Historical Romance Recommendation: Usoyomi to Gishoku no Oujo
I wanted to shout out a recent gem of a series I came across—Usoyomi to Gishoku no Oujo (rough translation: the Lie Reader and the Fake Princess).
Usoyomi to Gishoku no Oujo is an ongoing historical romance series in Princess magazine and already has 11 published volumes (with a 12th volume set to be released this summer). Unfortunately, it is not licensed in English and doesn’t seem to have a fan translation, so I’ve never seen it discussed in any English-language shoujo spaces. That’s a pity, because it’s genuinely excellent.
Warning: the following section contains minor spoilers for the first two volumes.
The series is set in a fantasy version of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The main character, Oto, is part of a persecuted minority group known as the Ruka people, some members of which possess supernatural abilities. Oto has the ability to detect lies. At the beginning of the series, Oto attempts to take revenge for the death of her sister at the hands of the emperor by assassinating the emperor’s daughter. However, in the midst of her assassination attempt, she discovers that the “princess” is actually a boy, and he, likewise, learns about her lie-reading ability. Through some plot machinations, Oto ends up agreeing to work for the princess by going undercover as a boy in the palace. This quickly evolves into Oto being nominated as the princess’s fiancé, and things escalate from there.
I’ll admit, I was initially skeptical of the series due to the somewhat-overstuffed premise (lie reading abilities! a fake relationship! a revenge plot! not one, but two cross-dressing leads!). However, once the story gets past the initial setup stage, it actually becomes quite a grounded and tightly-written romance/political drama.
The highlight of the series is definitely the characters. Oto and Asu (the princess) are both extremely well-developed characters and have a very sweet, earnest relationship. I love how unconventional their relationship is: not only is Oto pretending to be Asu’s groom/fiancé, she is also two years older than Asu (they are 17 and 15 respectively). This upsets the typical gendered dynamics you see in shoujo relationships. Oto and Asu’s individual insecurities and struggles are well fleshed-out and feel realistic given their ages and circumstances. It’s hard to describe, but they just feel like real teenagers.
The series also has some fun side characters. I particularly love Obito, who starts out as a kind of playboy character and minor antagonist, and goes through a fantastic character arc (from a more shallow standpoint, I also think his character design is really pretty!).
The political and mystery elements of the series are well done, and I adore the art. It’s not “perfect” shoujo art like has become popular in some magazines today, but it’s quite beautiful, and does a good job getting across the emotions of the characters. Here is a link to the mangaka's instagram, where she often posts art from the series: https://www.instagram.com/odawaramidue/
Overall, I think the series would appeal to fans of the Apothecary Diaries. I see a lot of recommendations for series with similar settings to TAD, but this is the only series I’ve found that matches TAD’s vibes both in terms of the setting and the somewhat eccentric dynamics of the main couple. Usotoki Rhetoric is also an obvious comparison, and I would even compare certain elements of the series to Ouran High School Host Club.
It’s unfortunate that there is currently no English translation, but I'm hoping that getting the word out about the series makes it more likely to get picked up!