The Fall 2020 Manga Guide

The Engagement of Marielle Clarac

What's It About? 

Marielle Clarac is the daughter of a minor noble and an incurable fangirl. She's established herself (under a nom de plume) as a successful author of romantic fiction by perfecting her wallflower ways in order to observe the actions of those around her, but even she doesn't see the proposal by the much higher-ranked Lord Simeon Flaubert coming. Marielle accepts, but she's in the dark as to why he would have proposed to her in the first place. Of course, she does have some ideas.

The Engagement of Marielle Clarac is based on a light novel by Haruka Momo and Maro. J-Novel Club released the first volume of the light novel in English on April 6, and has licensed its manga adaptation by Alaskapan.

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Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

Given my near-total lack of enjoyment of the source novel, it feels like damning The Engagement of Marielle Clarac's first manga volume as something I vastly preferred over the original book. That's largely based on the fact that the manga adaptation streamlines both the story and the character of Marielle quite a bit, giving both less space to be annoying and anachronistic. The major problem I had with the original is still present – the use of the term “fangirling” in a book set in the pseudo-19th century where almost everything else is period-correct – but other issues, such as Marielle getting nosebleeds when she's excited by something and her incredibly annoying narration, have been toned down or eliminated, making for a much smoother read. The nature of manga versus that of a novel also allows for more of Lord Simeon's voice, which is a positive both in that we get to know the character better and because he was the best part of the novel.

The story, that Marielle is deliberately plain so as to be able to observe her surroundings and mine them for her bestselling sentimental novels, isn't without its appeal. She's blissfully unaware that Lord Simeon has been watching her for the past three years and forming a distinct fascination with her, so when he proposes, she assumes that her father has blackmailed her or something. That this is not the case is never made explicitly clear to her, so there's still room for shenanigans, but even Marielle can't completely ignore the fact that Lord Simeon definitely likes her, even if he's only just realizing his feelings himself in tried-and-true romance fiction fashion.

Because so much has been trimmed from the source novel, this manga moves at a better pace, with less time spent on Marielle's gushing over this and that. That's not the only thing trimmed, however, and novel readers will notice that her experiences at the palace have also been cut back, with the most obvious cutting done when she ends up at the notorious brothel. Possibly it just wasn't deemed appropriate for shoujo manga, but this particular trimming is something of a double-edged sword: we didn't strictly need as much as was in the novel, but it's now very clear that plenty of things were left out from the scene, which the included prose short story only reinforces.

I still find Marielle herself to be annoying, which is a major strike against the manga, and the anachronisms still make picky history nerd me cringe. But the art is very pretty and most of the streamlining has been for the best. If you want to read this particular romance, I'd definitely suggest going with its manga adaptation.

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Caitlin Moore

Rating:

So many women feel the need to cut off parts of themselves to fit in the little box that society's expectations create for them, or pressured to do so by the men who supposedly love them but refuse to appreciate them for who they are. They take the bits and either discard them or hide them away, somewhere separate from themselves where no one can see them. If they fail to do so, they are deemed unlovable or strange and left to wither away.

So, when a manga like The Engagement of Marielle Clarac comes along that not only allows the girl to keep herself in her fullness but celebrates her for it, I can't help but love it and love her. Marielle is, in modern terms, a fangirl. She's not especially pretty or wealthy, and her family holds only the rank of viscount, putting her well in the lower rungs of the social ladder. So, instead of living the life expected for someone prettier, wealthier, or higher-ranked, she reads voraciously. Her plainness renders her nearly invisible, so she eavesdrops and observes. She absorbs everything around her, and converts it into fodder for the novels she writes under a penname.

I love this, not just because Marielle is wonderful in her exuberance and excitement for everything that happens around her, but also because it's not far off from how a lot of stories in history got written. Dante's Inferno in particular is famous for being thick with references to people and events in his life, and he certainly wasn't the only one engaging in that practice. I don't know if it's intentional, considering how Marielle and her friends squeal fangirlishly over what they've witnessed, but it's a fun little connection to real life.

Her fiance Simeon is an interesting and endearing character in his own right. He's emotionally stunted and not at all in touch with his own feelings, but he genuinely appreciates Marielle for who she is. In fact, his awkwardness is actually pretty cute, and by the end of the volume, I may just have been squeeing over them a little bit myself.