I'm in Love with the Villainess (Light Novel) Vol. 5

Well. That…was not what I was expecting. But not in a bad way. At least, not completely. 

From the hints the author had dropped, I was assuming some kind of Sword Art Online adjacent situation was happening, but <spoiler>“transhumanist Rae oversees a system that eternally cycles between human history and a magic society in an attempt to live forever with the love of her life” was not on my bingo card. I’m not going to engage in some of the wider moral and ethical questions brought up by the idea of replaying modern human history, since that is clearly not in the scope of this story, but I have a few questions and concerns about the magic society part. The flashback shows that humanity consented to swapping between science-based and magic-based societies, but I don’t think that anyone signed off on Rae recasting humanity into her favorite video game, with her as the lead and her girlfriend playing the role of her waifu. There are a lot of weird implications here, and I don’t think I like any of them!</spoiler>

That said, it doesn’t feel like the goal was to make the isekai premise very weird in retrospect—instead, the way the author pulls back the curtain feels more like an exploration of a fantasy trope, <spoiler>the immortal lover and their ever reincarnating soulmate. Frequently, the happy ending in this trope is framed as the two always finding each other, or the mortal becoming immortal.</spoiler> But the final volume of I’m In Love With the Villainess questions this. Could you really love someone forever? Could you go through the same motions again and again infinitely? When one of you changes and grows while the other remains the same, can you really say you’re an equal partnership? These are interesting questions, and I’m glad that the novel raises them. It’s just unfortunate that it also comes with a lot of baggage if you think about the implications for more than a few seconds. 

All of that said, I’m happy that the series was able to tie together so many loose ends and deliver a satisfying ending while simultaneously pulling off a huge genre shift. That’s difficult for any writer to do, and I commend the author for staying true to the story they wanted to tell. I’m glad I stuck with the series to the end!