she isnt even that "childish". her current self is more refined and elegant. she is still pretty, why does she have to wear revealing clothes? her hair texture is the same lol.
The plot might not be to your taste, but it's not nonsensical
It is nonsensical, because in no noble society would it be considered more noble to be the nicer sister of a whore, than it would be to not have a shameful sister at all. The father should not be going along with this plan, as he is also a noble and having such a shameful daughter brings dishonor to their family.
The main character is a weak (and I do mean narratively) character, with no agency whatsoever, who randomly switches between having no backbone whatsoever and suddenly being the epitome of integrity. What had she done to affect her fate?
She had no plan for the future and no thoughts about what would happen after her sister marries.
With all these factors, it'd make sense for the story to embrace it's cliche and nonsense atmosphere, like The one within the Villainess does perfectly. Instead, they try to act like her putting on a different dress, somehow makes this story dignified and it's characters worth admiring.
It doesn't. All it does is make it obvious that it's cliche and stupid nonsense isn't an artistic decision, but incompetence.
What had changed in the story for it to act like we've reached some turning point for this character? We have skipped character development by dressing her plainly, we've skipped romance by giving the love interest some nose for truth and we've skipped plot by removing any planning from all characters. Not only is the plot nonsense, it's barely even there.
How does our character feel about what had been done to her? Does she feel repulsed by her family? Does she hate them? Did she feel like she was doing the best she can for her foolish sister? Does she feel like people are right about who they think she is when she wears those showy dresses? Does she believe she deserves better than to be forced to wear those or does she believe she's terrible because she wore them? How does she view herself? This story, that is basically already about nothing doesn't care enough about this character enough to explore it's most fundamental premise. We know she's kind of scared and we know she likes other dresses better. Wow, what a refined and elegant character. Let's put some bows one her and maybe she'll feel like she actually has something to her.
Btw you all asked for this, I was just complaining that a shitty manga made a big deal out of character showing cleavage and put her in an ugly dress.
It would in fact be considered more noble to be the nicer sister of a bitch (the protagonist is a bitch who dresses like a whore in the eyes of people), than it would be to not have a shameful sister at all and be the bastard of an adultery with a non noble (initial identity of the lying sister, remember? She was hated when she first came in society)
As for the rest...it's not your cup of tea, but it makes sense too. She's a victim; she knows it. She never thought she could escape until mister prince on a white horse came around, and now the story's begun.
I can tell you like stories where the saving happens because the girl picks up her sword and takes her saving by herself. And I love those too, I adore those. But I also like stories where the plot is genuinely that she's a victim and she's been helped into trusting herself more and going out in the world and being her beautiful, confident, loving self ... her life has just started changing, she got propulsed out of her prison, (the dress change is just symbolism for someone taking her shackles off) and now we wait to see what her life will look like...
You are misunderstanding me, I also enjoy weak, traumatized victim female characters, I just enjoy them being written well. I love Rubekia from How to get my husband on my side, I love Lia from The Scarred princesses pursuit of happiness and I love Maximilian from Under the Oak tree. These protagonist are so victimized, that it genuinely disables them from living a normal life sometimes, yet they're all better written, their perspective better explored and their agency more maintained than that of the protagonist here. If you were right about the dress being a symbolism of taking your shackles off, I'd agree, but it's not. It's a symbol of her change, which is completely underserved at that point in the story. If she just took off her shackles, she'd still maintain that standoffishness, that she's been impersonating for such a long time, yet after this dress scene, her demeanor changes and even her physical features change to hammer in how she can finally be dignified now. This is a nit-pick, but the dress just isn't dignified though, it's childish. The transformation makes her look like a young girl, not like a lady, which just makes her complete change in demeanor all the more unnatural. We can theorize on how traumatized and hopeless she was, but the important part is: this isn't explored by the manga. If this manga is about healing, we didn't see the main character heal. If this manga is about a protagonist being able to stop pretending, then her personality in regards to self esteem and dignity is so inconsistent, that there's no true her for her to be after dropping the cover. If it's about romance, we haven't seen these two get to know each other and fall in love, it happens instantly thanks to magic truth nose.
This... is a book in and of itself, like i apologize for all of the following text, and my thumb HURTS. not me writing with two thumbs
But I don't agree so
I apologize but it looks like my comment got cut off? I'll resend it just in case
The dress being childish is an opinion, that's valid
And her features changing... If anything, I think her features seemed more villainess-like when she was playing that role, and mangas often change the appearance of a character to hammer in that they're doing a good job at being an actor in the story..... after that first scene she consistently have eyes move big/open I think
She was always dignified and she naturally is standoffish. The girl thinks it's unproper to be patted on the head T T
There's a lot going on, but,
Is the protagonist's perspective explored?
Yes.
Her inner monologue reveals how little she thinks of herself around everyone, except in the latest chapter with her maid, and with her man's friend. She distrusts kindness, she didn't believe she could be seen for herself, first chapter she mentioned wanting to die to go to her mom's side instead of playing along with her sister's games...
Agency maintained?
Yes.
Despite the abuse and manipulation, she chooses to play the role to calm her family. She chooses to reject her family’s control when she gets the opportunity to. Plus, she's going to make moves now that her freedom has been given back to her, it's been like 2 days since the male lead snatched her away
Change in dress is a symbol of personality change?
Yes, and a symbol of shackles off
When she sees herself in new clothes, she recognizes herself; for the first time in years she doesnt see her sister's barbie doll in the reflection, so sure it's both the shedding of an old skin and an old prison
Is it too soon for that? She hasn't changed yet?
I think it's just step 1 type of symbolism, not she's reached the peak type of symbolism, you see? Again, she was snatched away like 2 days ago
Standoffishness is not maintained, so the dress can't symbolize shackles off?
She’s not instantly healed or completely free, but she’s experiencing a shift.... she is still acting cold and standoffish, and she’s opening up to the kindness and safety.
Demeanor changed?
Her demeanor softens in response to actual safety and care, not randomly. When she first arrives at the male lead’s house, she’s defensive, uncertain, and skeptical. She is treated with kindness and respect—things she hasn’t experienced in years—she begins to lower her guard, that’s not inconsistency; that’s natural character progression.
Trauma not explored?
Her trauma is all over the narrative:
Fear of men touching her because of how others have treated her in the past,
Thinking her smile is terrifying because of how she’s been perceived, in the scene with the maids,
Struggling to accept kindness because she has never had it,
Thinking she is a thorn when she hesitates to accept being fed...
Character seen healing or not?
Yes, but it’s the start of healing.
She smiles naturally for the first time in ages.
She accepts help, even if hesitantly.
She recognizes that she doesn’t want to go back.
Healing is not instant, but the story shows the beginning of her journey toward recovery.
Self-esteem and dignity inconsistent?
She has low self-esteem because of years of mistreatment.
But she was born a noble, only legitimate daughter and it shaped her view of how things should be like, so she fought off her sister's plan at first, though she couldn't hold her ground against almost the whole household; still she's acting all proper and stuff because that's probably how she was taught by her blue blooded mother since childhood.
But because of how the rest of her life went like, she struggles internally feeling like she's unlikable.
Her self-esteem issues are consistent with her trauma.
Not seeing the main characters fall in love?
The guy's honestly just crushing on her because she smells good and he likens her to this wild cat who's opening up to him.
It’s two people slowly seeing each other differently. The male lead starts by not trusting the rumors and being intrigued by her behavior. The protagonist recognizes his kindness as different too, but calling it all instant love feels inaccurate;
It didn't happen because of magic truth nose. In fact, it hasn't even actually happened yet. We've seen the male lead flirt with her by means of physical contact she protests, that's really it.
I feel like a lot of it might be subtext? And I also pray that after I defended it like that the story doesn't go to shit later (≧∀≦)
Boooo, I kept reading despitefully the nonsensical plot, because the mc was so pretty, but no, good female lead isn't allowed to be not anymore, she has to be childishly cute. "This dress finally reflects my personality..." Girl you eye shape and hair texture changed too, do they accurately reflect your current personality???