The Webcomics Weekly is back in your life, bringing with it the scourge of our modern day: fake saints.
I kid. Mel decided to take a look at an Otome Isekai series called “The Beloved Fake Saint” and, blessedly, it doesn’t have one of those ridiculously long titles that could have also been a Charles Dickens chapter title.
The Beloved Fake Saint
Chapter 1-13
Updates Wednesdays
Illustrated by financier
Storyboarded by jn
Original Novel Written by Junye
Reviewed by Mel Lake
If this week’s review was a manhwa title, it might be something like, “I said I wasn’t an Isekai fan until I read this one and then I was transformed!” I’m kidding—I’m still not a huge fan of Isekai stories, but I decided to try an Otome Isekai for this week’s review and I found myself enjoying it! So, please be kind as I find myself in a totally new world, forced to adapt to strange new customs and characters. (See what I did there?)
Webcomics Weekly readers may know more about Otome Isekai than I do, even though I’ve been reviewing webcomics for a while now. These types of titles, many localized from the original Korean, seem to have shot up in popularity on the major platforms in the last few years. So if you already know all the tropes, feel free to skip this paragraph! But I had to do some Googling. If Isekai is the genre where a character from the modern world finds themselves transported to a magical world, Otome Isekai is a subgenre where the heroine enters the world of a dating game aimed at women. While typically, an Isekai character might be trapped and trying to get out of the new world, in this subgenre the lead female character (referred to as the “Female Lead” or “FL”), generally dies and is reincarnated in the body of the villain of the game. They then navigate relationships with the male characters (“Male Leads”).
In “Beloved Fake Saint,” our main character dies and is reincarnated as Ariel, a woman who is pretending to be the saint in the religion of the Elide empire. Ariel is a character in the last novel the main character read before she died, so the new Ariel knows the world and events that will happen because she finished the story. She steps seamlessly into the old Ariel’s body and doesn’t question the fact that she has a new body and a new life. It took me a few episodes to get used to this idea—that Ariel just dies, is reincarnated, and goes with it. But it’s like the way you eventually just get used to the idea that a billionaire orphan’s logical course of action after his parents die is to dress up as a bat. Sure, why not?
Since the novel Ariel enters is a dating sim, she is presented with three different love interests. They all conform to the typical male harem types, complete with competing hair colors and vibes. As of chapter 13, I really only got to know the Pope, who is the cold, scary blond. He straight-up kills a maid in the second chapter, and is the one who is responsible for Ariel’s predicament as the “fake” saint in the first place. He’s a domestic violence red flag in bishounen form, which unfortunately doesn’t disqualify him from being a love interest. The other two love interests are the crown prince and the head merchant. Ariel’s position in the court is incredibly tenuous since the character she’s stepped into is pretending to be a saint and she’s not the original Ariel. This makes for a fun beginning as the new Ariel figures out how trapped she is and plans for her eventual escape.
The part of “The Beloved Fake Saint” that I enjoyed the most, though, was the gods! This story is already seriously meta due to its genre, but then the gods Ariel is supposed to be a “fake” saint for actually show up! They speak to her in the form of romance game UI messages, simulating the very kind of game the comic is referencing. Fourth wall, what fourth wall? In the world Ariel finds herself in, there are nine deities associated with nine different traits such as love, art, knowledge, etc. In the first 13 chapters, she interacts with three of the gods solely through chat messages, but their unique personalities come through loud and clear. They look after her, even sending lightning bolts to protect her from harm and mess with her by playing pranks. The meta-humor of their interactions is genuinely funny and charming, and I enjoyed seeing how Ariel adapted to the way they pulled her into their game system.
The art style of “The Beloved Fake Saint” adheres to the expectations of the genre. There are background flowers everywhere and the male leads are beautiful to the max. Everyone wears a gown or uniform and has long, flowing hair. The setting also looks like a romance game, with its faux European castle and hierarchical royalty system. And don’t forget the many maids who dutifully dote on the main female lead, sometimes to an insane level of devotion. All of these are tropes that you either enjoy or can appreciate enough to put up with for the sake of the story.
Tapas is releasing this comic in seasons using its “Wait Until Free” model, which means that the first 20 chapters are available now. All the Tapas promotions make very little sense to me, but I did speed through 13 chapters of this one and appreciated that there was enough available for me to get a feel for the genre. If you enjoy “Otome Isekai” comics or just want to try one, “The Beloved Fake Saint” might be a good place to start. The beginning is confusing, as Ariel basically casts off her old life and accepts reincarnation, but if you can get past that, the rest is entertaining. My only hesitation with recommending this series is the prevalence of manipulation and abusive behavior in the reverse harem genres—there’s no mistaking the fact that Ariel is a prisoner navigating a tricky power imbalance. Her moves are fun to watch, but adding romance to the mix may make readers uncomfortable, and rightfully so.
