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

A Curtain Call on Rachel’s Prison Life Vacation.

After the fantastic first volume of this villainess prison comedy, the concluding volume continues its hilarious antics as Rachel ramps up her campaign of torment against the prince and his allies.

Everything I loved about the first volume continues here as Rachel remains as hedonistic and sociopathic as before. Her life of leisure is causing no end of trouble for those at the palace and as the King and Queen are likely to return any day she has focused her campaign on the remaining members of the princes’ clique and the women of noble society. Rachel isn’t alone in participating in her twisted joy as she’s upped the ante by inviting other players to the game. Martina, Sykes’ fiancé has returned and she’s none too pleased about what her fiancée and his friends have been up to. Furthermore, this volume introduces us to Rachel’s prized pet, Haley, a very naughty monkey who can’t help but get himself and others into trouble.

Not everything is as plain sailing for Rachel as it was in the first volume. She ends up almost meeting her match on a couple of occasions throughout the volume. Even behind those iron prison bars, Rachel’s unable to escape the lessons to become a future queen. Duchess Somerset and Countess Marlborough are a force to be reckoned with and can even put the fear of god into Rachel with their smack ass first ask questions later approach. Rachel will also have numerous fires to put out due to the bereaved woman’s society who have sauntered into the capital. Less a society for talk and more for murder, they specialise in killing fiancées who have done their significant others dirty, which is a big problem for Rachel as she wants to get revenge on Elliott herself.

I think the best theme this volume showcases is just how reprehensible and too far gone some of the characters are in this series to ever change. Whether it be Elliott’s general idiocy and ignorance, Rachel’s sociopathic nature or Martina’s penchant for violence, the volume seems to come to the thinking that if you can’t change them the best thing to do is to put them somewhere out of harm’s way or in Rachel’s case put her in a position that in the long term would do good for the country. The only exception to this rule and a character before this volume I’d never have thought to root for is, Margaret. She’s a product of her environment and has had to crawl her way up from a prostitute’s daughter to eventually getting the attention of the future prince. Unlike the rest of the cast, she isn’t spiteful or cruel, just trying to get to a comfortable position in life.

As much as I love this series, it always had to end at some point given the time limit set by the King and Queen’s holiday. The final part of the series sees the actions of their overall judgement on the situation. It’s a situation where nobody wins, Elliott seems to have gotten off lightly as the lord of a failing estate only for him to be joined by Martina, Rachel is forced back into becoming queen and Margaret faces the worst punishment of all as Rachel’s human sacrifice and punching bag. A truly fitting end for a series full of genuinely awful people.

I should note that the one thing I’m not a massive fan of is Martina’s character and her actions throughout the volume. She’s extraordinarily violent and takes a lot of it out on her fiancé, lots of domestic abuse that generally ends with Sykes in the hospital with numerous horrific injuries. I feel making it such a comedic thing within the volume is inherently problematic and in bad taste.

Now that Prison Villainess has come to a close, I truly can’t write enough about how much I’ve enjoyed the series overall. It has a wonderful sense of humour and often had me laughing out loud during both volumes. I truly loved every second of the series and I’m glad it had the conclusion it did given just how irredeemable its cast members are. I would recommend this series to anyone who likes villainess series and is looking for a fresh and unique twist on the genre.