I Decided to Not Compete and Quietly Create Dolls Instead

Description

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Apparently, this looks like the fantasy world from the Otome game that I used to play in my previous life. “I”, Altrea, am the lively rival character who challenged the heroine again and again until she/I received painful backlashes.

Like only chasing to have the engagement canceled in the Magic Academy, even breaking and taking over the Duke’s house. For all this eventful stuff, please just give me a break! Or should I say the heart of the game’s heroine is too scarily impregnable! Living differently with the game’s knowledge? Dating the love interests in real life is super troublesome, so I refuse!

And so my main priority is to definitely not get involved. I will absolutely not go to that academy. I will go to a different country. Living as a Magic Doll Master in a new land is the best way to live.

Eh- The Mystic-eyed Doll Princess? Queen Mage of the Netherworld? Even though I seriously tried my best, I have changed class into the last boss. Why!?

Wait for a second, It’s a misunderstanding! Stop, forgive me-.

Associated Names
One entry per line
Hariawazu ni Otonashiku Ningyou wo Tsukuru koto ni Shimashita
張り合わずにおとなしく人形を作ることにしました
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
An Otome Game’s Burikko Villainess Turned into a Magic Otaku (3)
Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru (3)
Demon Noble Girl ~Story of a Careless Demon~ (2)
(Um, Sorry) I’ve Been Reincarnated! (2)
Dragon Life (2)
The Daughter of the Albert House Wishes for Ruin (2)
Recommendation Lists
  1. From Villainess to Happy Ending
  2. Status: Complete
  3. VILLAINESS
  4. Female MC (japanese) first part
  5. fantasy themed

Latest Release

Date Group Release
04/29/22 Asian Hobbyist c60
04/27/22 Asian Hobbyist c59
04/25/22 Asian Hobbyist c58
04/22/22 Asian Hobbyist c57
04/20/22 Asian Hobbyist c56
04/18/22 Asian Hobbyist c55
04/15/22 Asian Hobbyist c54
04/13/22 Asian Hobbyist c53
04/09/22 Asian Hobbyist c52
04/07/22 Asian Hobbyist c51
04/06/22 Asian Hobbyist c50
04/04/22 Asian Hobbyist c49
04/01/22 Asian Hobbyist c48
03/30/22 Asian Hobbyist c47
03/28/22 Asian Hobbyist c46
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29 Reviews sorted by


Scholek
Scholek rated it
September 19, 2016
Status: v1c13
Firstly and most importantly, I have no idea where the 5/5 ratings are coming from.

***Strong Points***
Vocabulary and grammar use is exceptional.

***Weak Points***
*The character development* is severely lacking. I feel no connection to any of the characters. Even the main character is bland and underdeveloped. Nothing was mentioned about the MC's past before reincarnation. Even her personality is mellow to the point of being static. Every character can be described in a single sentence.

*The Reincarnation* part is non-existent. As far as I understand, before reincarnating she knew how... more>> to sew a little bit. That is her entire background as described in the initial chapters. How weak is this character development?! She has no preexisting abilities and even though she reincarnated.

*The pace of the story* is so fast that it skips 90% of the Main Character's life. Even though the story follows the MC like every good story would I know absolutely nothing about what she does in a given day. How she maneuver's through her life, what she likes, it's all so bland that I'd rather read a newspaper... She likes eating an orange fruit by the way...

*The world and setting* have absolutely no development. All I know is her family is kinda important and there is magic that does magical things... Nothing is explained. People, places, things, locations, towns, cities, characters, magic systems, where she lives, her servants, her family, her background, and everything else is barely even mentioned. For example, she lives in a large house. Isn't that good enough? Even though her ability and the main point of the story is the creation of spirit dolls there really is next to nothing for information about it.

The story synopsis is interesting and flashy, but the content is half-hearted like a series of day-dreams scribbled on a wet napkin.

I hate myself for this review where I've done nothing but tr*sh the author's story. I always feel that I give higher ratings than the average for nearly everything I read, that I was a forgiving reader who loves all stories no matter the poor grammar and faulty logic. However, this story is missing the very essence of an engaging story that draws people in to dazzle and fascinate them. When I saw the 4.3/5.0 rating the only thing that came to my mind was "No." Absolutely, no.

Damn. I hate this review. I'm a complete dick. <<less
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Awesome Sauce
Awesome Sauce
July 7, 2016
Status: --
Yup I can see this becoming the reverse harem route it's tagged to be. Yet I'm not averse to it -- I'm, in fact, looking forward to more. I like 4 things about Altirea:
Spoiler

1) She accepts her current situation -- that this world is now her life and and it's real, not a game. She acknowledgement is pretty early and it's refreshing as most heroines of such reincarnation novels become blind with their previous knowledge and think of their new circumstances still as the game.
2) She's mature. Obviously, because she isn't the 8 year old she appears to be, but she doesn't -try- to act like a child.
3) She's pretty realistic. For example, she remarks how amazing the game MC is, because if she were the MC, she would be running away from the target ikemen because of his weirdo personality.
4) Although she's now "Altirea", it doesn't mean that her past "self" is gone. I like how you can see that she had a family that she still remembers, even using her previous experience with having a younger brother to deal with the first possible childhood love interest.

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All in all, the MC isn't annoying me she thus deserves respect for that alone, and I'm looking forward to the introduction of more of the dolls she makes. (4/5)
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Aurinne
Aurinne rated it
April 19, 2018
Status: v2c18
While there's something indefinably likeable about this story, the actual writing is so poor it's boring and painful to read, which makes me sad.

If you loooove otome game reincarnation stories you may still find this enjoyable. I reluctantly can't read anymore.

Good things:

... more>> The MC is neither s*upid nor exceptionally smart.

The doll magic concept is interesting.

The "capture targets" so far are not completely falling for her just because. There's room for character growth, rather than the original game character merely converting affection blindly.

As I said before, there's something intangible about this story that makes me think about it and want to go back and read more.

Negative things:

The main problem is the writing, which affects everything, really...

Attention in the writing is given to things likes describing food or the MC anticipating problems or events. However, the actual events in the story are often skipped - after anticipating, we then receive the results of how it went.

Interactions between characters lack the additional information such as accompanying expressions and actions. Similar to above, we often don't even get to read the important interactions, but instead attention is given to more trivial ones. (It would be fine to include these as well, but if I can only read one type of interaction I don't want to waste my time on the trivial stuff at the expense of the story's main events.)

Things jump from one event to another without any transition (and often skipping a lot of important or interesting stuff). For instance, at one point she's somewhere with the visiting duke and his son, then she and the son are elsewhere - but what happened to the duke?? Not long later, she and the son are somewhere else in the town - that could have been interesting, there'd been a lot of exposition beforehand about various things in the city - but instead they have a short and pointless scene that could've occurred anywhere and then suddenly are both at a party. It's like...I keep waiting for the actual story to be shown.

There are also so many opportunities to flesh out the world and characters that are missed through this kind of writing. Especially the MC, I still haven't figured out if she's courageous or cautious or cheeky or calm etc.

Finally, I really like the concept of the doll magic, but I never get to read about her learning it or developing it. She's always just already done great new things with it so it instead feels cheaty and OP.

In the end, the story feels really shallow and abrupt and awkward.

If you are a devotee of otome game reincarnation style stories, you may still latch onto whatever it is that engaged me initially and really enjoy this. If you're wary of inane writing, however, I think this will frustrate you, so don't waste your time. Go read Kenkyo, Kenjitsu o Motto ni Ikite Orimasu or Common Sense of a Duke's Daughter instead. <<less
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Aoi-chi
Aoi-chi rated it
August 26, 2016
Status: v1c13
Well, I liked this novel a lot. Whether it was the plot, or the divine translation quality- it all appealed to me. I don't know if it was merely the authors writing style, or the style of the translator, but regardless of whether it's one of those, or a combination of the two, the translations were a delight to read. In fact, I can think of only a few other novels that were as refreshing as this one when it came to a rich use of vocabulary and grammar. Among... more>> all the other novels out there with less than perfect grammar, or spelling, or just general translation quality this one definitely stands out. I enjoy it immensely. Now enough said about the translations, onto the story.

The story isn't a bad one, a bit cliche perhaps? But the author doesn't get caught up in the normal reincarnation routine; no super hard working MC living life to the fullest to make up for lost time, no OP powers (yet), and the MC isn't all big about improving the world she suddenly finds herself in with fancy technology from her old world. Now I'm not saying that she's not taking full advantage of her new life, no she certainly is, just not in the conventional way, she prefers to embrace her talents and the life she was given and live quietly while avoiding all the "Flags" that are popular in otome game novels. She's not an idiot with no common sense, she's got quite the head on he shoulders, and she actually uses it.
The story tends to get a bit wrapped up in her internal monologues and it's fairly slow paced without a lot of physical detail. The story seems to flow as if she's not quite experiencing everything herself, she has a way of telling the story that makes it seem like she's a bit detached from the world she's in, like it doesn't concern her. Perhaps reality hasn't sunk in? Regardless, I like it, even if I need to take a moment to wrap my head around everything that she's telling us. I see no first person action scenes in the foreseeable future, unfortunately. This novel definitely isn't for everyone, I know many might find it boring, but it certainly is quite interesting and stimulates your brain that's undoubtedly numb from reading too many badly rewritten sentences.

I highly recommend this :) <<less
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macy2
macy2 rated it
July 25, 2018
Status: c31
Despite having an unique and interesting plot synopsis, the story itself falls short.

It is narrated through the eyes of Altrea as she navigates her way past death flags. Well at least that was what it is suppose to be. On the contrary it can hardly be counted as avoid the death flag type which the synopsis suggests. It's more like sped up nutshell of the MC's life with some prior knowledge (knowledge that isnt applicable, since the world isnt static like the game).

My biggest complaint is that the narration is... more>> highly unreliable. The plot line is not striaght and clear cut, instead it skips and jumps right into scenes and often doesn't specify who or what is speaking. The book also doesn't specify or clue in the readers where exactly on the timeline is this jump happening either; it just throws you into the scene. It also seems to hold an assumption that we readers have knowledge of the recarnation memories of the otome game and of the world itself; which we don't and nor does the MC clarifies it for us. This doesnt help with the sizable load of characters they unleash on us either (but most aren't even important; novel likes to name drop filler characters).

In short the book reads as if we are a third party looking in to a hazy memory of the MC where we are not privy to the details of. We, as interlopers to this hazy memory, can only vaguely grasp the plot and details mentioned and create a general understanding of the happenings. I'll also like to note that these 'memories' may not include the important stuff and key events. It is quite literally a memory type thing, where it jumps to nonsensical and unimportant stuff, snippets of events with strong memorial significance, and really fleshes out little useless things (food described in detail). It's quite frustrating, especially when we want the important, significant events but only get a sliver.

I'm not sure how others are rating this so high. Maybe it's just not my cup of tea, or maybe they were reading the raws (but I highly doubt its the translator's fault in my case). But, I certainly am not reading a 4 star novel. <<less
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Poor_Hero
Poor_Hero rated it
January 22, 2016
Status: --
(Still reading up to chapter 6) A cute tomboy girl reincarnated to the rival of the heroine of otome game. Cliche? Well, just wait until she shows another side of her ⊙﹏⊙ and her determination to not raise any flag
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ExQAlph03
ExQAlph03 rated it
April 2, 2016
Status: --
This is really adorable~! So cute~! Whew~!

I really like this story, with the MC's personality, mentality etc. The way the characters move, lol, the dolls, and the settings, backgrounds or whatever! Jeez~! It's really great!

The story is really fresh! Not the MC being a villain in the otome game, but what she does, how she affects her surroundings, the events that happens, it really soothes me~ ^^.

--- Hopefully many people come to like this and that we see more of this~ :).
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Malerror
Malerror rated it
April 30, 2022
Status: Completed
I enjoyed this story for a time... its just the writing took a nose dive towards the end. I derrec anyone from reading this honestly. I felt like I wasted my time reading this.

... more>>
Spoiler

Essentially I think it really starting taking a turn for the worst once this sage character was introduced. Every plot thread after this just gets s*upider and s*upider.

When you run out of convincing villian's that you need to bring in an older alternate universe version of the MC to face herself... that is then promptly defeated by her retconned into existence older brother who has the ability to nullify magic who's existence was probably invented just for this fight.

The worst part about this is that wasn't even the s*upidest plot point: the sage is reveled to be a god and is defeated in the last chapter by the MC also suddenly becoming a god with no explanation. There isn't even a description of this fight they just clashed and she won.

This ending actually made me mad that I wasted time on this story. I normally don't write reviews but screw that ending. The author literally just said I don't know how to end this let's make her a god lmao.

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<<less
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YoriMei
YoriMei rated it
October 19, 2018
Status: c33
To be precise, I honestly want to give this story a 3.5, it’s not a bad story but the plot moves a little too quickly for any of the characters to truly develope any sort of true personality. It’s a little bland and very mellow, but it’s not a bad story. I do enjoy the relationship between MC and her father.

Slight spoilers but ... more>>
Spoiler

MC’s moniker of doll princess seems to randomly come about rather than have an actual logical reason for it.

[collapse]

plot wise, it’s ok just quite fast. My one gripe is that it feels less “stuck in a light novel” and simply more “I just got reincarnated into a new world” kind of thing. Her memory “assets” are more realistic then some (keeps her past handicraft skills and knows how to make kaarage) but the characters that show up in this supposed “light novel” have been incredibly few. For better or for worse, we’ve only been introduced to 2 different original love interests with the original MC and the rest of the cast missing. The covers have me wondering who exactly is supposed to feature with her because surely we haven’t met them before.

Over all, it’s a decent story; in fact it could be quite good! However it’s just not my cup of tea. <<less
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udon princess
udon princess rated it
January 10, 2019
Status: c33
This was a story with an interesting concept. The “reincarnated into an otome game” part isn’t new, but I found the idea of doll magic alluring. She’s not completely OP, as most of her power comes from her dolls. I found that I liked her personality and relationships with her dolls and the people around her as well.

Unfortunately, despite all of its promise, this story fell short in its execution. The plot would jump from one event to another, then randomly go back to the event from multiple chapters ago.... more>> It’s definitely a story that “tells” more than “shows.” Despite really liking the concept of her magic, I was somewhat disappointed by how little is actually explained. For example, in the latest chapters,

Spoiler

she ends up taking control over an enemy doll master’s dolls using imagined “threads.” How is this different from her usual magic? What exactly is a philosopher’s stone, and how does it suppress her magic? Why is there a difference between this kind of magic and her magic involving spirits?

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Around chapter 20-something,

Spoiler

she takes over the will of an assassin using the spirit present in his sword. Does this mean she can take over anyone with a magic weapon? What exactly is her relationship with these spirits and why can she control them to this extent? What exactly is the difference between general magic and the different variant magics?

[collapse]

There were other questions I had, but in the end it just came down to the fact that the details aren’t fleshed out enough. I’m perfectly okay with OP characters, but I want to have more details on WHY and HOW they’re OP.

Tldr; not the worst story I’ve read, with an interesting concept but less than stellar execution <<less
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Promethean
Promethean rated it
March 26, 2016
Status: --
I recommend this series.

Its cute, interesting, and new.

The main character, controls Doll's, which is a unique ability. Her personality is rather laissez faire, and it plays more like a slice of life with a dash of plot, than a plot filled story.
4 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
heishiken
heishiken rated it
March 3, 2016
Status: --
Cute MC, that decides not to follow her Fate, and the Puppets are just amazing. Can't wait for more.
4 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
JuuHachi
JuuHachi rated it
January 21, 2016
Status: --
It's a cute story, MC-san reminds me of Bakarina but less simple minded and her internal monologues are funny.
4 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
jefeesco
jefeesco
May 25, 2022
Status: Completed
like, I'm pretty sure the translators did their best, and they indeed all do a good job, but there's only so much you can do when the story is written like it was

felt like it jumped from one thing to another at random, same with characters and their introductions, it was just a mess

the concept of a story was intriguing but, think the authors story structure doomed this from the get go

it was a quick read and fully translated, so there's that, at least
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Fiis10
Fiis10 rated it
April 6, 2022
Status: c45
There is a great story here and it could be 5 stars but...

Early chapters are weak and hard to get through. This could be translation (which translator acknowledges is amateur) or the author's writing style (which jumps around and can be hard to follow what is going on).

I really hate having a bunch of adults being romantically interested in 8 / 10 year old girls. It is seriously creepy. Plus, one of the major countries normalises 10 year old noble girls getting married and giving birth at 12 (ie s*x... more>> at 11). It is noted as 'unusually early' by other countries but it doesn't stop the 10 year old FL getting multiple wedding proposals (not engagements for later, but actual 'let's get married'). You can kind of ignore it, but please stop normalising preteens as sexual/romantic partners! <<less
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Lilith
Lilith rated it
August 25, 2017
Status: c24
At first, I kinda like how the main character is being calm and rational. But I think that her Mary Sue halo is too bright and the golden finger has passed the limit.

... more>>
Spoiler

The MC is just too OP with her magic. I know that this happens at all time, and in any novel, but the story is getting bland as I read it. And the plot is a bit forced, I don't know wether the process of translating made it that way or it's the original, but I can not seems to immerse into some parts of the story.

[collapse]

Spoiler

But I love how the author makes the character. They are unique in their own way. They are just a bit undeveloped.

[collapse]
<<less
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Junie
Junie rated it
June 22, 2017
Status: --
The plot is really refreshing and interesting, the MC is also very loveable and the dolls are wayyy too cute (I really like the mafia-like doll-kun, he likes to act like a villain lol such cute hobby~ In fact, all his "evilness" are for his mistress's safety. A devoted, sharp-witted and cute cool character)

Well, the story is very fluffy and cute at the beginning but turns serious (somehow dark) later on.
Spoiler

I haven't finished reading the raw but at the moment some annoying evil wizard/socerer keeps harming our MC by manipulating others to frame her and her family. It turns out that the original Altrea (the one in the otome game) was deceived by that same damn socerer in another parallel universe leading to her tragic life. She played the villain role but was in fact a victim in a well-planned scheme. A pitiful character that could not achieve her wish and eventually her everything got stolen by the heroine (a homunculus created by her power). Reading her story broke my heart (T___T) and it seems like the novel will continue to be darker.

[collapse]
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BlancFrost
BlancFrost rated it
April 8, 2017
Status: v2c23
I did enjoy this novel at the beginning when she was first creating the dolls and they came to life. I still find it an enjoyable read but not much has really happened since she moved from home. Hopefully we will see some development in the characters. Development always gets me when I read novels, having even a bit more depth will make it a more enjoyable read. Will still keep an eye on this novel when there are updates.
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
XavierDark
XavierDark rated it
October 30, 2016
Status: v2c17
+Likable protagonist with a unique power.
+Multiple POVs.
+Characters with unique personalities and backstories. *The dolls, as well as the "love interests".
+Funny.
+Interesting plot, slightly better than most other novels of the same genre.
+Good pacing (Well, for me at least. I dislike novels of this genre dragging it out too long and I don't mind them not describing every side-character's backstory, who would disappear regardless.)
+Quality writing and translation.
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DeOwl
DeOwl rated it
April 24, 2023
Status: c60
What a f*cking journey.

I have read the whole story but it feels as if I didn't get to read anything. The story, for me, was very difficult to understand as the narration constantly jumps from one time period to another and on more than one occasion I had to go back and check if I had read the whole chapter.

As some people have already said, it doesn't feel as if you are actually reading a story. It feels more of a documentary : here is an interesting and exciting premise/situation... more>> -> and here is the conclusion to said situation. The story skips/ ignores almost all actual story casually giving us an answer to all of our questions, and even to those that we didn't even get to consider.

Do you know that feeling of discomfort after reading an ominous foreshadowing? Almost all the story consists of these foreshadowings that are immediately resolved, leaving you feel uncomfortable with no positive feelings, and the other half is empty slice of life with no character development

But all in all it was a fast read that is passable as a way to spend some time, but it will leave you feeling very empty and unsatisfied

Edit: also, I was very confused about the dolls. At first you think they are human sized, then it is said that they are plushie sized, but if the knights are plushie sized, how do they fight? In the end I still don't understand what most of them look like.

This is also one of the reasons the story is difficult to read: you fiscally cannot visualize what is happening in the story because there is no world/character building <<less
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