Romance is a genre that I always get to relate to. It's that innocent feeling of falling in love with someone so much that you go crazy with them to the point where you go through lengthy obstacles just to talk to someone, and that's no better represented by the innocent feeling of anime romance genres. But romance isn't always bubbles and colors; it's an anxious, lonely journey for a certain individual, and you have this second-guessing nature about whether the one you're pursuing really likes you or not. However,there hasn't been much anime that encapsulates the empty loneliness of romance as its main concept. We have certain anime that explored that concept, such as Kaguya-Sama: Love is War, but that series played with a lot of concepts that were only introduced minimally; Kuzu no Honkai used the concept as its main theme, but that series has execution problems; and other romance series where the concept was only explored minutely.

With that in mind, I'm in Love with the Villainess. It offers nothing special with the concepts of hopeless romance compared to what other series have done and could potentially be better, but this is the first time an anime that I have seen has used this concept subtly, and it hits the spot for me. ***

In the anime, we follow our main character, Rae Taylor, who is madly attracted to Miss Clair, whom she admires very much. Each episode offers nothing special than other anime, just your usual buddy adventure with Ray Taylor and Miss Claire as they experience their unusual journey in their academy with a light spice of Rae Taylor constantly hyperactively engaging with Miss Claire. This anime from the very beginning has been pretty fun, and it continues to get more fun as the episodes run, but it doesn't shy away from deep topics and dramatic moments, and one element in particular is how the series handles the concept of letting go of someone you love. ***

Rae Taylor is a happy-go-lucky person, but you can hear that subtle sadness behind her voice, and it's especially prominent when the series points it out. Her tone changes, but she still tries her best when she feels like she has been confronted with her loneliness. It is subtle, and it is brillant, and you keep hearing that kind of tone every episode, and once you hear it, you feel this gut-wrenching feeling in your chest, and you actually feel Ray Taylor’s forgone defeat through those lines, enhanced well with the voice actress (JP: Yuu Serizawa; EN: Hannah Aleya) of Rae Taylor, who delivered a wide range of voice acting while making everything subtle. ***

It's not to say that I'm in love with the villainess; it has its own problems. The animation is Janky at best, and it doesn't explore well with other characters that are in the series; they're just there for the sake of plot convenience. But other than that, I'm in Love with the Villainess offers an entertaining tale while offering subtle sadness and contentment loneliness that no other anime has a well-executed concept offered. ***