The Villainess Is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom Otome Hurt by Its Translation

It is amazing how often we see an English translation for new otome game options. If you’d told me 10 years ago that this genre, let alone visual novels as a whole, would be so beloved and widespread, I probably wouldn’t have believed it. It means a more obscure title like Operahouse’s The Villainess Is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom gets picked up and added to the Switch otome library worldwide. The problem is, the localization is so poorly handled that I think most people won’t be willing to give it a chance.

The concept of The Villainess Is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom is promising, due to it playing with the latest reincarnation isekai trend and being based on an existing light novel and manga. Tiararose is the heroine and is supposed to marry Hartknights, the prince of the kingdom, after they graduate school. However, she’s actually a woman reincarnated into an otome game she was playing, with Hartknights being one of the main love interests. In that game, “Tiararose” was his fiance and the villainess, who the prince dumps for the player character in the end. So she’s set for her bad end and exile. Except Aquasteed, the prince of the neighboring kingdom who was studying abroad at their academy, fell in love with her during their brief meetings and proposes after the rejection event. He was one of the romance options in the sequel she didn’t get to play, and it seems clear she’s now experiencing the events of that game in her life.

Unfortunately, the translation is bad. So bad. 

One of the best examples comes in that major volume 1, chapter 1 scene. Hartknights is about to to announce he’s chosen the player-character Akari over his fiance. Instead of declaring that he’s breaking up with her, he instead will say, “I hereby announce— our engagement break off.” Which isn’t a one-off mistake, mind you, as the dissolution of the relationship will keep being referred to as such by everyone in-game.

I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, but here’s a list of some of the worst sentences I saw in the first chapter alone of The Villainess is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom. All spelling and grammatical errors are preserved.

• “However, despite being an occasional day— an unpleasant sight was to be seen.”
• “A girl named Tiararose, with honey pink hair, was soon to be punished.”
• “Your Majesty. Tiararose is my daughter. It should not be a problem for the father to give him the permission.”
• “Of Couse. I will keep that in mind.”
• “A spacious classroom held about 30 students whom all of them were from the royal or aristocrat families.”
• “I hereby announce— our engagement break off.”
• “Unbelievable… Did the first crown Prince Hartknights just announce a break off?”
• “Until today, I had no interactions with the other conquest characters. I guess this is the so called ‘game adjustment…’”
• “You are righteous and beautiful than anyone here.”
• “Akari was now condemned even from the King, but she still hadn’t realized her irreverence.”
• “For my sayings, Of course I am more than welcome.”
• “You are such great father, Mr. Clamentile.”
• “If I was able to get a response from Lady Tiararose, please allow me to officially introduce myself again.”

While the translation in The Villainess is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom is a major issue, there are some other elements in the otome game that may throw people off as much as the localization. For example, going to the log doesn’t allow you to backtrack to past moments as in some games. There are no quick save or quick load features, so you need to make an actual save each time you want to pause before a choice. Not that you need to save. I found the top response is always going to net you a “pink” reaction, the middle will get you “blue,” and the bottom will result in “gold.” (Aquasteed will like you regardless.) Also, during some moments the entire screen will have a white block there to provide exposition, which breaks the immersion and gets a bit awkward.

The good thing is, there is a The Villainess is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom demo on the Switch eShop, so you can see if you can live with the otome game’s awkward translation. All of these things come up immediately in the first volume’s first chapter. None of it is hidden. Everything is decipherable. You’ll know what’s being said. There are even moments when it will be totally serviceable for a while, then you’ll be hit with the most awkward sentence ever.

I like the idea behind The Villainess is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom so much and wish this otome game had a better translation. The idea is quite interesting! Especially since Tiararose is still concerned about how things will go with Aquasteed, given she didn’t play the sequel to the game she’s “in.” The localization is just so poor, sadly. It’s a situation where I think hiring an editor, even if they weren’t fluent, and having them go over everything before shipping the game out would have been a big help.

The Villainess is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom is available on the Nintendo Switch, and there is a demo on the eShop.