Jun 20, 2020
Notice: My review will contain a few little "spoilers", though they have little connection to anything and spoil nothing. However, proceed with caution.
"My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom" is mediocre at best. This is your usual pleasant casual romance, fun to watch but when it comes to the story this anime drops flat.
Story) Katarina is reincarnated as a villainess in an Otome Game and she has a simple goal in mind: avoiding her preestablished destiny of death. There is nothing extraordinary about the story, and whenever something serious happens, the mood doesn't fully adjust. When most of the
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main cast got trapped in a book the only two characters that can save them aren't taking it seriously. It is considerably unorganized how the story can jump back and forth like this. My next point is the story also relies on its otome game premise but does nothing with it, the death flags/romance flags are mostly a device they make no use of. The escaping death flags are what brought me to this series at first. The reverse harem was fun while it lasted but eventually, it got old and it felt slightly boring. It's really humorous how Katarina just apparently stops to care about her "doom” during the middle part of the series.
The settings are dull, the story could take place anywhere but it's another genetic town/magic school/castle. For a fantasy world, they sure spend time farming and doing normal stuff. The game premise makes no sense either, Was there a design in the game to trap the characters in the book, etc
How does the secret route of the game even work out? As far as we know Katarina can't be changed to become friendly in the game, So how does this path unlock?
Episode 10 is finally where the climax of the series is happening, the episode ends on a cliffhanger and I was becoming excited. However, in the next episode, six sets of flashbacks take place. Did we need a reminder on how the characters started to love Katarina? (especially when there were only a few episodes) This killed off my excitement, the flashbacks are extremely tedious. They shouldn't be recapping near this point of the series, there are so many other things to be focusing on. For example, the many unsolved questions just from Episode 11 alone - How did Katarina even get back to her real world? How is she talking to Acchan? It's not even clear if Katarina's friend Acchan is Sophia or just inside her.
Characters) The story had a chance to create unusual personalities that copy game characters but instead the cast are standard harem protagonists. Katarina is entirely oblivious, furthermore, making her a complete dumbass, but that reasonably makes the series enjoyable. Katarina mostly carries this show single-handedly. The other characters have their moments that are entertaining and engaging, but also sometimes bland.
Entertainment) This is where the anime shines. It's pretty lighthearted and fun to watch. Also quite calming and refreshing if the cast isn't being clingy to Katarina.
Art and Sound) The animation in this is pretty good. Granted, they don't have to do much with it since most of the series takes place in a rather generic world. The animation is soft and solid and the characters look cute. Intro song and ending were good, I loved the closing song with the visuals. Voice actors fit their characters strongly.
Overall) This isn't to say that I don't like My Next Life as a Villainess, because I honestly do like the show and I’ll stay around for season two. If you like simple, entertaining, well-made stories, My Next Life as a Villainess is worth viewing for you.
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Story - 4
Characters - 6
Animation/art - 7
Sound/soundtrack- 7
Enjoyment - 6
Overall - 6 or 5
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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