There are some gems when it comes to isekai manga, but my general perception of these manga is that they are usually a “miss” in terms of depth. But I still enjoy reading them because they are a fun read all in all, which I think is the main point here by the writers and mangaka. I’d flick through them, laugh at the silliness or enjoy the heavy plot, then move on to the next one simply because the isekai library is that big. However, nothing satisfies my need for this niche amongst the niche like how otome isekai can. Isekai, as you know, is all about someone from our world whisked away to another fantasy (usually European-based, for some reason…) world. Now, if you tack on otome, the plot then becomes all about a girl whisked away to another world reminiscent to an otome game that the heroine has played before.

Alright, the next sentence’s gonna sound a bit silly but from what I read, you can further categorize the genre otome isekai further down to another three – an otome isekai that has the MC reincarnated as the otome game’s protagonist, another type of isekai otome that has the MC possess/portray the otome game’s villainess, and lastly, the protagonist as a forgettable NPC in the background. There are those that follow a unique plot type, like an otome isekai from a capture target perspective but all in all, these are the three sub-categories that I noticed.

I tried talking about this to mari-chan when she asked me what type of blog post I’m currently writing, and she gave me a dumbfounded reaction. I was shocked. I asked, don’t manga-reading folks talk about this? She replied, No. It is then I know that I’m a lost cause. So if you follow my train of thoughts when I explained the sub-categories, you’re a lost cause too. Welcome to the club <3.

REGARDLESS! Amongst the three categories I mentioned, the villainess one is my favourite. Since each one of these are either light-hearted or too short for me to talk about in a full blog post, I decided to dump it all in a blog series. I didn’t put the titles in order, so the numbering is just for you to keep track of. Enjoy!

Otome Isekai Manga Recommendation #1: Middle-Aged Man’s Noble Daughter Reincarnation (悪役令嬢転生おじさん)

Every time this webcomic gets an update, I would hop to it so darn fast. Illustrated by Zoids mangaka, this short webcomic is a hilarious little series poking fun at the otome isekai genre for villainess. Tondabayashi Kenzaburou is a 60-year-old civil servant who died in a traffic accident. Fate has him reincarnated in an otome game as a villainess! Seriously, what does an old man know about otome games in the first place?! Regardless, he tries his best to emulate what an antagonist should do and harasses the protagonist. Unfortunately, a kind parent at heart simply can’t harass a young girl. Misunderstandings prop up and he just… gets along with the otome game characters naturally.This series never takes itself seriously. A great quick read to brighten up your day. If I’m not mistaken, it was popular enough to get an official release! Huzzah! Loving this great news.

Otome Isekai Manga Recommendation #2: An Observation Record of my Fiancée – A Self-Proclaimed Villainess (自称悪役令嬢な婚約者の観察記録)

This is one of the well-written ones as a romantic fantasy, with otome isekai as the driven plot. Many plots are written from the villainess point of view, but this manga has us watching the whole plot unfold through the capture target’s perspective. Cecil Glo Alphasta is the first prince of Alphasta, and he is thoroughly dumbfounded by his first meeting with his fiancee, Bertia Ibil Noches. You see, Bertia is the villainess in this otome game and she’s dead set on fulfilling her duties as a first-class villainess. She ranted on modern terms like otome and route, so obviously Cecil, a prince from a fantasy otome game has absolutely no clue what she just talked about. Fortunate for her, Cecil is smart. He quickly picked up the hints as to what will occur in the future and works towards preventing it.

This marks the start of Cecil’s genuine fondness towards his fiancee. Bertia in the otome game is chubby, so she worked hard to slim down. She has a to-do list of mean things she’ll do towards the heroine, all for the sake of veering the story back to the original path. But Bertia is simply too kind, and none of her evilness seems to work. Her genuine dedication attracted many of the capture targets and eventually, she has a fanclub!This manga is one of the unique ones in terms of storytelling for otome isekais and Cecil-Bertia duo is a cute pair.

Otome Isekai Manga Recommendation #3: The Villainess Is Adored by the Crown Prince of the Neighboring Kingdom (悪役令嬢は隣国の王太子に溺愛される)

This manga definitely screams super shoujo in my honest opinion. The anatomy, character poses, the voluminous hair as well as the names… It screams shoujo to the max. The art is definitely a looker but I understand that it may be a bit off-putting for some folks. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Tiararose Lapis Clementille is the villainess in the otome game called Ring of Lapis Lazuli. She’s the fiancee of Hartknights, the first prince of the Kingdom of Lapis Lazuli and an exemplary soon-to-be Queen. Of course, the protagonist appears and sweeps up her fiance. (Not that it matters, really. Hartknights is a bit of an asshat.) Poor Tiararose was left to pick up pieces of her heart alone.

Every otome isekai needs a condemnation scene and Tiararose wasn’t exempted from it. It was then that the main capture target for Ring of Lapis Lazuli’s sequel appears to save the day. Right after her fiance cuts tie with her, Prince Aquasteed Marineforest proposed to Tiararose. Yes, it’s his name. Tiararose has yet to play the sequel so she has no clue on what will happen next. It’s the start of a lovey-dovey chapter!

I really enjoyed this series all in all. Tiararose never acted out of line but in every scene, Akari (the protagonist) was brazenly showing off her protag status. Akari is also a reincarnated Japanese like Tiararose, but she’s shown to be a selfish person even before she is Akari herself. The characterization and the intent by the author for us readers to dislike Akari is really obvious. Nevertheless, screw selfish protag, I’m just here for the ride to see Tiararose obtain her own happiness.

Otome Isekai Manga Recommendation #4: I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags… (乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった…)

If you’re an otome isekai enthusiast like me, you’ve definitely heard of Bakarina. The villainess in this story is called Katarina but she’s such a lovable idiot we fans call her Bakarina. If you google for Bakarina, you will still get hits to the series. Google is smart that way. Thank you Google-san.

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This series is definitely one of my favourites! I first started knowing about this series from the light novel fan translation. It was supposed to end right after the condemnation scene, but it was so popular the author continued past the scene with a Part 2! It even got an anime recently. Check out the trailer.

Her prior life as a Japanese high school girl is as boisterous as it can get. She’s really tomboy-ish, loves her friends, family AND the otome game she’s about to be reincarnated to, Fortune Lover. In the otome world, she hit her head and her past came flooding back to her. Oh damn, she’s reincarnated as a villainess with a ton of destruction flags! Realizing the seriousness of her situation, she worked hard to take down each one of her potential demises. Fiance will kill her one day? No problem, let’s work on realistic-looking paper snakes. Her adopted little brother will grow up to be a playboy? No problem, let’s treat him with love and affection.

Bakarina has these really cute theatres she plays out in her head as she tries to make sense of the situation. Sure, her actions to counter these dead-end scenarios are logical and sound but due to her stupid honesty, everything plays out unexpectedly. Her brazenly honest attitude (and stupidly ignorant because she is just that sweet) soon attracted EVERY. SINGLE. CAPTURE TARGET. It’s amazing because everyone is so overly protective of her (in a hilarious way) but she is still blissfully unaware of what’s happening. This makes for some hilarious misunderstandings which can spiral into more of these Bakarina-misinterpretation. I call it Bakarina-misinterpretation because her common sense are super adorable and honest. Definitely one of a kind for a type of misinterpretation standards.

I didn’t want to go on because I love it so much, I might spoil it for you. Enjoy!

EDIT: Now that the anime is over and there’s a S2 coming, I might cover it as an anime instead! However, I’m not too sure if folks will enjoy what S2 will entail…

Otome Isekai Manga Recommendation #5: Milady Just Wants to Relax (令嬢はまったりをご所望。)

For the next villainess, we have another one from a duke’s family. I find it really funny that these writers enjoy giving duchess’s daughters the villainess status. Why not from a baron family tho…

The MC in this story is an Office Lady that leads a super busy life. The only hobby she has is reading web novels, and there’s one particular otome series that she’s really interested in… And yes, she was reincarnated into said series as the villainess, Ronia Gavisera. Ronia is a daughter of the esteemed duke family while the protagonist, Misano is the daughter of a baron. Unhappy with how Misano latches herself to her fiance, Ronia retaliated back but Misano isn’t going down without a fight or at least, that’s how the original story is supposed to be. Since Ronia died due to exhaustion in her previous life, she wishes to enjoy a slow, relaxing life.

So she worked hard in her own way and waited patiently for the condemnation scene. Unfortunately, misunderstandings kept happening despite her efforts to avoid slighting Misano. Things happen, and she is finally free from her fiancee status! Yeaaaa! She quickly packed up and ran off to the countryside to start a cafe named Mattari. So what will happen next in this unknown chapter in her new life?

This otome isekai manga is really relaxing like the cafe’s name, and I’m honestly just here to enjoy the plot. It’s not serious and the plot is just pleasant to read. The art itself is very pleasant to look at as well! There’s fairies and beastmen in this story IF you’re into those. Plus, Ronia as a character is an honest soul all in all. She really just wants to brew a cup of coffee for folks to enjoy in her cafe. A great read to unwind after a long day.

Otome Isekai Manga Recommendation #6: The Banished Villainess! Living the Leisurely Life of a Nun Making Revolutionary Church Food (悪役令嬢の追放後！ 教会改革ごはんで悠々シスター暮らし)

High school girl, office lady and now, it’s a 21-year-old event planner. Yuka Sawatani leads a fulfilling but busy life. Her job is to make sure everything in the event goes perfectly. In fact, she’ll make it happen no matter the cost. Obviously, this is not the healthiest way to finish a job that requires you to travel everywhere, catch up on everything and make sure all the miscellaneous work is done. Note: I wholeheartedly respect folks that can do this. Micromanaging and multitasking, etc. Please, take care of yourself if you’re working in an industry that requires you to do EVERYTHING.

Yuka loves her job, but she desperately needs a break. It was when she mulls about her future prospects during bath that her life expires… while holding onto the thought of Princess Dawn, the otome game she is about to be reincarnated to. In Princess Dawn, Elizabeth Fontini is the daughter of a duke family. Her appearance is attractive and like every villainess otome out there, folks assumed that she is a big bully too. She was seen as a villainess to Princess Rosetta despite never attempted to even harass her. The misunderstandings piled up and soon, she was banished to a church in a remote region. The nobles see this as a merciful punishment to the noblest of all families, but Elizabeth see this as freedom! She joins the sisterhood there, cooks modern food from her past life memories and often plays with the children.

Everything was going fine until a certain head of all knights arrived at the church. Is Leonid here to observe her? What reasons does he have to follow Elizabeth all the way to the neighbouring kingdom?

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Right, enough summary explanation! Any more would be a spoiler 😀 I’m genuinely happy while watching the interaction between Elizabeth and Leonid. Leonid is an awkward man who couldn’t really express his feelings well so this leads to more misunderstandings between him and Elizabeth. He is awkward to the point that he is just so adorably cute when it comes to his inner monologue. Luckily, Elizabeth usually catches on to what he means pretty quickly. Our villainess enjoys cooking a lot so we’ll be seeing a ton of culture exchange here. It’s super fluffy so give this otome isekai a try if you want to unwind after a frustrating day.

EDIT: A later chapter has a disturbing scene. I did not take this into account (because it’s not released yet) when I recommended this title! Rest assured it’s still good stuff, but that one scene may make you balk in disgust. Leaving this edit here as a warning. Click or tap to show spoiler. Highlighting it is okay too.

Otome Isekai Manga Recommendation #7: It Seems Like I Got Reincarnated Into The World of a Yandere Otome Game (ヤンデレ系乙女ゲーの世界に転生してしまったようです)

Another personal favourite of mine, this series highlights how love could warp a person’s behaviour in life. (You can search this series up in google as Yandere Otome Game) Lycoris Radiata is (once again) the daughter of a duke. She’s mature and prim as a young child, and she’s been experiencing a sense of déjà vu since forever. The realization finally struck as she gazes upon a portrait of her fiance, Wolfgang Eisenhut. She was previously an office lady who died due to a traffic accident, and her current self is a yandere villainess who would soon kill the heroine and herself. Characters in this otome game have a vicious obsession towards their partner, and almost none of the routes have a “normal” happy ending.

As a person from our world, Lycoris is terrified from remembering all of these possible futures. After all, she is not a yandere but a peaceful citizen with a normal common sense. Dead set on preserving her life, she worked hard to prevent those futures from coming to fruition. Thankfully, her first encounter with Wolfgang went smoothly. Wolfgang in his early years is but a snobbish child. Both children soon hit it off great once they dropped their facade. Surprisingly, Wolfgang is.. normal? Maybe she could mould him to a better person after all!

The series quickly moves past childhood and into their high school years. We see Lycoris living earnestly with the other characters enamoured by her genuine kindness. The characters still do have a streak of yandere-ness to their thoughts but interactions with Lycoris changed them for the better. All in all, the series has a tinge of seriousness to it. If you expect some comedy then you’re probably better looking elsewhere. Yandere Otome Game has a relatively short but completed light novel. If you’re interested to know what happens next, feel free to check the light novel out. The story comes full circle in the end so it’s a good standalone otome isekai story to enjoy in one sitting.

Otome Isekai Manga Recommendation #8: I’m a Villainous Daughter, so I’m going to keep the Last Boss (悪役令嬢なのでラスボスを飼ってみました)

Similar to Yandere Otome Game, this series also comes full circle in the end. The scene first starts with Irene Loren D’Autriche going through with the condemnation scene. Due to shock of the sudden annulment, memories of her past life came back to her in a blink of an eye. Irene is the villainess of an otome game she once played while she is bedridden in the hospital. If this continues, she’ll soon be en route for a bad ending. So she did what she thinks is best at the moment – Irene decides to woo the Demon King, Claude Jeanne Elmeier.

I understood the part about woo-ing the Demon King, but the position of the Demon King kinda came out of nowhere. This is probably where I scratch my head the most. Nevertheless, that’s not the important sub-plot to explore. The readers are here for fluff and it is fluff they’ll get. The whole flirting with Claude only took a few chapters and the rest is pretty much all about Irene working out the details on how best to solidify her position to prevent her bad ending. Claude was shown to be offish with Irene since she would come barging the doors of his castle with a marriage proposal. But like all romance stories, he soon put up with it and was enraptured by her honest dedication. The rest of the Demon King cast too, soon loves her company and would ask for her help when it comes to needing a human’s intervention.

The ideas Irene throw out is logical and sound so it doesn’t feel as fantasy as it was intended to be. The narrative has a normal progression you’ll see in novels, from a slow-start, climax and a purposeful ending. It’s a well-written standalone story you can binge in one sitting! I honestly quite like the art in this otome isekai manga too.

Otome Isekai Manga Recommendation #9: Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter (公爵令嬢の嗜み)

This series is one of my favourites, and only second to Bakarina. It’s also my first otome isekai manga that I’ve ever read. If you’re looking for a serious destructured otome isekai series, then this is for you.

Iris Lana Armelia is the daughter of a duke’s house in the Kingdom of Tasmeria. She held herself with great pride befitting the title, and as the fiancee of Prince Edward. Her memories of her previous life came back to her during the condemnation scene, and as she hoists herself out of the hall… She preps her mind for a serious negotiation with her father. Joining hands with the royal family would strengthen the position of the duke’s family, but would align themselves with the second prince’s faction. As Iris begins explaining her case to her father, she showed a good understanding of the current political scene of Tasmeria. Seeing how much she understood about her family’s position in this power struggle, the duke tasked his daughter to manage a far off fief as an acting fief lord.

It was a huge burden on a young girl, but Iris has memories from her previous job in a tax office. As such, paperwork and accounting is second nature to her. She’s a genuine workaholic so she started working even before she leaves for the fief! Together with the children she once saved during her childhood years, she makes it her goal to first understand the fief’s situation before she comes up with a master plan to improve it. There is romance in this story, but pseudo-politics takes up half of the plot. The other half shed light on Yuuri, the heroine of the supposed otome game as trouble brews in the royal court.

It’s a joy to read up on Iris’s policies she introduced, as well as the interaction with her band of children she once saved. Each one has talents of their own, and it was Iris that supported them all the way. In return, they would drop everything to support her in her fief’s grand plan endeavour. Since most of the policies she introduced are from the modern era, it worked but it took time. Soon, her fief’s progress was noticed by unsavoury nobles. Things get dicey when even the Queen Dowager and the church got involved! There is a constant power struggle between noble factions and the story made sure you know of it.

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This otome series is one of my favourites because of this. It veered off the common narrative most otome isekai loves to peruse, and attempted to depict the story through consequences-based scenarios. This gives depth to each character as they are shown to be aware of the consequences their actions bring. I find myself really getting into the politics they explained here. It’s definitely a refreshing read after going through a ton of similarly structured otome isekai stories.

Otome Isekai Manga Recommendation #10: Though I May Be a Villainess, I’ll Show You I Can Obtain Happiness! (悪役令嬢ですが、幸せになってみせますわ！)

Finally! An anthology of stories with nothing but villainesses getting their happiness. Each story in this otome isekai manga is a oneshot with happy endings for our villainesses. This series just makes me really happy and satisfying in the inside. I definitely recommend that you give each story a try. Each story doesn’t take itself too seriously and all in all, each villainess get their own happy ending that they deserve.

Note: Since this whole blog post is choked with images, I think I’ll skip out on adding the cover image for this one. Please give this a try! It’s really fun to read.

Otome Isekai Manga Recommendation #11: The Villainess Wants to Marry a Commoner!! (悪役令嬢は、庶民に嫁ぎたい！！)

While the previous otome isekai series I talked about is all about avoiding bad-ending or living the life they deserve, this manga is about an overpowered villainess. That’s right, this otome isekai has gaming influences!

Isabella Ali Rottenstein is the third daughter of Duke Rottenstein, and she is the villainess in the otome game Love☆Magical. When she is still a Japanese office lady, she loved playing the game and spending her fortune on it just to see the magical item vendor NPC, Ursch. You see, like every fan playing a game with her favourite characters… she’s obsessed with Ursch. She couldn’t care less about living as the villainess. All she wanted to do in this new life is to get married to Ursch and it happened! She encountered Ursch right outside her mansion. Isabella immediately proposed to him and he accepted (LMAO). The adults were shocked but they relented in the end.

There is no immediate danger to Isabella that she needs to worry about, no bad ending to change or problem to solve. The series simply setup both Isabella and Ursch together and let things happen as they may. Also, Isabella as a villainess is a maxed out character (LVL 99). Apparently she levelled up her character a lot and paid for all the possible magical items out of her own wallet before she was reincarnated to this world. She brought over her item box as well as the skills. What effect it has to the original story is still yet to be seen… All in all, it’s definitely a cute series for a quick read.

EDIT: The newer chapters is just… hnnng. Adorbs. Isabella is all moe for Ursch and the boy replied her affection in his own way. I’m glad I manage to slip in a fun otome isekai manga recommendation!

Otome Isekai Manga Recommendation #12: The Reincarnated Princess Strikes Down Flags Today as Well (転生王女は今日も旗を叩き折る)

This is yet another otome isekai series with yandere characters. Rosemarie von Werfald is born in Nebel Kingdom as their first princess. With memories from her past life, she is mature and smart. It was when she’s 5 years old that she noticed that she was reborn as the villainess from a shitty otome game she played in her past life. Each main capture target has a serious case of terrible personalities, while minor characters which surrounds the capture targets have nice personalities. With hopes that she’ll unlock Konoe’s route, a popular minor character route, she completed the game but alas, there is no hidden routes to be found.

But she is adamant to win the heart of Konoe even as a villainess! With him as her goal, she decided to break each flag she’ll encounter. First, she needs to handle her brother Johan’s sis-con problem, so Rose requested for a strict tutor to be assigned to his brother. Next, she needs to straighten out her fiance, Georg. Georg has a terrible case of narcissism but that’s because he lost his mother when he was young. So Rose made it her cause to fix his mother so she’ll live. The story is filled to the brim with these small little actions done by Rose to fix the folks around her. It’s not as in-depth and serious as Yandere Otome Game, but it works just fine on its own. Soon, these capture targets consider her a close friend and almost none of them have obvious yandere tendencies anymore.What’s in store for Rose next? Well, you gotta read to find out 😛 All in all, the story is an average light-hearted read on its own.

Otome Isekai Manga Recommendation #13: The Daughter of the Albert House Wishes for Ruin (アルバート家の令嬢は没落をご所望です)

This otome isekai series is adorable! Mary Albert has these cute little ringlets at the end of her hair, a laugh befitting of a ojousama and is a daughter of the duke’s family. Everything about her screams a villainess, and it just happened that the memory of her past life came back to her. As she sips on her tea after explaining it all to Addie, her attendant, he was dumbfounded. Not only does Addie not believe her at all, but she is also insistent that she goes down the path of ruin. While most reincarnated villainess would avoid the bad end, Mary decides to follow what the game has set her up for. With memories of the otome game’s scenarios, she tries her best to set up the heroine and the capture target together. She harasses the heroine, only for the poor girl to think our villainess is being kind to her in her own devilish way.

It’s a comedy otome isekai manga so it really isn’t all serious-like. The silly duo Mary and Addie remind me so much of Jessie and James stalking Ash to cause trouble wherever they go. Such a hilarious pair, enjoy the read!

EDIT: Mary is my waifu. Addie is a great guy! I ship them both. Latest chapter literally screams IT’S SAILING!

All in all

Thirteen recommendation, done! I have more but they don’t exactly fit in into the villainess category, so I’ll leave those for future blog posts <3 I read a lot so I have plenty of series to introduce and talk about. Lately, there’s been a flood of these fluffy series and less adventure series out in the open. It makes me a bit sad since I really enjoyed adventure series.If you enjoyed this blog post, please try reading my blog post on Yuu Watase’s work! Have you heard of Fushigi Yugi shoujo manga series? Then you better get to it!