Krystallina: A lot of actors prefer playing the villain rather than the hero. They say it’s more challenging, or that there’s an added level of fun in just being wicked. Of course, either way, it’s just a role, and the actors eventually pack up and move on to the next role — whether hero or villain.
But what if you were actually in the story, and those deaths or banishments were real? What would you do? Well, the simple answer would be to not be evil, a fact that Katarina — an average Japanese schoolgirl in her past life — almost grasps. But she’s so caught up in ways to head off all the events that lead to her doom that she doesn’t realize that she’s turning from the antagonist of an otome game into the protagonist. Or, if she keeps stealing the guys’ lines, perhaps the love interest!
No wonder this series (particularly the main character) is known as Bakarina.
Like most isekai stories, a random Japanese person gets into an accident and eventually awakens in a medieval fantasy land, the world of the otome game Fortune Lover. Her personality change from haughty rich girl to rambunctious tomboy with commoner habits is of much consternation to her parents. But you know who is also stressed out? The love interests of Fortune Lover who can’t believe how dense Katarina is when it comes to romance. Katarina, of course, has her own worries about which route she’s going to find herself on and what to do if bad comes to worse.
Most of this first volume of My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! is set when the heroine is young, meeting the love interests and fellow rival characters of Fortune Lover. Even though this can be viewed as an extended prologue, I never felt like it was slow or dull. The novel has a lot of spirit as it gracefully straddles the line between a typical harem and parody. Many guys (and girls) surround Katarina, but at the same time, she’s already making plans in case she never sees them again. I mean, who knew that papercrafting would be considered an essential form of defense?
The guys are all traditional archetypes (the prince with a darker side, the quiet one, etc.), but Katarina is assuming they are interested (or will be interested) in someone else. We know they’re interested in her because at the end of every chapter, we switch from Katarina’s perspective to that of one of the other characters. These parts are an abridged version of what just happened, but it’s a fun way to see the ground being laid for the battle for Katarina’s heart.
Judging from her denseness, it’s going to be a long, drawn-out war. With the start of Fortune Lover on the horizon and the assured appearance of the game’s heroine, this strong opening volume hopefully means that My Next Life as a Villainess will be just as much fun.
Krystallina’s rating: 5 out of 5
Helen: There are a lot of isekai anime/manga/light novels available in English these days and the phrase “video game isekai” conjures up a fairly specific image. You typically have a male character who has died in the real world and who has woken up in a world that might not explicitly be a fantasy RPG but it acts enough like one that you could call it a “game” (up to and including the ability to use game menus!).
But RPGs aren’t the only kind of video game out there, so it makes sense that not all video game isekai would be set in something like an open-world MMORPG. I’m a little surprised that I haven’t yet come across any true gag/parody video game isekai series (like a character reincarnating in Tetris) but it is fun to see the genre “branching out” a bit into otome games.
While I’m well aware that the premise of “female main character reincarnates in the world of an otome game” isn’t new either (both Seven Seas and Cross Infinite World have also published manga and light novels in this genre) it is much more uncommon in English and the novelty of My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! is part of what delighted me so much. Katarina was a 17-year-old otaku when she died and then reincarnated (or perhaps “awoke” after an accident) as the 8-year-old daughter of Duke Claes, aka she has reincarnated as the main villainess in the otome game she stayed up too late playing the night before she died! Katarina is horrified when she remembers all of the catastrophic bad ends Katarina meets in most of the routes and she is determined to avoid them all. So far her plans include:
- Learning swordplay and magic so that she can defend herself in a fight (as happens in multiple endings)
- Practice her earth magic and agriculture so that she can make a living on her own if exiled (which covers another possible ending)
- Make sure that her adopted brother Keith grows up smothered in love so that his heart won’t be easily swayed by the protagonist character (since Katarina usually ends up stabbed in those endings)
It’s quite funny to watch Katarina go about these plans, especially the last one since she is wildly successful in making Keith feel loved and he’s not the only person she’s charmed. She mentions off-handedly that in the original game there was a harem ending where the protagonist could get all four of the love interests and Katarina has gone far and beyond that by the end of this first volume. It’s honestly quite funny to see how she has accidentally seduced nearly every named character in the story, and the end-of-chapter snippets from the other character’s points-of-view are quite sweet as they admit to themselves just how much Katarina has changed their lives. I’m quick to complain when most isekai protagonists have tons of characters fall for them romantically, but Katarina has personality and spunk in a way that really makes her feel like a different type of character altogether.
Do your best Katarina, I’m rooting for you and your good ending!
Helen’s Rating: 4 out of 5