My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

Episodes 1-2

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! may have an overstuffed title, but it has proven to be a delightful little show that does more with less. In the series' first episode we learned the basic gist of the premise: An otome-game obsessed nerd was hit by a truck at the age of 17 and reborn into the life of her favorite dating sim, Fortune Love. It took nine years for her memories to come back, but when they did, she discovered that she is now Catarina Claes, who in Fortune Lover plays the villainous rival to the main heroine in practically every route of the game, and whose life seems doomed to end in exile or death. Hence the title.

I'm hardly a fanboy of the “otaku is reborn in the world of a video game and uses their skills to get powerful and/or laid” subgenre of isekai light novels and anime, but the very fact that this lighthearted comedy uses a dating-sim as its plot device instead of a generic MMORPG was enough to get me on board. The hook is obvious from the very first episode, and it plays out more-or-less exactly like you expect it will in the second: Catarina may be a goof, but she isn't a monster, and she definitely doesn't want to die, so she will use her knowledge of Fortune Lover to reverse her curse and live happily ever after — this, of course, will almost certainly result in all of boys in Fortune Lover falling in love with her, instead of the main heroine they were destined to love. Cue hijinks.

There are two key things that help My Next Life as a Villainess stand out, and the first is its earnest and frankly adorable cast. Prince Geordo is a bit of a wet blanket, sure, but every dating game needs the Basic Boyfriend archetype I suppose, and the other characters we've met belong to much more likable clichés. Keith is the tortured adopted brother whose out-of-control magic has led him to be ostracized by everyone (until Catarina comes along to befriend him!). Mary Hunt is the shy and lonely black sheep of the daughters of Marquess Hunt, confined to her solitary garden (until Catarina comes along and gives her a confidence boost!). Alan Stuart is the sickly little brother of Geordo whose inferiority complex has haunted him for all of his nine years (until Catarina arrives and…well, you get the idea).

All of these kids are just stock standard as any of the harem candidates you'd find in a power-fantasy MMO super-gamer isekai, but I'm much more inclined to forgive their tropey origins since characters from dating sims are designed to have at least some semblance of recognizably human characteristics. Animation-wise, My Next Life as a Villainess is rough around the edges in its best moments, so it needs to have a funny script that generates easy chemistry with its leads to succeed, and these first two episodes show off those skills aplenty. Plus, Catarina is a wonderful heroine for a story like this, as she is just broadly written enough for you to buy that all of these characters will eventually fall in love with her, but she still charges forward enough goofy energy to maintain a recognizable personality.

The other element that works in My Next Life as a Villainess' favor is its equal opportunity approach to Catarina's unintentional romancing of the cast. By the end of episode two, she has unwittingly earned the affection of Prince Geordo, Prince Alan, her sad brother Keith, and the obviously infatuated Mary. While I'm not holding my breath for the series to become a bastion of inclusivity or anything, the way the show is playing against Catarina's predetermined role in Fortune Lover's plot makes Catarina more interesting, which makes for a better anime all around. Mary's presence causes Catarina to consider her effect on the branching narratives of the game from a new angle, Keith's friendship with her works even without the presence of romance, and Alan's constant attempts to regain his honor after Catarina accidentally seduced Mary — his fiancé —reveal that Catarina can still be a devious little stinker when she wants to be.

Is My Next Life as a Villainess likely to blow anyone's minds this season? Probably not. It's production values are nowhere near polished enough to catch the sakuga fans out there, and its narrative ambitions look to be resting squarely in the zone of turn-off-your-brain-and-laugh entertainment. The world's a hot mess right now, though, and the last thing we need is more anime about the super sexy gamer bros who will use their encyclopedic knowledge of MMORPG min-maxing to become the virile god kings of all they survey. I'll take Catarina's humble quest to be nice to people and not die before she's thirty over that any day, thank you very much.

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My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.