For many book lovers, delving into the world of a fantasy romance novel sounds like a dream come true. However, one college student finds that living in a fictional world isn’t all that it is cracked up to be, especially when one finds themselves in the shoes of the book’s lead villain. This is the premise of I’ve Become a True Villainess, Manta Comics’ latest winter romance series. In the comic, the protagonist is an overworked college student who finds her life cut short after an accident. When she awakens, though, she finds herself not in the afterlife, but in the world of the latest cheesy romance novel she read.
Not only that, but she has been reincarnated as the novel’s most despicable villain, Seria. Seria is a cold-hearted villain who isn’t quite deserving of sympathy. Being a fear-inducing villain caught in a love triangle with two handsome male leads doesn’t sound too bad … until the college student remembers one important fact about Seria: she is murdered at the end of the story by the male leads. Hence, it seems this young woman is doomed to die young, both in reality and in fantasy.
Unless she can change her fate. The new Seria isn’t willing to lose her life a second time, so she sets off to change the novel’s plot. She should be at an advantage because she knows the story and how to manipulate it, or does she? Everything is not as it seems in this steamy fantasy romance with a dark twist.
I’ve Become a True Villainess balances romance, fantasy, and mystery
It was easy to become intrigued by I’ve Become a True Villainess because it immediately hits the reader with a heavy dose of dramatic irony in reverse: Seria knows a lot more than the audience does because she has read the original novel, but we have not. This invokes a constant aura of mystery as you struggle to grasp what her angle is. While she keeps her ultimate plan at large, it is clear that each action she commits is measured.
However, every once in a while she’ll drop a bombshell on the reader; for example, when she admits that the man she plans to marry winds up marrying the protagonist at the end of the story. The story, overall, is deeply embedded in romance, with all of its lead characters—Callis, Rouche, Mina, and Seria—implied to have gotten tangled in a sticky love triangle. Romance enthusiasts will love how palpable the chemistry is between the characters, and how dangerous and foreboding love can be without knowing which characters are supposed to be together based on the original plot. All viewers know is that their love will take a deadly turn.
Meanwhile, the comic also entwines in its premise a good helping of fantasy. Seria is described as having a special role as a Sterne, an individual blessed with divine power who creates purified armor for the kingdom’s knights. There is magic very obviously at play in the story, which heightens the stakes and adds another layer of mystery. Additionally, the artistry imbues a layer of magic on its own with detailed designs that beautifully capture a reflective, icy setting, or the way the glint on the charms adorns the characters. With intricate designs, dangerous romance, magical elements, and constant mystery, I’ve Become a True Villainess takes a common premise and makes it into something entirely new and intriguing.
(featured image: Manta Comics)
