The Villainess’s Guide to (Not) Falling in Love (Manga) Volume 5 Review

Luciana has been reincarnated as the villainess in a romance/fantasy game she played religiously in her previous life, and wanted to keep her head down and avoid all the love interests to spare the deadly fate the villainess had. However, the complete opposite is happening; not only are the men interested in her, but she’s also revealed to be the all-powerful Yggdrasil Mage, and her brother Saphir has now been captured by the Evil Star of the East. Can she use her new-found powers and knowledge of the game, to save her brother?

I mentioned in my review for the previous volume, that I was done with the talking and wanted to have some action, and thankfully Volume 5 has provided it, with tons of magical spells, sweeping drama and action to boot. Although there is still some chatting in-between, this book only provides it just long enough to move the plot and/or action forwards.

Even though the book is similar in length to the previous books so far, it feels shorter because the plot is always moving and therefore keeps you turning the page to find out what’s happening next. We start the book heading into the East Star’s castle, finding Saphir, only for him to warn his sister to stay away and let him face the East Star alone. Luciana and her companions follow anyway, with Saphir and the East Star gambling for his freedom and the location of the Yggdrasil Mage, only for things not to go as planned and a big magical brawl begins. Characters are knocked out, others are brought back into the fight, heart-to-heart moments occur between Luciana and her various handsome men, and so on. It’s definitely a fun book, and not one I have as much to say about this time, compared to the previous volumes although there are some elements to take note of.

First of all, I’ve been wondering over the last few volumes if Saphir is meant to be a secret love interest, or he’s just a typical ‘big brother’ type character, but I think this book shows its hand and makes it clear he’s going to be the former, whether you like it or not. Not only because this is another book with him on the cover and curled up with the heroine, but the pair share an important scene in the book where Luciana gives some of her magical powers to her brother (Fate/Stay Night fans will be side-eyeing this bit) to help him regain the strength to fight. There’s also a notable difference in magical power between Saphir and the rest of the male cast, with one character calling him her ‘guardian’ and the only one strong enough to fight against the East Star. I could be wrong, but I think the fact that we’ve spent a lot of time with him, but not all the main love interests from the original game have yet been revealed, is telling.

As for the romance, aside from Saphir, only one other male gets a sort of ‘love declaration’ as it were here, and it’s from Joshua, which makes sense as his whole family and his life are on the line, trying to save his friend Saphir, so having him proclaim his devotion to Luciana after everything she has done so far is satisfying.

As for the fight itself, most of it is different people casting magical circles and yelling out attacks, but it still allows for some great visuals and also to showcase the different powers of each character, I liked the subtle character writing of the East Star, where she has no need to summon circles or call out the level of spell, she just yells out the spell name. Doing this means the spell-caster is on another level (as established in the first book) and I appreciate it being shown here, not told/spelled out by the characters.

The art by Ren Sakuma continues to be lovely. We don’t get a good view of the East Star’s castle, but there’s enough detail to appreciate the scale of where she lives and also the battle, when the East Star starts destroying her own castle just to get back at Saphir.

The manga continues to be translated by Meredith Singer, with the book also containing a side story from Joshua’s perspective, plus a bonus manga mini story and extra drawings showing the differences between the light novel illustrations and the manga, which is a nice touch.

Volume 5 is a fast romp of action and revelations, which is much appreciated after several volumes of talking. The volume ends on a cliffhanger, with the tease for the next volume promising to the end of the current arc. The sixth volume has only just been released in Japan, so we might be waiting a while for its UK release (there’s no date yet) so let’s hope for a satisfying conclusion!

Read a free preview on Square Enix’s website. 

Our review copy from Square Enix Manga was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services)