Annerosa Ortegamo is a countess from Lacrofine in her past life. But now, she's Urara Tendou in modern-day Japan. Or so she thought when a crazed girl/heroine tells her she's a non-playable character (NPC) messing with her events inside an otome game. Disclaimer: A digital review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.
The boys from Sparkling Six is introduced right away and your head will be swirling with all the characters I cannot remember. I slept on it and the next day reread it, wrote down in paper, and played match the description to the picture above. But after I'm done that's when I saw Cross World actually has character descriptions. Haha! But it's okay it was fun and I got to internalize who's who. I have this bad habit of not remembering names be it in anime or Asian dramas. I just hastily label the guys according to their number of importance or the character trope they represent. But as I reread and looked at all the characters closely, I got a hint of something....As the story progressed it's becoming more and more obvious. It's going to be tricky to write a review without giving it away!
While reading it, I thought I was not enjoying it. Maybe it was the pressure of doing a chapter recap vs. reading it straight but after finishing it I realized I actually did. Guessing the twist right away killed the surprise for me. Baka me. Don't overthink it and just enjoy the ride.
It's good that the setting is in modern times especially on the heels of My Next Life as a Villainess anime. Her highborn manners and poise are emphasized as her odd qualities. But it's hard to appreciate the traits. That and their sweet and sticky situation would have more impact as anime. The main couple needs to be seen as anime! And I love the art. It is from the same artist for Trigger Kiss and Glass Heart Princess otome games. But I have to admit my mind sometimes forgets the character art and it goes on imagination mode when reading. The storytelling also has its charms that will be lost when animated. The nuances in the narration. The short, multiple POVs from the supporting characters. You get to know them more on a personal level. No favorite character but I enjoyed them overall as a group and their individual quirks. Okay, the guy with his cat won me over. You'll change your mind with a certain character too. But some characters didn't shine and had missing POVs but I think it's intentional.
Although the setting has manga feel, the storytelling is reminiscent of Western fiction. But if you are a fan of reverse harem western fiction you have to read this from the anime and manga mindset. I'm bilingual so I try to imagine what the original words are in Japanese. This is the first time that I felt this.
It is marketed as reverse harem and has an otome game element and in terms of exact guys liking her under the Levels of Reverse Harem it will fall under three flowers (or the gray area). As I've mentioned there are multiple POVs but except for one character. All the telltale signs show he likes her too.
The author concluded the story. There's a cliffhanger and at first, I thought it was to tease a possible sequel but thinking back now it addresses my main problem with the insta-love story. Clever indeed.
I said I'm going to dive into the isekai light novels after watching My Next Life as a Villainess anime and tada this is the first one. I'm not sure if this has been already used in isekai otome but for isekai in general instead of the protagonist going back to the past or period-looking world, we get the reversal of a countess from the past going into our modern present time. For kinda reverse harem isekai from past to present, I recommend Rooftop Prince kdrama.
Purchase titles/ related to the titles mentioned: (I may earn a small commission if anyone will buy through this)
Past Life Countess, Present Life Otome Game NPC?! https://amzn.to/3mZKJ25
My Next Life as a Villainess Light Novel Vol 1 https://amzn.to/3jiGkVv
My Next Life as a Villainess Light Novel Vol 7 https://amzn.to/2HJYnGj
My Next Life as a Villainess Manga Vol 1 https://amzn.to/3jhxVBE
My Next Life as a Villainess Manga Vol 4 https://amzn.to/3kWAuJS
Rooftop Prince with English Subtitle https://amzn.to/30gKplt
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