In case you missed out on what was going on within the last few years, there was a time when both Naver Webtoons and Crunchyroll partnered to adapt the 3 biggest manhwa that were out at the time: Kami no Tou a.k.a Tower of God, The God of High School, and Noblesse, all within the span of Spring to Fall 2020 through the latter's now defunct "Crunchyroll Originals" label. If you were alive back then to see and hope that the collaboration would contribute talent from other countries to Japan, you would be sorely mistaken, as despite the various studios' undertaking of these massive projects, it was a total mess of a flop that ultimately went nowhere. Well, only Kami no Tou did, because Crunchyroll did announce a sequel for it last August.
But back to Raeliana. Rinko Hanasaki (romanticised from the original Korean name Park Eunha), having been dealt a mysterious fall to her death while reading a novel, is reincarnated as Raeliana McMillan, the extra/side character that's neither royalty nor noteworthy in the story itself. But being the eldest daughter of a nouveau-riche baron and having signed her life away to a fiancé that, as scripted, eventually kills her to her unfortunate demise. Hoping for a way out of this scripted story plot for the second time, Raeliana acts prudently for a higher power that would help her out of her calamity, and that approach leads to a person called Noah Volstaire Wynknight, who agrees to the deal, but has a condition that she must fulfil: to act as his fiancé for 6 months, or the deal is off. But little does Raeliana know that this decision would not only change the face of the novel's story, her own fate rests in the hands of Noah as well, with his "dastardly" gentleman tricks that reveal his hidden side that only she will know.
For the longest time now, I have been wanting to read Korean Webtoons to get away from the overused tropes that most works from Japan are starting to use, and this Webtoon was one of the first ones to intrigue me since I was getting into Webtoons after the whole Webtoon-Crunchyroll debacle. But time passed from weeks to months, a year or two, and I just simply forgot about it...until the anime showed up. With that said, these kinds of reincarnated stories, even for Korean webtoons, are a dime a dozen out there, because I can tell you that there are a lot of similarities between both Japan and Korea about the archetypes, from the setting to the characters, and that Korea has the edge due to the fact that it's not in the usual manga format, and it's coloured as well. If you're too used to how manga looks, it'll take time to get used to the manhwa format.
In Raeliana's case, she can be seen as the forward "villainess" due to the way that she acts, aside from her carefree, and sometimes, careless attitude that gets her into trouble in the first place. Like in the novel's scenario, Raeliana gets murdered by her fiancé, Francis Brooks, who isn't happy with her thanks to his abusive and persuasive control. It's then with Noah Wynknight that she seeks help out of her troubles, and indeed he gives her what she wants in exchange for being his fiancée, though Raeliana soon realises that Noah has a hidden wolf-like manliness hidden inside of him that is ready to be unleashed, taking her graces for his likening and entrancing, more than the part of the fiancé act to the girl who is supposed to be nothing more than a side character to the ACTUAL protagonist and his fiancée, Beatrice Trancet. That said, Raeliana isn't the "damsel in distress" character, and she can stand on her own two feet when it comes to the crunch, which I like and prefer more towards and against girls who act the other way as their never-ending façade, blergh. A strong, independent girl, despite facing life-threatening events, she never once lost courage, and that is what makes Raeliana such a good female lead MC. It's the same story for Noah, as apart from his namesake of royalty, he, like Raeliana, is strong and supportive, and would go to the ends of the Earth for her. Their chemistry is more than just a hot-blooded mess of egomania and fluttering feelings, they poke fun at one another, trying to get one flustered for the other, which makes their interactions all the sweeter. Not to mention, the supporting cast can be likened to their personalities as well. From the Ikemen of Noah's right-hand man Adam Taylor to one of the holy kings of Heika Demint, to the villainess characters of Vivian Shamal and her idiosyncrasies of why Raeliana is closely attached to Noah, everybody is there for a reason (as had the old royalty setting), which makes for some intriguing plot twists whenever the show decides to do so and beckons one to read further. It's good; I'll give it that.
The only elephant in the room would have to be in the animation department. To be frank, I've never really been a fan of Typhoon Graphics, which, other than the One Room series and the Sengoku Night Blood otome game adaptation, were just plainly forgettable shows back in 2017. And after a heinously long absence from working on the smaller stuff or assisting in-between works for bigger studios and shows, the studio is back with a more legitimate and better effort under director Junichi Yamamoto, who once helmed one of my favourite shows of last year: Fuufu Ijou, Koibito Miman. a.k.a More than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers. Knowing that he didn't have much to work on, Junichi Yamamoto made the best that he and his staff team could out of the fledgling 3rd-rate studio, though I'd say that what they were trying to achieve was the manhwa effect out of the anime, which is very noticeable with the rather stiff and static animation that weirdly matches together with the original source material, which covers the entirety of Season 1 of the Webtoon. I'm not asking for a lot for manhwa adaptations since they're presented as such, and for the time being, it's serviceable and decent at best.
The music is definitely where the anime shines in its surprise. MindaRyn's OP "SURVIVE" replicates Raeliana's exact feelings, transitioning from the real world to a fictional story in the "Command and Conquer" style, and it's a decent song overall. However, SERRA's ED "Always and Forever" — honestly, this song could've come out straight from a Disney princess-laden movie, filled with the majestic and ear-piercing sweet vocals that grace goosebumps, but in a beautiful way.
If you ask me when Japan and the anime industry should start to notice works from other countries awaiting adaptations, that time is now. The clear differentiator in a sea of never-ending subpar works when it comes to Isekai, and I hope that through this show, there will be a new age of overseas' works spawned for future adaptations to come. It's not the best or most impressive showing I've had, but for what it is, it does it well.
Maybe you don't see it the way I do, but what do I know? It's called an opinion for a reason.
