Villainess Beloved by the Prince of a Neighboring Kingdom Otome Is Hurt by Its Translation
It’s surprising how often we see English translations for new otome game options. If you told me 10 years ago that the genre, let alone visual novels in general, would be so beloved and popular, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. That means a lesser-known title like Operahouse Villainess Beloved by the Prince of a Neighboring Kingdom was picked up and added to the Switch otome library worldwide. The problem is, the localization is handled so poorly that I think most people won’t want to try it.
Concept of Villainess Beloved by the Prince of a Neighboring Kingdom very promising, as it taps into the latest reincarnation isekai trend and is based on a light novels and manga available. Tiararose is the heroine and was supposed to marry Hartknights, the prince of the kingdom, after they graduated from school. However, she is actually a woman who was reincarnated into an otome game she was playing, with Hartknights as one of the main love interests. In that game, “Tiararose” was his fiancée and the antagonist, whom the prince abandoned for the player character at the end of the game. As such, she was destined for a bad ending and exiled. Except Aquasteed, the prince of the neighboring kingdom who was studying abroad at their academy, fell in love with her during their brief encounters and proposed to her after the event was rejected. He was one of the romance options in the sequel that she did not get to play, and it seems obvious that she is currently experiencing the events of that thing game of her life.
Unfortunately, the translation is bad. So bad.
One of the best examples comes in the main scene of volume 1, chapter 1. Hartknights is about to announce that he has chosen the player character Akari over his fiancée. Instead of declaring that he is breaking up with her, he says, “I hereby announce that— our engagement is terminated.” This isn’t a one-time mistake, mind you, as the breakup of the relationship continues to be referred to as such by everyone in the game.
I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, but here’s a list of some of the worst sentences I saw in just the first chapter of Villainess loved by the prince of the neighboring kingdom. All spelling and grammatical errors are preserved.
- “However, even though it was a normal day— an unpleasant scene occurred.”
- “A girl named Tiararose, with honey-pink hair, is about to be punished.”
- “Your Majesty. Tiararose is my daughter. Father giving her permission won’t be a problem.”
- “Of course. I’ll keep that in mind.”
- “A spacious classroom had about 30 students, all of whom were from royal or noble families.”
- “I hereby declare that— our engagement is annulled.”
- “Unbelievable… Crown Prince Hartknights just announced their separation?”
- “Until today, I still haven’t had any interactions with other conquering characters. I guess this is what is called ‘game adjustment…’”
- “You are more upright and beautiful than anyone here.”
- “Akari has even been condemned by the king at this point, but she still hasn’t realized her disrespect.”
- “With my words, of course I welcome it.”
- “You are a wonderful father, Mr. Clamentile.”
- “If I receive a response from Lady Tiararose, please allow me to formally reintroduce myself.”
While the translation in Villainess Beloved by the Prince of a Neighboring Kingdom is a big issue, there are other elements to otome games that can distract people as much as the localization. For example, going to the diary doesn’t let you go back to past moments like in some games. There’s no quick save or quick load, so you have to actually save every time you want to pause before making a choice. Not that you need to save. I found that the top response always gives you a “pink” response, the middle response gives you “blue”, and the bottom response gives you “yellow”. (Aquasteed will like you anyway.) Also, at some moments the entire screen will have a white block there to provide information, which breaks the immersion and becomes a bit awkward.
The good thing is there is one Villainess Beloved by the Prince of a Neighboring Kingdom demo on the Switch eShop, so you can see if you can live with this otome game’s clunky translation. All of this comes right out of the gate in the first chapter of the first episode. Nothing is hidden. Everything is decipherable. You’ll know what’s being said. There are even moments where it’ll be perfectly useful for a while, then you’ll be hit with the most confusing sentence ever.
I like the idea behind it Villainess Beloved by the Prince of a Neighboring Kingdom a lot and wish this otome game had a better translation. Pretty cool idea! Especially since Tiararose is still worried about how things will go with Aquasteed, since she hasn’t played the sequel to the game she’s “in”. The localization is terrible, sadly. This is a situation where I think hiring an editor, even if they’re not fluent, and having them review everything before releasing the game would be a big help.
Villainess Beloved by the Prince of a Neighboring Kingdom Available on Nintendo Switch and has a demo on Electronics Store.
