I'll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History

Episodes 1-3

As you may or may not know, I am a lover of villainess stories. Be they reincarnation stories, time travel tales, or simply what happens to the villainess after their “unhappy end,” they are my not-so-guilty pleasure. I can't get enough of seeing all the little twists on the cliché fantasy otome game setup—you know, noble academy, magically-gifted commoner heroine, pretty boys just begging to be romanced, and, of course, the villainess standing in the heroine's way.

It's funny but the whole reason the villainess sub-genre exists in the first place is due to the villainess archetype being painfully one-note. The typical villainess is vain and jealous. Basically, it is a plot device that gives the heroine challenges to overcome. However, when you apply real-world logic to try and figure out what could make a person turn out that way, those kinds of thought experiments are at the center of what makes villainy stories so much fun.

I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History, is a reincarnation story about a girl from our world who is reincarnated as Alicia, her favorite otome game villainess. The twist in this story ties back into what was mentioned above. From what we see in these first few episodes, the original Alicia was a stereotypical villainess—pampered, lazy, and self-centered. She rose to the top of the school hierarchy due to her family's status and natural talents.

However, the reincarnated Alicia clearly has a different interpretation of the character. She feels that Alicia must have worked hard off-screen to get what she had—trained hard and studied even harder to rival the heroine. Thus, these first three episodes are all about Alicia doing just that. With her new body's natural abilities (both physical and mental) and her adult willpower, she can progress far beyond any normal child.

Alicia is singularly focused on her goal of being the ultimate villainess—or at least her own interpretation of one. To her, a villainess is never weak or cowardly—she can stand proud and strong in any situation. But more than that, she believes a villainess must be equal to the heroine. While their methods may be different, the villainess should be able to get the same result as the heroine in any situation.

Thus, rather than evil, Alicia comes off as pragmatic—especially in contrast to the heroine's idealistic goals and methods. She can see the world as it truly is and uses this knowledge to attain her goals. Moreover, she is not afraid to speak truth to power—even to the king himself.

While all this is often used for comedy—i.e., Alicia treating each and every moment of her life as a test to show off how good of a villainess she is—it also makes her a character that's easy to root for. At this point, she is more heroic than the heroine. Rather than spouting empty platitudes, Alicia is constantly doing things to bring about real change—even putting herself in real danger to do so.

In all, these three episodes make up a single arc: her childhood. But now at the age of thirteen, she is ready to start the game proper—to enter the nobles' academy and show all these walking otome clichés what a real “villainess” looks like.

Episode 1 Rating:

Episode 2 Rating:

Episode 3 Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• A small but interesting twist on the formula is Alicia being so much younger than the heroine and her love interests. Usually, the villainess is the same age as the heroine or maybe a year older.

• Alicia's biggest weakness at this point is her overconfidence in knowing what's going on in this world. While she may have played the game in her past life, that doesn't mean she understands many things in this world that normal people see as common sense. Or to put it another way, she's ignorant of a ton of important information.

• The most “evil” thing Alicia does in these episodes is trick Liz into over-extending herself magically, even if this wasn't even slightly intentional.

• This also hints at Liz having a major character flaw as well. As the heroine, she's supposed to be the best at everything—to overcome everything with her innocence and pure heart. But what happens when she's overshadowed by the villainess? How would a stereotypical heroine deal with having a major inferiority complex?

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

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