Does this anime have rather poor animation? Yes. Does it have a clichéd story? Yes. Is it aware of this? Absolutely! I would fondly describe this series as trash with class, but what is it actually about?
The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess (I'll shorten it to Dark History from now on) is a classic romance isekai from the villainess's perspective. Read and seen dozens of times before. So why am I writing a review about it, what makes the series unique? Maybe you wrote a story many years ago that you would now be ashamed of. But what if, as an adult, you were reborn into the novel you wrote as a teenager and have spent the last few years hiding under your bed and repressing?
This is exactly what happens to the protagonist when she is run over by the well-known Truck-kun. Konoha has not only realised herself as the perfect heroine or saint in her own story in order to experience adventures. She has also created her perfect Prince Charming. Unfortunately, the protagonist does not take on the role of the heroine named after her, but slips into the body of her little sister Iana.
The jealous sister whom everyone hates and who dies as the antagonist in the prologue. What follows is the typical attempt to stay alive as a reincarnated villainess and avoid her predetermined fate.
However, Iana faces several challenges, such as her lack of memory. After all, it has been several years since she wrote the story. Added to this is the fact that she dies an internal death at least once per episode due to the shame and cringe of her teenage fantasies. It doesn't make things any easier that within her first few days, she already influences the plot so significantly that an important trigger for the ongoing plot is not triggered at all.
Added to this is the never-ending fear of being suspected by the other characters. The butler Sol, who kills her in the original story, constantly pierces Iana with suspicious glances and regularly drives her to despair.
Iana is also plagued by the fear that something might happen to Konoha, which in turn would lead to her own death. Lots of wonderful chaos that never settles down thanks to new characters such as Yami.
_Dark History _manages to deal with the clichéd story wonderfully. The constellation allows it to question, criticise and parody its own plot, even if it doesn't work nearly as well as in my absolute favourite series, Eminence in Shadow.
The series cleverly avoids other genre problems. The isekai is explained pragmatically and simply in the very first episode without much theory.
The series also avoids another common mistake in such stories. In many examples of the genre, the isekai quickly becomes completely irrelevant to the story and is merely lazy storytelling. Dark History, however, repeatedly draws on this fact by sketching out the protagonist's memories as a middle school student. These moments, in which she conceives parts of her own story, thus take up an important part of the plot.
Iana herself, on the other hand, is particularly well written for a female character in this genre. She is not an all-powerful woman, but she is independent enough to tackle problems herself without outside help, which contrasts sharply with Konoha, who regularly turns into a damsel in distress.
However, neither she nor Konoha are sexualised, which is almost an achievement when you consider that the protagonist, as an author, has also incorporated her romantic feelings into her story, which, incidentally, she now views critically and questions as an internally mature woman.
But why do I still call the anime trash when I praise its plot so much? Well, as I said, the animation is average at best. Don't expect too much. On the other hand, I find it fitting precisely because it suits the story, which doesn't take itself seriously.
A bigger criticism for me, however, is that the further the plot progresses, the more Iana's reactions bored me and got on my nerves. There is character development, but it is extremely slow. In addition, Iana regularly takes two steps forward and one step back in her development.
Characters such as Yami, Ginoford and Konoha remain flat (which may be justified by the fact that they are the product of teenage fantasies). But especially in the relationship between Sol and Iana, viewers want to see progress, which only comes towards the end of the series. The ending, on the other hand, unsurprisingly leaves questions unanswered and teases the next arc in order to boost sales of the manga.