A new romance manhwa called I Stole the Heroine’s First Love is structured like a stereotypical gaming isekai, except its protagonist doesn’t get transported anywhere. The protagonist is actually playing a popular dating sim called The Men of Hers, but rather than showing the gamer in the real world, the point of view is from the character they’re playing, named Karina Pionia. Based on the few actual gameplay shots that the manhwa provides, The Men of Hers also isn’t an immersive VR experience like many games are featured in the isekai genre, so it isn’t as though the protagonist feels like they are another person. The realistic scenes are just for the reader’s benefit.

I Stole the Heroine’s First Love might therefore look and feel like a typical isekai on the surface, but the gamer “Karina” is at more of a disadvantage than the genre’s stereotypical protagonist, since they don’t have any prior knowledge of The Men of Hers. “Karina” is clearly playing for the first time. In many isekai that are set in an otome game similar to this, the protagonist is very knowledgeable about the world they are now living in and uses that to their advantage by manipulating the game’s events or characters in their favor.

This dynamic therefore becomes the center point of every isekai, but all this doesn’t exist in I Stole the Heroine’s First Love by Eunmin, Palanmaskuki and Ramji.

I Stole The Heroine’s First Love Couldn’t Exist In a Normal Fantasy Setting

This new manhwa defies every expectation.

Some might think that the gaming aspect of this manhwa is unnecessary, and that the story could just have been about the character Karina as an actual person instead of a gamer’s avatar. However, the manhwa justifies the setting through the special rules that “Karina” must abide by. Since she’s playing a character who’s in a supporting role rather than the game’s heroine, Tatiana, who understandably holds all the power. This naturally puts “Karina” at a major disadvantage in a way that couldn’t be explained effectively in a real-world setting. Since I Stole the Heroine’s First Love is a romance, it shouldn’t be surprising that this disadvantage takes the form of failed relationships, as all the men “Karina” tries to get with end up betraying her to be with the heroine.

This isn’t to say that The Men of Hers is a normal otome. “Karina” is still able to continue playing the game after the “original story” ends. In fact, the entirety of the manhwa takes place in this post-story setting. All otome games feature numerous endings, since players can make different choices that lead to varying outcomes, but it’s either rare or unheard of to have a game continue after one of the endings has been reached. So, The Men of Hers already proves to be a more advanced type of game, which naturally makes it easier for the manhwa to be “from the outside looking in” and still be compelling. Perplexingly, “Karina” refers to The Men of Hers as “a game that has been outdated for a long time,” but this could just be a fan translation error.

I Stole the Heroine’s First Love‘s fun deconstruction of the isekai genre should be enough to draw readers in even those who aren’t fans of romance anime. This is even the case despite the fact that it’s about a protagonist who constantly loses her lovers to the heroine, Tatiana, but gets the upper hand when the now-married Tatiana’s first love interest shows interest in her. It definitely helps that the manhwa I Stole the Heroine’s First Love portrays Karina as a character who has had enough of being betrayed, and is now on the warpath with no disregard for civility.

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