Forum - View topicVillainess Level 99 (TV).
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11443 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Villainess Level 99 (TV) Source: Light Novel (ongoing @ 6 volumes, written by Satori Tanabata, illustrated by Tea) Demographic: Josei Animation Studio: Jumondo Genres: comedy, fantasy Themes: isekai, reincarnation Plot Summary: Yumiella Dolkness is your run-of-the-mill villainess in an otome RPG—except for the fact that she's also secretly the overpowered hidden boss. But Yumiella wasn't always Yumiella. In her past life, she was nothing more than an introverted college student and devout gamer. When she realizes that she's been reincarnated as a hidden boss, she's determined to steer clear of the protagonists and avoid her demise at their hands. All she wants is a nice, quiet life. Too bad when her gamer instincts kick in, Yumiella can't just ignore her awesome stats... A girl's gotta grind. So, with plenty of time on her hands before starting life at the academy, she gets a little carried away and maxes out her level at 99. And when everyone else finds out, they get the wrong idea about her power—now they think she's the Demon Lord. Air Date & Platform: January 9, 2024 (Tuesday) Available on: Crunchyroll Episode Count / Runtime: 12 episodes Last edited by Tony K. on Fri Apr 12, 2024 4:57 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Yttrbio
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I don't know if I've ever seen a premiere that made me think "Get to the point!" as much as this one. It already announced itself as a subversion (even if the thing its subverting barely exists) in the title, is there really any reason to run through 2/3 of the runtime on the intentionally-boring head fake that everyone knows is a head fake?
Aside from that I'm interested, though, and the ending (or opening, maybe?) suggests a small possibility we may see the utterly unthinkable: A main character with an interest in a male without that being the entire point of the show. |
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Edjwald
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I kept wondering when they were going to switch to the protagonist/antagonist too, but I didn't really get impatient. I assumed it was like Groundhog day, and it was important to pay attention to that first run because it would provide the template for the future redo.
By the time I realized I was probably wrong about that, the show shifted gears. Anyway, big surprise, I'm in. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24157 |
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Episode 1
This was pretty much what I expected. I actually found the deliberately boring otome cliche bits kind of amusing. I'll stick with it for now. Will this title survive the inevitable purge after an existential crisis I will have in a few weeks when I wake up at 3:47am from a nightmare, screaming, "I'M WATCHING TOO MUCH ANIME, AIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Hard to say, hard to say... |
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Yttrbio
Posts: 3670 |
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In its favor, there's really not much else going on on Tuesday for me. Meanwhile, I have multiple weekdays with 7 candidates that are going to need some brutal cutting.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24157 |
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Tuesday is a welcome respite for me, too. I only have this and looking ahead, I see there will be no further Tuesday shows for me. Saturday is crazy with 7 titles currently and an 8th on the way. However, it is Saturday which is a big help, especially during a Canadian winter when there is virtually no competition for staying inside all day, snug as a bug, watching anime.
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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It is Wednesdays for me, only this first week Disney+ decided to dump all episodes of the new Marvel show, and I for some reason decided to start watching Last of Us the week of new anime and back to work.
Did start a bit slow in me wondering why it was so bland despite the series name and picture looked more villainess centric, it really has become a new genre. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1586 |
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Heh. Here's the nutshell review - It was predictable, and I enjoyed it.
The longer version is that It seems to me that most of these regression/meta fictional reincarnation takes on the "Villainess" scenario usually have a heroine who is using wits and pluck and foreknowledge to gather strength or maneuver around more powerful opponents. (See All Routes lead to Doom, Tearmoon Empire, How Raelina shacked up with a Duke, etc.) This anime's approach of putting an OP loose cannon who needs subtlety about as much as a tigress needs lip gloss smack dab in the middle of the story feels kind of fresh even though there are tropes a plenty. Also - should I assume that blonde in the closing piece is Prince Edwin's fiance and was destined to be scorned and publicly humiliated before our MC rebooted? (And more importantly - why do I always feel like publicly should be spelled publically no matter what some smartass spellchecking system says?) |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 2
The would be player love interests sure are pieces of work, while staying consistent to character trope standards. The fighter pushes macho bravado by picking fights out of his own pride, facing the same pain he said wanted to cause. The mage is a show-off that throws a tantrum when someone turns out to be better than him. And the prince is a pompous arse that indeed seems to act out of prejudice. Even the principle showed severe lack of wisdom. The magic teacher was like the only one who stood up, trying to say her magic is not inherently evil, and defend against the headmaster making a big mistake. Guess have to wait for her actual allies, the grey haired guy, and I guess blonde girl with terrible taste in men who appeared in the ED. I suppose that I also liked that she didn't return any of the anger that the other characters put towards her. She also kind of makes me think of her as on the neurodivergent, having poor social skills and trouble making expressions. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24157 |
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Episode 2
I am thoroughly enjoying this. On a pure, crude emotional level, watching dudes mock and insult Lady, um, "Dolkness" and then get their butts handed to them is extremely satisfying. I love her phlegmatic attitude, too. She doesn't get warped out of shape. Her acceptance of whatever may come along reminds me of Mao-Mao from The Apothecary Diaries. I love when they show her SD (super deformed) face with her glassy-eyed "whatevs" expression. Anyway, having way more fun with this show than I would have assumed before actually watching it. They're doing something a little bit different with the "conquerable player" characters. Ostensibly, these are supposed to be good guys and they generally are... except when interacting with Yumiella. Then they are jerks. You don't see that good guy/but with jerky tendencies too often in these kinds of stories. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1586 |
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So...one of anime's primary functions for me is to give me some place to park my brain when I get home from work and make some light snack out of coffee and pasta or toast or soup or fruit or whatever. A sub-set of that is anime that I can watch on Saturday and Sunday mornings. And there are some anime, like Tsukimuchi Moonlight, where I come home and think, oh, so that's on. Cool. And there are some anime like Ishura where I think, ok, it's got a lot to like even if I'm not liking it a lot for some reason - I'll give it another shot. And there are some anime that I actively look forward to at the end of the workday.
And today, I realized that Level 99 Villainess has become one of the latter anime. This episode didn't do anything to change that either. I liked that the king and queen of the butthole prince defied expectations. I liked that the MC just sat back blank and aghast while a parade of schemers and fools went by. It's a funny, satisfying show. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24157 |
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Episode 3
Yep, I'm enjoying it, too. I only have one show on Tuesdays and this one doesn't tax my brain or my emotions. There is something soothing about watching an unflappable chick deal with what ever is thrown her way. I wonder if we will ever experience the show through Alicia's POV again the way we did for most of the first episode? Probably not. I guess that was a one-off designed to lull us into a false sense of what the show was going to be before rolling out the real deal. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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One of my mini theories has been the possibility that Alicia might also be a former player, whether we will get a reveal that she was into the social elements of the game. That could be why I she had the three boys already, when I think Yumiella said things were a bit different, and could be why she has shown wariness and just straight up asked if she is the demon lord.
I also have assumed based on the ED that Yumiella and Eleonora would be close friends, but so far they don't seem to have anything in common as of interacting. Too the benefit, it doesn't seem that she is even aware of the whole anti-king faction, not trying to recruit Yumiella, and also being attracted to the prince. And also seems against the stereotype assumption of a mean queen bee, by being friendly and direct. Also feels kind of nice as a change, where last week we had the boys and principle being butts, that as of now the king, queen, Eleonora and other students that just talk to her seem to be nice. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1586 |
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I don't go out of my way to read the site's reviews of these shows, but I clicked on one for this show on the site's main page, and Rebecca Silverman also brought up the possibility that Alicia might be a former player as well. Her question was, if Alicia was a player, why wouldn't she know that our MC was a hidden boss and definitely not the demon lord? But I guess she could be a casual player who didn't get very far in the game? Or maybe confused because of the differences with our MC and coming up with some wild theories. In any case, something does seem to be up with our MC. Going off what you said about the blonde (I forgot her name) I wonder if the blonde will succeed in luring the prince out of the clutches of the ersatz heroine? I also wonder why the blonde wasn't more of a presence in the original game given the way her prince obsession seems to be setting her on a collision course with Alicia. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1586 |
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This show is easily in my top four favorite new shows. And easily in my top ten since Shangri-la Frontier, Frieren, Undead Unluck, and Apothecary Tales are all hanging around without being new shows.
Anyway. this show, The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic, The Weakest Tamer, and Solo Leveling are all shows that would be in my top 5 newbies, and I'm not sure which anime would climb over the other contenders at that point. I thought the comedy with the monster flute was as basic as it gets, and the third time still had me laughing. I was expecting some friendship, but I wasn't really expecting a romantic storyline. The new guy really benefits from having a couple of douche bags parading around before he arrived on the scene...just having him be a sensible, no BS guy makes him seem like the catch of the week by comparison. Good stuff. |
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