Mangaka: Sarasa Nagase, Anko Yuzu, Mitsuya Fuji
Publisher: Yen Press
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Adventure, Comedy
Tropes: Second-chance life, Dragons, Magic, enemies-to-lovers, betrayal
****
One of the story types I usually don’t find myself interested in reading are do-over stories, or stories where the main character is sent back in time after dying to have a second chance at life. Maybe there’s just something about the main character knowing everything that’s going to happen that makes it uninteresting for me? I’m not quite sure, but I’m kind of glad I gave this one a chance. I think that the fact that it’s both a comedy and a romance helps me see past the second-chance plot line and enjoy the story more than I would have otherwise. I found myself wanting to see what happens next and wanting to read more about the characters.
The Do-Over Damsel… is a story about Jill, a magically gifted girl engaged to the crown prince of her nation. Madly in love with him, she trains herself for war and becomes one of his strongest soldiers…until she is framed and sentenced to death for discovering his darkest secret. In her final moments, Jill wishes for a second chance at a normal life, only to have herself wake up in her 10-year-old body on the night when the prince proposed and her life took its fateful turn. However, in order to escape that fate happening again, she must propose to her nation’s greatest enemy, the cursed Dragon Emperor.
I admit, I was a little concerned about a romance featuring a 10-year-old girl, but I was willing to at least give it a chance. Thankfully the comedy of the story came through fairly quickly, albeit with a darker edge to it than what I was expecting. Jill is transported back in time to her younger self, with all the memories of the years leading up to her death, so a young girl with the knowledge of battle tactics and war comes across pretty amusing in the moment. Plus, she is a woman who was denied a childhood growing up in favor of training to become a warrior for her fiance, and so we get to see that girlhood desire peek through when it comes to food and other things she desires in her quest to find a normal life.
However, I think her desire to escape her future puts her in the path of someone who might be just as dangerous, at least according to the rumors. An emperor with a mysterious curse and the power of a dragon. But I think part of the thematic storyline of this manga is that looks and reputation can be deceiving. The Dragon Emperor turns out not to be as vicious and cruel as she once thought and the prince she once loved turned out to be a weird incestuous tyrant. I started to really like their dynamic once it started to be fleshed out. The Dragon Emperor Hadis, started to become a doting husband, finding ways to make her favorite food and care for her. Jill, in her own way, became a sort of protector of Hadis, looking for ways to avert the tragedies that might make him into a more tyrannical person in the future.
Hadis has the kind of “touch her and you die” mentality you find in some other darker fantasy romance, and I’m kind of loving it. He makes a promise to devote himself to her happiness for whatever time they may have together, and he sticks to it. However, his reasons for accepting the proposal of a ten-year-old, and doubling-down by saying she’s the perfect age, are still to be revealed, but I do like how the manga plays off of it in a comedic way. They definitely make sure to call it out and poke fun at it, possibly parodying the trope of many fantasy romances of young 15 to 16 year old girls being engaged. Also possibly used as a contrast to her ex-fiance who was found to be having an affair with his own sister. Gross. Hadis is also a fairly typical broody love interest, with a dark past full of despair and a mysterious curse that weighs him down. He seems to find some kind of happiness with Jill and trying to be an ideal husband, fantasizing about what sweets to make her and inviting her for tea. I really do like this kind of character trope, of sweet love interest that can get dark and serious when the time calls for it.
Jill is an interesting character in her own right. I think you can really feel her tenacity and will to make this second chance worth it. She still has all of her memories from those 6 years she was transported back from, and all the knowledge she gained while training in her ex-fiance’s army. This adds to the comedy as we see a seemingly 10-year-old girl do and say things that one that age wouldn’t normally do, like use her strength-boosting magic to pick up and throw a giant boat out of harm’s way. Her innocent desire for a second chance at a normal life and childhood shines through in her love of everything sweet. It pairs well as this comedic foil to her more analytical mind that’s able to seek out problems and defend/help Hadis and his future.
The whole manga has a bit of a dark twisted humor with some bombastic moments and funny arguments between Hadis and Jill. It really did make me laugh at times, but also drew me in to the characters and the mystery behind what is really going on. I also really want to see the face-off between Hadis and her ex-fiance. It will be fun to see how that pans out, as well as how Jill can manipulate events to save both herself and Hadis.
I really want to read more of this, so I’ll be looking forward to future volumes. If you’ve had a chance to check it out, let me know in the comments below.
~~Thanks for Reading!~~
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