Literature / I'm In Love With the Villainess

"Are you what they call "Gay"?"^note Our protagonist, Rae, and her love interest, Claire.

Claire: You deceptive snake! What is wrong with you?
Rae: Oh, so much.

Formerly a regular Japanese Office Lady who overworked herself to death, our protagonist finds herself reincarnated as the heroine of her favorite Otome Game, Rae Taylor of Revolution. As to be expected, there are three Prince Charmings for her to woo, but Rae has no interest in them—no, her sights are solely set on Claire François, the rival character in the original routes.

And it's safe to say absolutely nothing will stop her, be it the strict social hierarchy of the Bauer Kingdom, nefarious forces threatening to topple the government, or even Claire herself.

I'm In Love With the Villainess (私の推しは悪役令嬢｡, Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou), originally translated as I Favor the Villainess, is a Japanese Web Serial Novel by author Inori (いのり｡) originally posted here on Shousetsuka ni Narou from 2018 to 2021, with author-approved translations by Jingle up to #242, and remaining chapters #243-268 by sephallia. It was later published as a series of Light Novels with illustrations by Hanagata from 2019 to 2021 for five volumes. The series also has a manga adaptation by Anoshimo which began serialization in Comic Yuri Hime in 2020, along with several bonus chapters, Twitter drabbles, and a Claire-focused P.O.V. Sequel, She's so Cheeky for a Commoner.

In April 2020, it was announced Seven Seas Entertainment acquired the license to the series, who later announced acquiring the P.O.V. Sequel at Anime Expo 2020.

An anime adaptation by Platinum Vision premiered in October 2023.

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This work provides examples of:

• Absurdly Powerful Student Council: The Academy Knights, tasked with day-to-day administrative tasks for the academy's extracurricular organizations, organizing important celebrations like the Foundation Day Festival, and defending the school when necessary. Somewhat justified as this was a school for future aristocrats trained in these roles since early childhood.
• Abusive Parents:
  • Salas Lilium conducts dangerous magic experiments to create a split personality in Lily, brainwashing them into an Ax-Crazy assassin.
  • Queen Riche, and to a lesser extent, King l’Ausseil. Riche inflicts her daughter, Yu, with the crosswise curse to secure her right to succession, refusing to allow a cure despite the ensuing dysphoria.
  • Dorothea, who made a young Philine witness a decapitation to Scare 'Em Straight. She often belittles or ignores her daughter's presence, and even exiles her for the same crime she pardons enemy foreigners for. And that's only after being talked out of executing her.
  • Aleah and May's birth mother is implied to have been a Good Parent, but their family near Mt. Sassal constantly cut them to turn the resulting magic stones for a profit, telling the twins their dead parents would return only if they behaved.
• Accidental Public Confession: In the Scales of Love arc, Claire screams at Manaria to keep her from kissing Rae, revealing her feelings are much stronger than she'd like others to believe.
  Claire: “Rae is mine! Don’t take her from me!”
  Rae: "M-Miss Claire…?”
  Claire: “N-no! That’s not what I meant!”
• Adaptational Early Appearance:
  • Lene Orso appears earlier in the manga, albeit just in single-page cameos. She's properly introduced after Rae becomes Claire's maid, which is when she first appeared in the web novel.
  • Lily Lilium also makes a brief cameo as the nun treating Matt Monte, the commoner wounded in an altercation with nobility. In the light novel, she first appears when Rae and Claire visit the Spiritual Church.
  • Dorothea appears in a panel discussing cantarella, a poison from the Nur Empire. She's a key figure in the empire arc, which occurs much later in the story.
• Alliterative Name: Lana Lahna and Lily Lilium.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Delivered by Manaria, who intentionally provokes Rae while competing for Claire's affection. It's revealed to be a guise meant to push Rae into dropping her I Want My Beloved to Be Happy excuse and actively pursue Claire.
  Rae: "To throw out such cheap digs...Are you sure you're a princess?"
  Manaria: "Of course I am. Which makes me much more fit to be by Claire's side than you."
  Rae: "Kh- I may be a commoner, but my feelings for Lady Claire are stronger than anyone else's!"
  Manaria: "Is that why you gave up on her?"
• Anachronism Stew: Justified as the setting is a dating sim created by modern Japanese developers, making certain liberties with the Victorian Era-inspired world inevitable. Rae lampshades this when explaining how fans would be displeased to see the cast in historically accurate, conservative swimwear. Other examples include new students introducing themselves before the class, and the school menu offering gyudon and oyakodon.
• Artistic License – History: Subverted during the investigation into corrupt nobles. Rae describes the use of double-entry bookkeeping as another Anachronism Stew, however the use of this accounting method dates back hundreds of years. ^note specifically, the earliest known double-entry bookkeeping system dates to 1458.
• Author Tract: The story takes an aside to criticize the Japanese treatment of the LGBT community, which is highly conservative at best. Rae recounts facing a lot of discrimination from social isolation to being considered promiscuous and with no standards, which another character points out is unfair. However, the other character's view of homosexuality is also lightly criticized for being too 'clean' and not recognizing that gay people are gay, not overlooking gender in the name of love.
• Babies Ever After: With the revolution successful and largely bloodless, the Naa Empire exposed and foiled, and much of the corrupt aristocracy removed from power, Claire and Rei live a happy life in the outskirts of Bauer, having adopted two orphans from Mt. Sassal's eruption.
• Back for the Finale:
  • In the Revolution arc, every main and major side character join Rae's second attempt at saving Claire from being executed by the commoner movement and exposing Salas as a traitor.
  • In the Future of Humanity arc, nearly the entire cast either give Rae and Claire gifts and words of encouragement, or aid their assault against the Demon Queen's forces.
• Barely-Changed Dub Name:
  • While Rae's original name was Ohashi Rei (大橋 零), her name in the world of Revolution became Rae Taylor (レイ テイラー). While the unofficial fan translation kept the same spelling of her first name as "Rei", the official translation of the light novel spells the new name as "Rae" instead, presumably in keeping with Revolution being a European fantasy setting.
  • This might also explain why Alea (アレア) and Mei (メイ) are changed to "Aleah" and "May" in the official translation.
• Beach Episode: During the summer vacation arc—what else are you supposed to do in a peaceful, scenic coastal town, anyway? In a bit of meta-humor, Rae explains why exactly there are modern, skimpy, form-hugging spandex-like swimsuits in the Victorian Era Bauer Kingdom.
• Beneath the Mask:
  • A strong moral of the series is that people are rarely how they appear, often masking their true nature to conform with what they believe society expects of them. Claire, for example, is initially presented as a bully, and since her interactions with Revolution's original protagonist are limited, that is what's expected of Claire. In reality, she's troubled by this and bullies Rae mainly out of a misplaced sense of obligation to meet the proud noble stereotype.
  • This extends to characters like Lene and Lambert, who are exiled and nearly executed because they couldn't be upfront about their incestuous romance, and Rae, who poses as a bubbly sycophant to hide her insecurities and downplay her feelings for Claire.
    Rae: "From the moment I fall in love, I must keep my distance. I know that does nothing but encourage prejudice. But... if I don't tease. If I don't deceive–"
• Better Partner Assertion: Lilly monologues her superiority while recounting her travels to Claire, who is excited at the prospect of meeting the nun who looks like Rae.
  Lily: Claire really did love Rae. Not that my love would lose out to hers.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Manaria Sousse is portrayed as the pinnacle of genteel nobility, until she begins competing with Rae for Claire's affection. It's revealed to be a Secret Test of Character, having fallen for Rae.
• Blackmail:
  • Rae resorts to such in her interview to become Claire's new personal maid, threatening to expose a less than ethical dealing of her father, Minister of Finance Dor François. It's implied to be quite The Conspiracy, as he's intensely suspicious of Rae's identity when she casually throws out an exact name, date, and considerable sum of money. He pulls a complete 180 and wholeheartedly supports her after an off-screen discussion, implying she made An Offer You Can't Refuse. She's revealed to be aiding Dole's Zero-Approval Gambit to oust the nobility, the pair having devised a plan to save Claire from the revolution.
  • Played for drama in the same arc when Rae must reveal Thane is a bastard child of Prime Minister Salas Lilium.
• Blob Monster: The students are attacked by a giant slime during spell practice. It's a formidable foe owing to the spellcasters' inexperience and its resistance to all but Air magic, which only the instructor is trained in. Later, Rae adopts its offspring and names her "Ralaire" (a Rae & Claire portmanteau), to Claire's chagrin.
• Boomerang Bigot: Rei was harassed in school for being lesbian... by someone who turned out to a transgender man jealous their childhood friend had a crush on Rei. They later made up as adults.
• Brick Joke: In Part 1's epilogue, Rae muses that Lily will ask to become her mistress once they return from a self-imposed exile. Years later, she sends Rae and Claire a wedding gift and a letter requesting to become her mistress.
  Lily: “P. S. Is the mistress spot still open?”
• Cast Full of Gay: Most of the cast are gay or bi, even if they don't consider themselves such. Claire and Misha, for example, consider themselves straight but make If It's You, It's Okay rationalizations for Manaria and Yu. Rae chalks this up to them living in a society with No Bisexuals.
• Cessation of Existence: The fate of anyone killed by demons, as their souls are removed from the Eternal Loop System.
• Chekhov's Skill: Ralaire's shapeshifting ability is first shown in a throwaway gag showcasing Rae's feelings for Claire. Later, it's key to uncovering a Nur-sponsored coup d'état.
• Chekhov's Volcano: Mt. Sassal has already erupted once, creating a catastrophe which defined an entire period of the Kingdom's history. Rae knows it will erupt during the peak of the revolution, and much of her actions are to mitigate the inevitable fallout, Claire's death especially.
• Clarke's Third Law: The first chapter describes magic as state-of-the-art technology, and a Wham Episode zigzags this by revealing "magic" is actually the product of nanomachines.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: While not as much an issue among nobility, it's noted that commoners, for all their justified grievances with the class system, are fairly sexist. It's an uphill battle for Claire to introduce feminist policies, and even Rae muses it may be too early for commoners to seek equality – not that it dissuades the couple from trying.
• Despair Event Horizon:
  • Rae crosses into it after Claire surrenders herself to the revolution. With the surviving royals MIA or unable to assist and her initial rescue attempt failed, she's hopelessly exhausted her options. It takes Manaria of all people to bring her back.
  • Lana suffers one upon realizing her father, Salas, not only brainwashed her into taking the twins hostage and nearly killing Claire, but also tries offing her in the crossfire.
• Dispense with the Pleasantries: How Empress Dorothea greets the cast.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The opening and ending themes of the anime are sung by Rae and Claire's voice actresses.
• Downer Ending: A zigzagged, in-universe example in a Revo-Lily ending, where Claire delivers a hearty Noblewoman's Laugh as Philine oversees her decapitation. Regular fans may consider it a Happy Ending, but watching it always left Rae depressed.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: King l’Ausseil is suddenly killed by falling debris as Mt. Sassal erupts, nobody noticing until it's too late. The consequences are dire, but the character's death is mostly overlooked. Rae lampshades it being their fate in Revolution.
• Dub Name Change: A few characters had their names changed in the official English translation:
  • Sein Bauer's first name was changed to "Thane".
  • Lene Orso's last name was changed to "Aurousseau".
• Earth All Along: The Wham Episode hits the point where it is revealed that the world of Revolution is in another civilization that takes place on Earth that was once on its dire straits due to severe environmental damage, at least centuries in the future due to the Loop System, thus quickly averting everything Isekai about this story.
  Rae: Huh?! Apostle, are you saying I wasn’t brought to another world?
  TAIM: Yes and no, You have crossed into another civilization, yes, but you still remain on the same Earth.
• Elaborate University High: Justified as prior to King l’Ausseil's meritocratic policy, The Royal Academy was exclusively for influential aristocrats.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Earth beats Air, Air beats Water, Water beats Fire, and Fire beats Earth.
• "Eureka!" Moment: In a Curb-Stomp Battle against the Big Bad, Claire pushes Rae away from their deadly magic attack, only to be saved when the Demon Queen uses Rae's custom-made "Uplift" spell. This, and their refusal to kill Claire directly in lieu of sending the Three Great Archdemons leads her to deduce the Demon Queen's true identity... Rae Taylor.
• Everybody Cries: The François family share a bittersweet moment after Aleah's aptitude test reveals she has no talent for magic, despite her twin sister being a quad-caster.
• Exact Words: Magic can't harm the zombified Louie. Sure enough, water spells fizzle once they touch him. However, he's effectively beaten when Rae, Misha, and Claire use their magic to knock objects into him, and while magical water can't harm him, actual seawater rushing at him can, and wind magic can hold him down, since it's not actually harming him.
• Fantasy Counterpart Religion: The Spiritual Church borrows heavily from Catholicism, from their habits to the concept of everyone being equal and deserving of a chance to the afterlife. However, the church favors women as they're considered more naturally spiritual, with every cardinal and the pope herself being female.
• Finale Title Drop: Act 1 closes with this as Rae and Claire reaffirm their love. ^note The Japanese title: 私の推しは悪役令嬢 means "my choice is the villainess". Also serves as a Cerebus Call-Back to the Demon Queen's motives.
  Rae: Now and for all eternity, I choose the villainess.
• Fireball Eyeballs: The anime uses this trope when someone is especially pissed off, or in one case, when Rae is passionately pursuing beef bowls. For some reason, when Misha gets angry, her flames are blue.
• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: The anime has cut-ins of Claire and Rae around the halfway point of each episode, with backgrounds themed after magma and bubbles respectively. This helps contrast the duo in terms of personality, but also the elemental magic they specialize in.
• Flying Dutchman: Claire and Rae's summer vacation is ruined by an invasion of a ship filled with undead.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Yu looks amazing in women's clothes and isn't fazed during the Cavalier Café because she's a woman inflicted with the crosswise curse. Going further, beyond Rod just enjoying getting a rise out of everyone, Yu is the first noble to go along with the idea willingly, citing the fact he wants to experiment, and Misha immediately jumps onboard with him. Yu enjoys the opportunity to be herself openly, and Misha is both aware of the truth and happy to give Yu the opportunity.
  • Why does Lily conveniently own rare, appearance-changing bracelets? Her father masks their identities whenever the pair conspire against Bauer directly.
  • How exactly does a revolution financially support itself against the notably corrupt, wealth-hoarding nobility? Why, have a noble sponsor them, of course—Dor François, to be specific.
• Funny Background Event: Unless she's plot-central to the current situation, expect Relaire to be doing funny things in the background in most of her appearances. Typically this can be as simple as sitting on Rae's head, but sometimes she can be seen eating things or fuming at something or other.
• Gayngst-Induced Suicide: One of Rei's prior-life friends committed suicide out of fears his transition was burdening loved ones.
• Gay Option: Revolution has none unless you consider Yu, a victim of the crosswise curse. This does nothing to keep Rae from pursing Claire.
• Gender Bender: The crosswise curse, a communicable disease which flips one's gender presentation unless under a full moon.
  • In Revolution, Claire and the capture targets are afflicted with this during a gag event, but are soon cured by Tears of the Moon.
  • Played for drama in the story proper with Yu, who Queen Riche has afflicted to secure their daughter's right to succession. She's forced to live with gender dysphoria until Rae concocts a ploy to cure her.
• Genre Mashup: Revolution as a video game is a hodgepodge of otome Visual Novel mixed with Simulation Game mechanics dedicated to Taylor's daily life and political intrigue to maneuver, and a Role-Playing Game replete with monsters, bosses, and farmable item drops.
• Genre Shift: The story begins as a Romantic Comedy set in an Elaborate University High, but quickly shifts focus to discrimination and political corruption. Act 2 plays up the fantasy and adventure elements, though some rom-com elements remain.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: The King's meritocratic policy appears sound: elevate talented commoners to keep Bauer competitive in an increasingly magic-centric world. Sadly, l’Ausseil himself notes the aristocrats wield too much influence to break the kingdom's stagnation. This leaves Bauer vulnerable to Nur's political interference, throwing it to the brink of a civil war.
• Happy Ending Override:
  • It's noted in Act 1's epilogue that Claire and Rae will likely never legally marry, despite the former helping draft the new constitution. A later bonus chapter reveals even women's suffrage was an uphill battle, owing to both misogyny and concerns over their lack of education.
  • Act 2 begins with the François family being sent to Nur, the hostile nation responsible for many atrocities and assassinations in the first act.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • In the Revolution arc, Lambert goes from trying to kill Rae, to helping her save Claire from execution. Arla and the revolution are also persuaded into stripping the nobles of their titles, in lieu of executing them.
  • The Summit arc sees Dorothea end her Genghis Gambit, abdicating the throne to help the heroes against the Demon Queen.
  • In the finale, the Demon Queen does one following Claire's Batman Gambit, ceding their administrator privileges and later saving her from TAIM's Lotus-Eater Machine.
• If It's You, It's Okay: Claire rationalizes this with Manaria before coming to terms with her bisexuality, and its prevalence in both fiction and closeted bisexuals is often lampshaded when the trope arises.
• If I Wanted You Dead...: Claire refuses to cede a duel even as Thane points out Rae has only used Earth magic, which unlike her Water, loses the Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors to Claire's Fire. Eventually, the ref has to call it.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight:
  • Rae helps Lily break her father's mind control by reminding the Cardinal of both her true identity, and feelings for Rae.
  • She pulls a similar feat in the Empire arc by pointing out inconsistencies in Eve's memories.
• Incompatible Orientation: Rae notes this is a constant problem for queer people like herself, who are likely to fall for someone who doesn't match their orientation. It's later averted when Claire comes to terms with her bisexuality.
• Irony:
  • Rae considers Manaria a love rival, believing she's trying to undermine her own budding relationship with Claire. She's correct, but only in that Manaria's hoping to get with her, merely stringing Claire along to gauge Rae's reaction and whether she's truly the woman for her. And given how the Love Triangle pans out, Manaria's efforts only serve to progress Rae and Claire's relationship.
  • The Spiritual Church officially opposes same-sex marriage despite being run almost exclusively by queer women, Riche being the sole exception.
  • Rae fears for Claire's safety following a battle against the Big Bad, asking herself if this is a twist ending where the heroine dies. Claire being the titular villainess, and Rae, the heroine.
• In Vino Veritas: In a bonus chapter, a drunken Claire admits to Rae she found their brash pursuit of her at the academy cute.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Deconstructed as a major theme of the earlier arcs. Prioritizing your crush's happiness above your own seems commendable, but as Manaria points out, is neither sustainable nor anything but an excuse for Rae to run from her fears of rejection.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Claire faces opposition from a largely mysogynistic political body when proposing women's suffrage, but even Rae admits their concerns over women's gap in education and population aren't entirely unfounded. They refuse to give in, noting women will always lag behind if they wait to introduce suffrage.
• Just Toying with Them: In the dueling stage of the Academy Knights exam, Rae intentionally only uses earth magic, which is weak against fire, to fight Claire, a fire user, instead of her water magic, which is strong against fire. Despite this self-imposed handicap, she pretty much dominates the fight until the judges call it in Rae's favor as Claire refused to surrender despite the fact that she was nowhere near winning the fight at any point. Claire didn't even notice that Rae was holding back until it was pointed out to her and is suitably pissed when she finds out.
• Knight of Cerebus: The Nur Empire and its various agents herald a darker tonal shift in what was mainly a lighthearted rom-com comprised of Rae and Claire's Boke and Tsukkomi Routine, (mostly) friendly matches, and student council affairs set in an Elaborate University High.
• Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: Lampshaded as why the aristocracy will soon die out. Nearly anyone can become a mage following the Magic Revolution, guaranteeing the army's loss should a civil war break out.
  Yu: "The army is strong. But now there’s magic to reckon with, too. We’re starting to see individual commoners powerful enough to match even the most exceptional soldiers. Soon, it will all come down to numbers.”
• Logical Weakness: What allows the heroes to defeat Louie during the beach arc. The Cantrella poison interacts with his necromancy ring to make him a zombie immune to magical harm, but that doesn't mean he can't be held down by wind magic, nor does it prevent dressers being propelled at him from earth magic or chandeliers brought down on him with fire magic from harming him. Additionally, as he willingly turned himself into an undead form, the silver swords that were located on the ship to deal with the undead once the 'noble hunt' onboard was concluded ended up dealing fatal damage to Louie, who had given himself all the vulnerabilities of being undead.
• Medieval European Fantasy: Revolution is set in what's essentially Victorian-Era Europe (with various anachronisms), its original plot drawing heavily from both the People's Charter and Industrial Revolution.
• Monster Is a Mommy: Revealed to be why Rae's magic class is attacked. Unfortunately, she notes there's no reasoning with an unintelligent, antagonized slime, and must put it down. She later adopts its child, however.
• Multiple Endings: Both in-universe titles featured various endings:
  • Revolution has one for each capture target, and a fourth where Taylor forgoes romance and becomes a symbol of the revolution, which the story proper is based on.
  • Revo-Lily also had endings for its capture targets, the titular Revolution route, and another where Claire is condemned and executed by Philine.
• Mundane Utility: An extremely gifted mage can rival or even surpass non-magical armies, with access to spells that can wipe entire battalions. They can also do things like construct toilets (complete with working plumbing) should someone be in the midst of a Potty Emergency.
• Mysterious Stranger: Catherine, from the She's so Cheeky for a Commoner books. Catherine never appears (or is even mentioned) in the main series, but is Claire's roommate, and close confidant in the spin off books. It turns out Catherine was an assassin, and Claire's mother sacrificed herself to save her. A guilt ridden Catherine stayed to protect Claire, and ultimately erased Claire's memories of herself
• The Namesake: Revolution's plot follows the societal upheaval caused by the Magic Revolution, and depending on the player's route, the revolution which overthrows Bauer's corrupt aristocracy.
• Natural Elements: The four classical elements (called attributes): Fire, Water, Air, and Earth are a key factor in the story, magic ushering the in-universe game's titular Magic Revolution and the societal upheaval that followed. Most individuals have one or no attribute, the exceedingly rare exceptions labeled dual, tri-, and quad-casters respectively.
• No Bisexuals:
  • Noted as a prevailing misconception in both Bauer and Japan, with Claire and Misha making It's Okay If It's You rationalizations prior to accepting the possibility of liking both men and women.
  • Reconstructed in the Nur Empire, with many characters being openly bisexual and the orientation largely embraced by society, likely because it's the setting of an in-universe Yuri Genre spin-off.
• Officer and a Gentleman: Lorek Kugret, commander of the Academy Knights. He's the ideal military figure of his time: handsome and powerfully built, a stately air about him, and great skill and experience in combat to back it up.
• Off the Rails: Rae's meddling alters much of the in-universe games' plot, most notably turning her dynamic with Claire from The Rival to Pair the Suitors, the latter being slotted into the princes' events. Played for drama whenever the story proper deviates to a point Rae cannot predict.
• Out-of-Genre Experience: Rae's flashbacks take the story from Medieval European Fantasy to a Slice of Life on her previous life as Rei Ohashi, and the wham episode is an Apocalyptic Log averting its Isekai premise.
• Pair the Suitors: Rae and Claire compete for the princes' affection in Revolution but become lovers in the story proper.
• Poke the Poodle:
  • Claire's bullying is ineffective because her tactics are at most minor inconveniences: she'll hide Rae's books, but never destroy them, or shove her in places she's sure to go unscathed. Pipi and Loretta lampshade this in the P.O.V. Sequel, proposing she escalate by hiding glass in Rae's shoes and setting her uniform on fire, to Claire's horror.
  • A bonus chapter inverts this when Claire awakens in the original Revolution, seeking an aloof Taylor's attention with bullying harsh enough to Break the Cutie.
• Post-Script Season: The initial story ends at the Revolution arc, with most of the cast receiving happy endings in its "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue. Act 2 picks up a year later with several characters joining the François family as political hostages to the Nur Empire, and follows the events of Revolution: Side Lily, which like the original, features a heroine and titular Revolution route the heroes seek to exploit.
• Potty Emergency: Claire suffers one after being accidentally locked in a school warehouse, until Rae uses her magic to construct a toilet complete with a white-noise machine, bidet, and indoor plumbing.
• P.O.V. Sequel: She's so Cheeky for a Commoner, a retelling of the original plot from Claire's perspective with significant focus on events Rae either didn't witness or neglected to inform the audience of. Her friends Pipi and Loretta also become Ascended Extras.
• "Reborn as Villainess" Story: A yuri play on the subgenre, with an office lady romancing the villainess after becoming the heroine of her favorite otome game.
• The Reveal:
  • The Ax-Crazy assassin working for the Nur Empire is none other than Lily Lilium, brainwashed into her father's bidding.
  • The accident which claimed Claire's mother was a rival noble's assassination attempt against the entire François family, spurring Dole into a Heel–Face Turn and financing the commoner's movement.
  • Eve Nuhn despises Rae for stealing her lover, Manaria. She was the maid Manaria mentions falling out with in the Scales of Love arc.
  • Rae, Elie, and other lost children of the spirits are clones created to stop the real Rei Ohashi from ending the Loop System following her soured Reincarnation Romance with Claire.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Villified: The Commoner Movement seeking to overthrow Bauer's corrupt aristocracy is propped up by the Nur Empire, which plans to turn the kingdom into a vassal state.
• Romantic Wingman:
  • Misha, the princes, and even Manaria aid Rae's pursuit of Claire.
  • Rae enlists Misha's help in curing Yu's crosswise curse with the promise they can live happily together in the convent. Later played for laughs while she's impersonating the Pope.
    Rae: Your Holiness, I might have accidentally put you on the Sandrine route. Sorry!
• School Festival: The cast celebrates the Foundation Day Festival with Cavalier, many noting how well Lorek and the princes look in maid uniforms. Rae lampshades its similarity to school festivals in Japan.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Rae's creativity allows her to handily defeat Claire with Earth magic despite its disadvantage against fire, making cover from tungsten carbide and shoving Claire down a pit faster than she can ascend. ^note Tungsten carbide has a melting point of 2,867°C (5,192.6°F).
• Secret Test of Character:
  • Manaria strings Claire along as a means of testing Rae's dedication, and whether she'd make a good partner. It goes horribly right when her methods bring Claire and Rae together, but are so cruel the latter hadn't even considered becoming an item with her.
  • Much of Dole's Noble Bigot demeanor is a facade to both test Claire's capacity to challenge it, and maintain his cover as the Commoner Movement's benefactor. He laments treating Claire this way in his "Reason You Suck" Speech to Dorothea.
• Shout-Out:
  • Rae compares Salas' fate in Act 1's "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue to Hannibal Lecter in Slience Of The Lambs, noting their perverse personalities and proclivity to cooperate when their interrogators are women.
  • While lamenting her daughters' disparity in magical aptitude, Rae muses on its similarity to a movie starring "that super macho guy", in which "all of the talent had been concentrated in one twin at birth."
  • Witnessing the Big Bad's fearsome magic, Rae recalls a Curb-Stomp Battle from Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, where Dark King Veam stuns the party with the power of his weakest spell.
• Spin-Off:
  • The Empire arc is based on Revolution: Lily Side (shortened to Revo-Lily), an in-universe Yuri Genre spin-off with Claire reprising her role as villainess. Being Rae's entry point to the series, she's thankful to its original protagonist, Philine, for introducing her to Claire.
  • She's so Cheeky for a Commoner, a Claire-focused P.O.V. Sequel of the original plot.
• Spotting the Thread: An observant viewer can tell that something is obviously off when Rei gets displaced into the world of the VN right as the game shows the scene with Claire oddly glitching out and then immediately afterwards she's shown seated mere inches away from her beloved Claire character. A little too convenient, isn't it? You'd be right on the money, as the world that Rei is dropped into is actually a transition from a "world of science" to a "world of magic", with an interim remaining between the two variations of the select few who know the genuine truth of the world at large.
• Spoiler Title: The Truth of the World. As exactly depicted by the chapter's title, the entire chapter is a massive Wham Episode reveal where the world of Revolution is revealed to be in another civilization on the same Earth that is on its last legs.
• Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics: Early on Claire hits Rae with a bunch of these; she absorbs them all with masochistic glee.
• Take a Third Option:
  • Regarding Yu's crosswise curse, Rae offers two solutions. One maintains the status quo: Yu publicly presents male but reverts on occasion, a compromise giving her faction (chiefly Salas & Riche) a male heir while accommodating her dysphoria. The second entails passing her off as a male victim of the curse, confining her to the convent under guise of treatment—a less favorable option sparing their reputations from a failed cover-up, and Yu from her dysphoria. With the Royal Palace refusing compromise, Rae elects for a third: cure Yu and reveal her gender during a massive ceremony.
  • When May and Aleah are taken hostage, the main characters refuse the Sadistic Choice between Claire and the twins' lives, instead stalling long enough for Ralaire to intervene.
  • In the final battle, the Demon Queen—revealed to be the true Rei Ohashi, demands Claire commit suicide, else she murders everyone in the party. Claire responds by pulling them into an embrace and running herself through, knowing Rae's love for her would invoke a Villainous BSoD.
  • Both Revolution and Revo-Lily have an additional fourth route where the player aids a political revolution in lieu of pursing capture targets.
• Take That!: Surprisingly averted at one point considering the Author Tract above. Rae's behavior is very similar to certain gay stereotypes (clingy, flirty lesbian, in this case) which is something you might expect her to be critical towards. It's not uncommon for gay Japanese celebrities to take on other stereotypical gay attitudes and she's copying them. However, she says that if this helps someone cope with the social problems and emotional anxiety that comes with the position, then it's fine. Everyone needs a way to cope with stress. She notably tones down the behavior once it becomes clear that everyone is starting to accept her.
• Tomato Surprise: Revolution's fantasy world turns out to be Earth All Along, one that was suffering from a severe environmental crisis, which was created from nanomachines through the Eternal Loop System by Rei. Also the Spiritual Church and its members turned out to have knowledge of advanced technology, particularly nanomachines, as their "God" TAIM is an Artificial Intelligence who controls the Eternal Loop System in a server within the church's server room.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Philine begins as a meek, nearly blank-slate character afraid of her own shadow. By the end of the empire arc, she becomes a strong, unifying figure powerful enough to force Dorothea to abdicate her throne.
  • Aleah and May also fit this trope, going from defenseless, shell-shocked orphans to a quad-casting, magic-abosrbing duo capable of rivaling Dorothea.
• Trapped in Another World: After Rei's death from overworking, she is later reincarnated as Rae Taylor in her favorite game Otome Game Revolution. Except that Revolution's world turns out to be Earth in the distant future that was created by nanomachines and TAIM, an Artificial Intelligence that works to prevent humanity's end. It mainly runs through a looping system that runs eternally, regulated by a system admin. That and this world's magic is run by nanomachines, as well, which averts the isekai premise entirely.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: As a water slime, Ralaire can assume various forms ranging detailed figurines of Claire to ice sculptures of the suspect she's surveilling.
• Wham Episode: The Truth of the World arc contains an Apocalyptic Log detailing TAIM, the supercomputer whose nanites form what people consider "magic", and the Eternal Loop System—both creations of the real Rei Ohashi, Claire, and Lene which "loops" humanity in replicas of our science-based world, and the 'magic-based' one of Revolution. Rei's decision to end the Loop System following a soured, near eon-long Reincarnation Romance with Claire spurs TAIM into creating Rae Taylor and other 'lost children of the spirits' to replace her, setting the plot in motion.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • The first time Claire, Rae and Misha openly and frankly discuss Rae's sexuality, Claire draws away from Rae as though she expects to be jumped and molested at the spot. Misha criticizes her and asks if she'd molest the first boy she saw. When Claire gets offended, Misha responds with "You see? You just said the same thing to her." This doubles as a Take That! to the common treatment of gays in Japanese media, who are often highly indiscriminate or scare the same sex people around them, which is played for laughs.
  • King Bauer when he offers Rae a reward for foiling Lambert Orso's plans to murder the nobility at the Royal Academy, alongside inciting violence and civil unrest within the commoner classes. He and the rest of the court are understandably shocked and upset when she asks for Lambert, his sister Lene, and their family to merely be disgraced and exiled, rather than executed for treason.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Both acts feature an epilogue on the cast's new lives.
  • After the Revolution arc:
    • Rae and Claire are happily, albeit unofficially, married with adoptive twin daughters from Mt. Sassal's aftermath. With Claire's aristocratic assets seized, the couple find work as junior instructors at the Royal Academy.
    • Rod renounces his claim to the throne and Bauer's top military commander, with Thane remaining king, albeit as a mostly symbolic ruler under Bauer's constitutional monarchy.
    • Yu is released from confinement, working as a couple with Misha in aiding Bauer's relief efforts.
    • Manaria ascends the throne as Queen of Sousse.
    • Lily goes unprosecuted but enters a self-imposed exile to repent for the crimes she committed under Salas's brainwashing.
    • Lene turns her restaurant, Frater, into a massive success with her now husband Lambert handling its business affairs.
    • Dor François is stripped of his title but serves the new government as an unofficial advisor. Salas, however, is confined, his knowledge and political expertise proving too useful for a death penalty. Like a certain cannibalistic doctor, he's often consulted from his prison cell.
  • After the Future of Humanity arc:
    • The François return to Bauer, and with the twins no longer cursed and far exceeding their school's curriculum, Rae considers letting them skip grades. Claire and Dole are busy preparing to explain the Loop System to world leaders and appoint a suitable candidate for its next administrator.
    • Manaria and Eve reunite, the pair implied to be an item before returning to Sousse.
    • Joel's family initially rejects her transition but sends letters begging her to return after she moves out. Joel believes they'll sort themselves out eventually.
    • The pope seeks to reveal the Loop System to the public, facing opposition from the rest of the Spiritual Church. Rae notes the church will lose a great deal of influence, but the pope has many allies to see her through it.
    • Yu and Misha have gone public with their relationship, working with Lily to lobby the church in support of same-sex marriage.
    • Rod and Thane's relationship has mended, the former's influence growing thanks to his role in stopping the Demon Queen, and the latter hailed as a ruler second only to Manaria in leadership.
    • Philine is officially Empress, reversing Nur's aggressive foreign policy and brokering peace with its formerly annexed nations, starting with Freida's homeland Melica.
    • Lana is now Dole's capable, albeit frequently truant, aide.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Rae's attempts at deviating from Revolution's original plot are often met with a Spanner in the Works, be it newer, Magic Antidote-proof variants of poison, an enemy's dangerous artifact being instantly repaired, or the event allowing the Treacherous Advisor's escape triggering early. Even her pursuit of Claire applies, with scenes like the spell practice 'fixing' themselves in real-time by slotting Claire into the capture targets' original role.

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