The Fall 2024 Anime Preview Guide
I'll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History
How would you rate episode 1 of
I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History ?
Community score: 3.7
What is this?
Alicia hates "goody-two-shoes" heroines. Her wishes come true when she is reincarnated into a villainess in her favorite otome games. She strives to be the world's most evil villainess in history. However, the more she tries to be a villainess, the more the prince appears to like her.
I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History is based on the Rekishi ni Nokoru Akujo ni Naru zo light novel series by Izumi Ōkido with illustrations by Jyun Hayase. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Tuesdays.
How was the first episode?
Rating:
Character interpretation is one of the most fun parts about interacting with fiction. Take Mageneto from the X-Men for example. To one person, he is a villain, using violence to attack the weak and helpless to further his own goals. To another, he is a hero—the one man willing to do what is necessary to make sure his people aren't subjected to a genocide by those who fear and hate them for being born different. Such character interpretation is what lies at the heart of this anime.
The archetypal otome game villainess is selfish and stuck-up. A lady only concerned with the rules of noble society and their place in it along with the love of the prince which has been promised to them since they were young. Jealousy is at her core, and the fear of having what “should be hers” taken away from her causes her to lash out. However, our protagonist for this anime has a different viewpoint on what makes a villainess. In her interpretation, it is the drive to work hard that's most central to a villainess. After all, the villainess has to be the best of the best. Independently sure and strong. If not, how could she hope to rival the heroine?
Thus, when our protagonist becomes aware she has been reincarnated as Alicia—her favorite villainess otome game character—she throws herself into becoming the best villainess she can be. The issue, of course, is that the original Alicia did none of this. She was lazy and conceited. Her talent alone was all that was needed for her to serve her villainess role. But with hard work behind that tallent, the new Alicia's actions look less like unearned arrogance and more like self-realized greatness. In her own mind, she may be on the road to becoming a legendary villainess but to the rest of the world, she might just become something far greater.
Rebecca Silverman
Rating:
If you're already tired of the villainess subgenre of isekai, there's probably not much this episode can offer you. It's very much a retread of familiar tropes: a girl is reborn as the villainess in an otome game, regains her memories at age seven, and immediately begins accidentally enthralling all of the heroine's love interests while becoming ludicrously powerful. Nothing new to see, move along. It also has the bonus feature of the twelve-year-old prince crushing on her, although they may be thirteen and eight by that point. Either way, it's a bit uncomfortable, even if it's also wholly expected.
The twist that this story has to offer us is that Alicia is just tickled to be the villainess. She always preferred the bad guys to the good ones in her previous life, and she wished to be reborn as an otome game villainess should she ever have a chance run-in with everyone's favorite truck. She's utterly delighted to be who and where she is, and that's kind of fun. Is she any good at villainessing? Not really, no. Her newfound desire to study and learn swordsmanship is so at odds with the girl she was before that it catches everyone's attention, including that prince I mentioned and his royal father. At this rate, Alicia looks set to usurp the heroine rather than destroy her, and all that remains to be seen is whether she will accidentally reverse their roles.
As the opening theme shows, this is only the introduction to the story; Alicia is going to grow up before too long. What looks like the potential problem is the whole rose system that the king and his closest advisors are all talking about – Prince Duke (yes, sadly, that is his name) has a magical blue rose that bloomed at his birth, and the golden rose has also shown up, presumably belonging to the heroine. We see Alicia's mother walking with a dead rose towards the start of the episode. I'd bet that will turn out to be a legendary and unanticipated black rose, foretelling Alicia's role in the kingdom's future. This is the most interesting part of the story as far as I'm concerned. While it doesn't make up for overly simple art and Alicia's personal chibi cheerleader – or Prince Duke's name – it does make me want to give this another episode. It's not a great start, but it does have some potential. Clearly, I'm not quite sick of the villainess subgenre yet.
Cailtin Moore
Rating:
I'll Become the Villainess Who Goes Down in History sure has energy! That was the first thought rolling through my head as Alicia popped out of bed, full of vim and vigor to live out her freshly-recalled destiny as the villainess of her favorite otome game. I personally had just risen and stumbled to the couch to watch the episode, so the feeling was something akin to being woken up by an excited child at 6 am on a Saturday. But even as I waited for the stimulants to kick in, I had to admit it was a fun episode to watch. The animation is bright and colorful, with some fun flourishes, like a little Alicia in the corner holding up signs and counting her push-ups. While it's unlikely to show up on any sakuga lists, it's probably the most competent production by MAHO FILM thus far. Frankly, I'm a little mad that I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss didn't look this good!
This appears to be one of those reincarnation isekai where the “reincarnation” feels a bit obligatory, giving context to the character's motivations without playing much of a role in the actual story. Alicia decides to brush up on her academics and train in martial arts to live out her image of the perfect villainess. Still, it's entirely possible that's just an excuse to make her the specialest, smartest girl in the whole wide world, capable of coming up with brilliant military strategies at the age of eight. Maybe there's something supernatural beyond just the reincarnation at play, but it was a bit too much for me to buy that after a week of strength training, she was capable of swinging a sword and slicing an apple in midair.
By the way, one of Alicia's brothers really needs to do something about Prince Duke Seeker. Sure, he's the crown prince and is an early frontrunner for the funniest name of the season. And yes, we know from the opening credits that he and Alicia become a thing later. But she's eight, and he's a teenager, and at this point, it's extremely inappropriate for him to run his fingers through her hair after patting her on the head and gifting her an expensive diamond necklace. It's probably not great politics to take a swing at a member of the royal family for creeping on your baby sister, but maybe they should say something? Or try to prevent them from being alone together? It's weird and uncomfortable to watch, even if mentally she's a teenager (?).
James Beckett
Rating:
I prefer rebirth stories about villainesses because it's a sub-sub-genre that contains at least a little bit of inherent dramatic friction. Either the characters are stuck with the identity of a different person that they need to try and rehabilitate, or they are reliving their own lives with the chance at being a better person than they were before. Tearmoon Empire is a great example of what you can do with such a premise, even if it has been overdone at this point, that your characters and story are up to snuff.
I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History is one of those reincarnation stories about a normal Earth girl who gets reincarnated into her favorite visual novel, with the main twist being that she's going to actually try and play the villainess roll straight; of course, Alicia is too naturally decent and kind of a girl to be any good at villainy, but the girl at least as a goal. So far as I'm concerned, though, I would have found this story much more interesting if Alicia was a terrible little gremlin because that would have at least given this anime a more unique flavor. As it stands, this is the same kind of gentle, low-effort comedy that we've seen dozens of times before, and nothing else about the characters or setting stands out enough to make the clichés feel worthwhile.
Don't get me wrong, I'd take I'll Become a Villainess over another round of gray isekai slop any day, but it's not like these kinds of shows are that much better than their genre cousins in the land of RPG Stat Menus and Warrior Waifu Harems. There are only so many times I can watch a cute little anime kid spend a whole season premiere relearning how to do magic while they monologue mischievously about their foreknowledge of events and whatnot. Give me a fantasy kingdom that is interesting to look at or think about; give me some love interests with discernable personality traits; give me a protagonist with a little bit of spice to liven up all of the “blah blah blah” about spells and swordplay and the rules of high society. Give me something to work with, I'm begging you! I'm pretty sure I've solved mazes on the backs of cereal boxes that try harder than this.
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
discuss this in the forum (115 posts) |
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history
back to The Fall 2024 Anime Preview Guide
Season Preview Guide homepage / archives