What is Otome Isekai?

Otome Isekai is a genre in which a (usually) female protagonist is reborn into a otome game, novel, manga, etc. (basically any piece of media) as the villain or side character. This is usually in a historical-fantasy setting and will probably lead to romance. The protagonist must use their wits or whatever to avoid doom. There's other variants of protag goals. Such as creating a happy ending for the main leads or trying to live a peaceful life. There's also the possiblity that rather than being reincarnated or transmigrated, it's a time reversal situation instead. With those stories the protag goals tends to lean more towards revenge. The last type of OI are the ones where the mc is reincarnated or transgressed into the child of a cold, scary, dilf father. The family OI's are basically about the mc and father trying to foster a better relationship. For more info I'd suggest the Otome Isekai subreddit.

This genre almost feels like a guilty pleasure of mine. I got hooked in after watching Hamefura, and now I can't escape. There's some really good stories in this genre, but to be completely honest most of it falls into trashy historical romance (half the time I want to murder the male lead). I still love it anyway.

I'll be sorting my reccomendations by the type of mc, since that usually effects the tone of the story. Also I drop most of these stories half way (because my attention span is horrible) so I don't think I can speak for how these stories end (which is fine since most of these are still ongoing). Also also this won't be an extensive list because a lot of these stories blend together and I can't remember half the stuff I read.

Real Villainess MC (manipulative, cold, etc.)

Dumbass (affectionate)

Strong MC (physically or mentally)

Yuri (sorry this list is so sparse I'd check the subreddit for the yuri masterlist)

Light Novels