanket "What do you recommend this week?" posts in the future unless I have something in particular to recommend. Just wanted to give a heads up on that.
Do you have a rec for this week? Just reply to this post with something queer or queer-adjacent (such as, soap made by a queer person that isn't necessarily queer themed) that you'd, well, recommend. Self-recs are welcome, as are recs for fandom-related content!
Or have you tried something that's been recced here? Do you have your own report to share about it? I'd love to hear about it!
This week, I'm recommending the manga and light novel series, "I'm in Love With the Villainess" by inori.
There's a trope in Japanese light novels recently where the main character wakes up or is reincarnated as an important person in one of their favorite game or novel series. In a subset of this trope, the main character ends up as the primary female rival in a girls dating sim, where the player has the option of romantically pursuing one or more of several handsome male love interests.
"I'm in Love With the Villainess" splits the difference with the main character, Rae, waking up as the game's heroine, but rejecting all of the male love interests in favor of her own favorite character: The game's villainess/main female rival, Claire. The series is primarily a comedy with some very serious undertones; there is also a good amount of actual queer representation, starting with Rae herself, who is a lesbian and unshy about her attraction being solely to other girls. There's also a character that we later learn is sort of a trans woman, in a similar way to Cheery Littlebottom from Discworld or Ozma from The Wizard of Oz universe; we also learn about some of Rae's queer classmates from her past life's high school years, and the tangled knot of romance and emotions the four of them ended up in. There's more, including a happy ending for Rae, but those are some highlights.
I will note that there was some translation controversy in the original release of the first volume in English, which has since been resolved. There is also some side-character incest, so if that's a major squick or trigger for you, here's your warning.
And that's it from me this week! One more note from me, I'm running pretty low on things I've had planned to review, so I may just be making blanket "What do you recommend this week?" posts in the future unless I have something in particular to recommend. Just wanted to give a heads up on that.
Do you have a rec for this week? Just reply to this post with something queer or queer-adjacent (such as, soap made by a queer person that isn't necessarily queer themed) that you'd, well, recommend. Self-recs are welcome, as are recs for fandom-related content!
Or have you tried something that's been recced here? Do you have your own report to share about it? I'd love to hear about it!
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Date: 2022-12-03 03:49 am (UTC)