The Villainess’s Guide to (Not) Falling in Love Volume 4 Review
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Luciana was a 30-year-old woman with no love life who was obsessed with a romance game – now she’s been reborn in the game in the body of the villainess and is trying to avoid certain doom. But her plan to avoid all love interests goes sideways when it’s revealed she’s under an enchantment, and only the Wisteria family have that power. So their three sons, plus Lord Lakas and Luciana’s brother Saphir, agree to help her. But with all these handsome men around Luciana, can she still avoid the villainess’s fate? Or is there a bigger villain waiting in the wings to use her for Luciana’s unique power?

Based on the light novel of the same name, we continue the Enchantment arc and this volume is similar to the previous two, in that there’s a lot of exposition and conversations among the characters. However this is broken up with more mystery, with the Evil Star of the East making her first on-page appearance, and also some various men around Luciana falling for her, increasing the tension in the reverse harem Luciana has found herself in.

We open up with a flashback for Saphir, where it’s teased as to when he first made a contract with the Evil Star of the East. I say ‘teased’ but it’s built up by showing him in the Magic Division under the Commander, and gorgeous images of him using magic, then we get to the reveal of his unique magic crest, but we never learn WHY Saphir made the contract with the Evil Star. Apparently Joshua (the eldest son of the Wisteria family) was there too, but none of them specifically say why they made this life-altering deal. I assume they’re saving it as a big reveal when we get to the battle with the Evil Star, but it felt like the manga was dangling the carrot, only to snatch it away when it was starting to get good.

Then the events of Volume 1, where Luciana used magic that she shouldn’t be able to use, as well as the possibility of her being the Yggdrasil Mage, is revealed to all of them; this leads to the men fighting among themselves, as they all rush to devote their lives to protecting Luciana. Out of the four potential love suitors that were revealed in Volume 1, only two are in this room, with another extra (unlockable in the game) suitor, and of course Saphir, Luciana’s brother, who’s been tiptoeing the line between brother and something else for a while now. It’s nice to see a development of the harem, considering it’s been lacking for a few volumes and it’s the purpose of the title, especially as Luciana is realising how far from the main game’s plot they have gone, and she doesn’t know what to do anymore. I also like that it’s not clear who will ‘win her heart’, so to speak. Lakas has so far had more page time, and three out of the four short stories have been from his perspective. But Saphir has also been given a lot of development, seems to know more and be more powerful than he lets on, and he’s the centre of the current conflict, along with Luciana. Then there’s Louis, the youngest son of the Wisteria family, and also a suitor who’s been put through so much in this book, but doesn’t shy away from his feelings for Luciana as well.

The latter half of the book is when the plot kicks into gear though, as the Evil Star of the East kidnaps Saphir and Luciana decides to ask her younger brother Conrad for help, only to reveal who Conrad really is and how he is tied to her Enchantment. This backstory is a lot more satisfying as we learn a lot about the dynamics of the Wisteria household, it allows for some ‘out there’ concepts that could only exist in fantasy series, and it also ties a lot of mini-threads together. For example, Luciana first met an upset Louis in Volume 2 under a tree, and they connected over a sombre poem. Now with the new context of Louis’s difficult childhood, we see why he was sad, how he connected with the poem and why the pair formed a connection; it’s a really nice detail. There are a lot of these little details coming together here, including a one-off line from Volume 1 becoming an important detail in the side story at the back of the book. These moments make this silly love harem fantasy series feel satisfying.

Art continues to be a strong presence in the book with each character looking gorgeous, and the magic spells and the villain’s entrance drawn and presented with great detail on the page. My only criticism is the cover: all the previous covers have been lovely, but have been unified by one or two colours, like Volume 2 having pastel shades of light purple and pink, or Volume 3 having purple as the dominant colour, but off-set with dark green as a compliment. For Volume 4, the cover can’t decide what the dominant colour is; there’s black and purple, but then the very pale pink takes up a good chunk of the middle, and there’s a run-through of earthy green that ends up taking over in the bottom half under the logo. I personally don’t think all the mix of colours work in this instance. It’s a shame because the art is still lovely, just needs a better harmony of colours. [Could the colour scheme chosen here be reflecting the dynamics of the changing character relationships? Just a thought. Ed.] The translation by Meredith Singer continues to be good however, so no complaints there.

What I like about this manga adaptation is that they’re always generous with the content in each volume, not only do we get the latest manga chapters but also a side story from the light novel author herself, and sometimes character art. In this volume, we get a new side story, once again from Lakas’ perspective for a chapter of this volume, but also character art of the Wisteria parents and staff members in Luciana’s household, then in the middle of the book, is a ‘spot the difference’ page! I’ve never seen that in a manga before, and thought it was a fun little extra.

This villainess manga series continues to be a fun ride, with a build-up of tension between the love interests and growing mystery on the enchantment. However, there has been a lot of talking and I’m ready for some action! Hopefully Volume 5 can provide that when it comes out next year, or wouldn’t it be nice if someone picked up the rights to the light novel? (Hint hint to whichever publishing company happens upon this review).

Read a free preview of this volume on the publisher’s website here.

Our review copy from Square Enix Manga was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services)

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