WHO RATED THIS A TEN???

Okay, I am a sucker for Otome Isekai, especially those where the MC is reborn as the villainess character. They are one of my favorite subgenres and I would like to think I have watched enough of them to be a bit of an enthusiast. However, this drama was not it for me. The plot is that of a typical mediocre otome isekai story, MC transported to another world into the body of the villainess in her favorite book series. I did have high hopes for this series as the plot description caught my attention. However, the storytelling just wasn't there. The writers made the weirdest choices, and it felt like honestly they were just asking Chat GPT to give them conflicts and character depth. Not to mention, the FL gave me so much second hand cringe. Her acting was so bad, it was difficult to keep watching. I felt like my skin was crawling as I watched her attempt to portray this character, it fell flat and she just seemed like a goofy moron who made the worst choices possible, and needed the ML for everything. (A departure from typical really good villainess otome isekai which is female-centric with a powerful FL.) In her defense, the character isn't that great to begin with, and the script was also really bland. But also, she's just really, really bad at acting. There was not a drop of chemistry between her and the ML and I wondered how they could even end up together. To be honest, it felt like they were more friends than anything, and sometimes felt like she didn't like him at all despite what she was saying. His acting was so much better than hers though, so the balance was off as well - it was like he held all the chemistry and she was just goofy and oblivious, nonchalant and uncaring. The special effects were cool, the music was pretty decent. I will never rewatch this. I barely slogged my way through it the first time.