After being caught once again having made changes to the English-release of a licensed Japanese work, Seven Seas Entertainment has confirmed that they will be working to revise the heavy edits made by their staff to the Western release of I’m in Love with the Villainess’ first volume.
According to fans of the isekai romcom, the changes made to I’m in Love with the Villainess’ first volume involve a moment of inner dialogue spoken by the series’ lead protagonist, Rae, concerning her love interest, Claire.
At one point in the volume, Rae is led to reflect on why she, in a very child-like manner of flirting with the villainous object of her affection, constantly oversteps Claire’s personal boundaries.
In the original Japanese version, as seen in translations provided by J-Novel Club user rsog412, Rae surmises that her exaggerated displays of affection were done in order to be accepted as a lesbian, noting that her behavior shared similarities with how “entertainers in my past life who exaggerated their homosexuality to sell a character.”
“Is there any objectionable behavior I ought to change?” Lene asked.
“No, not really. I’m just happy to dote on Claire every day,” I said.
“It’s because you’re always saying those sorts of things that I worry!” Claire whined.
Yeah. This was absolutely my bad. In a manner of speaking, I was spreading homophobia myself. Just like those entertainers in my past life who exaggerated their homosexuality to sell a character.
But then again…
“I guess I couldn’t go on if I didn’t joke like that, you know?” I said, laughing. But I was laughing alone.
Related: Seven Seas Entertainment Announces Three New Series
In a follow-up paragraph, Rae would further expound on the history of such Japanese entertainers and how they informed her own actions.
“Ha ha ha.”
“…”
The serious talk had finally ended. I teased Claire, Claire got angry, Lene soothed her, and Misha watched it all happen with a resigned look. Things were back to normal.
Normal. And like always, I felt a bit…sad.
In my past life, there were progressives who wanted to eliminate homophobia would criticize TV-entertainers who made their homosexuality into a gimmick.
Those people were undoubtedly right.
But I think there was more to it.
Regardless of it was right or wrong, there were people who couldn’t go on if they didn’t make fun of it.Of course, it’s a fact that those entertainers amplified prejudice.
And if possible, it’d be good if prejudice died out.
But the sad truth is that there were gay people who’d act in a way to invite prejudice on themselves like that.
I think each of them had their own reasons.
For some people, mockery was probably the only way they could deal with the pain.People we came to like would almost never reciprocate. If we didn’t say anything to them, we could get closer to them than someone of the opposite sex, but the moment we started to like them, we’d be more distant than anyone
After repeating that over and over again, before we knew it, we’d become someone who could only laugh at it. People like that surely existed.
Not all gay people are like that.
But, at the very least, I was.“Miss Claire?”
However, in Seven Seas’ English release, Rae does not experience such a reflection, instead coming off as unrepentant in her harassment of Claire.
“Is there any objectionable behavior I ought to change?” Lene asked.
“No, not really. I’m just happy to dote on Claire every day,” I said.
“It’s because you’re always saying those sorts of things that I worry!” Claire whined.
Perhaps that was true, and if I was overstepping boundaries, then that was my bad.
But then again… “I just can’t live without poking fun at you,” I said, laughing. But I was laughing alone.
Related: Seven Seas Entertainment Announces Release Date For SUPER HXEROS Manga Series
Subsequently, the English release omits Rae’s cultural reflection.
“Ha ha ha.”
The serious talk had finally ended. I teased Claire, Claire got angry, Lene soothed her, and Misha watched it all happen with a resigned look. Things were back to normal.
Normal. And like always, I felt a bit…sad.
“Miss Claire?”
Shortly after this context-modifying edit was discovered, it was brought to the attention of series author Inori, who gave Seven Seas the benefit of the doubt that “there was an unavoidable reason behind what happened” whilst simultaneously admitting that “it’s still a little sad.”
As more and more fans began to take public issue with these changes, with some even taking to Twitter to voice their disappointment directly to the company’s official account, Seven Seas eventually issued a public statement regarding the series in reply to several upset readers.
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention,” read Seven Seas’ statement. “Those portions of the text were removed during the editorial process at the time, but we have since changed how we edit these books to make sure important lines are not lost.”
“We’ll be revising the eBook within the next few weeks to add the cut portions back into the book,” the company concluded, “and the revision will also be reflected in all future printings of the paperback.”
Last month, Seven Seas came under heavy fire for their heavy-handed censorship of their titles, as fans of Classroom of the Elite and Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation similarly discovered that the company had omitted massive amounts of text from each respective series.
What do you make of Seven Seas’ latest instance of censorship? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!