English Dub Season Review: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion Season One
Overview (Spoilers Below):
Living inside a fairy tale may sound like a dream, but for this heroine, it’s more of a nightmare. After her mysterious death, Rinko (Lindsay Seidel) is reborn as Raeliana—a loved and wealthy character in a novel. But she knows the ending: her murder at the hands of her fiancé. So, she hatches a plan to stay alive, one that involves a devilish duke and a phony engagement. Can she rewrite her story?
Our Take:
Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion is an anime adaptation of a South Korean web novel written by Milcha and illustrated by Whale. It is directed by Junichi Yamamoto (who also directed More than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers) at studio Typhoon Graphics. Mitsutaka Hirota wrote the scripts, and Haruna Hashimoto handled the character designs. The music is composed by Keiji Inai. The opening theme song is “Survive” by MindaRyn, while the ending song is “Always and Forever” by Serra.
Whenever someone dies in an unfortunate accident, they’d often reincarnate into a different world as a hero striving to defeat the forces of evil. However, there’s one occasion where a person reincarnates into a realm that’s more romantic than action-packed. If you think living in an RPG world full of monsters and dangerous beings is challenging, try living in a romance novel where you’re a minor character about to meet their demise by their lover.
This series brings me back to the other side of the isekai genre, where rewriting their destiny and finding love are as tricky as battling the demon lord. This concept has been done before in I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, another isekai series I enjoyed. Hence, the idea of reviving in the world of royalty, love, greed, and betrayal isn’t all that new to me. But since I’m already a fan of the popular genre, it doesn’t hurt to see how this one compares to the other isekai series, particularly the romance ones.
Regarding its seasonal plot, Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion follows the usual elements from other isekai shows, including ones from the romance genre. You have the main character, Rinko Hanasaki, who dies in the real world and reincarnates in a novel’s realm as its supporting character, destined to get killed by her fiancé. As a result, she attempts to avoid her ill-fated ending, even if that includes pretending to be the fiancé of its male lead Duke Noah Volstaire Wynknight (Ian Sinclair). The problem with that is Noah is as irritatingly stubborn as her real fiancé.
In short, the series is almost a carbon copy of I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss regarding its concept and narrative. However, the only difference is that Raeliana occurs in a novel, whereas I’m the Villainess takes place in a video game. Despite this tiny distinction, Raeliana is about as derivative as a young adult book. But, of course, even with the similarities, it all comes down to the execution and entertainment factor. Many shows, isekai or romance, follow the same concepts, with some being more beloved than others regarding their enjoyability. In the case of Raeliana, the romance/fantasy/isekai series offers several diverting moments in its sceneries and plot to prevent me from closing the novel early.
One is the animation produced by Typhoon Graphics. Typhoon Graphics is known for providing animation for shows like One Room and Sengoku Night Blood. While specific parts of the style were stiff, the animation looks gorgeous for the world’s designs and color palettes. Since the realm takes place inside a historical romance novel, it’s unsurprising that the animators would take that to heart by manifesting the vibrancy and artistry of the illustrations. Granted, it doesn’t take things further with its style regarding the details and fluidity. However, as an isekai show involving romance, it’s beautiful enough to maintain my attention despite my lack of interest in the show’s romantic vibes.
The other enjoyable element is Raeliana. At the start of the series, she’s originally Hanasaki Rinko, a teenager who’s about to attend a university before she gets pushed off the building by a stranger. Now, as one of the novel’s side characters, Raeliana uses her knowledge of the book to avoid her second death by her fiancé Francis Brooks. The series briefly shows her questioning this sudden tragedy. However, as it progresses, it foregoes this plot point to focus on Raeliana surviving her fate, only to realize she wound up changing the novel’s narrative with her actions. Of course, this includes causing the main character, Beatrice Trancet (Macy Anne Johnson), to disappear.
In a way, Raeliana is like Aileen Lauren d’Autriche from I’m the Villainess. They’re empowering and diligent women determined to avoid their destined demise and their narcissistic default lovers. They also try to survive their new “fiancés”, who are devilishly charming and stubborn. While the similarities are present, there are also a few differences between the two that stand them apart. For example, Raeliana plots to form a phony relationship with Noah to prevent Francis from murdering her, while Aileen attempts to win the heart of the game’s final boss destined to kill her. Additionally, from what I remember, Raeliana is more internally annoyed by Noah’s behavior than Aileen was with Claude. These slight contrasts are enough to keep Raeliana from being a straight-up clone of the titular villainess.
The character also benefited from Lindsay Seidel’s vocal performance. Out of the other anime she’s been in, like My Hero Academia and Remake Our Life, I would say her portrayal of Raeliana is my favorite so far. Seidel displays Raeliana as a kind and rigorous piece of royalty who never lost sight of her real self from her previous life. Her personality resulted in plenty of humorous moments involving her being internally peeved or frightened by the novel’s events, mainly the former for Noah’s egotistical behavior.
Ian Sinclair also did well with his vocal performance as Noah. His sly and egotistical personality may be periodically annoying, but his brief development amid his contractual relationship with Raeliana helped prevent him from becoming too one-dimensional. An example of this occurs in the sixth episode, “Why Raeliana Cosplayed”. Amid its scenario involving Raeliana disguised as a maid, the episode depicts Noah possibly developing feelings for Raeliana but refusing to fall in love because dukes aren’t allowed to express genuine affection. It’s enough to make me see Noah as more than just a stubborn duke.
Overall, Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion is far from royalty, but it’s a mildly diverting romance isekai that prevented me from reading something else. Its first season periodically reminded me of I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, and the pacing can be a tad slow sometimes. However, the series delivered enough moments to distance itself from that show and sustain my interest in its concept. That includes the characters, mainly Raeliana, the beautiful animation, and a seasonal plot that’s far from creative but enjoyable for its world-building. It’s enough to get me interested in its potential second season, which might focus on Raeliana dealing with her actions changing the novel’s story. If that’s the case, I will be okay jumping back into the novel’s world sooner or later.
