The Reason Why Raeliana is at the Duke's Mansion is… What, you thought I'd tell you? Crickets chirping Jokes aside…this will be the first anime I'm reviewing (and the first one I've watched in general) that I've read the manga/manhwa for before the adaptation. So I will be doing a bit of comparison in this review, unlike my others where I only discuss the anime (because I didn't read the source material beforehand).
I was confused at first, as the anime itself is Japanese but the manhwa (source material) is South Korean. It turns out that it's simply adapted by Japanese productions, which I didn't find out until after watching episode one. It certainly was off-putting, expecting Korean but hearing Japanese… I suppose it's for the better since the site I use very rarely uploads Korean anime. Now, with that information over with….
Eunha Park is an ordinary girl, hoping to pass an entrance exam and get into a college. (Although her name is different in the subtitles…I like her manhwa name better) She's standing on the roof of a tall building when she receives an email stating that she passed. Right as she smiles triumphantly…a stranger comes up behind her and pushes. She falls to her inevitable death. When she wakes up, she's Raeliana McMillan…a supporting character in a novel she read before she reincarnated?! Yep, it's another one of those isekais. Turns out, Raeliana was a supporting character who's fated to die from a horrid fiance. Knowing this…what does the new, clever Raeliana do? She gets into an engagement with the duke, Noah Wynknight to avoid her unwanted fate. However, Raeliana's tampering with the novel's story in an effort to stay alive has a more significant effect than she thinks…
What else is there to it? I'll let you find that out for yourself.
#The Good/Positive
The thing I most enjoyed about this was the characters. Raeliana is very badass, landed on my list of fave badass female MCs. Noah has his own charm and wit. Sometimes he's cute, but he's primarily straightforward and likes teasing Raeliana in a way that clearly shows he really loves her. They're a great couple, in my opinion. (But lots of others agree!... I think) I liked Adam a lot, too. His design suits him very well, and his taciturn ways, are similar to a kuudere…~~He's quite cute~~ Heika was also a nice kamidere, though I do wish he wasn't turned into an adult. ~~I like him better in his shota form~~
I'll be honest, at some point I thought Raeliana would be a harem similar to Yona of the Dawn: a girl with one main love interest but a few guys around her who really like her but back off. Skull emoji all you'd like, although I already know this is definitely not the case.
In all honesty, the anime does make them seem a bit bland in comparison to the manhwa, but I’d like to say that’s because not all the scenes that show these things were adapted. Now that the excitement has worn off, I feel that the anime is a bit unpolished next to the manhwa…I think I might’ve enjoyed the feeling of comparing and reliving the parts of when I was reading.
#The Bad/Negative
The number one thing I have to mention is the art style/animation quality. My first impression was that the anime did it better, but after reading through the whole manhwa? Absolutely not. Raeliana does not match the orange hair and green-apple-colored eyes. She looks best in brownish locks and pale green irises. The other characters overall look worse in the adaptation. Sure, Adam still has his charm and so does Noah, but only a fraction of it. The way the anime looks just feels so meh after seeing the manhwa. If I hadn’t read the manhwa before watching the anime and instead just saw it as a show I watched for the first time, the characters would feel average looking–just not meh. Comparing will really do that to you, I guess.
I’m also a little unhappy about one of the scenes that got chopped out during the adaptation. I’m going to continue on this a bit below—nothing huge that’s related to the plot but little scenes that I got a kick out of. Spoiler, click to view The part after Raeliana got kidnapped and Noah and Adam saved her could’ve been better. In the manhwa, during the scene when she takes Noah’s gun and shoots the tree near Francis’s head, Francis pees his pants from fear. Raeliana noticed out of the corner of her eye and thought something about satisfaction. I thought it was pretty funny in that savage fashion similar to those slapping scenes I like seeing. I was a little disappointed when I saw they chopped it from the anime. I’m not sure why they did. Maybe it was considered inappropriate for TV or unnecessary to spend time on animating, but still a little sad nonetheless. During the hunting tournament, when Raeliana sews the dragon handkerchief, I noticed they drew it differently. It’s a small, trivial matter but it still bothered me a little. It’s been a while since then, but I think I was bothered cause it looked more like a wyvern. It could’ve also been because it was purple. (I have something against the color after it plotted to end me in Roblox now) I don’t remember other than the fact that I was slightly bothered. However, it was nice how they improved the scene at the ball (I think it was?) where Vivian and Nick had that encounter lmao. The sneeze… The original was “ah-sly fox-choo!” while the adaptation went “ah-bitchoo!” which I found funnier. In the end, it’s a balance, I guess.
Sometimes I feel like mentioning the little, trivial things. Maybe because I’m doing somewhat of a comparison this time, so I notice them more.
Let’s get this review over with; I’ve been stalling for at least two months now (I think).
#Do I Recommend?
Do I recommend you listen to Raeliana’s story? Yes, absolutely. However… I recommend the manhwa over the anime. I have mixed feelings about how it turned out, but while adding sounds, voices, and movements normally improves the experience, it did not help Raeliana very much. I’m not saying it turned out to be the worst trash; however, it’s still bland when next to the original. If you’ve already read the manhwa, then you may be disappointed by the anime, but it’s still worth a go. If you haven’t, I urge you to read the manhwa first or around the same time you watch. Feel like adding another fantasy/romance/shojo anime to your collection? Sure, though only if you’ve already seen “the greats” of the genre because the Raeliana anime shouldn’t be your first impression of it. Unless you are someone who can’t read manga or manhwa (either due to lack of access, time, or manhwa/manga just doesn’t attract you), I will tell you to just pick up the manhwa and think about the anime later. Seriously. I’m repeating this over and over because I really think so.
