Villainess Level 99

Episode 11

There are bad anime parents, and there are Bad anime parents. Yumiella's, unsurprisingly, fall into the latter category. (I reserve the former for those anime parents who somehow neglect to tell their children they're remarrying until the last second and other similar offenses.) We knew from the start that they weren't going to win any prizes given the way they abandoned their tiny daughter while they moved to the capital, so learning that now that she's gaining some notoriety they've decided to have her killed isn't a shock. The fact that it's because they think she's allied with their enemy faction is a little more bizarre in the context of the series because it's not something that's been dealt with in the plot before. We know there are political factions and that Yumiella's new bestie Eleonora's family leads the opposition, but beyond that, there hasn't been a lot done with the concept. To be perfectly fair to the original story, the novels spend more time with this subplot, but the assassination attempts weren't something that the anime could just remove, since they lead to a significantly larger plot point, the romance between Yumiella and Patrick.

This episode can be summed up by the nagging sense that someone suddenly realized that they were closing in on the end of the season and had better get moving. Not that the plot hasn't been chugging right along from the start, but with the finale of book one rapidly approaching, details like the romance and the Dolkness parents have to be dealt with right away, as well as Yumiella voicing her thoughts about what she'd truly like to see change in the story's world. We have seen how the prejudice against black-haired people at least tangentially affects her, and Patrick's situation opened her eyes to the fact that not everyone can just bulldoze through bias with ludicrous strength. So there's a real argument to be made that she needed to meet with the little boys to see how the average dark-haired person is affected by society's blind prejudice. But that doesn't mean that all three major elements of this episode aren't sped through like my dog eats his dinner: quickly and messily.

Yumiella's affect may be flat, but I still loved that the little boys all recognized that her black hair didn't stop her from protecting them (and herself), turning her into a full-on hero in their eyes and leading to them welcoming in their new dark-haired playmate. But of course, the highlight is her stumbling around a confession of love for Patrick, attempting to figure out how he feels about her and still managing to nearly botch the entire thing. Parts of it still read as Yumiella being unbelievably dense, but Patrick knows that about her. It may even be part of what he loves because it certainly makes her unique. And he does, at long last, get through to her at least a little bit, although I daresay he thinks they're now dating and she's probably not as clear on that point. But she knows she wants to be a family with him, and for Yumiella, that's a giant step forward.

I mentioned in an earlier review that this is only adapting the first light novel, which means that the series is now rushing to get it all in. Since the return of the demon lord has finally been announced and the parties all assembled to take it down, that leaves us with the big battle and its aftermath to squeeze in. And that's still a lot for one-to-two episodes to cover. (I do think thirteen would be best to make sure that the finale isn't a total rushed disaster.) I'm not feeling hugely hopeful about how next week will play out. Even though this episode had its moments, it was also a major step down in narrative quality.

Rating:

Villainess Level 99 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.