Villains Are Destined to Die

Not sure why there are only 22 chapters according to MAL. The official English translation, that is the one on Tapas, has 231 chapters for the main story excluding side story content. This review is for all 231 chapters however please keep in mind that I have also read the manhwa up to the most recent chapter at this point in time which has a big influence on how I interpret the story. Villains are destined to die, or death is the only ending for the villainess, is an otome isekai story known for a more melancholic and dark tone, atleast as compared to contemporaries.It fits well within the umbrella term but luckily aside from general story conventions I would not call this work clichéd. Penelope, the main character, is consistent and flawed in ways that are interesting to follow along with. Her perception of things is often flawed, or tainted, but for us as the reader we are shown why her perspective is the way it is and it makes sense most of the time. The mistreatment Penelope has to endure is presented in a way that feels believable and the extremes of the situation that aren't very believable in a normal situation, like hard mode Penelope potentially getting killed for the smallest things, are explained in other ways that feel plausible in context. The character development of the Eckles family in particular I think is well done. How the interactions Penelope has with the Duke and her brothers evolve is really interesting and I like that the story shows how gradual the changes are. All the male leads are likeable or atleast understandable to some extent and I enjoyed that the story allows for Penelope to deal with each of them directly instead of leaving some, perhaps popular, routes open ended. It is also nice to see that from the get go the actual love interest was established as being who it is. The chemistry the main couple has is very fun. How Penelope handled one of the male leads in particular was probably one of the more interesting aspects of this story. Her decisions are rationalised and understandable here but not exactly morally good all the time. Reading these interactions leaves a bad aftertaste from both sides and I think that uncertainty is an aspect that trope heavy stories often fail to establish in any way shape or form. Some people might dislike the main character for moments like this but I feel it makes for a more interesting and complex character. The world building in this story plays a fairly large role and is done well. The plot reveals are organic, feel believable, are paced very well and aren't overly complex. It is the right balance between being too simple as to where you wouldn't care about the events in the world of the story. And being overly complex to the point that you take away focus from the actual story and characters. Notably this story does not focus much on the social climb aspect that many villainess stories do. It plays a role, but most events are resolved not by political games, but by feats of skill/strength/intellect from the main characters. There isn't a focus on the public opinion of our MC through the eyes of others, but there is a focus of the reputation the MC has and how she acts accordingly. It is a perspective shift that I think works well for an otome isekai like this. Sadly I do not think this story is without its flaws. While it is not cliché in how it handles its tropes, the story set up itself is very trope heavy. Initially the set up is as such that you are led to believe that these tropes will be used as a subversion technique. Sadly I think this element of the story remained under developed and ended up falling really flat. For me it takes away a lot of my interest as it is the mystery of how it all works that is the constant driving factor behind all actions the MC takes. It is constantly at the back of you mind while reading. And for it to kinda go nowhere is a real shame. Overall I think this story is great. It is a very good example of a villainess story and the character writing is top notch. The worldbuilding is great and interesting and I just think it is generally a really satisfying and fun story. Sadly I do think that some of the mystery 'hooks' and more meta elements could have used some more fleshing out and thought put into them. As for the formats in which the story are available: For the webnovel I think the translation that is available is decent. I think that the tapas translations are good. They do the job, no noticeable errors, inconsistencies with pronouns, characterizations or sentence issues. It is a very readable story and even enjoyable to read with these translations but I do think a bit of character is lost. I think anyone that is reading Korean webnovels is very familiar with how much translations can differ in quality so in that sense this type of quality is to die for (if it wasn't locked behind a pay wall of +-60 usd). But judging by the webcomic adaptation I feel that some of the subtleties of the story seen there are not as visible in the tapas translation. It is ofcourse possible that this flavor, if you will, is added by the adaptation team. But considering how faithful the adpation is otherwise I think it is likely not that. There is also a machine translation with minimal editing that is pretty much unreadable so make sure you don't read that. Ofcourse this is purely my opinion hence why I am not including this in the actual review. On that note I do personally think that currently the manhwa is a better experience than reading the webnovel. However, I do not think the difference is massive. It is a pretty direct adaptation so far. And with it being around 70-75% of the way done I do not see it changing much. There is some room for the manhwa to slightly improve on certain story elements that I think could use some tweaking though so who knows. But even if they don't, as alluded to previously, the manhwa to me is the more enjoyable version of this story.