4.5 stars

I was a bit concerned that the "speaks like a country bumpkin" plot device was going to be overused and become annoying, but so far, it hasn't gotten too bad.

Otherwise, the art is beautiful, and the plot is interesting. I look forward to reading more.

This volume spent a lot of time setting up the story and introducing us to characters and not a lot actually happened. I'm excited to see where it's going to go next!

Thank you to Kodansha for the ARC

"The Boy I Loved Became the Jaded Emperor" is a slightly more-light hearted version of the isekai genre. I don't think this story will be for everyone, but it definitely appealed to me.

The premise starts like a mix between isekai (reincarnation) with a past being like a familial "Beauty and the Beast." The non-human, "ugly" looking girl gets reincarnated while the ML got scarred from the incident as a child and became jaded because of it.

The "female protagonist reincarnation" trope puts a slightly more realistic take where some habits from the past are bound to show up. So I personally appreciated that "flawed" aspect of the heroine; although I can see where some readers might get quickly tired of how much the "peasant speech" gets used/emphasized. I personally found a charm in that.

It feels like an interesting narrative hurdle for the girl who saw the young boy more as "family" in the past to eventually turn into the romance (as this book seems to want/imply). For now, it seems like a lot to ask of this story without forcing it too much. So far, that's my only worry for future volumes, but I want to trust the author's approach to do so.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the advanced copy. Especially since I didn't have to wait on this copy. I look forward to the rest of this story and how the dynamic changes.

I was a little bit confused at first with the bit of back and forth, however this is due to the fact that this volume is mainly setting up the backstory and has only really begun to move forward with the plot towards the end.
Seems like it’ll be a wholesome story in future volumes and the characters seem sweet.
I’d advise turning off the brain in regards to thinking about ages as it gets confusing with a reincarnation.

This went by really fast for me! I was so surprised when it was over. This manga has an interesting plot. Nothing too complex but I actually want to know how things will play out between Pie & Ham.

Thanks NetGalley for the arc!

thank you to the publisher for an arc!

this was an interesting start to a new series, and the art was absolutely gorgeous. i'll definitely check out the rest of the series

I wasn't too sure about the story at first, but it got better later on. It was a cute introduction of a reincarnation story that didn't deal with revenge or changing a villainess's way in the past. It was hilarious that Alexei and Eleanora were having a conversation about ham and pie when they first met.

I really enjoyed this manga and definitely want to continue on the series. It was interesting to see resurrections and I’d like to see more magic come into play. This is about a boy who his step mother empress tried to unalive him by leaving him stranded in the demon woods and someone saved him. The gave each other names him being Ham and her being Pie. After three years of living together in the woods like show white with the animals, the knights came to bring Ham back and the story evolves from their with Pie being reincarnated as a Dukes daughter who has had similar treatment of her step mother trying to cast her out. All in all I really enjoyed reading this and will love to read more.

From my first impression, this is a ligh, heartwarming read that does nothing new but still can still serve as fine entertainment all the same.

The leads are your typical demon emperor vs. daughter of the duke -- except with a reincarnation twist. I literally don't have an opinion on their characters, as typical as they are, and their dynamic is... interesting. I was getting more of a cute found family vibe from their shared past and I'm slightly curious to see how the author would develop their chemistry into something more convincing. As a side note, it was funny that Eleonora's one character trait was "peasant" speech, lol.

Thankyou to Netgalley for sending me a copy of this manga for review, while this manga ended up not being for me I can see it becoming a lot of people's favourite. I would still recommend.