somnia's manga / #Reincarnation(194)

The fairy tale crossovers give a really nice kick to the story, the plot it's all building up to is also not bad at all. Love the little twists and turns in the story so far. Though I'm dead tired of female mcs who act naive af when it comes to romance and lose everything from their past lives besides these very specific memories about xyz thing they read. Still, really love the story and where it's going. The only thing I'm really muffed about is the lack of explanation when it comes to magic, the origin of witches and that kind of more worldbuildy exposition. I guess just not really touching on that goes hand in hand with the fairy tale theme, but after some time I started to question where the witches come from, how they were yeeted into existence and such. Really excited to see if that's gonna be touched on in later chapters.

Honestly, so far it's very good for a harem type reincarnation story. The translations are mid. If you're shoujo harem trash like me you'll have a lot more fun with the story on another site with better translations (mangadex for example). The lore in the story itself is also not bad. Really like the idea of holy guardian type dragons that basically work for god type of setup. Though I do not understand how the hell this whole descendant thing works for the guys of the church. (I guess this is a spoiler if you haven't read this yet, but honestly this kind of stuff is very on the nose in shoujo isekai, so let's not act like it's a real spoiler) How come the Duke's family and the Imperial bloodline inherit their dragon ancestor's characteristics, but with the church it's like "whoever has the biggest holy magic dick works." Eh? Maybe it's still gonna be brought up or I misunderstood something, but for now that's a plot hole in my book. Adding onto that a few cliches in this type of shoujo, such as the famous: "I met this important character during their childhood days, or before the novel began, and made an important impact in their life, so later we have a base to build a relationship on"- but this time around it's literally all the important characters, aka FL's entire harem. That's just one of the typical tropes I was kinda well-well about. Honestly, I'm just thankful that FL isn't a total Mary Sue. Well, she at least doesn't feel like one because you always see her struggling, injured and anxious about her sister.

I already found the first chapters to be kinda jarring. Idk why but I had a hard time getting into the story and characters. It's difficult to describe- Like, when it was shown how Elze collected all her mercanery companions I was hella confused at first because it cut to one meeting into the next without context. Not to mention that this one meeting with the archer was confusing because it just looked like she jumped up to the guy, they talked a bit and then the archer chose to abandon the country he was fighting for out of the blue lol. I was supposed to get attached to the FL but her backstory was handled as if going through a checklist. Not to mention, her reason for not telling her future husband about her secret identity is nonesense. You'll share title and land in the future, why would he go on to tell everyone his wife's a mercenary when it's oh so damaging to *their* reputation (he also owes her a whole lot)? Anywho, why would her having talent in swordsmanship be that bad to begin with? The story does nothing to explain it, besides talking about basic sexism. Honestly, how could exposing the fact that she can handle swords and own a mercanery group be that fatal anyhow? Everyone already knew that her family lost all their wealth and she became a peddler, aka VERY far from an ideal noble. There was no valid reason for all that drama about her identity until the Crown Prince decided he wants to get rid of her guild and second identity. This story also has a very strong "she's not like other girls" vibe added onto the normal Mary Sue character. Similarly to my issues with her backstory, the plot in general is handled poorly and makes you question everyone's intellegence.

It's a fun read, there's also some genuine plot though it doesn't feel all that deep. I like how some typical shoujo story holes, for example, the recurring backdrawer that keeps on leading the reader to the question of: "so, why do they remember this one story so well but not themselves?", kind of get an explanation here. I first found it jarring to have these kids act like almost-adults, but thanks to the lighthearted tone of it all I grew into it + there's actually an explanation for their behaviour. And I do kinda have to agree with other comments, the queerbaiting is there and all, and a yandere game protag crushing on our MC for little to nothing is also a bit over the top. Thanks to the comedic tone it thankfully doesn't feel all that deep, but it still lowkey makes my eyes roll to see the prince have these genuine scenes, careful thoughts and so on about our MC, while the female love interest is played up as a crazy nut used for entertainment purposes. Smh.

God I NEED more chapters. The first chapter hooked me so good and it just kept getting better. Remilia is the destined OP villainess of an Otome game. Strangely enough a reincarnator possessed her body from childhood on, letting her take a backseat within their shared conscience. She witnisses how Emi, the reincarnator, works hard and with a pure heart to give Remilia a happy ending. Of course, Remilia learned to love and appreciate Emi for her efforts, but when the classic condemnation event still takes place (due to the most hateful otome FL I've ever seen, holy shit I hate her so much) Emi takes control of her body again. The only thing she is out for now is to take revenge while doing her best to preserve Emi's efforts and memories. I can't stop praising the premise, man. This isn't just a fresh breeze in the reincarnation genre, this is like using the inhaler after choking for 5 straight minutes. I can't describe how bitter I felt when that condemnation scene hit, after you were told exactly how Emi tried her damnest to make all these people's lives better. The art is so fitting too, and don't get me started on the pacing of it all. Ok tbh, the beginning with all the exposition can feel a little long, BUT it's totally worth it. Also, sometimes you gotta appreciate an antagonist you can unapologetically hate with all your heart and no take backsies. Join my burn-in-hell-Pina Club. /2.9