The Fall 2024 Manga Guide

I'll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History

What's It About? 

“Screw all your lip service! I'll go down in history as a villain!” Me, the same girl who hates all those prim and proper heroines, got reincarnated as the villain in the world of my favorite fantasy dating sim! It's my dream come true, so I'm going to leave my mark on history by becoming the world's greatest villain! But to do that, I'll need to get a lot stronger, and smarter. Just one problem―the harder I try to be evil, the harder the prince falls for me! At this rate, will I ever get to earn my place in history!?

I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History has a story by Akari Hoshi and art by Izumi Ōkido and Jyun Hayase, with English translation by Sarah Moon. This volume was lettered by Lys Blakeslee. Published by Yen Press (October 15, 2024).

Is It Worth Reading?

All light novel villainesses may not be on the level of Katarina Claes, but Alicia from I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History comes pretty close. So, for that matter, does Yumiella Dolkness from Villainess Level 99, and I'd say Alicia falls somewhere in between the two of them. Like her predecessors, Alicia is killed and reborn in an otome game, but unlike Yumiella and Katarina, she's ecstatic to be the villainess. She never liked goody-two-shoes heroine Liz, and now that she's manifested her villainess dreams (hey, Truck-kun was only trying to help make her dream come true), she's going to be, in her words, the baddest bitch ever. There's just one, very usual, problem: all of her “villainous” acts only endear her to the romantic lead more and her “evil” ideas are actually for the betterment of the kingdom. Whoops.

The most irritating part of this story is the way that Alicia thinks. She's not quite what's known in the romance fandom as TSTL (too stupid to live), but she definitely comes close at times. There's no place in any world where helping the indigent and downtrodden is the act of a villain, and while her political comments to the king are harsh, they're also nothing all that different from politics as normal; in fact, they're really very savvy. Some of the king's advisors try to frame her as having no loyalty to the kingdom, but very little she's actually said supports that. She may be a “divergent,” meaning a prodigy, but if she's going to upend the kingdom, everything points to it being for the country's benefit.

What all of this means for Alicia as a character is that she's doing good while thinking she's doing bad, and that does get old fairly quickly. When she's not focused on her burning desire to be evil, she's actually pretty great, and it's hard to find fault with her desire for knowledge and her urge to help the people of the penal village near her family's estate. In fact, her drive to help them makes her a better person than most of the adults in her life, and if she'd just calm down about the whole villainess thing for a minute, she'd be a fantastic heroine, or rather, the protagonist. I wouldn't want to offend her.

As with many light novel adaptations, this manga feels like it's probably skipping over a few things. The story flow is smooth for a chapter, then there's suddenly a break or a time skip that makes everything feel choppy. There's a real sense that her brother Albert is more important than he's coming across as, and most of the game's love interests don't serve much purpose other than to fill out the panels with extra characters. It's not terrible, but it also feels very much like we're moving in fast-forward. Still, it's not really a dealbreaker, and there's a good sense of fun with a hint of menace, particularly when we get to the end of the book. It's not hard to see why this is getting an anime adaptation, and while I'd prefer to read the source material, this manga is still fun.

I wanted to rank this lower, but clearly, I have something wrong with me. I keep reading and enjoying all of these damned otome game villainess stories, despite their derivative nature. This one doesn't start promisingly – yet another random Japanese woman who identified with the “villainess” character in her favorite otome dating game is somehow reincarnated as her, becoming aware of this fact at the age of seven. Alicia, as she's now known, decides that she'll become the best, most amazing villainess ever, and sets out, with military-like discipline, to read every book in her home library, perfecting her swordsmanship, and learning magic several years too early.

It seems Alicia's definition of “villainy” is completely different from everyone else's, and that seems to be the series' main “joke”. She's not quite dumb enough to reach Bakarina levels – it's clear she's intelligent and motivated but afflicted with enough otaku brain-rot that her every experience is filtered through a very narrow lens, leading to the bafflement of everyone around her. As this is an otome game world, Alicia finds herself surrounded by handsome young men (including her brothers, who thankfully do not appear to be romance-able options for Alicia, only the game's “heroine”), though they're all several years older than her, which makes some of her interactions with “Prince Duke” a little… off.

Whether you'll vibe with this particular villainess story will be entirely dependent on your reaction to Alicia. I found her adorable, and her relentless drive to succeed fun, and the cute art certainly helps. It's just another kind of isekai power fantasy, but there's enough foreshadowing to suggest that her road to “villainy” won't be entirely smooth. I'll probably keep following her story, perhaps via this season's animated adaptation.

It's a shame to see that villainess isekai are starting to fall into the same trap as non-villainess isekai, but I guess they can't all be My Next Life as a Villainess. With this story featuring a girl who loves the villainess in a game and takes the opportunity to become the greatest villainess in history, Alicia goes ham on the training and reading. And wouldn't you know, she becomes one of the greatest swordsmen and spellcasters when her age has only just hit double-digits...

The whole “greatest villainess” angle is transparently shenanigans, as everyone who hears Alicia speak can tell that she's a thoughtful, forward-thinking youth who believes in tough love. And... that's it! That's the story! The only conflict is that Alicia's magic is almost too good, and even then it's presented as more of a risk to herself than anything else. So much for a villainess, this girl is the apple of everyone's eye, and folks are now desperate to save her from herself.

Still, I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History is entertaining enough. Alicia's growth and her dedication to helping people (despite her goals) are noble. And you have to hand it to a kid who marches right up to a king and badmouths the entire system of nobility to their face—knowing that she's including herself in her remarks. This is a fine enough manga, I can see it becoming a personal fave for some. Mildly recommended.