STEP ON ME the manga

This is an interesting one that I can’t entirely nail down my feelings on. I find the general plot to be super fun! A hard-working woman (presumably in her early twenties?) comes home from work exhausted and plays her favorite dating games as a way to unwind. One night she falls asleep playing her game and wakes up in the world of said game in the body of the protagonist. Normally the main character has to try and date one of the three princes of the game, who are all brothers, but instead Rei decides to act upon her crush on the games’ villainess, Claire. Claire is in love with one of the brothers and torments the character in the game, but in Rei’s version, she decides to let Claire bully her all she wants because it allows them to be closer.

It’s a weird story in that this is basically “STEP ON ME QUEEN” the book. Rei willingly gets off (metaphorically) Claire constantly belittling her and treating her like garbage. It’s equally really funny and fun and totally creepy and predatory. I honestly just wish the author would have aged up the game characters a few years because even though Rei is inhabiting the body of a teenage girl in the game, it still feels weird for a woman in her twenties to be aggressively harassing a fifteen-year old into loving her. Honestly, it’s a good concept and it’s executed in a really fun way, but just made me feel sorta icky.

Title: In Love with the Villainess (Vol 1.)
Author:  Inori
Format: Paperback
Pages:  180
ISBN: 9781648278006

Three Descriptors: Funny, Fantasy, Goofy

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