Hazel gets into new genres
Thursday, 15 October 2020 12:38It was ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alias_sqbr unsurprisingly who first got me into Beware of the Vilainess (now also a Yuletide fandom), and thus introduced me to an entire sub-genre of webtoons, much to my delight. "Villainess" comics (manga and manhwa, originating from a variety of countries and each with its own unique twist) that revolve around the isekai premise of a modern person "falling into" (or reincarnating into) a video game, except it's an otome dating sim, and the female protagonist is reincarnated as the game's catty and vain female villain. Basically, the rough equivalent of what USian hgh school shows call an "alpha bitch", on the model of Mean Girls' Regina George, but like, the daughter of a duke in a fantasy kingdom.
The in-universe game's premise revolves around the heroine being a "saintess", a model of feminine virtue who's gentle, healing (often literally), and preternaturally forgiving. She's instantly more beautiful and more popular than the alpha bitch villainess, sometimes despite being an adopted commoner. Often it seems one of the men who falls for her will be the villainess's fiance, who will then break off the engagement with his unpleasant betrothed, causing her to fall into a jealous rage and do everything in her power to sabotage the saintly heroine (who will then forgive her and tearfully insist that they could've been friends). The level of violence varies.
The reaction of the protagonist also varies. Some of them want to redeem the villainess that they were reincarnated as, and set her on a better path. I generally find this less interesting, because I'm me and a horrible little gremlin. A lot of these de-villification schemes seem to involve the villainess acting as wife or step-mother to a character who would eventually have become a villain, or even an older sister. By contrast, my favorite stories (from the ones I've read) give some kind of twist on the theme. Like "Beware of the Villainess", which starts with the protagonist cheerfully proclaiming that she intends to be neither saint nor villain, just to enjoy her life as a rich duke's daughter in the lap of luxury... until she opens a campaign to rescue the original saintly heroine from her sub-par male love interests.
I keep losing track of all the comics I'm following, and because so many of these are fan translations, the update schedule isn't always consistent. Labor of love, and all. The villainess tag also branches out from isekai stories to more general time travel and reincarnation ones, or other variations on second-chance tropes.
( Six recs and links )
I meant to note how many chapters each one has, but lost track. There are also a couple of others I've read through, but have decided not to link due to being ambivalent about their quality. I remain alert to emerging recs.
Now I'm going to sink into another one, and see if I have more recs for you later.
alias_sqbr unsurprisingly who first got me into Beware of the Vilainess (now also a Yuletide fandom), and thus introduced me to an entire sub-genre of webtoons, much to my delight. "Villainess" comics (manga and manhwa, originating from a variety of countries and each with its own unique twist) that revolve around the isekai premise of a modern person "falling into" (or reincarnating into) a video game, except it's an otome dating sim, and the female protagonist is reincarnated as the game's catty and vain female villain. Basically, the rough equivalent of what USian hgh school shows call an "alpha bitch", on the model of Mean Girls' Regina George, but like, the daughter of a duke in a fantasy kingdom. The in-universe game's premise revolves around the heroine being a "saintess", a model of feminine virtue who's gentle, healing (often literally), and preternaturally forgiving. She's instantly more beautiful and more popular than the alpha bitch villainess, sometimes despite being an adopted commoner. Often it seems one of the men who falls for her will be the villainess's fiance, who will then break off the engagement with his unpleasant betrothed, causing her to fall into a jealous rage and do everything in her power to sabotage the saintly heroine (who will then forgive her and tearfully insist that they could've been friends). The level of violence varies.
The reaction of the protagonist also varies. Some of them want to redeem the villainess that they were reincarnated as, and set her on a better path. I generally find this less interesting, because I'm me and a horrible little gremlin. A lot of these de-villification schemes seem to involve the villainess acting as wife or step-mother to a character who would eventually have become a villain, or even an older sister. By contrast, my favorite stories (from the ones I've read) give some kind of twist on the theme. Like "Beware of the Villainess", which starts with the protagonist cheerfully proclaiming that she intends to be neither saint nor villain, just to enjoy her life as a rich duke's daughter in the lap of luxury... until she opens a campaign to rescue the original saintly heroine from her sub-par male love interests.
I keep losing track of all the comics I'm following, and because so many of these are fan translations, the update schedule isn't always consistent. Labor of love, and all. The villainess tag also branches out from isekai stories to more general time travel and reincarnation ones, or other variations on second-chance tropes.
( Six recs and links )
I meant to note how many chapters each one has, but lost track. There are also a couple of others I've read through, but have decided not to link due to being ambivalent about their quality. I remain alert to emerging recs.
Now I'm going to sink into another one, and see if I have more recs for you later.
