©七夕さとり・Tea・のこみ/KADOKAWA/ 「悪役令嬢レベル99」製作委員会
All welcome the appearance of the most cheerful “villain” to ever roam the screen: Eleonora! Some have noted that Eleonora, the blonde with the requisite toady group, fits our stereotypical villain much better, from her hairstyle to her obsession with the prince. However, aside from her prominent role in the ending theme, we haven’t seen much of her in the story—and that changes this week. And it turns out, while she’s completely obsessed with a prince who doesn’t deserve her, she’s also just looking for a true friend. And who better than Yumiella?
Yumiella, of course, could think of about thirty people in her head, but Eleonora didn’t ask. We can see that what Yumiella sees as a bug in the system (further proof that she’s having difficulty changing gamers’ minds) is actually just Eleonora looking for someone who doesn’t flatter and follow her. If she’s baking gross cookies, she wants to be told so, and she doesn’t want to just be unquestioningly supported; she wants someone to tell her the truth supported by (purposeful) facts. She may want to marry a prince, but Eleonora doesn’t want to be a queen, and it’s a great twist on both the standard formula for the type of game in which Yumiella is reincarnated and the plot itself. shared. It shows that Yumiella is shaping the world around her just like anyone else: her interactions with others are important.
However, they don’t really matter in the way Patrick expected. The poor guy is confronting her at this point, and the implication is that he’s attracted to her unusual worldview and how she’s clearly hiding some dark secret . The way he immediately sympathizes with her multiverse theory shows that he doesn’t see her as just a level-up weirdo or someone misunderstood; he realizes that she’s probably hurt and tries to figure things out without bothering others. Even Yumiella may not be very aware of her personality, and Patrick’s empathy makes for a great foil to Yumiella’s social blindness. Defect? She is completely unaware that he is interested in her romantically; if she could have a negative number representing her understanding of Patrick she would. The poor guy had his job assigned to him.
And that brings us to Yumiella’s biggest challenge this week: social interaction. Not only does she have to deal with an overeager best friend, but she also has to deal with a school dance, and she doesn’t know how to deal with either of them. She’s nicer to Eleonora, maybe because it’s easier to give up and become her friend, making Eleonora the human equivalent of my cat Lucinda, who believes everyone should be her friend if she continues to bother them. Sure, Yumiella couldn’t understand why Eleonora kept mentioning Patrick, but it was still easier than actually dancing with a young man who was barely hiding his feelings for her. At this point, Yumiella may be ignoring the signs he’s waving as a form of self-defense. She doesn’t know what to do, so she casually drops her killer-pursuit statement and calls Patrick an “acquaintance”.
Or maybe she really doesn’t know anything.
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Level 99 Villain is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
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