Villainess: Reloaded! Blowing Away Bad Ends with Modern Weapons - REVIEW

Apr 03, 2023
Villainess isekai is a genre that has seen a recent surge in popularity, and there are many theories about why it has taken off in such a big way.
Villainess: Reloaded! Blowing Away Bad Ends with Modern Weapons - REVIEW

About Villainess: Reloaded!

Type: Light Novel
Volumes: Unknown
Chapters: Unknown
Status: Publishing
Published: Nov 1, 2018 to ?
Genres: Action, Comedy, Fantasy
Theme: Villainess
Serialization: None
Authors: Dai-616 Tokubetsu Jouhou Daitai (Story), Wu, Huosang (Art), Qs11 (Art)

Villainess: Reloaded! Blowing Away Bad Ends with Modern Weapons

The Villainess Reloaded manga genre has been gaining popularity in recent years, and one such manga is "Villainess: Reloaded! Blowing Away Bad Ends with Modern Weapons". However, this manga takes a different approach than the usual redemption story, as it follows Astrid, a villainess who leans into being villainous and uses modern weapons to take out her enemies.

The story starts with Astrid, the main character, in the middle of enacting her revenge, determined to take out everyone who has ever wronged her. She gleefully explains how she has used blood magic to remove the part of her brain that allows her to feel empathy or compassion, turning herself into the perfect killing machine. It's a cruel and nasty scene, poorly written and disturbing in its glorification of violence.

The story then jumps back in time to when Astrid first awakened, or rather, had her personality overwritten by a college-aged military otaku at the age of four. Here, it falls mostly into the standard beats of a reincarnation isekai: she's a prodigy in every possible way, with unprecedented stores of mana and the fastest learner any of her teachers have ever seen. She grasps difficult magic effortlessly. When she starts school, her classmates and teachers instantly adore her, and as a voracious reader she is soon able to answer the questions of even the advanced students, as she masters everything instantly.

She's the kind of character for whom the term “Mary Sue” was invented, a girl who is so amazing and perfect and worshipped by every single person who meets her. This type of character has become more or less the standard isekai protagonist, which is baffling because they are not remotely fun or interesting to read about, especially when the prose is as prosaic as this is. The manga-style illustrations do little to add life to the story or the world, as they're almost entirely generically cute anime children posed statically against a blank background.

Even after the story steps away from the glorified gun violence, it's just not fun to spend time in Astrid's head. She's nasty, but not in a way that's fun or interesting or clever. Two things separate her from the likes of The Rising of the Shield Hero's Naofumi or Redo of Healer's Keyaru: her gender and her obsession with the military. In her previous life, she was a college military otaku, so she knows a lot about guns and other tools of warfare, which she recreates using her magic with the goal of stockpiling a massive arsenal for the day she'll face consequences for her villainy. Most misanthropic light novel protagonists are male, so Astrid being a girl is slightly unusual (at least among the series that get released in the US), but that doesn't make her any more interesting or really give her much of a different perspective than her compatriots other than the gender of the characters falling in love with her. As the secondary characters fawn over her, her internal monologue toward them drips with scorn and venom. When they compliment her, she calls them “peace addicts” and not only anticipates but looks forward to killing them. Her interest in the military extends beyond technology and tactics and into excitement at the prospect of mass death and carnage. She's just a mean, nasty person.

The manga-style illustrations do little to add life to the story or the world, as they're almost entirely generically cute anime children posed statically against a blank background. However, the artwork does depict the modern weapons that Astrid uses in vivid detail, satisfying the military otaku readers.

Astrid's obsession with the military and modern weapons sets her apart from other misanthropic light novel protagonists who are usually male. Her gender and military knowledge add a unique perspective to the story, but her internal monologue towards other characters is filled with scorn and venom. Her secondary characters are mostly one-dimensional, either incompetent or hopelessly infatuated with Astrid.

Overall, "Villainess: Reloaded! Blowing Away Bad Ends with Modern Weapons" may appeal to fans of the villainess reloaded manga genre who enjoy a darker and more violent story. However, it may not be for everyone, as the protagonist's nasty personality and mean-spirited thoughts towards other characters may be off-putting. Nonetheless, the detailed depiction of modern weapons and military strategy could be a draw for some readers.

Read the Villainess: Reloaded! Blowing Away Bad Ends with Modern Weapons chapter 67

 

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