The Otomoe Villainess genre has been picking up steam lately with multiple series receiving adaptations.
For those unaware, the genre often features a girl being reincarnated as the villainess of a dating-sim game, often set in a magical medieval world. The protagonist, having knowledge of the game's entire story, must then find a way to prevent her oncoming demise, usually through some sort of romantic endeavor.
You might already be familiar with My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, otherwise known as Hamefura. While that was the first Otome show to really enter the mainstream, as a comedy first and foremost, it's quite different from what this show has to offer.
This show wastes absolutely no time getting to the action.
Our protagonist is reincarnated as the villainess, Aileen, right as the game reaches its climax. Publicly dumped at a ball by her fiancee Cedric in favor of the game's protagonist Lilia, Aileen realizes that she's speeding towards her demise.
Aileen knows that she's destined to her doom at the hands of Claude, the outcast demon prince who's the brother of Cedric. In order to avoid her death, she decides not to prepare for her fight with Claude, but instead to marry him. She also must overcome Cedric and Lilia, who stand to block her at every turn.
Claude, as a half-demon, was outcast from the royal family and now presides over all demons. The lasting effects of a prior demon/human conflict ultimately damaged the relationship between the two, and there's an uneasy peace that permeates throughout.
The show splits itself into 3 distinct arcs, with each of them covering the plot different games in the fictional otome series. Each of these arcs could be an entire show in their own right, with their own central conflict and a batch of characters added to the cast. As a result, the story moves at a brisk pace, keeping it fresh and engaging every week. There's not a single filler episode, and there's barely any downtime either.
At times, the pace can be a little too fast. There's some elements that are handwaved, and quite a few characters remain underdeveloped. For some shows, this could result in something feeling directionless, or having underwhelming climaxes. In this case, it results in an extremely focused story which never strays too far on any tangents.
This show constantly has a sense of urgency, and Aileen is constantly forced to tackle new scenarios. There's a few twists and turns as the show progresses; however, the brisk pace leaves little room for nuance or anything extremely original. While this could be problematic for other shows, here, the strong cast elevate the otherwise average writing.
Aileen is a fantastic protagonist who ultimately turns the series from something average into something special.
Hamefura, the otome mentioned earler, struggled a little because its protagonist, Catarina Claes, lost all of her villainess edge post-reincarnation. Of course, as a comedy, it had a different purpose than this show, but knowing her helps viewers appreciate Aileen even more.
Catarina feels like someone overwrote the villainess original personality. In contrast, Aileen truly feels like someone was reincarnated into the villainess personality.
She's bold, brash, cunning, and independent. She keeps the sharp edge of a villainess while channeling that energy to help herself and others. Things don't come to her; she goes out an makes things happen herself. Every time she's knocked down, she gets back up and keeps moving forward. She's a protagonist who you can't help but cheer for. On top of that, Aileen is also sensitive, and she shows a cuter side when teased by Claude.
Rie Takahashi does a fantastic job in this role, and she truly elevates Aileen to being an amazing protagonist with her exceptional range.Claude is an interesting main love interest for Aileen. One would expect the final boss of the otome game to be more antagonistic; however, Claude shows kindness to Aileen. He pairs extremely well with her, and is also bold and cunning in his own right. The two have a delightful chemistry and bounce off of each other well.
Without spoiling, its hard to talk about Cedric and Lilia. Kana Hanazawa does a great job a changing Lilia's personality with the flip of a switch. She goes from cute to evil without hesitation, and this helps make her an antagonist that you'll enjoy disliking.
The rest of the characters serve their roles well. Although there's not much depth to the supporting cast, this doesn't hurt the story at all. By constantly adding new characters with every arc, the shallowness of the individuals is balanced out just by the sheer volume of the group.
The art of the series isn't anything incredibly special, but it also doesn't get in the way of enjoying the series. It's not a show that you'll remember for having outstanding animation, but it's not a show you'll remember for having awful animation either. The background soundtrack is equally mundane, and there's nothing that gets in the way.
The OP's visuals are ok and get the job done, but the song stands out as something special.
The song is sung by Rie Takahashi, but it's not labeled as a character song by Aileen. Sometimes, characters songs can feel off if the seiyuu is forced to sing a style that doesn't match their solo work. The staff producing the song are the same people who work on her solo music, and as a result, the song fits like a glove for her. There's even slight additions to the OP, reflecting each distinct arc of the series. The song feels right in place with her other songs like this one, which might as well be the OP anyways. Rie Takahashi's solo music is absolutely worth checking out if you're a fan of this OP.
The ED, by Nomick, is equally as fantastic and was a great way to cap off each episode.
I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss is an excellent entry point for newcomers to the otome villainess genre. It's a little rough around the edges, but it makes up for that by having a focused plot and very strong main cast. While it's not a show that will go down as one of the greats, it's one that was pretty good all around. If you missed it as it was airing, the brisk pace will make it an easy and enjoyable binge.
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