I'm in Love with the Villainess - Vol. 8 Ch. 36 - Yu's secret

[shittycoolusername69]

Let’s leave it up to the students to deal with missing students that might have been kidnapped! At least Lily is being cute here.

It wasn't really left to them, they where just supposed to help gathering information, not actually do the heavy work.

Missing commoner students also seems like a low enough priority case that the school can toss the preliminary investigation to the student council

 

[SrNevik]

Missing commoner students also seems like a low enough priority case that the school can toss the preliminary investigation to the student council

Yeah which says a lot.

 

[Kanave]

omg Lily is so fucking cute in this chapter VBGHJKDSJHGgahsdjhgsADJGUHasd

 

[Doomcard10]

Aside from the weird “forced to crossdress” trope, I’m enjoying this bit so far

 

[JadeSapphira]

Why did they instantly start refering to them as a she, who fucking does that??? Why is it that this person they've known forever as one gender suddenly has a secret shown that they were once another gender, so they immidiately revert how they speak about them, that's so fuckin shitty

 

[Dredcor]

Aside from the weird “forced to crossdress” trope, I’m enjoying this bit so far

It's not "forced to crossdress". It's literally worse than that. She had her sex inverted from a very young age. Despite clearly wanting to be a woman, Yu has been forced to be a man, physically and socially, her entire life.

 

[Marci]

This will sound out of place since we are getting to this part of the story but Thane looks hot as a girl...https://mangadex.org/chapter/25f03a20-0406-491e-86f4-3c7344bc0d25/13

 

[Dredcor]

Why did they instantly start refering to them as a she, who fucking does that??? Why is it that this person they've known forever as one gender suddenly has a secret shown that they were once another gender, so they immidiately revert how they speak about them, that's so fuckin shitty

Well, it is a bit odd from the characters' perspective, since they don't necessarily know whether Yu wants to be a woman or not, but as reader, it does appear that Yu is being presented as wanting to be a woman. Though, they also kinda glossed over the conversation that Lily had with them, so maybe she talked about Yu's feeling on the matter.

 

[wlwarlock]

It looks like they're significantly overhauling the execution of this arc from how it went down in the LN and I am here for it. So excited to see how the new changes go

 

[Doomcard10]

It's not "forced to crossdress". It's literally worse than that. She had her sex inverted from a very young age. Despite clearly wanting to be a woman, Yu has been forced to be a man, physically and socially, her entire life.

Yeah I know, I just put it in terms of how the trope is usually done. It’s weird and feels sort of uncharacteristic for a manga that handled gay issues well earlier.

 

[Dredcor]

Yeah I know, I just put it in terms of how the trope is usually done. It’s weird and feels sort of uncharacteristic for a manga that handled gay issues well earlier.

I mean, they're treating this really seriously, and not playing it for laughs or anything, so I'm fine with it. Honestly, with how serious they're treating this, it seems more like an analogy for a trans woman than anything. Someone who, despite being a woman, is forced to be/act as a man, and can only be true to themself with someone who loves and accepts them. Like, if you didn't know magic was involved, that's just straight up a trans woman.

 

[SrNevik]

I mean, they're treating this really seriously, and not playing it for laughs or anything, so I'm fine with it. Honestly, with how serious they're treating this, it seems more like an analogy for a trans woman than anything. Someone who, despite being a woman, is forced to be/act as a man, and can only be true to themself with someone who loves and accepts them. Like, if you didn't know magic was involved, that's just straight up a trans woman.

Yeah that's exactly what the allusion is. It's tough for Yu and Yu's mother is trash.

 

[AV_AmerigoVespuchi]

Hopefully we wouldn't see Dazed Misha fighting against Yu

 

[Purplelibraryguy]

So does this person creeping up on her not breathe or what? 'Cause, like, this is happening just a few frames after she's all "I can hear the breathing of everyone in this place including faint breathing from the third floor".
So hey, with a bit of luck the mangaka realizes this and the backstabber is about to get a big surprise.

 

[Dredcor]

So does this person creeping up on her not breathe or what? 'Cause, like, this is happening just a few frames after she's all "I can hear the breathing of everyone in this place including faint breathing from the third floor".
So hey, with a bit of luck the mangaka realizes this and the backstabber is about to get a big surprise.

She could have been using magic to temporarily enhance her hearing.

 

[orangekite]

Aonoshimo always shines in their outfit designs so it was great to see everyone getting something this chapter. It's also interesting to see what the manga chooses to incorporate from SSCC, it started small with a panel for Loretta's piano recital, got some more pages during the summer vacation arc with Pipi and Loretta talking with Rei's mom and now we're here getting a full chapter. It's cool though and part of why I really love the manga, it feels like a bit of a second pass over the light novels, getting to add in some additional setup and foreshadowing as well as giving the extended cast further characterization. Speaking of which, really enjoying Rei looking out for Misha this chapter. With how single minded Rei tends to be it's a nice switch up seeing her worry about her best friend.

 

[KoishiSatori]

can't wait for the ceremonial dance

 

[JadeSapphira]

I mean, they're treating this really seriously, and not playing it for laughs or anything, so I'm fine with it. Honestly, with how serious they're treating this, it seems more like an analogy for a trans woman than anything. Someone who, despite being a woman, is forced to be/act as a man, and can only be true to themself with someone who loves and accepts them. Like, if you didn't know magic was involved, that's just straight up a trans woman.

.....interpreting the character as a transwoman being forced to boymode makes me feel a lot better about it

 

[SrNevik]

.....interpreting the character as a transwoman being forced to boymode makes me feel a lot better about it

If you want some extra reassurance from LN and don't mind risking some out of context direct quotes that may or may not be repeated in the manga, these would make it crystal clear what Yu' situation is meant to mirror. TLDR, I wouldn't worry too much:

Spoiler

"Rae!" Claire said sharply. I turned around. I'd said too much. "I'm sorry..."

"Whatever has gotten into you?" Claire asked, bewildered. "This isn't like you at all."

“I… My friend. Misaki... he…was forced to live as the wrong gender." I'd known this was part of my problem. The whole time we were trying to help Yu, I couldn't stop remembering Misaki. He had been told he was a girl as a child, but he'd known he was a boy. "Just like Master Yu, no one around him understood, and he was forced to live a lie…until, one day--..."

"That is awful," said Claire.

...Misaki would often cry to me. Why hadn't he been born in a body everyone would recognize as a boy's? Why did he have to suffer over something that everyone else took for granted? If he were a “normal” boy, he could have made Kosaki so happy, and so on, and so on.

"I did my best to help Misaki," I whispered, "but in the end, I wasn't enough to heal his wounds. And there was no curse to lift. But with Yu... We can help Yu. And still—”

Some more...

Spoiler

"Being queer in my previous life, I had met people with all sorts of queer experiences. A number of those people had struggled with gender dysphoria, and some had found wellness and peace in changing their mode of dress, or taking hormones, and other such things. I don't think that was enough for everyone, not all the time. I mean, 21st-century Japan's advanced medical technology could do a great deal, including surgically, but sometimes that still couldn't totally cure a person's dysphoria. However, even treatment aimed at merely alleviating symptoms can be absolutely critical, even lifesaving. In my opinion, that made all these changes utterly worth it."

There's a lot more but those are the most general/"safest" for now and you get the picture from just those alone. It's not an ambiguous connection or debatable. Very, very direct actually, even more so if you know the author.

 

[YamYamV]

Hans looking kinda sus rn ngl