I'll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History

This anime series opens with a girl finding herself in the body of Alicia Williams, the villainess in a game she used to play. Knowing this destiny she determines to become the greatest villainess in history. Her preternatural wisdom leads to her gaining the ear of the king and befriending many of the nobility. She also takes a surprising interest to the poor in one particular village. When a prophecy indicates a saint has been born she is given the task of watching over her... of course this saint was the heroine of the game, an instantly popular girl.

Recently there have been quite a few anime series centred on a reincarnated villainess. This may not be the best but it is an enjoyable addition to the genre. The characters are solid and nobody is really unlikeable. As seems to be common in this genre our protagonist never seems particularly villainous; she is just in conflict with the designated heroine. This isn't really a problem as Alicia is a likeable character and other characters are fun to watch. Character designs and animation are both pretty good. The final episode seems more like the end of a chapter than an end of the story; if there is more I'd certainly watch. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of the genre.

These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.

What I liked:

• It shows different life-episodes of the characters (infant to teen)
• It is an Isekai but with focus on romance and playing the villainess and making sure to annoy the heroine, which is a refreshing storyline for me
• Got hooked with the story development, which is a mix of genius battle and romance
• It focuses only on the main characters without unnecessary sideplots for secondary characters

What I did no like:

• The ending was rushed and couldve span across at least 3 episodes
• Reconciliation between female characters who were enemies before are always annoying for me and I consider it unrealistic
• Even though the MC was developing her magic abilities to a max she barely uses them. Instead the story is more of an intellectual chess match

Overall: If you like a mix of romance and genius battles/confrontations with an outside the box romance storyline, then this is for you.

Straight away, this is one of the "relabeled Villainess" type animes where Hero and Villainess basically switch the meaning. However, in my opinion this Anime actually portrays the proclaimed Villainess actually somewhat as one through their speech and actions. Further, the characters are generally well written, just the age difference and ages for the characters for certain events and actions are somewhat inappropriate for modern standards. However, ignoring that fact, the portrayal of the romantic relationships is written in a nice way.

Coming to the story overall - it is a great written story but at some points it was bit bumpy with rather harsh cuts between events. Still smooth enough to follow without problems but enough to notice.

The plot started with clear motivations, and the female lead had clear intentions of what she wanted and what she needed to do. The plot followed this quite well for the first three-fourths of the show. However, the last third became quite dumb for me. It had so many inconsistencies that I just had to turn my brain off!

I watched it till the end and would probably watch the next seasons if they ever made them because I like to see it more as a chill and average show that can run in the background. I'm not too crazy about it, but I'm not too ignorant of it either, because the show doesn't go to extreme measures, making it a pretty chill anime.

The lore is very heavy for me, which made it feel like many things were left unanswered or uncatchable by me. The pace didn't help either; it was a bit fast-paced. The romance was the one thing that made me start watching this show, to begin with, and I have to say it felt like a secondary priority, which I didn't like at all.

The opening and ending songs were decent enough for me but forgettable, to be honest. Well, that's just my taste. The animation is okay-not too great and not too bad, just average.

(12+) Ugh. Another series that could have been a lot better. The premise was fine, the voices and animation is great, but some of the female protagonist's actions are just over the top stupid and make no sense. I am all in for a sacrifice for a worthy cause, person, or goal - but hers just doesn't have a lot of wisdom (or reason) to it in my opinion. Not sure if there will be a second season or not, but I believe the writers have a lot to work with if so and the series could easily improve. If you are a fan of these types of tropes, you will like this series just fine.

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