Kill the Villainess

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I'll keep this short and spoiler free: you need to read this manhwa. TL;DR at bottom

Story: Very interesting premise that stays captivating from start to finish. A lot of manhwas feel like a train on fire during their second half - not only is [Kill the Villainess] interesting at the start, I'd say it gets even more intense towards the end. I do have to warn you though - don't expect this story to be all rainbows and butterflies. It's a rather grim and heart wrenching read for the most past. I guarantee though that you'll love the ending.

Characters: The characters are well written, with ... a lot of them being nuanced. Most of them have huge daddy issues and past traumas, but man they're complex, and the villains are especially revolting - I love how the author portrayed all the usual toxic ML clichés in novels. I especially adore the "love rival", and the female lead, and how unlike your usual protagonists, she actually misses her family/home. And the male lead? Gyatt dayum, this guy is the ultimate green flag. It's rare to find a husbando as good as him when manhwas are filled with toxic douches.

Art: The art is gorgeous. Any scene with the female lead could be used as a phone wallpaper, and the most important part - it stays consistent from start to finish without decaying towards the ending.

Why should you value my opinion? I've read dozens if not hundreds of manhwas, from romances, to reincarnation/transmigration tropes, to villainess tropes and a lot of them suffer from a bad case of diarrhea second half/ending, leaving you with a shitty aftertaste in your mouth. [Kill the Villainess] is worth it, it's a breath of fresh air and will leave you satisfied at the end.

TL;DR Read it! It's a dark and quite heart wrenching story, with great complex characters (some of them rather disgusting), great art and super entertaining that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish!

This is one of those stories that seemed to be no different from other popular anime or manga. When I started my adventure with "Kill the Villainess", I thought that I would spend a few days on it because of the boring and predictable plot. I couldn't be more wrong. Already after the second chapter I noticed that this was something different. As a result, instead of several days, I stayed up until 4 a.m. to finish reading in one go.

This is undoubtedly one of the best manhwas that perfectly captures the characters' feelings. In my anime journey, where I have experience with over 600 ... series, this is one of the best. I think the character development is comparable to Violet Evergarden, if not better, because of such difficult topics as suicide, family and rape. I really liked the fact that the author showed not only dialogues, but a large part of them were the characters' thoughts. This is a big factor in why so many people can relate to the "antagonist", which comes down to a more enjoyable read.

Despite heavy topics and little reading (at least for me), the plot moves rather slowly, which allows you to fully focus on the characters' feelings. Their relationships are well handled and work well with the plot. Ending is really satysfying, though it didn't stop me from the desire to stay in bed for a month. Big advantage is that all threads are finished and nothing was left behind from the story of supporting characters.

The drawing, like in manhwa is very pleasing to the eye. Facial expressions are well made and i never noticed anything akward. Also you can see the surrounding in every drawing so the pages never felt empty.

To sum up, it's been a long time since I saw something this good and I haven't shed so many tears even after finishing the story. "Kill the Villainess" is a brilliant psychological drama and deserves more attention. I would really like to see an anime adaptation someday.

What I wrote is based solely on the manhwa, because I haven't read the novel and I don't know if the plot is different in these versions.

Kill the Villainess is one of the many works in which the female character wakes up as the hated character of the book they were reading, however it tries to escape the mold by doing exactly what she is supposed to do instead of turning the tide towards her. It works for the most part, alas the second half othe work treads into more illogical waters.

Eris is coldhearted, mean and manipulative and she keeps at it, except rare scenes she opens up a bit more to the people she trusts. She is a character you like reading about, because she gets things done. Based on ... the supposedly vague memories she has of the book, since she only skimmed it, she plans ahead to bring forth the results she needs. However, this is the start of all the problems and logic behind the world. First of all, she claims she skimmed the book and does not remember everything, but she does remember everything, just only when it's convenient for the plot itself and it gets a bit annoying the further you progress.

Second of all, the whole point is how the god of the world (author) has created it for a single purpose and that is the whole story of the book from start to finish, so you cannot break fundamental laws, because the world itself will not allow you to. This makes sense and it is welcome, but soooo many things change and there are also enough things outside what the god has created and somehow those things barely do anything to the world, because Eris (as well as the author of this webtoon) is just convinced that the ONLY important thing is dying by execution, disregarding everything else that should be very important plot points.

The second ambivalent part of this webtoon is the characters themselves. We start reading about Eris and somehow we keep getting random backstories for every character in good and (mostly) bad exposition. I understand that we need to see a bit deeper into Helena, Jason, high priest, etc., but must EVERYONE be messed up one way or another? The more you learn about everyone, the more you wonder how the original book story came to be, because their characters are really all over the place. And towards the final part of reading this, the men who are interested in Eris one or another show that interest in very... questionable ways. The turn of events is mostly there to shock, but it is full of bad writing and little cohesion. In the end, it felt that the need to shock was greater than keeping those characters more true to themselves.

The art was very detailed and as expected of a villainess webtoon, really. I found myself starting at Eris a few times due to her very pretty design. Helena's design, who is the true heroine of the book, truly gives off the idea of a Disney princess; soft colors and expressions and very beautiful as well, in a cuter way than the imposing Eris. Every guy is also distinct and maybe the most generic one would be Anakhin, who was always a more forgotten support character, but he would still win your heart!

The disappointment might have been big in the second half of the book, however it still has its good points with this more refreshing look on the genre. You love reading about Eris' schemes and I found myself wanting to know more about her plans, for which the climax didn't capitulate enough on that buildup those plans had created. Eris' development is bumpy, but it hits all the right points be it the fear or excitement or panic or happiness. I just wish it was more consistent throughout and avoided the shock value effect for better storytelling.