I’m Spying on the Heroine in an Otome Game World

Description

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“This world is actually an otome game.”

On a certain day, Shiori was told an outrageous fact by her cousin, Kazuto. It turns out he has memories of his past life and his little sister then had played this certain otome game. The heroine in the game would capture hot-looking guys one after another in the school Shiori’s attending. And it turns out Kazuto was one of the capture targets! He asks Shiori to stop the heroine from capturing him.

From then on, Shiori runs left and right in the academy since the very first day, searching for the heroine’s whereabouts and her next movement. However, it seems Shiori is also triggering events one after another just like the heroine…!?

Associated Names
One entry per line
乙女ゲーム世界で主人公相手にスパイをやっています
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Kenkyo, Kenjitsu o Motto ni Ikite Orimasu (1)
Villainess Brother Reincarnation (1)
I’m the Heroine, but I Want to Hand That Role Over (1)
The Villainous Daughter’s Butler ~I Raised Her to be Very Cute~ (1)
The Villainess, Cecilia Silvy, Doesn’t Want to Die, so She Decided to Crossdress (1)
Reiko’s Manners – She’s Referred To As A Villainess, But Actually She’s Just Penniless (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Novel where mc is a game player
  2. JP Romance/Reverse Harem
  3. Novels that made my heart burst with love
  4. Japanese light novel
  5. My list of Reverse Harem

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35 Reviews sorted by


nanayoung
nanayoung rated it
March 19, 2020
Status: c8
I actually have no idea why there are so many negative votes. This is pretty good, fairly well written, and actually has some character depth. Like, the characters aren't one-dimensional at all. Some of them are pretty hilarious.

The main character is pretty good as well. She's just an average girl, dealing with her cousin's not-so-average problem. She really likes watching the "heroine" as she runs around, but gets caught up in the "heroine's" adventures more than once, much to her chagrin. She's really sweet, a bit dimwitted, but only because

... more>>
Spoiler

she doesn't seem to realize that the "heroine" is obviously reincarnated like her cousin.

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In every other aspect she's actually pretty smart. Or at the very least, she has common sense and doesn't get distracted by the "heroine" or her capture targets. The only one she seems flustered by is

Spoiler

her cousin

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and I'm pretty sure it's because he's the ML.

All in all, a nice story. A lot better than most of the otome game stories on this site. <<less
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Leinca
Leinca rated it
April 21, 2020
Status: c12
This novel is a real gem.
One of the most logical and down-to-earth (at least, on a shoujo scale) FL from an otome game setting I have ever read!

She can think by herself and is not swayed by looks only.

... more>>
Spoiler

I mean, she does think the targets are beautiful people, but she doesn't fall in love at first sight

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i really like this novel thanks to the protagonist not being too dumb nor too naive. Also, because it has a « kenkyo kenjitsu o motto ni ikite orimasu » and persona4 (school life) vibes, but that might only be my impressions when I read.

i really like the translations, it is well written and very smooth to follow, great job to the translator! <<less
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magstralala
magstralala rated it
September 5, 2020
Status: c31
This series is hands down my favorite otome game reincarnation stories. Not only it is fabulously translated, but the chapters are also quite long despite being divided and our MC Shiori is extremely endearing.

if the translation wasn’t that perfect, I would totally be MTLing it right now because the story is that engrossing. It’s full on clichés yet with an original situation with the MC not being the reincarnator and the role falling onto the shoulders of an initial capture target.

... more>>
Spoiler

1. I really like Shiori. She’s a bit dense but quite smart, caring and totally unaffected by all the eye candy. While she spies on the heroine for her cousin, she is genuine in all her interactions, the complete opposite of the heroine.

2. The heroine.. Is not a bad person. She’s also a reincarnator that aim to achieve the reverse harem endIng and just does not seem able to see all the characters are real human beings but only as capture targets. She lives in her ultimate fantasy and it makes her quite unlikeable as she plays the selfish airhead otome game heroine to the perfection.

3. There are so many characters and many capture targets, secret or not, that it is quite hard to really follow them all of care for them. As for now, we are currently in the second volume and only a handful really stand out:

- Kazu-nii, the OG reincarnator and the sensei capture target is my favorite love interest for Shiori so far. I know they are to be cousins -somewhat distant I believe- and the age gap is quite big but I just love how he does does pressure her and respect her. He does like a huge overprotective big brother at some point, but the fact that he manages to balance wanting her to experience her youth and having obvious feelings for her is quite impressive and charming in my opinion.

- Airhead-kun would be my second favorite, probably because he just acts like a cute puppy and has the most potential as a love interest so far. He’s pretty indifferent to heroine-jou which also helps making less idiotic.

- the other targets go from creepy to boring with the exception of Heroine-jou’s childhood friend that kinda breaks my heart every time as he is the only one having genuine affection towards Maria.

4. But the two main supporting characters might actually be my favorite. Yuri-chan is adorable and I would not be surprised if Shiori ended up kidnapping her at the end. She is not aware of the game but as an otaku and otome game fanatic she realizes Heroine-jou is super weird. And Iinchou.. Well he is probably the most interesting of them all and in my opinion is one of the self aware characters.

Spoiler

there is a theory around that Shiori could be the original heroine booted to a mob character after Maria’s appearance and I tend to agree with that. Not only she has a female lead halo, but she also triggers a lot of flags.. And I believe Iinchou was the original sidekick and he knows both about the game and Shiori, hence why he would stay neutral all along while obviously knowing more than he is letting on.

now the real question is -if that were true- how much of that did Kazu nii realize.

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.

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thank you so much for the translation! <<less
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agathe
agathe rated it
April 24, 2020
Status: c13
Very nice, entertaining, great translation !
you can’t help wonder where it will go and what to think of the « heroine « who « plays game with real people

the setting is quite vivid and despite the thematic being overused, it gives a really refreshing variation leaving you with quite a few questions - let’s hope it will keep lots of options opened :)
12 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
losernoodle
losernoodle rated it
June 22, 2020
Status: c20
A pretty good take on the otome game genre. Shiori is our reliable and dense female lead, and I enjoy the romantic events she gets herself caught in and the hilarious antics that ensues. The heroine and capture targets have brains of their own and aren't a bunch of annoying a**holes, save for some moments in the beginning chapters that really grinded my gears. The translations are good and released once a week.

My gripe on this story would have to be the large cast of characters for what is essentially... more>> a 4 volume series. There's seven male capture targets for each day of the week, and added to that we have male side characters and those that don't appear in the game such as Iinchou. This means that some capture targets will be more developed than others. By chapter 20 we are already in the second volume of this novel and yet nothing has happened with the Tsukishima brothers, Kaneshiro is more like a background prop, and Designer is irrelevant (seriously, why can I never remember his real name? And do I even care?).

HUGE spoilers below for those who would like to know who the true male lead is.

Spoiler

I read a spoiler in the forums that the true male lead is Kazu-nii. I honestly hope this is misinformation but if not then this is just wrong on so many levels. First of all, Kazu-nii is Shiori's first cousin, however they have a closer bond than most cousins which is more on the level of siblings. So in this story in*est IS win*est. Second, Kazu-nii knew Shiori since she was in elementary school and he's got to be at least 7 years older than her. Third, he's her teacher. I can accept Kazu-nii as a second male lead or romantic interest but I can't accept him being the true lead. Does this mean I'm gonna drop this series? Probably not, because other than that this is still a well-written story with more pros than cons.

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theragingpanda
theragingpanda rated it
May 26, 2020
Status: c17
Pretty good story. Everyone in the novel is very likeable. I enjoyed the interaction between the characters. And kudos for the good translation. Much love ♥

Here's my two cents.

Heroine-chan is not someone who's dumb.

... more>>
Spoiler

She knows that the otome game world she is in right now is her real world now. She makes some reasonable decision. Knowing what she is able to do, or the other way around.

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MC too, she's very level headed. I love her tsukkomi towards the Heroine lmao

Spoiler

She makes some good idea to prevent the Heroine making any moves towards her cousin (after he ask for her help) but she's also dense because I think it's obvious that Kazu-nii likes her, no?

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Well, I'm not very good at giving review but do read this novel if you like some high school slice of life story. <<less
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ike_00000
ike_00000 rated it
August 1, 2020
Status: c26
Based on the high reviews I got my hopes up but honestly it's not that different from what you'd expect based on the synopsis and the title photo.... Like the progressions are much slower than you'd expect, but they're still quite forced a lot of the time. For example, MC saw one of the capture targets, who she never spoke to AT ALL, looking tired and just offered a lap pillow?? And he agreed as if it was nbd?? Like, uhhhhh.....

I wouldn't say MC is THAT dense, because I'm not... more>> even sure if it's moving towards a reverse-harem story. The FL actually does get quite far on most of her routes, and triggers many of the events. I get the impression that author tries to write MC as a cool and no-fuss character but to me it just feels... awkward still??? Like she believed him too easily but on top of that she's SO dedicated to stalking the FL while playing the "oh my older cousin is apparently v attractive but pfft I don't notice at all" card.

Anyway, I'd say it's only eh. <<less
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holizshit
holizshit rated it
May 13, 2020
Status: c15
This novel uses a more interesting approach to the overly used reincarnation theme and so far I like it. The pace is not too slow, and not too fast either. It's perfect. Instead of being the heroine or the villainous, she was meant to merely be an observer. At least she was. You're gonna have to read it to find out what I mean, though.

The MC, Shiori, only meant to be a 'spy' that observes the heroine and her targets. It's pretty interesting to see her meddling with the... more>> heroine in order to save her cousin as one of the targets from being captured. At first the story might seem a little bland, but it gets better. Shiori later on unconsciously got tangled with the targets.

Despite the setting being in an otome game, I really appreciate how the MC sees the world with logic. She's not the weak type of MC, but also not the very strong and intimidating one. She's not fussy and thinks before she acts. I like that.

Spoiler

I'm just wondering if Shiori and Kazu-nii is endgame...? I somehow prefer her to end up with Katsuragi because... well, I have to say no to siscon and lolicon.

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Kalliope
Kalliope rated it
December 14, 2020
Status: c42
I absolutely love this novel. Everything about it is just *chef's kiss* amazing.

The FL: Shiori is everything I love in my FLs. She's calm and levelheaded, but also kind and gentle. And she doesn't let fickle emotions carry her away. She is dense and her simple gestures unconsciously make other people blush. She's a natural player lol.

The ML: I'm pretty sure the ML is ... more>>
Spoiler

Kazu-nii, Shiori's cousin and also one of the capture targets.

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I like his reliable personality and how protective he is over Shiori. He's aware of his feelings for her and expresses it to some extent but I don't know how or when he plans to confess.

The Supporting Characters: I love how the side characters have a personality of their own and are not confined into stereotypes. I adore Shiori and Yumi's friendship. Meanwhile, the game's heroine is the only one who follows the cliché, but there's also a mystery surrounding her actions and motivations.

The plot: The story itself is immensely satisfying to read because aside from the fact that it's told from the POV of a mob character (Shiori), the story and its characters are all surrounded by mystery. I'm still wracking my brain trying figure out everything.

The translation: 10/10 translation!! Kudos to the translator/s for doing an amazing job. And each chapter is really long so it's very satisfying to read. I recommend this for those who are bored of the typical reincarnated-into-an-otome-game novel.

♥♥♥ <<less
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SunsetChaos
SunsetChaos rated it
March 8, 2020
Status: --
MC is a high school girl living in modern Japan. Heroine is the selfish scheming heroine trying to trigger all the events, capture everyone, etc. You can pretty much tell where this is going.

But some stuff just tilts me. Despite it trying to be a reality instead of a game, you still get characters doing dumb shet with s*upid thought process that makes no sense in reality. MC often unnecessarily goes out of her way to involve herself in things.

Rather than acting on logic, I'd say she's impulsive. Doesn't help... more>> that she's a pushover that never says no to anything. <<less
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chihamin
chihamin rated it
June 24, 2021
Status: --
The main character is just so unrealistic.

I mean, this girl gets sexually assaulted (YES, THIS HAPPENS) and she simply shakes it off as it not being this guy’s fault because his stone ended up in her hands? NO. If you want a kind and unbelievably forgiving heroine, make her realistic.

this heroine should be forever scared of this guy but main characters will be main characters — and boy is our heroine a main character.

also I can absolutely tell that even though this is a harem, the in*est route definitely looks... more>> to be what the story is setting its goal for. Gross :) <<less
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Neleothesze
Neleothesze rated it
August 20, 2020
Status: c29
5/5 ⭐ Quality translation of an interesting light novel.

Doesn't subvert the usual tropes but what it does, it does well.
... more>>
Spoiler

Seems to be heading towards the Kazuto route. (Older cousin who is a reincarnated individual)

BUT because so many people are picking up the in*est label like it's on sale, I feel like adding my two cents & quoting the analysis I wrote in the spoiler thread:

✨*They're not siblings (1),

Kazuto hasn't grown up with Shiori (2) He lived till 12-15 y.o with his own family in another city, when his folks died he spent ~3 years with Shiori's folks and then got an apartment from grandpa & went to uni.

Kazuto has already lived a whole life as someone unrelated to her (3) in 'the real world'.


I know there are some countries that frown on relationships between cousins (Japan ain't one of them btw) but with those 3 points above, there is no real squick factor unless someone superimposes their relationship with their own cousins on these characters.

✨*Niisan, gege and oppa, etc. Are a cultural thing for which we don't really have an equivalent. YES, it means big brother. But it's also for young men you're close to! Many asians call older women they're close to auntie. If you become attracted to a Ning-jiejie from Class B you're not really crushing on your older sister. She calls him Kazu-nii because he is a young man who is a cousin & close friend. I don't know if this will change but by chapter 29 she never thinks of him as her brother, never refers to him as her brother. Again, there is no real squick factor unless someone superimposes their relationships on these characters.

Next, power imbalance you say?

✨*Kazuto likes Shiori but he hasn't told her because he's letting her have a childhood and adolescence.

(Quote from chapter 29: "Give it all you have with what you can only do right now. If you don't enjoy life as a kid while you are a kid, you'll regret it later.")

✨*For the most part, he's a teacher when he needs to be and an friend when he can. Yes, he messes up sometimes, but he's only human.
So far, Kazuto's acted like a person whose younger relative came to work in the same company. 80% professional, 10% forgetting you're at work and 10% volunteering them for the 'coffee runs' because if you can't trust your little cousin with your coffee order, who can you trust?

So we have a ~16y.o girl who is slowly (1000% slower than reality because it's shoujo romance not josei) discovering romance & an older male relative (degree of relation +/- close, based on how you interpret him having lived this whole other life before meeting her & in his second life, meeting her only in his teens) who is in love with her and wants to give her space to grow up (normal. Healthy) but doesn't want to lose her to any h**ny teenage boy (possessive but relatable).

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Hanjulsss
Hanjulsss rated it
June 28, 2020
Status: c21
To the person who said that this novel is a gem. I wholeheartedly agree ?
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Tictacs
Tictacs rated it
March 18, 2021
Status: c55
Expected Otoge isekai+twist and oh does this story deliver that and much more.

Translation team did great, easy to read.

A refreshingly normal MC enjoying the interesting 'events' of the Otoge her cousin tells of but without feeling the total constraints the original "2D (?) " Game world had on the world and characters which really feel like they are now brimming with life even to the readers' perspective.

... more>> All the story segments/events feel quite fun and thoroughly written with no feeling of dragging on too long which I appreciate.

Tons of characters in this story have such well written personality/interactions with others that you actually feel like you want to get to know more about them including the side characters that would usually be classed as something equivalent to friend a, b, c, or random classmate.

Complaints:

Spoiler

Only complaint I would have is more personal but with a reoccurring cast of more than 8 characters, I cannot for the life of me match a name to an individual in this story about half of the time and I don't think it would be any easier even if most of the characters had more generic names I'm more familiar with (ex. Arthur, Seth, etc.).

The only way I can figure out when a certain individual/s shows up is by how they interact with other characters since most of the time only their nicknames come to mind like Designer-kun. And unfortunately no, I could not tell you what Designer-kun's actual name was right now as I'm writing this lol..

If you have a hard time putting names to faces like me, it may get a little tricky but it's not too bad. Might be handy and fun to make a character reference sheet as you read though lol.

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I would not suggest looking up a pre-made character reference list with names ahead of time because they may spoil some important stuff if you're into the whole mystery aspect.

Also no context spoiler for Genre

Spoiler

I came in expecting a shoujo and a bit of mystery but now it's kind of scary lol??still good though!

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Pavetta
Pavetta rated it
January 6, 2021
Status: c42
The translation quality is high and the story is cute.

The pace can be a bit slow at times for people expecting something to happen immediately, but the positive aspect of that is that there is more time to develop the MC's relationship with her friends and classmates.

However, the negative aspect is that the author isn't good at handling large casts of characters. There are a lot of characters and they aren't well-defined, to the point that I often can't remember who is who and what they've done in the past... more>> few chapters. The only one who sticks out in the MC's brother since he appears a lot more, and a guy everyone calls 'Designer-kun', because his nickname makes it easy to remember he's the guy who would like to be a fashion designer.

In conclusion, great translation, better than average story, but a weakness on the author's part to make the large cast of characters distinct and memorable. <<less
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Yoitsjustmezo
Yoitsjustmezo rated it
August 18, 2020
Status: c28
Hands down the best Otome game novel I've read so far. MC is really something, she's unique. Kinda weirding me out that this is going into the in*est route, but doesn't stop me from giving it a good review tho. Also the translation is good, easy to understand. Love it <3.
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qwpanda
qwpanda rated it
May 1, 2020
Status: c13
Underrated otome LN! Also this the only in*est ship that I root for xD I wonder if there's more people that were reincarnated..
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wuwuuwu
wuwuuwu rated it
October 19, 2022
Status: v2c8
i really love this novel, currently at the chapter I am (volume 2, chapter 8 - part 2) is genuinely interesting, and I like shiori a lot. The translation is also really good ♡. My only problem now is that I wanted to go to the next chapter, but the link sends me to another site for learning english or something like that, and I can't read the next chapters anymore
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YoriMei
YoriMei rated it
September 4, 2021
Status: c63
This story is so much fun, Shiori is my exact type of “dense, accidental seductress” that I absolutely love and it’s nice that the plot was more a mystery rather than actual romance. Shiori’s great in my opinion, she’s really level headed, down to earth and it’s fun watching her accidentally ruin her own suitor’s pursuits because she’s denser than a brick wall. A lot of the side characters were great, like Shiori’s best friend Yumi, but some suffer just because of how big the main cast is. I honestly... more>> didn’t mind the open ending, nor the hinted at pairing; honestly any of the guys pursuing Shiori would have been fine because they were all pretty great but I have a soft spot for

Spoiler

Iinchou because god dammit that fact that he reincarnated just to see Shiori? “Take responsibility for me”? My heart, god dammit Shibuya and Shiori would be a damn cute couple.

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The plot was honestly kinda surprising, rather than focusing on the romance it focused more on the game mechanics and settings. It was really interesting idea to see what would happen if real people were bound to otome game mechanics and the problems that arise from such.

But like I said, the size of the cast caused a lot of the characterization for most of the cast to suffer. The Tsukishima brothers for example had very, very little development, especially the eldest one who was basically a background character 99% of the time. Even Maria, who I honestly didn’t really like that much, is mostly just “love-brained” (but not malicious) despite being a huge focal point of the story. Also sometimes the sheer amount of patience and goodwill Shiori has for Maria is infuriating. Over the course of the story she gets hurt or troubled a lot (sometimes it’s even Maria’s fault) and yet not once does she actively get angry. <<less
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namira99
namira99 rated it
October 18, 2020
Status: c34
I really didnt expect much when I first stumbled upon this series as I was pretty bored with the aristocracy sub genre but holy cow it easily ranking up as one of my fav otome series

Shiori is a great MC, like really really great MC. The story is full of cliches as far as a shoujo demographic goes but the pacing is nice and the side characters are likeable... except for the OG heroine... well no harms done but shes irking me out sometimes
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