The Spring 2023 Manga Guide

The Villainess and the Demon Knight

What's It About? 

When noblewoman Cecilia realizes she's been reincarnated into an otome game, her shock is further complicated by the fact that she's the villainess! What's worse, she can't seem to change her fate. Now, her engagement is broken off, the heroine is harassing her, and she's forced to work in a brothel—where her very first customer turns out to be the debauched Leader of the Imperial Guard, Lucas Herbst. This dangerous Casanova looks like he'll be the end of her, until he takes her as a fiancée!

The Villainess and the Demon Knight has art by Seikan based on the novel by Nekota. This volume was translated by M. Jean and lettered by Giuseppe A. Fusco. Seven Seas Entertainment's Steamship label released its first volume both digitally and physically on March 28.

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

The Villainess and the Demon Knight is, thus far, the weakest first volume in Seven Seas' Steamship line of racy manga for ladies. Yes, that does in part have to do with the isekai genre, but maybe not in the way you'd expect – protagonist Cecilia isn't far out from her awakening as a former high schooler reborn into an otome game as the villainess when the story opens. She's floundering with only game knowledge (or so it appears), and about all she knows is that a couple of things have changed and she's been shunted into a brothel instead of a monastery like in the original plot. When a man she only knows as one of the game heroine's harem members shows up to buy her for the night, she's pretty sure she's about to die. All of that makes for a spectacularly unappealing opening chapter, because even if she gets into it, (“it” being a thirty-page sex scene) the whole thing feels coerced.

Fortunately, things change once that's over with. Suffice it to say that Cecilia is missing a good chunk of the picture, and once we get into Lucas' head, the story improves. Lucas is unaware that Cecilia thinks she's living in a game world, and he's got a solid grasp of the court politics at play, to say nothing of a firm understanding of who heroine Mia really is. He even notes the building of her reverse harem with a confused and jaundiced eye, which is an approach we don't often see in this sort of story, at least not from the romantic lead. It feels like the sex scene was moved to open the story in the interest of snagging readers' attention from the start, and if you're mostly in the series for sex, it probably works. If you like a little plot and romance with your smut, it's not a great start.

The other issue is that the timeline seems a little confused as we hop back and forth between Lucas' and Cecilia's perspectives. In part, this comes down to her simply not having the full picture, either before or after her reawakening, but it can be tricky to follow at times. Luckily all this flashing back and forward does explain why Lucas wants Cecilia to call him by the cringe-worthy nickname “Lord Lukie,” but I still died inside a little every time she said it. The art is pretty good, with lots of lush gowns and a decent sense of movement during Lucas' sword fights, although his face can be a little too pretty at times, which is mostly an issue because it isn't consistent. I think this merits a second volume to decide if it's going to be worth it or not.