Whilst there have been many new light novels released this month from genres varying from slow life series to reverse isekai, there is one series this month that blew them all away, a certain villainess series with a very audacious female lead…

Prison Life is Easy for the Villainess Volume 1

Tags: Comedy, Fantasy, Drama, Slice of Life, Josei, Villainess

Coming from the author Hibiki Yamazaki and the translators at J-Novel Club, Prison Villainess is a highly entertaining twist on the villainess genre that’ll have you guaranteed to be rolling around with laughter as Rachel puts her brains and psychopathy to work in order to achieve the lazy, slow-life she desires.

After being imprisoned for crimes against the heroine she didn’t commit, Rachel can finally put her feet up and unleash her problematic personality only kept at bay due to her duties as the prince’s fiancée. Now, from behind her prison bars she has two goals that she wishes to complete; live a lazy existence and put the screws (so to speak) to her former fiancée, the heroine and their group of cronies. She puts these plans into action through the use of a series of audacious acts that usually prisoners would never be able to get away with. These are masterfully done, as the author has made sure that with each act there’s always room for our favourite villainess to act more brazenly and to up the ante. These acts can range from plans to mess with the prince and his posse, from small scale problems like loud music to events that could ripple through the entire noble circle, to acts that help her slow-life from killing a viscounts prize duck and holding a barbecue inside her jail cell.

Comedic actions aren’t the only aspect that makes this villainess series truly shine. Characters are a huge reason as to why the series works so well. Given that the primary genre of this series is comedy, the characters throughout the volume are unexpectedly well thought out. Whilst most of the main cast of characters fall back onto some of the genres well known tropes, each of them are given ample explanation as to why these characters act the way they do and the external (mainly Rachel) factors that came into play. Moreover, all the characters still come over as being rather likeable especially the heroine, which is a really difficult feat to pull off given just how awful some of the characters actions have been throughout the first volume. Beyond the main cast, some of the side characters are also portrayed really well, where the author uses their perspectives as a retrospective look back at past events and the things they may have done wrong whilst raising and looking after Rachel.

Prison Villainess is a fantastic example of a villainess light novel series that turns the genre expected tropes on their heads and searches to entertain its readers through a healthy dose of comedy that’ll appeal to all sorts of readers, fans of the genre or not. If great comedy and good characters aren’t enough to satiate your appetite, the short length of the series, being only two volumes long, highly focuses on whats important and when to properly develop, and from what I’ve read of the second volume so far, I can truly say that things only get better from here!