Rejected by her first crush, Mashiro finds herself hooked on an unbeatable music-themed otome game. Her high school days are spent learning the wonders of music, obsessively trying to claim the romance ending with the handsome 2D character who stole her broken heart. On the way home from her college entrance exams she gets distracted by a billboard for the game’s remake and unexpectedly falls down a manhole and plunges to her death!
Mashiro finds herself reincarnated in a world bearing similarities to the otome game she was obsessed with. Only this time, she has no idea how to avoid the twists and turns of certain character routes, including the bad endings! Now, as a seven-year-old, she decides to walk the path of a pianist to embrace the musical world to its fullest, but no matter where she turns, she just can’t seem to escape triggering events and getting involved with troublesome yet handsome characters!
Does Mashiro have any choice in where her new life will take her? Or is she en route to a horrifying ending manipulated by the original game world? Find out in this exciting shoujo light novel series that follows Mashiro’s life from elementary through high school. And just like an otome game, it will give readers the chance to choose which hero she ends up with and how their story unfolds in volumes focused on their route!
It’s a piece, not a song. Other than that and the Big Bad being completely gross/skeevy, this was cute. Also a lot of the music stuff I completely skipped over. I know some about Classical music from TwoSet Violin, but a lot of the music in this went over my head. Shout out to TwoSet, LING LING 40 HOURS!
4, I hope this doesn’t go badly, stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I love music, especial classic music. I really like Otome Games. That's why I chose this light novel. And it was not what I expected it to be...
I really appreciate that the protagonist Mashiro isn't trying to pursue one of the routes with either Sou or Kou but instead tries doing her own thing. It's so nice to see how passionate she is about the music, the piano. The whole writing got me into hearing more of classical music again - while reading, I listened to the music pieces (which were stated) through CD or Youtube. And while looking like a happy-go-lucky novel... It is not! And that's what I probably like the most about it. That dark mystery-feel is what held me captive and I read the second half of the book in one day. Only to cry at the end... because it ended! I want the next volume! I need it! :D
Thank you, Natsu and Shoyu, for this treasure of a Light Novel! And thank you, Cross Infinite World, for licensing and publishing it in english! You are all great people!
I've been waiting forever for someone to license a light novel about otome games and Obsessions of an Otome Gamer doesn't disappoint! The story avoids being full of cliches and has a strong cast that keeps you interested despite their young age. One of the best things about the reincarnation genre is seeing the characters age, and I was pleasantly surprised by how the characters grow both in age and personality. There's a very strong focus on the classical music element, more so than you might expect for a novel about being reincarnated into an otome game, but it's very well written and makes you want to look up every song they play!
Both of the heroes, Sou and Kou, are appealing in their own way and I'm very curious to see how their individual volumes will play out in the future. Mashiro is a surprisingly strong and passionate heroine, which I guess should be expected from a title like Obsessions! But part of me thinks the word obsessions plays into her music as much as her otome gaming. One thing I really wasn't expecting was the female side character, Kon. She's probably the most interesting and explored female side character I've read in a light novel before.
Obsessions of an Otome Gamer explores a lot of topics from game obsessions to death to being passionate about becoming a professional musician. I highly recommend the story to anyone looking for a good love triangle romance, a good music story, and/or a story about being sucked into a video game!
Despite falling head over heels for Kou, a character from otome game Hear My Heart, Rika has never gotten a good ending. Her real-life doesn’t go any better considering she falls and presumably dies after falling into a manhole.
That is, until second grader Mashiro realizes she is — or rather, was — Rika, and that now she’s in the world of Hear My Heart as the remake’s heroine.
Suddenly, professing her love to a fictional character doesn’t seem so crazy.
As you may be able to gleam from this volume’s subtitle, the story here covers from when Mashiro is in second grade until she’s ready to start middle school. If you’re worried this light novel is too kiddish — or, on the other hand, are looking forward to a sweet little coming-of-age tale — let me assure you Mashiro is very conscious that she’s really 18. Although moments make her blush and internally squeal, she insists she has no interest in falling in love until she’s back to her original age.
Of course, that’s a little difficult considering she’s in a game world where romance is a key point.
Mashiro first gets her memory back after meeting a crying Sou, Hear My Heart‘s other hero. She then realizes Kou is probably around too, and so she starts playing the piano in order to meet him. Well, Mashiro gets two shocks shortly thereafter: haughty, prideful types aren’t that great when you actually have to deal with them, and she’s not the only girl who has found herself in this game world.
The latter aspect is what really sets Obsessions of an Otome Gamer apart from many other isekai stories. Mashiro has no idea why she’s in Hear My Heart, but Kon, the original game’s heroine and Kou’s sister, knows a lot about the game and their situation. She assists Mashiro as much as she can, but she is unable to reveal everything. The light novel drops hints about Kon’s past before confirming it to readers just before the end, and I kind of wish the revelation was either held off or less blatant. There are still many questions of how both girls ended up in this world in the first place though, and when combined with the elementary school setting, the light novel has a surprising freshness.
However, Kou and Sou are still at the center of the story. Over the years, they become even more transparent about their interest in Mashiro: Kou realizes Mashiro is not after his family’s fame and fortune, and Sou sees her as one of the few people who truly care about him. Since they are so young, the two are presumably not as edgy as their high school incarnations in Hear My Heart, but I still found Mashiro’s sudden turnabout regarding Kou strange and unnecessarily makes it more of a generic “I hated him at first” shoujo story. This is especially true as Sou is presented as the sweet, kind, almost-always-loses Love Triangle Option #2. It’s awkward for Mashiro as well as readers to see young boys pull off the typical “look only at me” fanservice, but at least Mashiro’s memories of being Rika slowly ebb out.
I started this book in the early afternoon and finished it pretty much seven hours later (and the only reason it took this long was because I was at work when I started reading). I came in expecting a light-hearted, somewhat self-indulgent romp in the otome tensei genre, but this is a lot more tightly plotted and slow burn-y than I expected. Darker, too. (To be fair, this is true of all the CrossInfiniteWorld works that I’ve read so far - they’ve been somewhat dark slow burns that have completely thrown me off guard.) Surprisingly, the otome setting - a music school - is used to good effect by the author and it’s such fun to see what works Mashiro gets to learn as she gets older.
I really look forward to reading volume 2, and hope it comes soon!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Interesting, darker than I expected, and avoids some of the more common otome tropes / cliches that I absolutely hate (such as OG heroine is a villainess, girl on girl hate, etc).