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

[Verypeeved]

I've seen enough doujins to know what happens to Kidnapped people.

Something something horny jail.

 

[Shinkutsuki]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Dredcor]

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.

Based light novel author.

But seriously, it's nice to see Japanese media that actually tackles these topics with the proper respect they deserve.

 

[SrNevik]

Based light novel author.

But seriously, it's nice to see Japanese media that actually tackles these topics with the proper respect they deserve.

It's funny because she just did an interview a month ago (English) and talked briefly about trying to balance her desire for social commentary based on her life experiences with the need for LN or manga to be entertainment. I think she does a good job of handling that balance.

She also mentioned that a sequel is in the works, which I don't think enough people have caught on to yet, since it was a smaller interview.

 

[Dredcor]

It's funny because she just did an interview a month ago (English) and talked briefly about trying to balance her desire for social commentary based on her life experiences with the need for LN or manga to be entertainment. I think she does a good job of handling that balance. She also talked about a sequel being in the works, which I don't think enough people have caught on to yet, since it was a smaller interview.

I suppose I could search for the interview, but I'm actually half asleep already, so do you have a link so morning me will remember to read/watch it?

P.S. What's your pfp from?

 

[SrNevik]

I suppose I could search for the interview, but I'm actually half asleep already, so do you have a link so morning me will remember to read/watch it?

P.S. What's your pfp from?

PFP is from Fuzoroi no Renri (original series, not the sequel/spinoff). And this is the interview (it's short and talks about a bunch of stuff briefly): Here's a link.

 

[Orangechrisy]

So here comes the crosswise curse and Yu's situation. There's a bunch of Rei's thoughts about Yu and what Yu's condition is meant to allude to/represent that can't all make a manga but I always liked this quote from the LN right when Rei finds out about Yu, because it reframes previously overlooked events:

Spoiler

On the day of the Academy festival, when we were getting dressed for the cross-dressing café, I'd thought Yu was having more fun than the rest of us, but I hadn't guessed at all the layers underlying that moment. Yu hadn't been delighted by any sense of absurdity. Rather, she had been overjoyed to fulfill a desire that otherwise had to be hidden. I'd always thought Yu cunning; I now understand she had no choice but to be. Yu was cursed with a double life.

This chapter was a nice manga addition before the dance stuff to help flesh out some of the themes/players of this arc and also for pacing (unless I'm forgetting something from the LN). I liked it just like I enjoyed the dodgeball? addition a few chapters ago. I wonder where they'll take it next chapter.

This stuff, and recently looking back at the "are you what they call a homosexual" scene making me really wish the manga kept some of these internal thoughts, because they feel so vitally important to the message of the story and to exploring and presenting the queer themes in it. They are things that definitely deserve to be said because they bring so much to the conversation and understanding of queerness, and them being left out feels a bit bleh. It already does feel like it talks about these themes more than most other manga but they could still go even further.

 

[karpad]

Thanks for the upload!

 

[KoTori_Z]

well damn, i don’t even have the light novel spoilers to help me this time since this is new iirc

 

[WolfenLady]

If one lock of Misha's get cut or misplaced, Miss nun will be meeting her god early 🐺🥷🏽

 

[SrNevik]

This stuff, and recently looking back at the "are you what they call a homosexual" scene making me really wish the manga kept some of these internal thoughts, because they feel so vitally important to the message of the story and to exploring and presenting the queer themes in it. They are things that definitely deserve to be said because they bring so much to the conversation and understanding of queerness, and them being left out feels a bit bleh. It already does feel like it talks about these themes more than most other manga but they could still go even further.

Yeah it's a bit difficult in manga form. There's just not as much room to have a character's thoughts roam free like this, especially since a lot is about to start happening. It's just a difference in medium and therefore audience. I don't think Rei's full thoughts would translate as well to an entertaining manga. Pages of thought bubbles don't flow as well and if the audience is turned off all together, it defeats the purpose. For this, it's the actions that have to carry the meaning and we'll see what happens. They have kept the big important moments in this and the anime, so they're still covering the issues. But I see what you mean, it's just a difficult balance and why I enjoy books so much still. There's still a lot more depth you can have in an entertaining book that you can't do as well anywhere else, without tricks.

 

[NinjaGoemon]

It's funny because she just did an interview a month ago (English) and talked briefly about trying to balance her desire for social commentary based on her life experiences with the need for LN or manga to be entertainment. I think she does a good job of handling that balance.

She also mentioned that a sequel is in the works, which I don't think enough people have caught on to yet, since it was a smaller interview.

People tuned into her ko-fi and fanbox have been aware for a while. She actually explained that she wanted to put out the sequel "Turn Around, to Me!" (which heavily features the twins and Lilly), but the publishers and other marketing people told her not to because it wouldn't mash well with the anime broadcast and could confuse audiences.

Which is totally understandable considering

Spoiler

the sequel focuses on a completely different protagonist and her navigating the weird love triangle between her, a woman 10 years her senior, and her own sister.

 

[SrNevik]

People tuned into her ko-fi and fanbox have been aware for a while. She actually explained that she wanted to put out the sequel "Turn Around, to Me!" (which heavily features the twins and Lilly), but the publishers and other marketing people told her not to because it wouldn't mash well with the anime broadcast and could confuse audiences.

Which is totally understandable considering

Spoiler

the sequel focuses on a completely different protagonist and her navigating the weird love triangle between her, a woman 10 years her senior, and her own sister.

Is "Turn Around To Me" the one set 10 years in the future? I know she did a small thing before but I thought that was further in the future? I assumed this was now a modified version of that, if anything. Either way it sounds like she's got the OK now, based on the interview. It does make some sense not to announce that formally until after the season though. Plus she has her other recently announced LN anyway.

 

[NinjaGoemon]

Is "Turn Around To Me" the one set 10 years in the future? I know she did a small thing involving Lily before but I thought that was further in the future? Either way it sounds like she's got the OK now, based on the interview. It does make some sense not to announce that formally until after the season though. Plus she has her other recently announced LN anyway.

Yeah that's the one. She did a short story before with the setting before. https://sephalliblog.wordpress.com/2021/12/27/i-favor-the-villainess-mei-alea-birthday-ss/

 

[SrNevik]

Yeah that's the one. She did a short story before with the setting before.

Spoiler

https://sephalliblog.wordpress.com/2021/12/27/i-favor-the-villainess-mei-alea-birthday-ss/

Might want to spoiler that link but thanks! Ok so that was like an exploratory one-shot and now she's got the series Ok. Got it. That clears it up. Thanks. Edit: also now that I see it, I realize that I'd read this awhile ago and completely forgot about it.

 

[Orangechrisy]

Yeah it's a bit difficult in manga form. There's just not as much room to have a character's thoughts roam free like this, especially since a lot is about to start happening. It's just a difference in medium and therefore audience. I don't think Rei's full thoughts would translate as well to an entertaining manga. Pages of thought bubbles don't flow as well and if the audience is turned off all together, it defeats the purpose. For this, it's the actions that have to carry the meaning and we'll see what happens. They have kept the big important moments in this and the anime, so they're still covering the issues. But I see what you mean, it's just a difficult balance and why I enjoy books so much still. There's still a lot more depth you can have in an entertaining book that you can't do as well anywhere else, without tricks.

Yeah definitely agreed, but does make me appreciate the web novel a lot for how in depth it's able to handle the issues

 

[Manchura]

so her mother forcefully transitioned her kid because she was mentally unwell over the fact she would not have a son...

 

[Nikitalita]

Do folks not know that the author is a trans woman and these are obvious trans metaphors?

 

[Kaitensatsuma]

I thought they were going to make it a surprise to Misha but then they axed that ahead of time.

I guess this makes the anime version of Misha's defense of Rei make more sense though

 

[Dredcor]

Do folks not know that the author is a trans woman and these are obvious trans metaphors?

I didn't know until after this chapter released. The author being a trans woman that is.

I read it as a trans metaphor immediately.