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zfunk
Joined: 05 Nov 2016
Posts: 550
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Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2026 3:33 pm |
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Funny that Bertia doesn't get the irony of Charles and Anne's situation. Charles wanting to step aside so Anne can be happy with somebody else, but doesn't realize she be happier with him, that is Bertia's situation.
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Edjwald
Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 3574
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Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2026 4:15 pm |
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Welp, I like Bertie and all, but I would hate to have to argue that self-reflection is her strong point.
It was fun seeing Bertie's attempts to play cupid succeeding for once, even in a bass-ackwards fashion. It's also nice to see a villainess show where the villainess is doing the exact opposite of building a harem.
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rapata
Joined: 25 Nov 2025
Posts: 96
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Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2026 5:09 pm |
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E4: at the first episode I was a bit annoyed at the prince, but that dissipated watching the subsequent eps now that he's playing together better with Bertia. This is pretty fun watch now that the comedy engine of villainess wannabe is properly running.
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TJ_Kat
Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 882
Location: Saskatoon, Canada
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Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2026 8:40 pm |
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We have Cecil, Shawn, Charles, Vlad, and... Nelt? Never change Japan
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Edjwald
Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 3574
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Posted: Sat May 02, 2026 6:47 am |
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The tone took on a more serious vibe this episode - I honestly have no idea how many manga or light novels are behind this anime, but I have a feeling we're closing in on the end of the first major arc or light novel or whatever. The reason I think so is that things often get more serious at that juncture, and then the series returns to it's usual lighthearted tone for the next adventure. I hope that's the case here, because while I liked this episode, I like the series best when the emphasis is on the comedy.
I think it's endearing that Berties true nature is so obvious and opposed to lying and scheming that even her attempts to be a villainess are taken as her trying to shoulder the blame for unselfish reasons - which is nothing but the truth.
Meanwhile, the heroine's true nature is so obvious that the only people following her have that weird, hypnotized glow to their eyes.
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smurky turkey
Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 5049
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Posted: Sat May 02, 2026 7:13 am |
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5:
Given the end of the episode things have become pretty darn serious, enough so that the situation indeed needs to be resolved. Bertia claiming that she has a handle on things no longer works for her. I do wonder about that one unknown girl that was shown though, she was made to look rather suspicious.
The show still surprises me in that time goes by fast and that there is not really a central character in a sense. In the episode we saw Cecil reacting to news about what Bertia has to deal with but we barely saw it actually happen.
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smurky turkey
Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 5049
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Posted: Fri May 08, 2026 4:27 pm |
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6:
I would be very surprised if the episode does not match up with the end of the first volume of the novel. It very much feels like the end of the current arc. I am unsure of what role miss Heronia is going to have going forward. Given Cecil's reaction I doubt any heroine magic is going to take place but who knows. Bertia becoming a villainess is also not a thing at all anymore, not that it ever really was.
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TJ_Kat
Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 882
Location: Saskatoon, Canada
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Posted: Fri May 08, 2026 9:44 pm |
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The last confrontation between Bertia and Heronia suggest there's an underlying reason both of them only ever considered the Heronia/Cecil pairing and why Bertia has been trying so hard to set it up. Sounds like in the game, all the other candidates wind up happy with their alternate pairings, but Cecil winds up miserable if he's not with Heronia. This means Heronia might not be the actual-villainess she appears to be; she might just being trying to make a happy ending for Cecil.
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Edjwald
Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 3574
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Posted: Sat May 09, 2026 7:42 am |
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Has anybody else been having a hard time logging on to ANN? This is the first time in two days I got through...maybe my usual weekday log in time has become a heavy traffic time?
Anyhow, I'm curious about this Heronia being the "Child of Destiny" thing too. It sounds like that's going to be the focus of the next arc.
Personally, although there are some good "Chosen One" stories to be sure - usually involving some underdog out in the sticks being destined to shake up the power structure while the world goes to hell - I've always found the idea to be a little obnoxious.
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smurky turkey
Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 5049
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Posted: Fri May 15, 2026 3:13 pm |
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7:
The show has succeeded in making me rather invested in seeing Cecil prove Bertia wrong in that they can be together and avoid a horrible end. Part of that is Bertia being so resolute despite hurting herself doing so, she really is too kind. The other part is Cecil having changed from emotionless prince to a man very much in love and not being in control of his emotions anymore because he hates the current situation. The final part is seeing Heronia being humbled, she has it coming.
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Edjwald
Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 3574
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Posted: Sat May 16, 2026 4:42 am |
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| smurky turkey wrote: | | The show has succeeded in making me rather invested in seeing Cecil prove Bertia wrong in that they can be together and avoid a horrible end. |
Yah, it's been a bit of a genre shift from a straight up comedy to a comedy drama (I keep wanting to call it a comma, but I see why dramedy became an accepted term). But I'm also still invested.
The king definitely knows something, right? That stunned silence and complex expression (okay, animated illustration of a complex expression) was troublesome.
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TJ_Kat
Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 882
Location: Saskatoon, Canada
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Posted: Sat May 16, 2026 8:26 pm |
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I'm wondering if the king is another isekaied person since he seems to know more than he let on, but didn't know he arranged for Cecil and Bertia's engagement.
I'm also wondering if Cecil's bad end in the game has more to do with Bertia being a villainess and dragging him down with her. But since this Bertia is utterly incapable of being a villainess, that outcome has already been completely avoided.
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smurky turkey
Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 5049
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Posted: Fri May 22, 2026 3:00 pm |
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8:
I like that a large part of episode 8 was showing Heronia and Bertia that the people in their world are in fact not game characters who blindly follow a script. Both of them figured that the world would somehow force things back on track with the game plot but that did not happen. The only thing Heronia managed to do was to dig a giant hole for herself and given the looks some very important people were giving her she is not getting out of it either.
That light spirit can try to brainwash Cecil all he wants but it is likely to end in failure.
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Edjwald
Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 3574
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Posted: Fri May 22, 2026 4:52 pm |
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| smurky turkey wrote: | | 8:
That light spirit can try to brainwash Cecil all he wants but it is likely to end in failure. |
At first I thought that the "maiden of destiny" thing was just a metaphor for being the one to melt the prince's cold, cold heart.
Then I wondered if maybe the dream was a metaphor suggesting that the prince really wasn't human - that he was under some kind of Pinnocchio curse where only true love could make him a real boy...
Then, like Smurk, I went back to thinking that scenes from the Otome game and the illusion of puppet fingers was either (1) the "light spirit" trying to break the prince's will and getting him to accept his role as a scripted automaton, or (2) a dream expression of the prince's subconscious awareness that the light spirit was trying to force him into that role.
The reason I thought so was the prince's stray thought that he had been acting out the same scenes many times before. The light spirit - for whatever reason - is the supernatural force with some meta-awareness trying to make everybody deliver their scripted lines.
Still not jumping off this train.
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DuskyPredator
Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15859
Location: Brisbane, Australia
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Posted: Sat May 23, 2026 7:22 am |
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I am a little worried that coming out of whatever he is put into right now is going to have him be brainwashed and turn against Bertia. Such that maybe he will start having more "normal" emotions, and it will lead him to fall into "being fixes". Cecil has certain tendencies that align with some kind of neurodivergence, and he probably could be worse, and has some insecurities about it. But I am kind of interested in the element that it might not need to be "fixed" and made to just be like everyone else.
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