English Dub Review: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion “Why She Made a Deal”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After being pushed to her death by a mysterious figure, Hanasaki Rinko reincarnates in the world of a novel as Raeliana McMillan, a side character destined to be poisoned by her fiancé.

Our Take:

The first of the many anime premiering during the spring season is, unsurprisingly, another show involving a character being reincarnated in another world. However, instead of another world being an RPG game or a fantasy realm, the character winds up in a romance novel that’s actually a Shakespeare-like tragedy. Although, in this story, it’s only the girlfriend biting the dust thanks to her fiancé. That’s another reason why you should never judge a man by their appearance.

The episode introduces us to Hanasaki Rinko, a teenager who got accepted into a university in the real world. But her celebration was cut short when a mysterious person pushed her off the building. She then reincarnates as Raeliana McMillan, the novel’s side character who resides with the royal family. Unfortunately, she’s also engaged to her ungrateful fiancé Francis Brooks, who plans to kill her with Arsenic poisoning and take over her family business. 

So she plans to break off her engagement by intentionally spilling wine on Francis and “accidentally” shooting him. Unfortunately, since this is the world of a romance novel, Raeliana’s fate heavily alters her chance of being free from the soon-to-be-murderous asshole. That is, until the novel’s main protagonist, Noah Voltaire Wynknight, appears on the scene. As a result, Raeliana strikes to deal with Noah, allowing him to be her new fiancé. Although, Francis doesn’t take the news very well, especially since he’s threatened by his friend, Jake.  

One thing I will credit the series for is its simultaneous releases of the dubs. Instead of only releasing the original Japanese version and waiting months to release the English dub afterward, the show just released the dubs all at once. This strategy helps Raeliana stand out from Crunchyroll’s usual release schedule for its shows. In addition, it gives people many options on which version they want to watch during its seasonal run instead of waiting for a specific dub to come out other than Japanese. Whether Crunchyroll continues to use this strategy for the other upcoming adaptations would likely depend on the show’s success. However, I do like to see it happen again in the future. 

“Why She Made a Deal” is a decent start to yet another reincarnation/isekai series that combines romance and fantasy. However, it does remind me a bit of I’m the Villainous, So I’m Taming the Final Boss regarding the concept and characters, especially the selfish and menacing Francis. Fortunately, it also offers plenty of decent narrative aspects to get me interested in the upcoming episodes. The animation by Typhoon Graphics is stunning in displaying the novel world’s vibrancy and bright colors, and Lindsay Seidel delivers a proper balance of perseverance and humor as Raeliana. The novel’s side character must pull off all the stops to prevent her second death throughout the season. The same should be said for the series if it wants to win me over despite its familiar elements.