"Akuyaku Reijou nano de Last Boss wo Kattemimashita" [engl: "I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss"] is an Isekai Shoujo series by Maho Film studios. It was directed by Kumiko Habara, who formerly directed the Isekai "100-man no Inochi no Ue ni Ore wa Tatteiru" and was involved with titles like "Fruits Basket" or "Shaman King".
The series aired in October 2022 and adapts the first three volumes of the light novel written by Sarasa Nagase from May 2017 on. The twelve episodes (each ~24 minutes long) distribute equally among the volumes which each contain a closed story arc. This gives the impression of three seasons with each four episodes.
As first thing to mention, the title really does a great job in telling you everything relevant to the story: the main character is reborn as antagonist of a dating sim, this means a game based on building romantic relationships with other characters (love interests). She then tries to evade her tragic fate predetermined by the game plot by winning the heart of the end boss.
Since each story arc consists of only four episodes, both the reincarnated main character Aileen and the audience are thrown into action immediately. In front of all the assembled nobles, the crown prince Cedric dumps Aileen and declares his love for Lilia, the protagonist of the game. Aileen then decides to win the heart of Claude, who is not only Cedric's older brother and the vampire-like good-looking lord of all demons, but also kills Aileen in the original game.
While Aileen's motives are purely selfish at the start, she soon starts to fall in love with her chosen future husband. Therefore, not only Cedric and his new fiancé Lilia, but also Aileen's own bashfulness get in the way to Claude's heart. Talking about the heart of the demon king: at least in the game it was Lilia's fate to pinch this very heart with the holy sword in order to save humanity.
As Claude is the demon lord, naturally the world is inhabitated by demons, as well. In the choice of this setting, LastBoss jumps on the demon-hype-train which seems to be immanent in the Isekai genre (for example in titles like "Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken", "Mushoku Tensei", "Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu", "Kumo desu ga, Nani ka?",...). In contrast with the mainstream setup, the situation between demons and humans in LastBoss is mostly peaceful, because there is a non-aggression pact between both races. Yet again, discrimination and even secret violence create some tension. Since Aileen chooses the demon lord to be her future fiancé, the demons are merely displayed as cute animals with special characteristics (as for example talking crows). Thus, demons appear rather weak which perfectly sets the stage for Aileen helping them out using her bright intellect and outgoing personality.
If the general setting sounds familiar to you, then it is because this series is not really innovative and shares common concepts with other Isekai Shoujos like for example "Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta" ["My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!", short: Hamefura], "Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen" ["Ascendance of a Bookworm", short: Bookworm], or "Otomege Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu" ["Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs", short: Mobseka]. (Seriously, what happened to nice compact titles like "Bleach", "OnePiece", "DBZ" which can be typed in an instant and without actively learning the title by heart?)
Just like in Hamefura, the anime protagonist Aileen is reincarnated as the antagonist of a dating sim, replacing a shifty noble girl with an honest-hearted woman. And similarly to Katarina in Hamefura, the main motivation after this reincarnation is to evade the events of the game that most certainly lead to her doom. However, the characters of Katarina and Aileen could hardly differ more. Whereas Katarina is oblivious to everything around her and simply does the right moves coincidentally, Aileen uses her wits and outstanding personality. This is truly necessary, as she is thrown directly into the fight without much preparation and has a true antagonist to face.
Furthermore, both series certainly have a different angle: Whereas Hamefura concentrates on the relationships of the characters with each other and on inscenating Katarina as the queen of involuntary comedy, LastBoss provides a much richer story and actual enemies to face.
As described in the last paragraphs, Aileen primarily has her intellect and directness working for her. For example, she has founded several companies for medicine fabrication. After the breakup with Cedric, he steals all these companies abusing loopholes in the contracts. In return, Aileen assigns her loyal employees to craft cosmetics for her newly founded company - the Isekai goto solution for earning money (compare Bookworm or "Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life: Isekai ni Tsukurou Drugstore" ["Drug Store in Another World - The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist"]).
A very nice treat of Aileen is her character being composed of many different sides. In the situations in which she has to fight for Claude's attention and love, Aileen is displayed as forceful and direct, especially in the very first episode when she utilizes narcotics and a love potion. Yet again, she becomes timid around Claude whenever he displays his affection for her. Her cross-dressing and duck costumes in the second arc add a very funny side to her, as well. Last, her natural motivation to fight for demons in a bind and those she loves makes Aileen a truly likable person - although she likes to cover this up by playing strong.
In total, Aileen is a very nicely designed character and a particularly pleasant change to the regularly overpowered isekai protagonists (e.g. in "Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!", "Isekai Cheat Magician", "Leadale no Daichi nite",...). She brings in the necessary seriousness to face her enemies, but also amuses the audience by her bashfulness and weird ideas.
The demon lord starts off as very mysterious character. He has been banished from the royal castle by his family in young years because of being half demon and his magic powers. A barrier protects his castle from the human world and vice versa holds his demons inside.
His all cool appearance changes drastically with Aileen around, varying between the extremes embarrassment and sorrow depending on how her words affect him. As a very nice touch by the producers, his state of mind is directly reflected on the weather. In this fashion, Claude is portrayed as very sensitive and gives rise to several amusing scenes.
Although Claude's magical skills seem totally overpowered at first, several weaknesses as for example the power of the sword maiden or demonic powder lead to a good balance.
Lilia might be the most notable and confusing person of this series. She is introduced as the docile game protagonist girl who wins the hearts of all men with her cuteness and charme. However, her actions in the first arc are in a total contrast to this: she writes threatening letters to herself and fakes being kidnapped in order to humiliate Aileen and get closer to Claude. Until the end of the second arc, this seemed to me like a very cheap implementation of game elements by the plot editors who wanted to show that the original plot events of the game are determined to happen. After Aileen exposing that Lilia is a reincarnated person, as well, everything makes much more sense.
Yet again, apart from this revelation Lilias character is rather boring: she views this world as a game and does not care about the feelings or lives of other characters - which is not innovative, as well (compare MobSeka). She is only determined to get her own reverse harem ending and to enjoy the show. However, she plays the role of the villainess much better than Marie Fou Lafuan in MobSeka, who has the very same background.
Apart of the two main couples, there are several background characters to support the action and acting as living canvas. However, due to the high pacing of the series there is practically no time for any background information on them. To be honest, out of the five employees of Aileen, I can only remember Isaac whereas the others were completely oblivious to me. Similarly, I am not able to remember the names of the members of the student council in the second arc. A very welcome exception of this is when Belzebuth asked for some tutoring in etiquette.
Considering that the story does not require high end animations, the art in LastBoss is acceptable. It definitely cannot keep up with action Isekais (e.g. "Seirei Gensouki" or "Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei suru") and in my opinion even looses to Hamefura, but does not bother the viewer either.
I personally found both opening and particularly the ending need getting used to them. The opening song "Kyokansarenakutemoiijanai" by Rie Takahashi starts off exaggeratedly happy and with sharp high vocals that made my ears hurt the first times. This gave me the excuse to skip the intro several times, which I often prefer anyways to prevent any visual spoilers. Yet again, the opening also symbolizes Aileen's extroverted and cheerful side. This is particularly well performed by Rie Takahashi as a voice actor during the whole series. She really conveys Aileen' personality and helps her carrying the whole series.
The ending "Nomick" by ACCAMER purpously features discords that took several rounds for me to grow liking them. The rather dark theme poses a nice contrast to the opening, featuring the very different sides in Aileen's life: the happy love live with Claude and his demons and the fierce attacks plotted by her enemies.
The most impressing detail is that I noticed the background music at some parts (mainly during the second arc where it appears in each episode), which I normally do never when watching an anime. The musical piece I am referring to has a large resemblence to "He's a pirat" by Klaus Badelt from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.
Considering voice acting, Yuuichirou Umehara as Claude is worthy being mentioned, as well. He does an extraordinary job, as well, by portraying the bored demon lord who does not care for the world outside his castle at first. When he warms up for Aileen, his tone changes slightly to being mysterious and alluring.
In my eyes, LastBoss is best described by the first dish after christmas: when you have lots of different things in your fridge and wildly put them together. As indicated at several points in the analysis, this series is composed of several elements that we already know from other Isekai animes and thus cannot claim the adjective "innovative" for itself. In contrast to discussions I read in some blogs, it definitely is not a pure copy of Hamefura which is particularly due to the presence of antagonists and the serious plot.
However, all of this is not supposed to indicate that this series was no fun to watch - au contraire! Apart from Claude being a bit overpowered with his magic skills, the powers of humans and demons show a nice balance which sets a perfect stage for the exciting plots. Those are definitely the big positive points of LastBoss. In contrast with Katarina from Hamefura, Aileen has a much richer personality and does not need to play the same kind of humor over and over again. Still and particularly compared to Hamefura, the other characters are much too plain and severely lacking background stories. This is mainly attributable to the constantly high pacing.
In case you are not bothered by flat characters and if you are a fan of the Isekai Shoujo genre, you will find this show very enjoyable and entertaining, even though it might not be innovative or outstanding in any points. If you are looking for a light but likable anime series, LastBoss is a decent choice.
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