(CR) The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion

[Alchemist007]

Sure hope he meant kill them at the end there.

[Guardian Enzo]

That episode certainly ramped up the silliness level in a big way. Not entirely for the worse, but I didn’t find that nearly as appealing as the playful cat and mouse between Raeliana and Noah.

[SeijiSensei]

Apparently Raeliana in the novel would go shooting with her father as a bonding experience. That part hasn't been shown in the anime.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs...414619#5414619

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Apparently Raeliana in the novel would go shooting with her father as a bonding experience. That part hasn't been shown in the anime.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs...414619#5414619

Actually they showed her capable with a rifle in the first episode. She tried to scare off Francis with it.

[SeijiSensei]

Yes. I just started watching from the beginning and saw that scene. So much was packed into that episode that some bits of story just passed by.

Had I remembered, the later scene wouldn't have been so surprising.

[Ghostfriendly]

I like Raeliana, she'd got plenty of brains and sass. I'm not sure she'll be well used by a genre of novels that requires a raft of cliched bishonen to take charge of the plot, however. At least the harassment has been called out, and wasn't as bad as it might have been.

[SeijiSensei]

I see this story as turning shoujo cliches on their heads. I expect Raeliana to hold her own in social situations, though she is having trouble dealing with Noah. (I doubt he is the villain she thinks him to be, but we'll see.) The more problematic relationship is with Adam, who is clearly stricken with Raeliana despite knowing of her pact with Noah. Adam and Vivian may unconsciously share a common interest in undercutting the relationship between the mains. Most of the other bishounen will likely fall by the wayside.

[Ghostfriendly]

Actually finding a lot to like here. Raeliana continues to hold her own, and Nick does very well as a welcome change from a few other negative, kiddy-fiddler portrayals of similarly presenting men in anime. The focus has very thankfully been squarely on Raeliana rather than the male lead who will be practically impossible to redeem - the revelation of the softer side that supposedly excuses his toxicity, and by extension real male toxicity, is just another cliche. Even actual repentance of the behaviour which the studio has already made their money out of would be unconvincing. Mr Darcy, once again, was cold and rude, not toxic and Liz's I-hate-him-no-I-love-him was prompted by a real change in his behaviour, not the realisation that she enjoyed being harassed or that male pain justifies abuse (it doesn't). Raeliana's eventual volte-face will have to be on the same basis, not to make an uncliched show but a watchable one.

Calling out the same cliches that you're exploiting in your show is not flipping anything on its head - you need to show them not working or happening in a way that doesn't involve gratuitous rape, or write an uncliched show. Still, cliches such as the strong, silent and cliched Adam can be harmless and legitimate means of telling a fair story.

Raeliana's verbal sparring with Vivian and talk with Freece Eriteal were standouts. It's well worked out that the timid Marchioness would need an ally in the noblewomen's circle and be targeted by Noah to introduce his spy. It's less clear how Langston stood to gain money by arranging Raeliana's murder; it would leave his pawn free to marry and murder more women, but it should be made clear if there isn't some other reason.

Brooks was presented more as a pitiful blackmail victim than a serial victimiser of women, perhaps to avoid character overlap with the 'hero', which was questionable. Langston's visible shock at his sister's death was undercut by his immediate readiness to exploit said death; it would have been better if her 'suicide' was a put-up job to entrap Brooks. Such attempts to give sympathy and shallow depth to villains are wasted effort; Raeliana would more likely remember the trauma of being threatened with a knife than something pathetic as a villain pleading 'think of me poor ole' mudder!' That sequence made her look weak rather than sympathetic.

The pathetic character of Brooks, however, along with many other elements of ep 5, served to make her look strong, which was worth a great deal. She even avoided having the gun wrestled off her so that she didn't 'dirty her hands'. Dress-tearing is absolutely a cliche, but still one of the best out there; certainly better than heroines falling off cliffs, getting princess carried, and getting a jacket draped over their shoulders. Overall, this is so far a good 6/10 rather than a bad 6/10

[Frontier]

After the night she's had, I don't think Raeliana needed her fake fiancé laying right next to her shirtless in bed casually reading and implying they did the deed without her knowing. No wonder she ran .

This is unexpected! Adam followed Raeliana's orders instead of Noah's! He even princess carried her out a window! I mean, he wouldn't take her outside the mansion grounds but it shows how much sway Raeliana has over Adam that he seems just as loyal to her as he is to Noah .

Raeliana the maid! She looks surprisingly good! Especially with the glasses and her hair done up !

That chef totally realized who Raeliana was when he gave her the fondue, didn't he? All the better for her and Adam to have a pleasant lunch together .

Huh, so Raeliana can understand all languages as a side-effect of the reincarnation? I wonder if there's a specific reason for that, like she's going to need that ability to survive ?

Count Keith Westenberg! Apparently a very popular character in the novel. Which I guess I can see because he's cute, handsome, and jovial enough. Quite the contrast to Noah which makes it more interesting that he's Noah's right-hand man .

Dang, Noah actually genuinely apologized and was honest with Raeli! Even Keith realizes just how different he's acting, particularly around Raeli. She thought she had the upper hand though right up until he started nibbling on her fingers. What a charmer .

I love how Noah was so focused on Raeliana he never noticed Keith was there. Probably a good thing considering he was holding her hand at some point .

How convenient that no one escapes Saint Bell Prison so no one will know that Noah just casually offed Raeliana's kidnappers whom he says are in there .

I guess a fake engagement is nice just for the fancy dresses you get to wear. Though how long will Raeliana keep this up? She only needed Noah to keep her safe from Francis, and with that taken care of she doesn't really have a reason to keep their fake engagement going, especially knowing that she's basically stealing Noah from the main protagonist of the novel .

I'm sure most ladies would prefer not to be absconded from their bed while they're sleeping only to wake up somewhere with some guy...but you really can't beat the gondola + fireworks + rose petals set up Noah has going for their little date .

It seems like something to do with his mother (?) scarred Noah and made him think he should never fall in love, so the only way he can recognize his feelings for Raeliana and how much he doesn't want to lose her is to ask her to keep the deal going until she doesn't need him any more, even though he's obviously falling for her even if he doesn't understand how he feels. Raeliana thinks he's still going to fall for Beatrice even though she's now the only woman in his eyes, though that doesn't stop Beatrice from seemingly showing up just as the mood (and insert song) was getting good between the two .

[zztop]

Originally Posted by stray

Its easier to make a reverse harem with an isekai set within an otome game.

I always felt it was more a reflection of how different cultures interact with fiction. Like how the Korean "reincarnated into a novel plot" genre has been extended to include writers and creators transmigrating into the very stories they wrote (iirc there was one where MC transmigrated into their original romance webnovel they wrote years ago and abandoned, therefore they didn't know what would happen next.)

For the Japanese side, I've yet to see writers do a story where they got isekai'd into their own shitty Narou webnovel and have to deal with all the b*lls**t they wrote long ago. Like the genre hasn't caught on the Japanese side yet.

[stray]

Originally Posted by zztop

For the Japanese side, I've yet to see writers do a story where they got isekai'd into their own shitty Narou webnovel and have to deal with all the b*lls**t they wrote long ago. Like the genre hasn't caught on the Japanese side yet.

I think there was an RPG I played where they went into somebody's chuuni notebook come to life... Akiba's Beat maybe? Oh, and -- its more reverse isekai but you should check out Re:Creators if you haven't already. Very underrated series though Gigguk shills it a lot lately.

In all honesty I haven't found many Korean series to be all that memorable. Raeliana is fun but its ultimately another popcorn isekai. I tend to prefer the Japanese flavor even if Narou is like trying to sort through a landfill.

[magnuskn]

Yeaaaah, I gotta say the series is pretty generic in the "isekai'd as the villainess" trope. There are much more fun and varied takes on the genre. However, most of those haven't made it to television yet.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by magnuskn

Yeaaaah, I gotta say the series is pretty generic in the "isekai'd as the villainess" trope. There are much more fun and varied takes on the genre. However, most of those haven't made it to television yet.

Feels like a relatively more grounded I'm the Villainess So I'm Taming the Last Boss, minus the Villainess part .

[stray]

Its adjacent to villainess but murder mystery/victim isekai is more or less its own thing I think. There's other stuff like I Reincarnated as the Little Sister of a Death Game Manga's Murder Mastermind and Failed which I got into recently.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by stray

Its adjacent to villainess but murder mystery/victim isekai is more or less its own thing I think. There's other stuff like I Reincarnated as the Little Sister of a Death Game Manga's Murder Mastermind and Failed which I got into recently.

Dear lord, that title .

[zztop]

Originally Posted by stray

I tend to prefer the Japanese flavor even if Narou is like trying to sort through a landfill.

To be fair, going through any fanfiction/original fiction site is like going through a landfill. The difference is that Narou lets you do it for free, but Korean sites require you to pay per chapter.

Speaking of Japanese flavour, I always notice how their taste in heroines lean more towards gentle and kind, more caring even to their enemies. Korean ones are spicier; more sassy, cunning and unforgiving.

[Alchemist007]

I'm a sucker for a full OP/ED lead in.

[Frontier]

Raeliana's in with Freese is going well! And now she's set to attend a Monster Hunt where noble men hunt down monsters in the mountains. They even present the monsters they slay in honor of their significant others or ladies that catch their eye! I don't usually imagine presenting monster corpses as romantic, but whatever works for these people .

I dunno, I think that dragon handkerchief would fit Noah to a T, although it fits Adam too. And it's more meaningful to use Noah's family crest. I do love how Adam assumed it meant Raeliana wanted him to hunt down a dragon, and I'll be disappointed if he doesn't !

Raeliana is trying to get in touch with Beatrice so she can get the plot back on track, but none of her letters have been received. Is that because Beatrice is already back and is just hiding herself watching Raeliana from afar ?

Raeliana can't help but stare at a sleeping Noah, ruminating on the romance arc he's meant to have with Beatrice even though she's the one Noah currently has his eyes on. Of course his teasing absolutely infuriates her, but Noah just enjoys having her around him and getting to feel her face. It's pretty sweet if you ask me !

Did you know that in Sycret, you can freeze even in August? Because people won't stop mentioning it .

Vivian's brother is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita!? There's no way he's not going to be a significant character at some point .

Raeliana acting like she's considering the Dame Ansley route. Not that I'm surprised, Ansley is a pretty handsome female knight .

Poor Adam. Noah withholding his handkerchief and sweets until Raeliana gives in and gives him his handkerchief. Although that's also just how this couple tends to roll with each other, and it says a lot that Raealiana actually did have it with her .

Ugh. Of course Vivian has a mean girl posse that help her try to mess with Raeliana. These kind of girls can never leave well alone. Although Raeliana just as assuredly and confidently turns the tables on them, especially emphasizing to Vivian her closeness with Noah knowing he's the only man Vivian really has her eyes on. Not even a cliché of having wine thrown at her is going to shake Raeliana up .

Look at how Raeliana rushed out of there when she learned the first group was back! She really wanted to know that Noah (and Adam) were back! Too bad there apparently stuck in Hell and Ansley barely made it back. Uh oh .

[Ghostfriendly]

Originally Posted by Frontier

After the night she's had, I don't think Raeliana needed her fake fiancé laying right next to her shirtless in bed casually reading and implying they did the deed without her knowing. No wonder she ran .

Quite. Practically every 'scene' between Noah and Rae has been sexual harassment played as romance. The saving grace is Rae's actually staving off thus far her inevitable leave taking of her senses and falling for Christian Grey like a generic romantic heroine rather than the decent character she's shown herself to be.

Why isn't Dame Ansley the love interest? More chemistry in a few minutes than six episodes. Even if the male lead wasn't a jerk, Rae has the right to a less generic choice than yet another prince charming. More seriously, why has Ansley been undercut twice by failing to prevent Rae's kidnapping or protect her lord from the hell-beast? I don't need to ask.

It's a true statement that the rival noblewomen in these stories have no more wit or composure than playground bullies. Again, hanging a lampshade on the silly trope your own story is playing straight only makes Rae's impeccable composure less impressive, when her enemies in a battle of wits are visible unarmed.

It seems like something to do with his mother (?) scarred Noah and made him think he should never fall in love

His poor treatment of women is all the the fault of a woman. Classic.

Originally Posted by magnuskn

Yeaaaah, I gotta say the series is pretty generic in the "isekai'd as the villainess" trope. There are much more fun and varied takes on the genre. However, most of those haven't made it to television yet.

The characters are more important than the premise. This show has appreciably better plotting and a stronger lead than Hamefura, but the whole band of varied love interests in the latter gives it a deserved wider appeal.

[magnuskn]

Originally Posted by Ghostfriendly

The characters are more important than the premise. This show has appreciably better plotting and a stronger lead than Hamefura, but the whole band of varied love interests in the latter gives it a deserved wider appeal.

More importantly, Hamefura and I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss are fun. This is a bit of a slog to go through, since Raeliana ain't very assertive, has no discernable sense of humor and her love interest(s) is/are boring as all hell.