The Fall 2024 K-Comics Guide

Beware the Villainess!

What's It About? 

When a modern-day college student wakes up in the body of Melissa Foddebrat, the villainess of a cliché reverse-harem novel, she is determined to cast aside the plot and live a quiet life of luxury, but…AGH! Why are all the men in this novel trash?! A sleazebag crown prince, an asshole sniper, a crazed werewolf, and an obsessive merchant―Melissa can't just stand by and watch the innocent heroine suffer at the hands of these four male leads. Scummy love interests, begone ― this story is getting a rewrite!

Beware the Villainess! has a story by Berry and art by Blue Canna, based on a webtoon by Soda Ice. The English translation is by TAPAS ENTERTAINMENT, INC. This volume was lettered by DIETRICH PREMIER. Published by ‎ Ize Press (October 22, 2024).

Beware the Villainess! is available in print from Ize Press.

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Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

If you think about it, there's nothing particularly unique about Beware the Villainess!. It's a standard villainess reincarnation story: Melissa died in a traffic accident in Korea and found herself reborn as the villainess in a reverse harem novel she read, All the Men Who Loved Her. Like most reincarnated villainesses before her, she has no plans to lead a tragic life and takes steps to change that. It's a case of it not being about the clichés used, but HOW you use them.

I hesitate to call this a full-blown genre parody, but it comes pretty close in the best possible way. Melissa's plans are very simple but nothing goes the way she hopes it will. Take her engagement to Prince Ian – Melissa knows that he'll throw her over publicly as soon as he meets heroine Yuri, so she decides to break off their engagement first. After all, Ian has been doing his level best to throw his numerous affairs with other women in Melissa's face: every time they plan to meet, he shows up first so that Melissa walks in on him in flagrante delicto. Old Melissa was very hurt by this. Current Melissa? She's disgusted and grossed out but also knows that it's the perfect excuse to calmly tell Ian that they're over. Except the minute Melissa says it, he gets all weepy!

The entire volume is a study of how wrong anything can go. Ian was cheating on Melissa because he thought she was too clingy, but now that she's done, he wants her. Melissa's cold father turns into a pink balloon-toting doting daddy when she tries to tell him that she's finished with Ian, and her brother Luke (another love interest) is suddenly heavily invested in her marrying his best friend Ian. None of it makes any sense, and the way the art shows Melissa's frustration is one of the best elements of the story. From her calling upon the spirit of philosopher Immanuel Kant to a Simpsons parody, the humor is right on top of things. Even the use of seinen manga faces amid the flowery art works better than it has any right to. Beware the Villainess! knows its genre and is using the staples to not only tell an actual villainess story but also to make fun of it while not overplaying its hand. Melissa knows what book she's in, and that just makes it better.

Don't go into Beware the Villainess! expecting the usual take on silly villainess stories. Melissa's no Katarina, and she's smart enough to pull out all the stops to save herself even as the characters seem to be changing as she watches. It's a lot of fun, and if it still feels a little too familiar in places, that's more than made up for by the way that Melissa interacts with her world in laugh-out-loud attempts to change her fate.

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Lauren Orsini
Rating:

By now, we're all familiar with the “villainess” story, in which the doomed female antagonist of a novel or otome game is given a sympathetic spotlight. Beware The Villainess isn't even the only such story in this season's manga guide. But while When the Villainess Seduces the Main Heroine Vol. 1 offers a GL twist, this story is your average “reincarnation” trope. So the question is, how much patience do you have left for a smart-mouthed reborn villainess breaking other characters' expectations exactly in the way you're expecting? Melissa's sass and humor keep this story afloat, but she's still stuck in an otome novel setting you've already seen before.

My first introduction to “villainess” stories was 2020's My Next Life As A Villainess: All Roots Lead To Doom! Even back then, reverse harem stories were becoming cliche, but Catarina's earnestness and drive made her story feel fresh. Melissa may look just like Catarina, but her approach to the villainess act is to double down. Armed with plenty of pop culture references (from online meme faces to The Simpsons), her nonstop antagonism has the adverse effect of captivating all of the previously hostile characters around her. From her cheating fiance the prince, to her assassin brother, to her “Boomer” dad, everyone around Melissa inexplicably can't get enough of her sudden desire to have nothing to do with them! It's all a big hassle for Melissa, who wants to be left alone to enjoy her new life of leisure as a noblewoman. Melissa may be hashtag relatable, but every other character in this story is completely one-dimensional.

Beware the Villainess features gorgeous, full-color art with a penchant for funny faces and visual gags. The volume ends in the middle of yet another of Melissa's schemes to get everyone to hate her (but which the reader knows is only going to make everyone love her more). She's a real firecracker, but I just can't get myself motivated when I know the setting she's stuck in inside and out. If you're a fan of villainess stories and want more of them, this is exactly what the doctor ordered. But if you're tired of them, you'll want to beware this villainess.

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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. Yen Press, BookWalker Global, and J-Novel Club are subsidiaries of KWE.