One of my favorite shows of fall 2023 is the anime adaptation of INORI’s light novel series, the latest in a series of isekai anime revolving around the concept of video game “villain” characters. suicide atonement. On the anime side, this started with the fun My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! in 2020, kicking off a mini-boom in derivatives programs.
I’m in Love with the Villainess outperforms its sub-genre competitors, in part by exploring a variety of capital-T Themes. My Next Life as a Villainess is pure comedy, a delightful inversion of old otome tropes. In that story, the female protagonist unwittingly assembles a devoted harem of characters of both sexes, although the yuri content is mainly present to add humor. I’m in Love with the Villainess, however, is queer and deeply interrogative of its premise focusing on lesbian romance in a not-so-progressive pseudo-historical setting.
Although I love it.
While I’m loving Villain’s humor in many places (this seems to be enhanced somewhat in the anime adaptation), its humor serves its characters. Rae is an initially annoying protagonist—her obsession with magical high school student Claire seems creepy and almost stalker-like. She constantly leers, makes off-color, sexually tinged jokes, and invades Claire’s personal space — Rae’s response to Claire’s overtly borderline masochistic bullying of her. If Rae were a male character, I can’t imagine readers would enjoy her toxicity. Likewise, as expected of a villain, Claire is mean, cold, cursing, and spoiled. Luckily, Rae and Claire are layered characters who gradually become flawed but sympathetic heroines as the story progresses.
The anime includes the entire first novel (chapters 1–3) plus chapter 4, the first segment of the second novel. Novel one is largely scene-setting, establishing the sometimes tumultuous relationship between the beleaguered Rae and the often bewitched Claire. The conflicts, characters, and concepts introduced here become extremely important in the second novel’s dramatic conclusion. If there’s a flaw, it’s that the fantasy setting and magic mechanics are too generic — though this is just the setting for the themes my favorite villain wanted to explore.
The first English-language print was rightly criticized for editing out key passages detailing Rae’s motivations for acting the way she did. I’m pleased to report that this audiobook adaptation has restored missing segments suitable for future printings. Rae’s appropriation of modern Japanese cultural attitudes towards homosexuality is a huge contributor to her sometimes self-defeating performance exuberance, and it’s hard to fully comprehend her character without this basic foundation.
Narrator Courtney Shaw gets to grips with many things about Rae’s multifaceted personality—from Claire’s lewd jokes about Claire’s body to her deadly serious scheming to her harrowing heartbreak. for volume two’s conclusion, Shaw imbues Rae with both mischief and pathos. Shaw’s role is a bit more restrained than voice actress Hannah Alyea’s more comedic lesbian character. (By the way, I love them both.) The other characters’ voices demonstrate Shaw’s impressive vocal range—from bossy Claire to timid Lily, confident Prince Rod to sneering Salas; Shaw kept each character’s voice distinct. Her urgent narration helps advance the plot, and I wanted to offer this audiobook version as the best way to enjoy I Love Villains.
It’s a shame that the anime only ends halfway through the main arc, like in the second half (chapters 5 to 8), where the story takes off like a rocket, with many unexpected twists, flashbacks, and reinterpretations of events. previous lawsuit. INORI uses the plot of the Revolution to discuss the inequality between rich and poor that sow division, resentment, and social unrest. Although the nobility were selfish and pampered, INORI argued that education and culture alone could not determine a person’s worth or morality. Some nobles who have been educated about the nature of inequality are good people (such as Claire), and not all who rebel against the corrupt state have the purest of motives. . One villain in particular is a pantomime of noisy simplicity, but that’s a small price to pay for central characters as complex and lovable as Rae and Claire turn out to be.
By the end, we’re rooting for Rae’s efforts to save her beloved Claire, desperate for their hard-won happiness. INORI’s use of Rae’s knowledge of modern sexual politics to decry discrimination against same-sex relationships may at times come across as didactic and preachy, but The positive message is tolerance, encouraging (and allowing) people to be their true selves. Extensive queer content not only touches on the central lesbian relationship but also touches on bisexuality, other sexualities, and (fantasy-tinged) gender dysphoria. It’s unusual to see frank discussions of such concepts in popular Japanese fiction—usually, these stories are much more coy, but I’m in Love with the Villainess goes straight for it. go there. I may not be able to directly sympathize with Rae and Claire’s struggles, but I still admire this exciting story and its wonderful characters. Frankness is its strong point.
Although volume two is the final part of this particular story, the light novel series continues with three more volumes, including a combination of previous short stories and a second sequel. Hopefully we’ll have audio adaptations of these works soon!