Manga Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread

The Villainess Flips the Script!
I've been writing down my thoughts long after coming up with them/reading specific chapters so I'm going with bullet points just to organise my thoughts. They're still a mess but a readable one at least.

• I really dislike when stories describe someone as mediocre/plain/bad looking and when you see that person they're super cute - this series does it pretty much right away. If you're going to include such characters then commit at least a little bit.
• Not a fan of characters pretending to be someone else as I've read enough stuff to know this is going to blow up in their faces in the future. And it did... only for the situation to be saved by an ass pull which kept on giving long after the scene in question. I don't even mind the plot point itself (the ass pull, I mean) but I didn't really care for it here, that's pretty much what it boils down to.
• I don't like Ruediger. He's like a teenager with no self-control and a control freak compulsion. While I understand why he is that way (to some extent) his scenes with Judith don't feel romantic, they put warning sirens on full blast screaming "creep alert". Dude often acts behind her back without really thinking about what she'd want, let alone consulting her, and always chooses the most extreme (often the most stupid) option causing a lot of issues along the way. My opinion of him did start to improve around chapter 100 but it's still nowhere close to where it should be for a romance target.
• Speaking of possessiveness and control, it really feels like most of the male characters in this series have this issue. It made me less interested in a romance plot and rooting for a proper emancipation arc instead. These guys are mental (and nobles in an old-timey world but the results are the same).
• Other than that it's a pretty fun story so far, even if a bit too convenient a lot of the time. Judith is great, as are the royal ladies and I already mentioned my perspective on the guys. Luca's twist was pretty obvious, which isn't a bad thing necessarily, but I was surprised by how the story approached Judith's isekai aspect.
• I love Judith's reaction faces, they're great. Art style overall is really pretty as well.

This came out a bit more negative than I really feel (as is tradition, since I tend to be more critical of the things I enjoy) but it was a pretty fun ride. There were some great and touching moments, some lame ones and a few completely infuriating events (looking at you Ruediger during Judith's banquet) - all of which managed to combine into a solid story in the end.

I feel like some of my issues could be smoothed out if the series was a bit longer and slower though that's just copium on my part. While some things could be resolved this way, others are clearly deliberate decisions by the writer and that's not something more chapters would help with.

I have fallen so far behind on stuff this past week...so sorry about not chiming in on discussion threads more. So, these series aren't ones that I just discovered this past week, but I found them a while back, but I don't think I ever wrote about them (until now that is). If I did mention them before, then consider this a reminder that you should check them out!

• Out-of-Place Artifacts of the Otherworldly Labyrinth / Isekai Meikyuu no Ooparts

This is a silly and easygoing series about a dungeon in your typical fantasy setting. However, the adventurers will occasionally find odd items that they haven't seen before, leaving them to figure out the function and use of them. Of course, as readers, we recognize these objects as items from our world. It can be anything from a plunger, to a hand-grenade, to various street signs. It's a lot of fun!

• Kusunoki's Flunking Her High School Glow-Up / Kusunoki-san wa Koukou Debut ni Shippai Shite Iru

This is a pretty standard romcom, but it has been fairly well done. Basically, the MC reinvents himself with a new look and personality as he moves from middle to high school in an effort to become popular. The only issue is that one other person at his high school was also in middle school with him, the titular Kusunoki. However, she has also reinvented herself in the transition to high school, causing these two to form a bond. It's fun, but it doesn't really reinvent the wheel. I tend to let it build up a bit and then read it in chunks and I just caught up on it recently, so it is fresh in my mind.