The Villainess Becomes the Leading Lady

"The Villainess Becomes the Leading Lady" is... good. It's very good. It's a delightful entry in the Villainess Isekai genre (it is NOT an OI, though. Just normal isekai) with an interesting twist: Two girls reincarnate into the heroine and villainess of the setting, and they both know *and* despise each other. What follows is a deadly dance between the two, set on a backdrop of intrigue and politics, while the world lives and breaths and evolves and marches on around them. The Story: Concept - 8/10 | Execution: 7/10 The story is an interesting blend of cliches into something that isn't actually that common:Two girls reincarnate into what was originally a book. One is a villainess. The other is the heroine. The twist? The two know each other, and they *hate* each other. But only one of them has read the book. And only one of them recognizes the other. The main character allies with the male lead in order to get her revenge on the other reincarnator, and then general fantasy villainess isekai stuff happens. The skeleton of the plot isn't meaningfully different from other stories of the genre, but what fills it out definitely stands out. The characters make this setting, and (for the most part), they're all great. The back third is an excellent exercise in speeding towards an inevitability while still managing to ratchet the tension despite having already given bits of the plot away with an en media res start. The story is a little bit loose in some places, however. There's a chapter in which a character finds and draws what appears to be a magic sword embedded in a giant stone in a forest after being led there by what appears to be a magic animal. While this would seem to be the start of an important plot element, the sword is dropped literally half a chapter later, first literally by the character holding it after not even using it, and then figuratively as it is left on the ground and is never brought up again. This is not the only element to be introduced into the plot and then immediately dropped, or introduced unnecessarily, nor is it the biggest. But overall, none of these elements are enough to meaningfully detract from the overall story. The Characters - 9/10 Isekai lives and dies by its characters, and these are all (mostly) excellent. The cast is a pretty standard dynamic: the villainess, the male lead, the 'heroine' of the setting, the mage, the knight, the loyal maid, the duke father, the emperor... none of these cliches are exceedingly novel or fresh, but they are all excellently well done and full of actually intelligent characters who have their own motivations more than just being extensions of the heroine's or villainess's goals. The real gem of the characters comes from just how long the manhwa is able to keep the reader off-balance in terms of who is on what side, who's allied, who's acting against someone, who's lying, and who's exactly what they seem to be. There is a genuine intrigue in the setting as it hints at but doesn't fully explain until late into the plot, when everything finally begins to come to a head. More than one character's motivations are revealed to be much deeper and more complex than things seem at first glance, and the reveals are all great to read. Honorable mention to the Saintess of the setting (who is NOT the original story's heroine, but instead another character entirely), who is a strong candidate for the best character in the story. It's interesting to see a 'saintess' character in a villainess isekai who isn't inherently entrenched in the battle between the villainess and whoever her enemy is. Instead our Saintess is fun, clever, a little bit flirty, and just a delight every time she makes it onto the page. The Art - 7/10 It's a pretty competently put together manhwa, meaning long strips in full color. As a medieval isekai setting, the main character has a series of extremely elaborate and incredibly gorgeous dresses. Nothing about the art is *bad*, but nothing about it stands out as being *excellent* either. Overall it's very pretty, but the artist did have some trouble with a bit of the character design, as it can be difficult to tell a few of the tertiary characters apart at first glance. This is not a problem with the main and secondary cast. The X-Factor: Building Tension To The Climax - 9/10 At the start of the back third, something happens that marks a notable shift in the relationship between two of the main characters (involving a burnt dress), and from that moment the reader can tell that things are about to start speeding quickly towards an inevitable confrontation between the leads. All of the action that follows that incident is designed to make the plot feel like a runaway train on a track towards a brick wall: as the reader, you know what's coming but you can't look away, and with every second it just gets faster and faster and you just *know* that the resulting crash is going to be big. That feeling of tension is exceptionally well crafted through the 40 or so chapters it takes to get from that moment of change to the moment the story hits its crescendo, as any well-told story should be. The Flaw, because nothing is perfect: The last 2-3 chapters - 3/10 The story wrapped up with a tight little bow, but the author tripped at the 11th hour because the last 2-3 chapters of the story don't *feel* like an ending. It attempts to wrap up the very last plot threads, and for the most part it does that, but it does it in such a way that is unsatisfying as an ending. For a story that's taken its time to get the pacing for the rest of the events of the story just right, the ending feels both extremely rushed and also unfinished. The last few 2 chapters could have done with being 3 or 4, and an extra chapter or two to write in what feels like an actual conclusion would have done a lot for the story. This is all mostly after the main plot has been resolved, so it's not the worst blunder in the world, but it *is* jarring to click to go to the next chapter and realize there isn't one. Conclusion As far as villainess isekai manhwa go, this one is good. It doesn't have anything about it that inherently makes it a must-read, but it's a well put-together story with a cast you enjoy and a plot that does enough to keep you guessing even with an en media res chapter 1. If you like villainess, it's worth the read. If you want something revolutionary, you can and should look elsewhere. That said, The Villainess Becomes The Leading Lady tells the story it's trying to tell extremely well, and therefore deserves an 8.