I'll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History

Episode 13

As much as we all want to believe that love conquers all, the simple fact is that it isn't true. People can love each other and still be bad for each other. They can love each other but have diametrically opposed life goals. They can love each other but be at different places in life. Love is only one factor in a healthy, successful romantic relationship.

In the case of Alicia and Duke, the obstacle they're facing is timing. In other words, Duke is Mr. Right, but he isn't Mr. Right Now. Alicia has one goal in this, her second life: to be a villainess that will go down in history. Part of this is challenging herself against the world, constantly improving to go toe-to-toe with her idealized version of “the heroine.”

The issue is that she's basically done all she can do within the kingdom's borders. Liz's spell has been broken and she is working hard on self-improvement. Moreover, the people of Roana have finally been freed from their prison and Will is now on hand to help guide his brother, the king. With the kingdom a place without conflict to challenge her, settling down with the Duke leads to stagnation rather than growth. In a very real way, choosing Duke would be denying herself.

This is why Alicia is so set on a clean break. She may love Duke, but won't give up her dreams for him. He should understand this so he can find someone else to love. However, what she misses originally is that Duke is completely aware of her wishes and dreams from the start and wants to help her achieve them. He loves Alicia who put her all into being her version of the ultimate villainess. He wouldn't want her to stop being who she is. That's why we get the events of this episode.

Duke knows Alicia wants to leave the country and investigate the enemies outside their little kingdom. However, to be accepted in the neighboring enemy nation, she has to cut ties with the kingdom by getting exiled just as Will's companions once were. So Duke puts together a plan to do just that. And to keep her exile as legitimate as possible (to protect her) he only clues in one other person: Mel. Of course, the king, Will, and eventually Alicia herself figure out what is going on, however, the group of conspirators is still kept quite low.

And so this series ends triumphantly despite the objectively horrible reality of the situation. Alicia and Duke admit their feelings and agree to wait for each other. Then she is blinded, cuffed, clothed in rags, and abandoned in a strange land alone. Of course, Alicia couldn't be happier. After all, isn't it the traditional fate of all villainesses to be exiled after their trial in the end?

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Did they really take her other eye!? I seriously can't believe Duke would sign off on that. (I mean, if she needed to be blinded for the con, you'd think she'd give Will her other eye for safekeeping.)

• I guess that random distortion around the book's last episode was a red herring?

• We never got an answer about the deal between Curtis and Finn. I guess that's the price to pay for ongoing narratives.

• This anime was a surprisingly deep deconstruction of the otome game heroine archetype and I'm glad to have watched it. Even if we never get a second season, there are the manga and the books.

I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

---

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.