The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess Vol. 2 Review – Haphazard Fun

As a recap from the first volume, we begin with Konoha Satou, who created fantasy adventure stories back in middle school. Little did she know that her story would come to life, and she would be injected into it because of certain events.

Unfortunately for her, she didn’t take on the protagonist heroine role she always portrayed herself as, but instead, she was reincarnated as the villainess Iana Magnolia whose role was to kill her sister, the heroine. Complicating things, Konoha has to prevent her own death, which was planned in her story. To avoid that, she does things to change events and become friends with the heroine, and with that comes new surprises.

Continuing this adventure in The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess Vol. 2, we are introduced to Yomi Blacksarana. He is the male villain in love with our main character Iana (Konoha Satou). Volume two is based solely around his presence and all the shenanigans that come with a villain who wants to kill Iana’s sister, the heroine.

Iana does everything to prevent Yomi from killing anyone or even hinting at any ill-will that could have the blame turned on her for her own death flag. The narrative centers around her preventative measures as we learn more about her and the supporting cast.

This volume has good pacing, and my only quibble is that it seems a little silly how she can’t remember her own story but then suddenly does at random points. Although, it’s understandable as that’s needed to progress the plot without it being retold from her memory right away, so I can’t be too harsh on that. The rest of the manga has a good balance of story, action, and cute little moments. They also hint at the idea that the male characters might fall for Iana, which would be fun.

Every page and panel is packed full of art and detail. There are plenty of regular illustrations, goofy, and chibi style. A large amount is action shots which are exciting and make the long moments of dialogue easier to digest. All the characters are drawn handsomely, and I love their chibi forms on the back cover of the book as well. Characters have a lot of expressions and can be easily understood. The character growth also evolves at a good pace, and it makes the story more interesting.

I’m curious to see where they will take the following volumes. I’m hoping for some possible romance for Iana, which was hinted at. With all the randomness in this manga, predicting what will happen next would be difficult. Regardless, the action-fantasy side of this is interesting enough without needing a romance, so it doesn’t matter either way. I should also mention the bonus entry at the end of the book, “If Iana were Konoha’s Little Brother.” That was a fun little addition to see what it would be like if Iana were a boy.