In Another World, My Sister Stole My Name Volumes 2 and 3 Review

The first volume of In Another World, My Sister Stole My Name introduced us to Ichika who wound up in a fantasy world, only to discover that her missing sister Karen had stolen her identity! How will she continue to navigate the tricky situation she’s found herself in? Let’s take a look at another two volumes of the series.

At the end of Volume 1, Ichika and fiancé Noah had a brush with death during their engagement party. Thankfully, Ichika managed to protect them by having awoken to the powers of a saint, but with no idea who is behind the threat on their lives, she can’t help but be incredibly anxious. Still, knowing that just like Karen, Ichika has the abilities of a saint, she wants to do her best for the country.

What Ichika doesn’t know is that her powers are actually more powerful than Karen’s, but no one is willing to give her proper training to wield them. Still, they send her out on a mission to purify a river since Karen refuses, and Noah tags along as a bodyguard and finds himself tasked with teaching her the very basics. Perhaps by Ichika spending some more time with him, Noah will finally warm up to her.

Then in Volume 3, after successfully purifying the river, Ichika’s requests for help continue to pile up. And in the midst of it all, she finds herself being sent to a neighbouring country, along with Karen and the two princes. Now the four of them are forced to travel in the same carriage, which causes plenty of tension. But Ichika is hopeful the trip means she’ll be able to talk to Karen more and perhaps get to the bottom of why she stole her identity and why she’s been acting so cold toward her.

Unfortunately, Karen isn’t particularly open to speaking with Ichika. If anything, her mood is rapidly worsening because her fiancé Cecil seems to have taken a liking to Ichika. With Ichika having more powerful abilities as a saint, Karen feels threatened. She may have managed to assume Ichika’s identity so far, but now the real Ichika is here and her plan is starting to crumble around her.

Slowly, but surely, the princes (especially Noah) are beginning to realise there are inconsistencies in Karen’s story and attitude. But there seem to be some oddities with Cecil as well. At one point, Ichika talks to him about something they spoke about through the mirror as children, but Cecil seems to have no recollection of it at all. Could it be that it wasn’t Cecil she used to spend time with…?

And then we’ve got Noah, who started off combative and uncaring but is slowly opening up to Ichika after watching her work so hard at her saintly duties. Really, he’s the character who receives the most development across these two volumes, and now I find myself rooting for him. He’s slowly started to develop feelings for Ichika (despite having vowed to only love Karen, whom he believes is the Ichika he knew), and as they spend more time together, he’s getting closer to figuring out the truth.

There’s a lot happening, but author Kotoko has done a good job of ensuring the pacing is tight and we’re not getting distracted from the central premise. NiKrome’s art continues to be excellent too, bringing the cast to life in a way that’s still very expressive and detailed. Even now the story is headed in a bit more of a romantic direction with Noah, it’s still not overly flowery in the way you’d expect for a series being released under a shojo imprint (not that there’d be a problem if it were, but I think this visual style appeals to a much wider audience).

These two volumes of the series come to the West thanks to Yen Press and continue to be translated by Jan Cash with lettering by Madeleine Jose. Both of these read well with no issues to note. They both open with colour pages as well, which are always a real treat, as NiKrome’s art looks wonderfully vibrant.

Volume 4 was recently released in English, which gets us caught up to Japan. The series is still ongoing, with #5 scheduled for a Japanese release in June, but I suspect we’ll be waiting a while for that to hit the English market.

Overall, In Another World, My Sister Stole My Name continues to be a highly enjoyable series that’s developing its cast well. I like seeing the changing dynamic between Ichika and the rest of the characters while also getting to the bottom of the mysteries. Hopefully we’ll continue on with this high quality!

Free previews can be read on the Yen Press website.
Our review copies were supplied by the publisher Yen Press.
©NiKrome / Kotoko / KADOKAWA CORPORATION