KANLen09

Isekai stories from Japan...well, most of them, are quite boring to be honest, with the exception of a few (i.e. Mushoku Tensei, Re:Zero etc.) that are literate standouts. But what if I told you that works that come from other countries, like South Korea, have a cesspool of Isekai stories like it, and while they suck ass too, just like their Japanese counterparts, they have an exception to the same rule as well? There are manhwa source materials like it, and one of them goes by the name of Kanojo ga Koushaku-tei ni Itta Riyuu a.k.a The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke'sMansion, which comes from Kakao Webtoon novelist Milcha and illustrator WHALE. In case you missed out on what was going on within the last few years, there was a time when both Naver Webtoons and Crunchyroll partnered to adapt the 3 biggest manhwa that were out at the time: Kami no Tou a.k.a Tower of God, The God of High School, and Noblesse, all within the span of Spring to Fall 2020 through the latter's now defunct "Crunchyroll Originals" label. If you were alive back then to see and hope that the collaboration would contribute talent from other countries to Japan, you would be sorely mistaken, as despite the various studios' undertaking of these massive projects, it was a total mess of a flop that ultimately went nowhere. Well, only Kami no Tou did, because Crunchyroll did announce a sequel for it last August. But back to Raeliana. Rinko Hanasaki (romanticised from the original Korean name Park Eunha), having been dealt a mysterious fall to her death while reading a novel, is reincarnated as Raeliana McMillan, the extra/side character that's neither royalty nor noteworthy in the story itself. But being the eldest daughter of a nouveau-riche baron and having signed her life away to a fiancé that, as scripted, eventually kills her to her unfortunate demise. Hoping for a way out of this scripted story plot for the second time, Raeliana acts prudently for a higher power that would help her out of her calamity, and that approach leads to a person called Noah Volstaire Wynknight, who agrees to the deal, but has a condition that she must fulfil: to act as his fiancé for 6 months, or the deal is off. But little does Raeliana know that this decision would not only change the face of the novel's story, her own fate rests in the hands of Noah as well, with his "dastardly" gentleman tricks that reveal his hidden side that only she will know. For the longest time now, I have been wanting to read Korean Webtoons to get away from the overused tropes that most works from Japan are starting to use, and this Webtoon was one of the first ones to intrigue me since I was getting into Webtoons after the whole Webtoon-Crunchyroll debacle. But time passed from weeks to months, a year or two, and I just simply forgot about it...until the anime showed up. With that said, these kinds of reincarnated stories, even for Korean webtoons, are a dime a dozen out there, because I can tell you that there are a lot of similarities between both Japan and Korea about the archetypes, from the setting to the characters, and that Korea has the edge due to the fact that it's not in the usual manga format, and it's coloured as well. If you're too used to how manga looks, it'll take time to get used to the manhwa format. In Raeliana's case, she can be seen as the forward "villainess" due to the way that she acts, aside from her carefree, and sometimes, careless attitude that gets her into trouble in the first place. Like in the novel's scenario, Raeliana gets murdered by her fiancé, Francis Brooks, who isn't happy with her thanks to his abusive and persuasive control. It's then with Noah Wynknight that she seeks help out of her troubles, and indeed he gives her what she wants in exchange for being his fiancée, though Raeliana soon realises that Noah has a hidden wolf-like manliness hidden inside of him that is ready to be unleashed, taking her graces for his likening and entrancing, more than the part of the fiancé act to the girl who is supposed to be nothing more than a side character to the ACTUAL protagonist and his fiancée, Beatrice Trancet. That said, Raeliana isn't the "damsel in distress" character, and she can stand on her own two feet when it comes to the crunch, which I like and prefer more towards and against girls who act the other way as their never-ending façade, blergh. A strong, independent girl, despite facing life-threatening events, she never once lost courage, and that is what makes Raeliana such a good female lead MC. It's the same story for Noah, as apart from his namesake of royalty, he, like Raeliana, is strong and supportive, and would go to the ends of the Earth for her. Their chemistry is more than just a hot-blooded mess of egomania and fluttering feelings, they poke fun at one another, trying to get one flustered for the other, which makes their interactions all the sweeter. Not to mention, the supporting cast can be likened to their personalities as well. From the Ikemen of Noah's right-hand man Adam Taylor to one of the holy kings of Heika Demint, to the villainess characters of Vivian Shamal and her idiosyncrasies of why Raeliana is closely attached to Noah, everybody is there for a reason (as had the old royalty setting), which makes for some intriguing plot twists whenever the show decides to do so and beckons one to read further. It's good; I'll give it that. The only elephant in the room would have to be in the animation department. To be frank, I've never really been a fan of Typhoon Graphics, which, other than the One Room series and the Sengoku Night Blood otome game adaptation, were just plainly forgettable shows back in 2017. And after a heinously long absence from working on the smaller stuff or assisting in-between works for bigger studios and shows, the studio is back with a more legitimate and better effort under director Junichi Yamamoto, who once helmed one of my favourite shows of last year: Fuufu Ijou, Koibito Miman. a.k.a More than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers. Knowing that he didn't have much to work on, Junichi Yamamoto made the best that he and his staff team could out of the fledgling 3rd-rate studio, though I'd say that what they were trying to achieve was the manhwa effect out of the anime, which is very noticeable with the rather stiff and static animation that weirdly matches together with the original source material, which covers the entirety of Season 1 of the Webtoon. I'm not asking for a lot for manhwa adaptations since they're presented as such, and for the time being, it's serviceable and decent at best. The music is definitely where the anime shines in its surprise. MindaRyn's OP "SURVIVE" replicates Raeliana's exact feelings, transitioning from the real world to a fictional story in the "Command and Conquer" style, and it's a decent song overall. However, SERRA's ED "Always and Forever" — honestly, this song could've come out straight from a Disney princess-laden movie, filled with the majestic and ear-piercing sweet vocals that grace goosebumps, but in a beautiful way. If you ask me when Japan and the anime industry should start to notice works from other countries awaiting adaptations, that time is now. The clear differentiator in a sea of never-ending subpar works when it comes to Isekai, and I hope that through this show, there will be a new age of overseas' works spawned for future adaptations to come. It's not the best or most impressive showing I've had, but for what it is, it does it well. Maybe you don't see it the way I do, but what do I know? It's called an opinion for a reason.

Stark700

Your eyes are not fooling you if that's the synopsis you just read. It's an all familiar trend we've seen in many anime in recent years - reborn into a fantasy world, a protagonist trying to avoid fate, and isekai tropes that feeds on its modern popularity. Kanojo ga Koushaku-tei ni Itta Riyuu (The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion) is another one of these adaptations that subscribes to the most recent trend, but we have to ask ourselves if this is one was really needed. To my surprise, the source material actually came from a web novel rather than the typical lightnovels or manga. However, I did approach this series with a sense of caution given the studio's track record, and let's just say, web novel adaptations haven't exactly set the bar high in recent years. Typhoon Graphics' and their track record (Sengoku Night Blood, One Room) hasn't exactly taken off as a studio worth praising for either. In other words, I did not initially expect this show to be the next big thing. It also didn't help that some of the animation quality were rough in later epsiodes. Technical features aside, can this anime set an example for future web novel adaptations with similar content? We follow the story of Eunha Park as she dies in the first episode but gets reincarnated into another world. Now armed with knowledge about her eventual fate, she hatches a clever plan to get into Duke Noah's mansion by pretending to be his fiance under the name Raeliana. As you can imagine, the story develops from there as Raeliana fights against fate but also uncovers relevations about her own character and the world. Watching this show gives an ambigious feeling about Raeliana's plan and her newfound life. I say this because it's not easy to root for someone who we don't know too much about. Only from the first episode do we get a glimpse of her character in the real world. Even then, it's minimal and character development suffers. Pretty much the entire plot takes place in a new world as Raeliana connects with Noah. As difficult as it seems, Raeliana has a determined spirit and is not afraid to take risks. One thing that does bother me at times is how she isn't very insightful about her own character. Let me just say that if Raeliana truly want her plan to go the way she wants, she'd calculate every possibility. Instead, she follows a path of uncertainity and it appears Noah is a character who should not be underestimated. Raeliana and Noah's character chemistry stands above the rather cliche plot if I'm being honest with myself here. While Raeliana appears to try to follow her plan, Noah isn't shy from playing mind games with her. The two has a strange chemistry that revolves around mind games and there's definitely a level of sexual tension. However, I don't want to jump the gun. While this anime has some obvious romance elements, this isn't just about a girl from another world falling in love with a duke. Rather, the anime also adapts political elements into the show. It doesn't rely heavily on them but be prepared for lengthy dialogues related to politics. In fact, dialogues play some of the key appeals to this anime. With Raeliana often playing her character like a game, she has to be careful with her choice of words. As time goes on, her dialogues flows more naturally especially in the presence of Noah, rather than feeling scripted. However, I do have a problem with Raeliana's overall character development in that she has hardly changed throughout the story. Additionally, her brief rivalry with villainess Vivan Shamall in later episodes was hastily rushed and incredibly predictable from start to finish. I don't think anyone truly expected Noah to jump to another boat and decided to suddenly get together with a villainess. Instead, Noah's interest with Raeliana continues to grow. In some of the later episodes, he seems to geninuely grown fond of her presence while Raeliana struggles with own feelings. However, do note that with just 12 episodes, the anime's story doesn't contain enough details for a full adaptation here. Among its cast, there's no shadow of a doubt that Raeliana gets the most spotlight or personality. Skilled with a gun and somewhat of a cunning personality, Raeliana does try to carry this anime herself in some episodes. A more interesting question we need to ask ourselves is if any other character can step up and become a breakout, outside of Duke Noah. The answer to that, at least from an anime perspective, is unfortunately no. The only characters that caught my attention outside of the main leads are Adam Taylor and the mysterious Heika Demint. The latter is more unique given his young age and ambigious goals in the show. Adam Taylor on the other hand, is less charismatic although his presence does brings out the political elements the anime is trying to convey. However, expect yourself to mostly follow Raeliana's journey and not be distracted by side characters. This really is her story. As mentioned before, Typhoon Graphics has a questionable track record and to be put it nicely, they are probably average at best. While the first few episodes retains colorful and well chereographed scenes, some of the later episodes dip in overall quality. However, I do want to give some praise to the character designs and setting of the show. Raeliana is designed to look graceful with a look of natural beauty. Noah similarly has his handsome look that matches the status of a duke. Most interestingly however, is the world setting that takes place in what appears to be a fictional Victorian-like era. It transcends above a typical isekai setting although the world building of this anime isn't stellar. This show tempts with fate and at its center is a girl reborn to fight against it. While I can't say the story exceeds expectations, the anime is bold neough to attempt a variety of genres. Web novels aren't common these days and this is one of those few that got a treatment of being an actual anime. Perhaps there will be one in future years where it can compete against mainstream behemoths for anime of the year. But this year isn't one of them.