The Fall 2024 K-Comics Guide

I'm Not the Final Boss' Lover!

What's It About? 

When protagonist Jun Karentia enters a game as a support mage, she's all set to guide hero Fabian to success. But, oops! The game throws her a curveball when Fabian ditches her in round two, and Mayer Knox, Fabian's rival and secret final boss, recruits her as vice-captain for his corps. The problem? He's the final boss and now everyone thinks they're dating! Now, Jun's mission is to outwit Fabian, transform the final boss into the game's new hero, and put an end to those pesky romance rumors.

I'm Not the Final Boss' Lover! has a story by Ken and art by HANSO, with English translation by Tapas Entertainment. This volume was lettered by Tapas Entertainment. Published by Tapas Entertainment.

Is It Worth Reading?

Jun Karentia may not be the final boss' lover, but it sure seems like he'd be interested in her that way. Based on the novels of the same name (and officially translated by WordExcerpt and available serialized on their site), I'm Not the Final Boss' Lover is part isekai, part “oblivious heroine doesn't see the romance.” Jun is from our world, and yes, she played the world she's currently living in as a game, but unlike most isekai with an intended female audience, the game in question wasn't an otoge, but an RPG. (The only other similar light novel I can think of is I Refuse to Be Your Enemy!.) Jun knows that the world resets after the first fight against the unavoidable demon lord so that the true final villain can be revealed in a second playthrough – and that villain is Mayer Knox, the “final boss” of the title. Things were going just fine for Jun until Fabian, the game's hero, ditched her in a dungeon and she was rescued by Mayer, and now everything is rapidly sprinting towards an unknown outcome.

What makes this story interesting isn't just Jun trying to figure out a way to prevent Mayer from turning into a worse demon lord than the first one, but her feelings about “Jun Karentia.” Although she was aware of Jun as a character in the original game, taking over her body has given her a clear picture of what Jun's life was like before Fabian – and it wasn't good. Denigrated because of her magic affinity (support magic, which neither attacks nor defends), Jun thought that Fabian would be her savior before realizing that the game left a lot of things out. The woman currently inhabiting Jun's body wants to do right by her, giving her the happiness that the game seemed determined not to allow her to have, and more than anything is what prompts her to take Mayer up on his offer of an alliance. She's not sure how she ended up in Jun's world and body, but she's going to do her best for the woman no one else cares about.

Well, except for Mayer. Although his interest in Jun isn't quite as obvious as in some other titles, he's still plainly very keen on Jun, something she might possibly be starting to realize at the end of chapter twenty. (Maybe.) But despite the title, the focus here isn't really on the romance – this is a fantasy story that's interested in the way Jun's support magic works to circumvent prescribed plotlines, with Jun working around the original game to make things happen. The adaptation does a good job of streamlining some of the fussy worldbuilding from the novels (particularly the hair color lore), and while as a novel reader, I was a little taken aback by how slim Mayer is drawn, I really like the art, particularly its use of bright versus dull colors. I'd still probably pick the novels over the comic, but this is still good and a decent take on a familiar genre.

I'm Not the Final Boss' Lover! definitely has one of the more unique setups for this type of story. The classic love triangle where the main character ends up finding themselves being progressively drawn to the “evil “or “bad” partner over the valiant good one is something we're seeing pop up a lot more, as of late. Despite that, I'd argue that I'm Not the Final Boss' Lover! is engaging as it does plot progression alongside the developing relationship between our two leads. While it is a little convenient in how everything is set up, our final boss character does have practical reasons to be drawn to our main character given the overall structure of the world and what she has to offer. The series plays out a little bit like a mystery, as our protagonist needs to figure out how, specifically, she ended up in the physical situation she is in while simultaneously wrestling with the developing feelings she has for this final boss. Literally nothing goes according to this woman's plan at the beginning, and I do feel bad for her as she slowly starts to realize that the world she inhabits might actually be a lot more screwed up than she originally thought.

But the experiences leave her jaded in a believable way. Her skills are showcased properly, and by the end of these chapters, she actually starts to display qualities that might be benefiting a final boss's lover. However, the irony is that the romance is probably one of my biggest complaints about these chapters so far. If you were hoping for some kind of steamy romance, there isn't really a lot of that here. While the final boss is present throughout, he doesn't really stand out as a character that much with his most defining character trait just being that he finds an interest in the main character. I would've liked more moments where we actually see a bit more of a romantic build up, but it definitely feels as if the author is in this for the long-haul. If you're interested in a solid fantasy story with a slow burn romance, then I think this can be OK.