Jeanette has lived an unusual life: her mother died young, and her father remarried quickly, bringing a stepmother and stepsister into the household, who both treated her awfully. However, Jeanette’s father did not raise her like a typical noble girl; instead of learning proper etiquette, she was taught business sense and how to make money. So she’s always had interests in book-keeping and talking trade, which has made her an outcast in society. She also happens to be engaged to Count Claus Guivarch, due to her father helping his family get out of poverty. When Jeanette’s father goes missing and she is kicked out of the house by her evil stepmother, Jeanette decides to use this opportunity to strike out on her own and grow her own company. She decides to start with breaking off her engagement to Claus, to set him free (as she puts it) and start afresh. But as it turns out, Claus doesn’t want to break the engagement; he’s actually totally in love with her and wants to get married!

Jeanette the Genius: Defying my Evil Stepmother by Starting a Business with my Ride-or-Die Fiancé! is a manga based upon the light novel of the same name, which is out digitally from J-Novel Club, with all three volumes available. The original work is by Miyako Miyano, who has been working on light novels for years now (notably with a fantasy upper-class twist – so lots of lords and ladies falling in love). The manga has been licensed by Panini Manga, who are relatively new to the UK manga scene.

This story starts like a semi-typical Cinderella story, with Jeanette being mistreated by her stepmother and sister, plus the father being out of the picture when the story begins, but this tale quickly bounces from that and goes its own direction. For one, the father is not dead in this tale (at least as far as the story is aware) but ‘missing’ and so the stepmother’s actions of kicking out Jeanette as soon as the dad is out of the picture is very nefarious and sets up a mystery of the missing dad for a long-term plot device. However it’s quickly put aside for Jeanette’s goal of starting her own business, starting with breaking off the engagement. Claus doesn’t want to lose Jeanette, in fact he offers his fiancée his home, to save sleeping in a hotel AND also offers his company to her to run instead!

This series sells itself as a ‘wild comedy’, which I get; the pace is quite fast and the light-hearted approach to potentially dark matters (like family abuse, missing persons, being trapped in an engagement, etc) is what gives its comedic edge. But it has the double-edged sword effect of not making any of its plot twists really matter. So Jeanette wants to break off the engagement? Claus is in fact in love with her, that’s fine, but instead of having tension between the two (like having Jeanette learning to see Claus as a potential suitor) she just goes with the flow and accepts it. Jeanette has to make it into the business world, despite it being a time where women aren’t given financial liberty or respect? No worries, she can just have Claus’s company instead. Jeanette’s being kicked out of her own home, mere days after her dad’s disappearance? Oh well, Jeanette sees this as an opportunity to grow and strike out on her own! I wanted to lean into its comedic fancy adventure of business and high society, but it’s hard to be invested when there’s THIS much going on, and going by so fast that you’re expected to drop the previous plot point to move onto the next.

There is one chapter which is pure flashback for Claus, showing the turning point from him seeing Jeanette as more than just someone he’s been forced to marry. It’s probably the strongest chapter in the book, giving Claus some much needed humanisation and also providing nice moments for Jeanette too, giving context to her upbringing and the pair growing together.

If you compare the art from the light novel to the manga, you’ll notice significant changes if you look closely; the light novel uses more bold colours and has longer faces for the characters. The manga style however opts for paler shades of colour with more rounded, almost ‘chibi’ style faces. I think the artist Nanari went with this to highlight the comedy of the series, but I think it could have benefited more from being closer to the original style, and going into the chibi style for panels when it’s suppose to be more comedy driven. As it is, it feels like every panel is in chibi style, and therefore hard to tell when the ‘joke’ is meant to land. Overall though, the art is fine to look at.

Translation by Ray Krycki is an easy read, there are no translation notes but a note from the manga artist, and a bonus chapter with the original author in 4-panel manga style is provided at the back.

Jeanette the Genius is a rather mid-tier book; it has so many ideas it wants to show the audience that it’s in such a hurry to show them all, forgetting to let the audience get to know the characters and care about each plot point first. But if you want an easy read, and like the idea of a Cinderella being more business-savvy, you might find something here.

Our review copy from Panini was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).