Not the most creative of works, but interesting and decent enough among the desert of creativity. Just a breath away from being great. I don't think there's much to discuss about the comic other than some bigger ideas surrounding ladies’ comics in general. This sounds a little grand, but it's the exact same ideas and issues I have with other really, really good, very close to greatness ladies’ comics such as Kusuriya no Hitorigoto. For starters, let's just focus on Akujo Kyousei Keikaku - Villainess Correction Plan. The art was very decent. It's not mindblowingly good, but frankly I am quite sick and tired of lazycomic adaptations of LN/WN, in which the artist is hanging on a thread and has to rush their project so they just do whatever that's quickest and get it over with. This is certainly not it. The art is "lady focus" enough that you don't feel it takes away from the characters, the central piece of ladies’ comics; nor do you only see them because the artist doesn't want to think about the background, objects, decoration, framing, etc. Subtlety is a little underrated, especially when the source material is character-focused and you want to make that the central piece since ladies’ comics can be a bit short on world building and such.

Speaking of adaptation, world building "and such", we should get to the meat of it. I think the story was pretty well written with a very simple, effective formula about subject matters that ladies care and are adept at: human emotion and schemes. The story should always start with a bit of mystery, some challenges for the characters to work around while putting a spotlight on the main characters’ emotions and relationship. This mystery should hang over their relationship and feelings and not lose its importance. Without a good mystery, ladies’ comics can feel extremely vapid and uninteresting. I don't want to lump all shoujo into this group, but damn is there a ton of relationship drama shoujo that's just emotional drama but they couldn't be bothered to spice it up simply by hiding some information or making things "mysterious". Don't just let the villain lay out their scheme in a text box, just write what happens and let the audience figure it out themselves as an "exercise". Discovering the "mysterious past drama between characters" could be enough mystery to be interesting. But what's even more dramatic is some kind of scheme, plot, or plan.

To go further, the schemes could be even bigger if possible. If I have to break it down in a more structural way, you should think of society or "the world" as forming from webs of relations and emotional debts to each other. Thus, the scale of exploration of relations should move from the main characters to a systematic one eventually. You can look at classics such as "Pride and Prejudice" to observe how classic works are structured. The main character’s choice of marriage is the founding stone to eventually discuss the issues of the aristocratic society, the expectations, role of women, and finally the economic dynamic in mate selection and so on. These are really the same thing in the end. For the men, think of it as a tactical to strategic layer, such as in X-Com, you have the tactical combat affecting the strategic consideration and vice versa. The characters’ relations should be affected by the encroaching social dynamic, and the social dynamic could be affected by character relations. Finally, if the author has the gall, referencing some historical, religious parallel to make a point of discussion, to suggest something, is probably peak ladies’ fiction.

What am I really saying? Well, to make it brief; in my opinion, peak ladies’ fiction could be... Genji Monogatari. Sounds crazy, but I can't help but think of Genji Monogatari when I read works like this and Kusuriya no Hitorigoto. Yet, unlike peak ladies’ fiction written by a court lady in the 11th century, this and Kusuriya no Hitorigoto lacked just a little bit more teeth. For Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, I can excuse it as the author never intended the series to continue and dragged it to a rather disappointing conclusion. This didn't have enough teeth around the edges to really bite the viewers enough to even be placed next to hits like Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, let alone Genji Monogatari. Why is that? Well.

Let's start with characters. I am quite satisfied by the female protagonist, even if she could be written just a bit better. Both her innocence and cruelty make her a suitable lead in a girl's comic. Very often the "villainess" is just some badass or potty-mouthed woman; a victim of her circumstances rather than a person, a character in their own right. While she doesn't really have an "oh wow" moment in the story, it's a solidly written enough character that I can sympathise with her emotional state rather than being apathetic. Meanwhile, the male cast is a little one-note, less than stellar. People don't settle their emotions so quickly and mull over them constantly. It can be torturous to drag it out too much, but in this case there's not enough dynamic between the "almost" love triangle and the male characters playing between their social roles and their families.

Then there's the scheme. This is where both Kusuriya no Hitorigoto and this could do a lot better. Kusuriya no Hitorigoto’s dramatic final act was definitely too abrupt, too short. There's also really not enough emotional and historical "weight" despite the scheme should have been quite something. This is also not good enough (so far). I think for both series the scheme itself is not bad, but the reveal was always done a little too much. The consequence of a scheme should be dramatic and a little elaborate. Just look at A Song of Ice and Fire to see how schemes, plot, and mystery can unravel slowly with devastating and deep-running consequences for multiple characters. In Genji Monogatari, the selfish schemes of the characters slowly unraveled and led to consequences for them down the line. Yet, it didn't all come at once nor was it revealed in a flash. This was incorporated into the “time-traveling loop" pretty well, but there's not really enough knock-on effect as I had hoped. There's not enough teeth to the villain to be satisfied.

Lastly, is what the story tries to say. I talked too much about Kusuriya no Hitorigoto despite not reviewing it; but with some basic understanding, you might recognise that the story draws some parallels and inspirations from the actual formation of the Imperial Japanese household, which was made up of the Imperial line from Queen Himiko, who might have had a mainland origin, the Yayoi, ruling over conquered islander locals, the Jomon. How the system operates to maintain rule over a conquered and prestigious land. That's another layer of depth the story can lay over its premise. This story, however, doesn't go quite as far despite a lot of potential. Its mysteries were well told, revealed bit by bit, avoiding info dumps to make the information a chore or, in modern terms, AI summary style. Ladies comics need to find their structure, build it, but commit to going through with it. The characters really don't need a closure; you can not finish your work, and it can still be perceived and appreciated for the ideas it was trying to convey. The aforementioned ASoIaF is the prime example. With enough ingredients, the story can be good without the characters reaching an ending.

It's just a small taste of my various disappointments over the years with very good, very well-executed ladies comics and works that almost got it. This was such a well-done comic that I was a little frustrated at times that the quality of the writing just needed a bit more of a shot in the arm to be great and feel compelled to write a long email to their editor. That being said, at the end of the day, it's just a comic. 7/10.

(Written before the story was finished)