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[More info about my review style can be found on my profile]

▶Summary and recommendation: -----------------------------------------------------------------
[The one within the Villainess] is a very cathartic revenge story with a unique premise and a satisfying conclusion.

It is not without a few shortcomings. I think in particular the pacing is too fast. Feeling like the author gave the characters very little room to breathe and not much time for us to get to know them.

I still highly recommend this manga for its unique premise and good execution. In particular because of how short it is. You can finish it in an evening or two.


... ▶Story: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The intro of the manga is a bit lengthy, but give it a chance, it has a very unique Otome isekai premise!
Although the protagonist Remilia is thrust into a disaster situation as part of the premise of the manga, it quickly becomes a powerfantasy. With Remilia being quite the Mary Sue who flawlessly executes every stage of her plan with little resistance. Though with this being a revenge fantasy, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

There is not much high society politicking and scheming à la [The villainess turns the hourglass] and most other revenge focused Otome Isekai. The protagonist does not stay in the capital to plot the downfall of the antagonist there. Rather it is more an adventure manga with her traversing the lands and meeting a lot of different people as she gathers the pawns and pieces for her revenge. This does mean that we don't actually get to see the antagonist of the story that much, nor much confrontation between her and the protagonist.

While I feel like the pacing and character development could have been a lot better, I was still very satisfied with the story and its conclusion. It is cathartic and with all the justice you could have hoped for.


▶Setting: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The setting is a quite standard medieval fantasy setting, but I must applaud the pantheon design and lore. The author put in some extra effort there.


▶Characters: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
None of the characters are that deep, or at least the story is too fast paced to show much depth. Likewise the antagonist is comically evil with not a single redeeming quality. As the story is a revenge story, perhaps that is for the best. All the better when the main character gets her revenge over the antagonists.

It is still a criticism however. The story has way too many side characters for a story that struggles with giving even the main characters time to grow. I in particular wish the relationship between Remilia and Emi was explored further.


▶Romance: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is such little focus on romance it is barely worth including a section in the review for it.
It is there though.


▶Artwork: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The artwork is very pretty and consistent. There is a lot of detail in the character designs, monsters and background. There are some scenes with characters drawn simplified for comedic emphasis, but it keeps a more serious style for the majority of the manga, with the artist doing a good job on the expressions during the more serious and powerful parts of the story.

Extra praise to the artist for the "monster" designs, which look appropriately eldritch.

▶In conclusion: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It has some problems with the pacing and I wish the characters were given more room to grow. but the extremely compelling premise and satisfying revenge plot made it for me worth overlooking those shortcomings.

It is also short, so you are not wasting too much time even if you end up not enjoying it.

[More info about my review style can be found on my profile]

▶Summary and recommendation: -----------------------------------------------------------------
⚠️ I heavily warn against reading [A Tale of a Small Town hardship in Sengoku Era - An Agriculture Comic]
There is a lot of things that can be excused in fiction, that barely includes the topic of child marriage if handled with the utmost care. This manga does not handle it with any care, and its inclusion is a huge detriment to the story.

This manga features and shows approval of a grandfather marrying an underage girl and fathering a child with her. Even the protagonist shows approval of the child sexual ... abuse.

🔴 I do not recommend this manga. ⚠️


▶Story: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The one thing that makes this isekai stand out is its focus on agriculture. Sadly after the first few chapters, this theme is pushed to the side to give way for the Civil Wars that the Sengoku Period is known for.

From then on, the story focuses on how the protagonist can use their modern day knowledge to influence and change the course of the war, as well as her coming to terms with her knowledge being used in war.

It is a fairly slow manga, and not a very well written one. There are several glaring plot holes and historical inaccuracies which will stand out in particular to the target audience of this manga.

It also took quite some time for the previously mentioned child sexual abuse to rear its head. Taking more than 60 chapters for the manga to show its true colours.


▶Setting: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is a historical isekai, and it is set in the Sengoku Period of Japan. There is a lot of unbelievable parts to the story and the author takes a lot of liberties with technology. With smiths with primitive tools being able to recreate modern day inventions that in reality requires precision tools. It is fully into the realm of fantasy when modern era firearms are created.

There are also other odd liberties the author takes, such as giving the protagonist anachronistic clothes that show off her legs. She is the only character who does this, and no one ever comments on a woman showing bare legs in 1500s Japan.


▶Artwork: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The artwork ranges from passable to quite poor. The artist puts a lot of effort into the backgrounds when farming is involved, and the protagonist is well and consistently drawn.
Most side characters are not drawn with extreme detail, which makes it difficult to tell the character apart at times. Though this is a common problem with historical manga where the author can't give historical figures the radical hairstyles we know and love in manga.


▶In conclusion: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even without this badly handled topic, there is little good to say about this.
Those who are very interested in agriculture and the Sengoku period of Japan will find a lot of fan service appealing to those interests, but it offers little else than that.

It is especially uninteresting to those with little to no knowledge of the time period. As all the famous characters the story introduces will have little meaning to you.

I recommend skipping this isekai.

[More info about my review style can be found on my profile]

▶Summary and recommendation: -----------------------------------------------------------------

⚠️Contains severe signs of child abuse.

[The Male Lead's Little Lion Daughter] is a very typical otome isekai power fantasy. A powerless child protagonist is adopted by a wealthy, powerful and ruthless tyrant, and she uses her newfound authority to enact her revenge and fulfill her every wishes.
It is not a unique premise, but this is my absolute favourite execution of it.

The father / daughter relationship is the highlight. With the characters' personalities creating both amusing situations with their snark, and wholesome scenes of bonding as the daughter opens up about ... her trauma to a most supportive father.

I wholeheartedly recommend this manhwa, even if you aren't usually into the child raising genre (which I am not either). It is one of my all time favourites.

There are a few caveats worth knowing before going into this though, which I will mention in the characters part of the review.


▶Story: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As mentioned in the summary, this is a form of power fantasy that has been done a dozen times before and it is very formulaic at the start. The northern duke is super powerful and awesome, etc. The protagonist is a powerless child, and then she is saved by the duke who grants her anything she can wish for.

But the premise is executed flawlessly. The author created an adorable gremlin of a protagonist who I could not help but cheer on as she exercises her newfound authority. Her adoptive father, like most "Dukes of the north" is the typical silent and expressionless tyrant, who only opens up to those he care about. He is witty and always has a comeback to the daughter's antics, and it creates for the most charming father / daughter dynamic I have seen in a manhwa.

The manhwa does however have some weaknesses in its storytelling. Whenever traumatic topics come up, it is told in a somewhat awkward past tense perspective, that makes it feel a bit detatched from the story, and most conflicts are solved a bit too quickly and easily for my liking, not allowing any tension to build.


▶Setting: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is an isekai, and it is set in a medieval inspired fantasy setting. It has a few quirks but it doesn't develop the setting much more than that.


▶Characters: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The most contentious part of the manhwa is the protagonist Lionia. This is an isekai and I honestly do not think it benefits a lot from that. Lionia has an extremely fun personality. She is fearless, mischevious and constantly harassing her father (in a fun father and daughter kind of way) who is equally snarky in return...

But she is also supposed to be an adult in a 7 year old's body, and she acts like neither. The manhwa never explains why she does not act her age, but if I were to make up a defence on behalf of the manhwa, I would say that when her adult mind got put in a child's body, the mental state ended up somewhere in the middle. That of a teenager and with the filter of a child. It makes for a very fun and brash character, but it did break my immersion at times.

Lionia is also perverted. If she was in an adult's body, I do not think anyone would tolerate her ogling at the pectoral muscles of the knights of the manor. Some of the things might even cross into territory of harassment, but she gets away with it since she is a child, and it is played for laughs. You as the reader might not be able to overlook this behaviour however.

The male lead (Lionia's adoptive father) is the typical "Cold Duke of the North" common to this subgenre. He is presented as absolutely gorgeous, but cold and callous to anyone who approaches him. Like many cold dukes of the north, his personality does a 180 when interacting with the protagonist. When he is with Lionia there is nothing but paternal love (and snark). He is a good parent, and his love for his adoptive daughter was enough to melt my heart, while his attitude towards anyone else is enough to freeze their's.

There are also some nice side characters, but they do not play an extremely big role in the story, nor does the puddle deep villain take the central stage very often.

Lastly, Lionia is as of chapter 124 still a child, albeit a bit older than when the manhwa started. This might be a issue for some people, but at the very least...


▶Romance: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...there is no romance. No adult in a child's body falling in love with an actual child. Nor any adults falling in love with someone with the body of a 7 year old.


▶Artwork: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The artstyle is very expressive and uses bolder lines than most Manhwa. Something I found complimented the vibes of the story. It fits the more serious story arcs of the manhwa, but even more so the more numerous humorous scenes with Lionia's brashness expressed well with bolder lines and overexaggerated facial expressions.

The characters, both male and female are gorgeously drawn. The protagonist is constantly wearing new adorable dresses, and some more tomboy-esque outfits that compliment her gremlin energy perfectly.

The male lead is also very well drawn, with special attention put on his chest muscles. Which are often on display through intentional "boob windows" on his clothes, or by not having him wear any upper garments at all. The artist might be just as obsessed with muscles as the protagonist is.

The manhwa uses a lot of 3D assets for its background art, but the artist does a good job for the most part at making it blend well with the hand drawn art. But there are certain scenes where it stands out a bit (Another pair of 3D model horses for my collection). Monsters and other creatures while hand drawn are also a bit crude and does not look that good.
Overall I found the art to be gorgeous, and any minor faults didn't detract from how pretty the manhwa is.


▶In conclusion: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While it is a very typical power fantasy, it hits all the right spots for me. Seeing her wield the authority of the duke to punish her enemies felt so cathartic, and when her enemies doesn't need punishing, their bickering and wholesome relationship kept me reading.

I 100% recommend this manhwa. While it has a few problems, it is one of my all time favourites.

[More information about my review style can be found on my profile]

▶️Summary & Recommendation:------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had no intention of writing a review for this, but after seeing how the manga handles slavery, I thought it prudent to at least write a warning.

⚠️Beware. This manga handles the topic of slavery in the most unskilled and amateurish manner. It portrays it not as something that is wholly evil, and portrays slave owners as "misguided but redeemable".

The protagonist saves slave owners and considers the topic of slavery to be bad, but with exceptions.
Due to it being a wish fulfilment fantasy, it is hard to not take this ... as the thoughts of the author themselves.

I do not recommend this manga, and would not even if it handled slavery better. It is generic at best.

▶️Story:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bog standard wish fulfilment isekai.
Protagonist is transported into a fantasy world and then becomes super powerful and super important.

At the very least there is no fan service.

[More info about my review style can be found on my profile]

▶Summary and recommendation: -----------------------------------------------------------------

A subgenre within the Otome Isekai genre. [Survival methods of the Cannon Fodder daughter] is one of those stories where the protagonist reincarnates into the body of a powerless child. They use their isekai knowledge and skills to melt the frozen heart of a powerful man, gaining their favour and saving them from the dangers they face.

This Manhua is best skipped. Not due to egregious portrayals or problematic themes (though it has those too), but because the story is simply quite bad.

I recommend [I Shall Master This Family] if you want ... a good story about a reincarnated child manipulating adults to their advantage.

▶Story: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The story starts with the protagonist, a middle school student from our world fainting and then waking up in the body of a small child from a novel the protagonist has read.

In the story, the child is abused by their father, the emperor. The protagonist uses knowledge of the story to their advantage to gain the favour of their previously cold and uncaring father. A power fantasy through other avenues.

The story is littered with tropes, plot holes and contrivances. It forgets plot points as quickly as it conjures them. In one scene the protagonist is in urgent danger because they are hiding, but they must go to the toilet. In the next scene they somehow fell asleep and their urges are whisked away as it is no longer needed for the plot.

You have to turn a blind eye to a lot of bad writing to find enjoyment out of this manhua.

▶Setting: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unlike most Otome Isekai, this is set in a Medieval imperial Chinese inspired setting. Other than that, it is not a very well developed setting, and the setting tropes are similar to Otome Isekai inspired by Medieval Europe. Court drama, succession fights, and more servants than you can count.

▶Characters: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The protagonist was originally a child of ages 12-13 before reincarnating into the body of an even younger child, so their behaviour is not a jarring as most stories where the protagonist becomes a child.

The father figure is an abusive father with no redeeming qualities. The way this sub-subgenre works however is that as long as the authorative figure is kind towards the protagonist, it does not matter how abusive they are towards other children and people.

▶Artwork: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The art is decent, even pretty at times, but has some issues with body proportions, with hands in particular sometimes reaching ridiculous sizes.

[More info about my review style can be found on my profile]

▶Summary and recommendation: -----------------------------------------------------------------
[The Greatest Estate Developer] is a comedic power fantasy with a nasty piece of shit for its protagonist.

Like the title somewhat implies, it is an isekai with the premise of a civil engineer trying to develop his estate, but it all takes a backseat to the comedy.

The comedy alone carried this manhwa for me, but it might not for you. While there is an overarching plot with stakes and some tension, it is not a very original isekai story and if you don't like the humour, I don't think the rest ... of the manhwa can save it for you.

It takes a while for the humour to get going. and a good 20 chapters or so before the faces this manhwa is known for start appearing, so while I want to say "give this manhwa 10 chapters to see if it is for you", you might have to do a bit more than that to see if it is really for you.

It is however very consistent with its humour and you will know if you like it very quickly once you do reach the funny parts. I recommend it, but you have to make sure it is your kind of humour.

I would also warn any readers who do not like his personality and find it off putting, that it is not going to get any better any time soon.

▶Story: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The protagonist Suho kim, a construction worker from South Korea passes away and wakes up in the body of Lloyd Frontera, the son of a noble and a character from a novel he has read.

Lloyd is neither liked nor destined for greatness, disliked by his family, and hated by his subjects, but with knowledge of the future and skills from the real world, he sets out to change all this.

If you are tired of overpowered protagonists going on adventures and hoped the title and premise of this manhwa might mean he won't do that, you will be disappointed. While he continues to be a civil engineer, it does not stop him from leaving his estate behind to go on adventures.

It is a power fantasy of a different variety, where the protagonist uses his deep knowledge of civil engineering to solve problems and gain allies in the fantasy world. As a power fantasy he rarely faces any challenges he can not overcome through various forms of plot armour and convenient luck. It is not a very deep story, and while there is an overarching plot, and some satisfying moments (It is always nice seeing a jerk punch an even bigger jerk) the story is not where the author put all the focus of this manhwa.
That would be the humour.

Humour is extremely subjective, even more than other aspects of a review, so it is hard for me to know if it will be enjoyable to other people. I personally kept laughing consistently throughout the 176 chapters that I read and I felt like the manhwa did an excellent job at staying funny throughout the entire manhwa.

Lastly I would praise the pacing. It never felt slow to me, and there were always new elements introduced to keep the story (and more importantly; the humour) fresh.

▶Setting: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The protagonist is transported into a novel set in a Medieval low fantasy inspired setting. It is a fleshed out setting, with various countries, species, and culures, but there is not much originality

Suho Kim is greeted with videogame like text on a pop up screen when he possesses the body of Lloyd, so there is some sort of god like being gameifying the world for the protagonist, and this plays a central part in the overarching plot of the manhwa.

The author did (as far as I can tell) a lot of research for this manhwa. The protagonist shows knowledge of engineering and engineering history, and uses his knowledge well to solve various problems that might plague a medieval setting. The artist explains in a Q&A that he was instructed by the author to read several books on engineering to be able to portray the protagonist's engineering feats accurately, and as far as I can tell, they did well.

▶Characters: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The protagonist is a nasty piece of work. The original Lloyd is not a good person, but Suho Kim is no better. He is cocky and greedy to a fault, but unlike the original Lloyd he is also crafty, quick thinking and has the skills to put his nefarious plans into fruition. He is very unlikeable, and any character development that might happen, occurs so late in the story it is not worth mentioning in a review.

But he is funny.
He might be nasty, but to me that just made it so much more satisfying to see him be the butt of every joke, and misfortune.

Javier is Lloyd's sidekick and the two make up the comedic duo that the manhwa is centred around. He is the serious one of the two but rarely the butt of the jokes. He has a fairly well developed personality and backstory and his kindheartedness makes the protagonist look even worse.

The cast is surprisingly full of characters with (a tiny bit) more depth than I expected out of a comedy manhwa. I was surprised to see characters I did not expect to see again return much later, once more taking a prominent role in the story.

Lastly the protagonist (or perhaps the author through the protagonist) has some very strong opinions on South Korean politics and society, and the author does not shy away from announcing those opinions.

▶Romance: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Romance? When the entire premise is built on the protagonist being ugly enough to make his own mother cry? It is not a romance manhwa, but perhaps there will be a happy ending for our anti-hero.

▶Artwork: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The art is a really mixed bag, where the character art goes between decent to amazing, while the background art is a consistent bad throughout the entire 176 chapters I read.

Much of the humour of the manhwa is centred on the disgusting face of the protagonist and the extreme detail of his face does a good job at portraying this

Sadly the background art comes up more than just a bit short. There is an extreme use of 3D assets, that mesh horribly with the rest of the scene, even when the majority of the scene is 3D assets. With the premise of the manhwa being architecture and large scale engineering projects and constructions, it is unfortunate that all the buildings and landscapes look so half-arsed.

In addition to this, the action scenes involving Javier can be really hard to track, as there is a lot of just swinging of swords and energy beams with very little direction.

▶In conclusion: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is rare for a comedy manhwa to stay consistently funny for this long, and I am surprised and impressed by it still being funny after over 170 chapters.

But if you are expecting a well written story and hoping the flawed characters will go through any satisfying character development, you will be left wanting.

I really enjoyed this manhwa and I would really recommend it, but I have for the third and final time stress that if the comedy is not for you, then you will not find much to like. Without it; it is just a very standard fantasy adventure isekai but with a very unlikeable protagonist.

[More info about my review style can be found on my profile]

▶Summary and recommendation: -----------------------------------------------------------------
[Not-Sew-Wicked Stepmom] is an Otome Isekai focused on romance and parents raising a child together.

⚠️This manhwa contains characters describing sexual assault. It is handled quite well and it is not fetishized.

Splitting its attention between child care, romance, politics, and much more, [Not-Sew-Wicked Stepmom] is a manhwa series that bites off a bit more than it can chew, but still does an admirable job keeping it all together.

It is a story filled with interesting and well written characters with a few flaws that I might be focusing on more ... than it deserves in this review.

I recommend this manhwa to both newcomers and long time fans of the genre. It is well written and on the upper end of what the genre has to offer.

▶Story: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Not-Sew-Wicked Stepmom] is an Otome Isekai losely based on the story of Snow White. The twist is that the evil stepmother queen gets possessed by a woman from modern day South Korea. Who unlike the original wicked queen has nothing but love and adoration for Snow white.

I would love to be able to say in a single sentence what the themes and focus of the story is, but the author is biting off a bit more than they can chew. Taking on a lot more themes and topics than can be reasonably covered in a single story.

It is first and foremost a romance fantasy story with heavy focus on child rearing and family. Much of the story focuses on the traumas and prejudices of the main characters, and on overcoming them by opening up to one another. In addition body dysmorphia, societal expectations of women and the oppressive pressure of the patriarchy in a medieval european inspired setting (and how modern society still has a long way to go) plays a significant role in the story.

Bundle this together with her clothes design hobby, national politics, schemes, a magical themed subplot, and her overcoming her "resting bitch face", the mystery of the magic mirror, and a bit of comedy and the manhwa stops being able to give every theme the pages and attention it deserves, and some of them are forgotten about later into the story.

I will admit that despite this, the author does an admirable job keeping the story cohesive, and it is only one slight against the manhwa overall.


Onto the story itself.
The introduction is fairly standard for the genre, and it takes a few chapters for it to stand out. The exposition is fairly well done, though most of it is done through the protagonist explaining things through text boxes.

Despite all the different subjects it tackles, it is a fairly low tension story focusing on family first and foremost. The growth of the three main stars of the manhwa is given most of the attention. That being the king, the (not-sew) wicked queen, and their daughter. All the characters have their own baggage, and most chapters focus solely on the characters overcoming it.

I think the most egregious story blunder I noticed is how the body dysmophia subplot is handled. I will of course avoid spoilers, but I believe the moment the author chose for the subplot does not fit in with the overall flow of the story.
Other than that I found the pacing of the story on the slower side, but it has some good tense moments.


▶Setting: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This story like most Otome Isekai is set in a medieval European inspired fantasy setting. With a Manhwa with "sew" in the title, I was hoping the author would have spent time researching the garments people wore at the time, and the author did not disappoint! While there are a few inaccuracies in particular with the footwear, the manhwa also features well drawn outfits from several periods of European history, and goes through its own Marie-Antoinette style revolution in fashion.

It is otherwise a fairly generic setting and it does not play an major part in the story, which focuses mostly on family and romance after all.

There are however some events that are eerily similar to our own, and readers with some knowledge of history will tense up once they see the colour of the clothing that is taking the kingdom by storm.

▶Characters: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The protagonist Abigail is very well fleshed out, with a background, well defined morals, motivation and flaws. She wants the best for everyone else but is very harsh on herself.

I personally really like that the character is uncompromising in her morals, and does not allow her being transmigrated into a fantasy world to change the way she views the world and treat other people. She refuses to partake in the petty scheming of nobles, and shies away from drama.

If your first impression of the king Sabrian is that he is acting like a piece of garbage, you'd be right. I have seen some readers who refuse to continue knowing that he is the male lead, but the manhwa will do its best to convince you if you give it a chance.

The princess Blanche is adorable, and will likely be the highlight to a lot of readers. To the protagonist she is the most precious existence and the star in her eye. Being a very reserved person in the beginning, Abigail's goal is to help her open up and live comfortably as a child should.
It is very rewarding to see her and the other characters grow and open up throughout the story.

Outside of the main cast, the characters are bit more bland. Sidekicks who are no more than comic relief, and villains being your average power hungry nobles who stop at nothing to gain power. However the character that surprised me the most is the magic mirror. I never expected the mirror in Snow White to have a compelling character arc of its own, and it is perhaps the one I am the most interested in.

▶Romance: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The romance plot has some pacing issues. It starts out surprisingly fast paced, but with all the other suplots in the story, the romance is sometimes pushed off to the side for a tad bit too long.

I applaud the way the author intertwined the romance with the growth of the characters. They are relying on each other to process and overcome their traumas and flaws, and the child care aspect of the manhwa only adds to it.

I do however feel like it is moving too slow, and falling into many tropes common to the romcom genre that you either love or hate. Tropes such as the protagonists misunderstanding each other, being oblivious to the other person's affections and thinking they hate you; when it is obvious to everyone else that they are madly in love.

As of chapter 120 I am invested in the romance subplot, but I am hoping it keeps a more consistent pace from here on out.

▶Artwork: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The artwork is a mixed bag, and one that changes throughout the series.

At the start, the only thing that stands out as good is the character expressions. The artist did a good job at getting expressions across, especially the utter despair on a character's face when an item precious to them got destroyed. That is however where my praise ends. The character art while detailed, is flat, and I am sad to say the background art is straight up ugly.

The manhwa has an overuse of 3D assets for objects and backgrounds. Using store bought assets for items such as tea pots, cups, food and furniture. I even spotted the portrait of 'Queen Elizabeth the First queen of England and Ireland' on one of the walls. It is my belief that there is nothing wrong with using 3D assets for backgrounds or objects, as long as it is well hidden and matches the character art, but they sadly do not in this manhwa.

This does change though. The character art sees some incredible improvement. By season 3 the outfits are intricate and beautiful, and some of the dresses worn by Blanche are contenders for most beautiful dress worn by a child in Otome Isekai.
The backgrounds are still not amazing, but the artist does a much better job at hiding it, and you rarely notice it.

▶In conclusion: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope readers do not finish this review assuming I disliked this manhwa at all. I had issues with the pacing of the romance, and the story being spread thin, but I enjoyed the package as a whole.

I was a bit disappointed that the manhwa involved a lot less sewing than the title led me to believe, but I was still very positively surprised by the amount of research the author put into the clothing features in the manhwa.

The story made me smile more than once at the heartwarming scenes between the three main characters, and the story has hooked me on several of its many subplots and I am excited to see where it goes from season 4 onwards.

Finally I want to note that some of the translations into English bothered me a tiny bit. I am not talking about legibility or the title of the manhwa, but the tendency to translate terms Asians will be familiar with into terms more familiar to US Americans. Things like translating "crystalized sugar candy" into "cookies".

[More info about my review style can be found on my profile]

▶Summary and recommendation: -----------------------------------------------------------------
[Reincarnated as a Sword] is a fantasy story about a paedophile who has his soul reincarnated into a magical sword. He is then picked up by and wielded by a child.

⚠️Contains implications of rape⚠️
⚠️Features heavy sexualization of female characters⚠️
⚠️Features significant sexualization of children.⚠️

It had the potential to be a decent action adventure story, but it is brought down by the author's insistence on stuffing the story full of his disgusting fetishes.
... I heavily warn against reading this manga.

▶Story: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After dying in our world and being reborn as a sword in a fantasy world, he is picked up by a 12 year old "catgirl" named Fran. A catgirl is a human with cat ears and tail. At the time of their meeting, Fran is a slave, and is freed by the protagonist. Due to her past as a slave, she is determined to become strong and kill all slavers she comes across.

It is a fairly run of the mill adventure story, with the sword gimmick being what is meant to put it apart. With the sword being picked up by Fran within the very first chapter of the manga, this gimmick doesn't actually do much to elevate the story above other isekai. The story quickly devolving into an adventure focusing on Fran as the main character, with the sword relegated to acting as a trump card and helpful exposition tool.

It goes through the motions for most of it. Not veering far from the common structure of isekai stories. It has an adventurer guild the protagonists register at, it has levels, stats and dungeons for them to explore. It even has an evil adventurer team that the protagonist beats up in the first chapters to establish their fame in the starter city. It is not a very strong nor unique isekai story, but it has a few passable moments with actual thought and effort put into them and the flow of the story is very well executed.
Unfortunately that is as much praise as I can levy at this manga.

Much of the story feels tailored to put female characters in situations where the artist of the manga can draw them in clothing (or completely naked) that will turn the reader on. Many female characters in the manga wear sexualized clothing that exposes their thighs, stomach or chest, and highlights their curves. Sometimes going as far as putting female characters in micro bikinis. Fran, the child deuteragonist is also a victim of this, wearing clothing designed to entice paedophiles and satiate the fetishes of the author.

The author attempts to justify this by saying that because it is magical armour, it will protect the user even though their legs and stomach is completely exposed, and by wearing skimpy armour like this, it improves mobility. This weak excuse is undone by the fact that it is only female characters who wear armour like this.

▶Setting: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The world is quite well developed with a lot of systems and lore that ties the world together. The way the dungeons work in this setting is expanded upon quite significantly. Unfortunately it needs a lot of text to explain the world and does so quite clumsily. With characters just standing there explaining the world to the reader for whole chapters.

▶Characters: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The protagonist has little in the ways of character traits and appears mostly to act as a stand in for the reader. The most passionate he gets is when he gets to see the 12 year old Fran or other female characters naked. Where he visibly expresses that he is turned on by their appearance.

The deuteragonist Fran does not have many character traits either, and is mostly defined by her tendency to reply to people in short sentences or grunts. She shows most passion when striking at slavers, but that is not much of a trait.

Oddly enough it is the side characters that have the most characterization. While most of them are simple anime tropes, some of them have actual character development and traits and are given several chapters to showcase depth that go beyond merely being evil or good.

▶Artwork: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The art is very good, bordering gorgeous, with detailed backgrounds and intricate character designs. The artist also does not shy away from showing a significant amount of violence and gore. As is common with Japanese comics, this manga is black and white, with no colours.

▶In conclusion: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While a very basic story, it is very well paced and has a good flow to it. So it is such a shame a story with some potential is burdened by such a disgusting author insistent on stuffing all his fetishes into the story.

[You can find more information about my review style on my profile]

▶Summary and recommendation: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Villains are destined to Die] is a story about a tragic cast of characters twisted into villains by the circumstances of their birth, society and its systems.

⚠️This manhwa features slavery and portrays it in a manner many will find very uncomfortable.

A struggle fantasy. [Villains are Destined to Die] is a story following a Korean woman possessing the body of Penelope. The villainess of a romance dating game. She has to struggle to survive and find a way to escape this world where no one is on her side.

This is ... one of the more famous Otome Isekai, and one of the few to have gotten a physical release. It is well deserved (and I recommend it).

It does however have some uncomfortable themes, such as putting down maids, and buying and exploiting slaves, so I understand if some readers find that to be too much.
It also takes a long while before the romance gets going, so keep that in mind if you decide to read this manhwa.

▶Story: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The story kinda starts in media res, rather than at the beginning. I think this was a very good idea by the author, as this creates a far more compelling hook than if it had started at the very beginning.

After hooking in the reader, the manhwa spends a few chapters jumping back and forth between present and past to give us exposition to what kind of person our heroine is, as well as what sort of romance videogame world it is she is being transported to. I did feel like it dragged on for a bit too long, but due to the significant role the setting plays in the story, you could argue that it is necessary.

The protagonist is transported into the body of a villainess in a videogame set to hard difficulty with some very rigid game rules. She can only choose between 3 different dialogue choices and can not speak at will, with death being her reward if she makes the wrong choice.

She is placed in some precarious situations, but with her extensive knowledge of the videogame from when she lived in the real world, she manages to navigate them without much danger to herself. This does not last, as she never finished the game in real life, and soon has to proceed without her cheat sheet.

While this system of restricted dialogue choices is a novel idea that creates very tense situations, it wouldn't make for a good Manhwa story if the protagonist had that little agency, so after the introduction the restriction is dropped and it feels like the story starts for real.

Another quirk of the world she finds herself in is that she can see how much someone likes her, on a score from 0% to 100%. Trapped in an Otome Game (A game where you typically control a female protagonist who has to win the hearts of one of several male suitors), she assumes that the way to escape might be to raise the affection score of one of them to 100%. The problem is that she has taken over the body of someone who is disliked by everyone, and any misstep might result in her death.

It is a very tense story with all these systems working against her and she is forced to abandon her morality to survive. The allies she gains, she emotionally manipulates and exploits. She uses blackmail, lies and deceit to carefully craft a narrative to win the hearts of those around her and all this while her own mental health is deteriorating.

The manhwa is really good at keeping the tensions high, and it has some really exciting story arcs. The court case being my personal favourite.

There are some minor things I did not find that well executed in the story. In particular the heroine winning over the servants of the manor she lives in. It was jarring how quickly and easily she did it, and the story does not do a really good job at showing a smooth transition between everyone mistreating her and then everyone showering her with love and respect. In fact the story seem to backtrack a bit later with characters becoming mean to her again. This is not a deal breaker, but it did stand out a bit to me.

▶Setting: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Villains are destined to Die] is set in a fairly generic medieval fantasy inspired setting, with royals, knights, and magic. The nation that the story is set in is humorously named "Eorka". An anagram of "Korea".

The setting is not that noteworthy, but the gameified systems that govern the world play a significant role in the story.

▶Characters: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The protagonist has well defined character traits and she experiences character development throughout the story. Though with the cruel setting she ended up in, that development is not always in the right direction. Her backstory is a tragic one and most readers will feel sympathy with her, or perhaps (but hopefully not) be able to relate in ways. She deserves goodness yet is put in a situation that is nothing but that, and she has to do a lot of bad to survive.

Almost all of the secondary characters, the romantic suitors of the story are nothing but vile and/or tragic. Two faced characters who hide their true nature
Ranging from callous and vying for her death, to emotionally manipulated and unstable. They all go through massive change throughout the story, but not all of it in the right direction.

▶Romance: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The romance is quite fraught with danger. The kind of danger where every romantic interest wants to kill the protagonist. Not the "spicy" kind of danger.

It takes some time for the romance to develop and taking centre stage of the story because she has enough to deal with just trying to not be killed by them, and when the male lead presents himself, the dangers only escalate.

It is not entirely obvious who the main character will be, but you will realise who it is before she does, and that can make it a bit distressing to read the path she is going down, but keep in mind that she is fearing for her life and how that can cause you to make poor choices.

▶Artwork: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The artwork ranges from decent to nice. There is very good use of colours and the artist manages to get feelings across well. The characters are decently drawn with some gorgeous outfits for certain characters, with extra effort seemingly put into the male leads.
The backgrounds are not always nice, and while it fits the character's art style well, the ample use of 3D assets can make certain pages feel a bit cheap. Especially when there are graphical errors such as floating objects.

Unlike most manhwa I have reviewed, I actually read the first few volumes of this manhwa physically, having bought the physical release. It looks marvelous in person. The full colour pages are great to look at and the comic layout is very easy to read.

▶In conclusion: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am writing this review as of chapter 160 and all in all it is a classic otome isekai story. A fairly standard script executed extremely well with some small hints of psychological horror and uncomfortable topics.

It features some of the tropes that haunt the Otome Isekai genre such as mistreatment of employees, and a near fetishization of slavery which bothered me quite a lot. In the context of the story it makes sense even if it can not be justified.

It is a well paced story that has no troubles keeping the tensions high, and as of season 4, the story is building up nicely towards a climax in season 5, even if it will probably take another year or so before the story finishes, I think it is well worth the read right now.

[You can find more information about my review style on my profile]

▶Summary and recommendation: -----------------------------------------------------------------

[I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time] is a power fantasy with poorly written characters and missed opportunities.

It is not an isekai, but suffers from what most isekai with unusual ideas does. It doesn’t stick to its unusual idea for very long, and cannot help but become a generic fantasy action adventure story.

As fantasy slop you can do worse, and I know that having a female protagonist is enough for a lot of readers, so I am reluctant to say that I ... do not recommend it, but I certainly did not like it.

▶Story: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time] proves for what I think might be the 3rd time that the concept of a receptionist in a fantasy world, is a really difficult premise to build upon.

While the manga’s premise is made up of two parts. Being a guild receptionist, and fighting bosses, the author has so few ideas about the guild receptionist part that it is more or less dropped within 10 chapters, to instead focus on the “solo any boss” part of the title. The protagonist will however use any opportunity to mention overtime or paid leave and other desk job related buzzwords so we won’t forget the “guild receptionist” part of the title.

Exposition is very poorly done. Most of it is done by having a character stand still and talk directly “to the camera”, or to teammates who as inhabitants of this fantasy world should already know how the world operates. There is an emphasis on tell, instead of showing, poorly leveraging the advantages of being a visual medium.

Asides from these glaring issues, the plot is a quite straight forward and predictable power fantasy, following the same structure that most fantasy isekai stories do (even if it is not an isekai itself.

▶Setting: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With a generic medieval European fantasy setting as its foundation, it builds upon that foundation and offers a bit more than that. The systems that govern the fantasy world while poorly introduced are well defined. There are rigid skill systems and stat and quest windows exist within the universe, and the world is full of dungeons for adventurers to explore.

It also features the precursor trope, which will likely explain many of the rigid magical systems of the setting as the story unravels.

It is my hope that the author can eventually tie it all back to the Guild receptionist part of the premise, and put a larger focus on why it exists and its origins.

▶Characters: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“If you don’t spend time watching real people, you can’t do this, [...] Some people spend their lives interested only in themselves. Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know. It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans. And that’s why the industry is full of otaku!”

-Hayao Miyazaki. Japanese filmmaker and founder of Studio Ghibli

Before I describe the protagonist, I want to highlight this quote by Hayao Miyazaki What he is criticising is that many of the creators in the industry spend no time observing real people as basis for their characters. Never knowing real people, only knowing characters from anime and manga. The result is that they create a character that is made up of a checklist of anime tropes, not people.

[I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time] embodies this quote. No character acts like a real human and feel like walking tropes.

The first villain is a good example. The story needs a villain, and throws in a shallow character whose motivations make no sense and whose actions do not match the motivations. He is of the “bully” archetype, and is cartoonishly evil, to the point of laughing maniacally as he destroys the very system that grants him the power he wants.

The protagonist Alina while likeable, is not much better. She features the “Berserk button” trope. Where the character gets enraged at a minor trigger. Usually in anime this is an overweight character going berserk when called “fat”. Alina’s trigger is having to work overtime. A poorly understood concept that the story uses to kick-start the plot.

She sadly does not get much better, with character development being some of the most shallow I have read in a manga. Amounting to “Wait... friends dying makes me sad? :0”

▶Artwork: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The artwork is quite nice. The character art is a bit on the plain side but the artist showcases expressions quite well. and the detailed background art complements the character art. It is all black and white, with no colour as is common with Japanese manga.

▶In conclusion: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While I went hard on the poorly written characters in the story’s abandonment of the “guild receptionist” part of the premise, in the context of fantasy manga you can do a lot worse.

It is a quite generic fantasy action adventure manga featuring a super powerful female protagonist, and I know that is enough for a lot of readers.

I would however like to recommend [Mookhyang: Dark Lady]. A dark fantasy manhwa featuring an overpowered female protagonist in an even more dangerous medieval fantasy setting. It is based on a relatively old novel, so it has quite a different vibe from recent fantasy manga. The protagonist is also a woman who used to be a man, which might influence your desire to read it. Politics and war is also a focus of the manhwa, which might turn away a lot of readers.