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scans_daily2025-02-02 05:12 pm
leahandillyana) wrote in scans_daily2025-02-02 05:12 pm
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NS: Reborn as a Villainess genre – what is it all about and my favourite stories
The genre that has for many years dominated anime timeslots is isekai (lit. another world) – stories featuring almost universally teen or preteen characters getting transported to a fantastical world with special powers and missions that make them saviours of the new reality. For about fifteen years, a new gruesome idea has dominated the genre – that the main character is actually dead and unable to return to their home reality, with their new life in the magical world being treated as a reincarnation. There is much to be said about this change of perspective and the implied extremely depressing view of reality, but I wanted to focus on my favourite subcategory of the subgenre, commonly called ‘reborn as a villainess’ plot.
When in a typical modern isekai story the protagonist becomes the hero of his (it’s almost always a boy who is a protagonist) story, in a ‘reborn as a villainess’ story, as the name suggests, the protagonist finds herself (it’s usually a story about a girl, but there are some stories with male protagonists) a villain opposed by the people of the new world. It’s a very wide definition, including stories where the reincarnator is the big bad of an epic fantasy, or has potentially extremely destructive powers, or is simply a school bully, etc. The key being the role being distinctly non-heroic, and the original fate of the character usually tragic. What ‘original fate’? A twist specific to this subgenre is that protagonist is usually familiar with her new world, having experienced it in life as a game or a book. Of course, it does not apply to all stories. Below I wanted to introduce my favourite Villainess stories, in random order.
Title: I Reincarnated into an otome game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags... aka My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
Authors: Satoru Yamaguchi (writer), Nami Hidaka (illustrator and manga author)
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: Manga, spin-off manga series On the verge of Doom, anthology manga, anime (25 episodes + movie)
LGBT: Yes
Tone: Light
While the general premise of being reborn as a villainess in a fantasy story is very old, My Next Life As a Villainess is the story that codified the genre, with various elements repeating in subsequent stories: the setting of a magical school for aristocratic youth, the dating sim visual novel (basically choose your adventure book with illustrations and voice acting) as the medium of the ‘original’ story the protagonist was familiar with, and the kind hearted protagonist who changes the story with befriending the cast – and unknowingly making everybody fall in love with her, male and female characters alike, which is unique to this series specifically. The story is light-hearted and comedic in nature, with some mystery elements and one dark subplot. The volumes released after the conclusion of the original premise suffer from some quality drop, but nonetheless if you were to read a villainess series, I highly recommend this one.
Title: I Favor the Villainess aka I'm in Love with the Villainess
Authors: Inori (writer), Hanagata (illustrator), Aonoshimo (mangaka), Kim Miyou & TS Team (manhwa artists)
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: manga, manhwa, anime (12 episodes), spin-off manga Maid’s Kitchen, two perspective flip novel series
LGBT: Yes
Tone: Light and Serious
This series is similar to MNLAAV in setting, characters and tone, but with a twist – the protagonist was reincarnated as the main character of the ‘original’ game but decided to romantically pursue a character not intented as a romantic option, the very tsundere ‘villainess’. It belongs to a subset of villainess stories where the villainous character is portray as an acually pretty decent person when approached from the right angle, and definitely not somebody who deserves the gruesome fate they got in the ‘original’ story. It’s also one of the rare series that discuss (even if briefly) what it means to be a queer person in contemporary Japan and social justice. Please note that some of of the story choices are, let’s say, problematic.
Title: Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte
Authors: Suzu Enoshima (writer), Eihi (illustrator), Rumiwo Sakaki (manga)
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: manga, anime (12 episodes)
LGBT: Minor (two major female characters are canonically bisexual but neither pursues a woman in main story)
Tone: Light
This is another story very similar to MNLAAV, with the twist that nobody gets reincarnated into a fantastic world – instead two teenagers achieve telepathic contact with one of the male leads of the game they love, and with their knowledge of the story help the characters achieve their perfect endings – with special attention given to the titular villainess, who is portrayed as misunderstood and victim of circumstances rather than evil. It’s a sweet story that is much shorter than typical for the genre and the story is finished.
Title: The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady
Authors: Piero Karasu (writer), Yuri Kisaragi (illustrator), Harutsugu Nadaka (manga)
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: manga, anime (12 episodes)
LGBT: Yes
Tone: Serious
This is another story where the protagonist romances the ‘villainess’ character, but overall has more to do with typical fantasy adventure series than standard villainess story. The magical school setting is present only in the opening scene, where the extremely intoverted Young Lady gets publicly humilated by her royal fiance (in homage to a scene that is often mentioned as happening in the ‘original’ game in MNLAAV), only for the scene to be crashed by the Reincarnated Princess, who rescues her and teams up with her to create magitech gadgets to compensate for the princess’ lack of magical abilities. There are two lesbian couples with major focus in the series, and the story is pretty feminist, with some story choices being arguably over the top.
Title: From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated!
Author: Michiro Ueyama
Original medium: Manga
Adaptations: anime (currently ongoing)
LGBT: No
Tone: Light
This is my newest find – a comedy series where a middle aged man gets transported into the world of his daughter’s favourite game in the role of the local villainess, where similarly to MNLAAV he befriends the cast. Two interesting departures from the game standard is that the protagonist is not dead, but in a coma after a traffic accident, though he doesn’t know it, and his adventures are being viewed by his daughter and mother in the game, who are able to influence the setting this way.
Title: 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!
Authors: Touko Amekawa (writer), Wan Hachipisu (illustrator), Hinoki Kino (manga)
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: manga and anime (12 episodes)
LGBT: No
Tone: Serious
This series is unusual due to the protagonist not being a reincarnator – instead, she has the strange power to reset her life to the moment her fiance breaks up their engagement every time she dies. Unfortunately, due to a massive war of conquest led by the ruler of the neighbouring country she tends to die young and brutally. Every time she returned, she chose a different path, by the seventh time ending up as an multidisciplinary specialist who caught the eye of the future tyrant. I really loved how the story writes really smart and talented character who however cannot just act openly and has to delicately navigate court politics. The series also has some nice social commentary and subverts some romance novel cliches. I also enjoyed seeing the heroine crossdressing.
Title: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion
Authors: Milcha (writer), Whale (illustrator and manhwa artist)
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: manhwa, anime (12 episodes)
LGBT: No
Tone: Serious
This is another unusual series in which the protagonist ends up being murdered only to find herself reincarnated as the victim character from the historical fantasy detective novel she’s read. Determined to avoid being murdered by her fiance, she uses her book knowledge and blackmails the most powerful person she knows – the crown prince! Now as his fiance, the titular princess investigates a mystery – where is the original novel’s female detective and Raeliana’s close friend?
All the stories mentioned from this point on are very dark and require heavy trigger warnings!
Title: The One Within the Villainess
Authors: Makiburo (writer), Shiraume Nazuna (manga)
Original medium: Webnovel
Adaptations: manga
LGBT: No
TW: Gore, torture, cannibalism, sexual abuse of a minor
Tone: Serious and Dark
This story is a deconstruction of the villainess genre, MNLAAV in particular. It starts similarly to the famous predecessor – a Japanese woman dies and finds herself reincarnated as a villainess in a game she used to play and promptly attempts to improve personal situation of major characters, preventing their traumas and losses and offering friendships. However, she is not a true reincarnator – instead, the real villainess becomes a prisoner in her own body, observing the events from the perspective a reader, and while she was initially furious, she eventually came to love the uninvited guest who truly loves her. The second change comes with the ‘original’ main character, who here is another pseudo-reincarnator and an absolute scumbag dead set on obtaining a male harem and seeing the pro/antagonist as an obstacle. When her supposed friends side with the new girl against her, despite all she did for them, the protagonist falls into a coma and the villainess reemerges, bent on revenge against those who harmed the kind girl. Major part of the story is also focused on the demonic nation, with a lot of focus on why exactly would a whole nation of people exhibit ‘evil’ tendencies, being basically a villainess story on the scale of a species. Often gets very dark.
Title: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System
Author: Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: donghua (Chinese cartoon, 10 episodes), manhua (discontinued after three chapters)
LGBT: Yes
TW: Gore, torture, canibalism, sexual abuse
Tone: Starts light and gets progressively darker
One of a rare villainess stories with male protagonist, this one takes part in a setting of Chinese-style fantasy (xianxia), it’s as much a straight (pun intended) villainess story as it is a parody of the standard isekai genre with its focus on amazing powers and harems. Here, a reader of a poorly written isekai novel gets reincarnated as the protagonist’s evil teacher, whose original fate ranks high among the worst punishments ever written in history – and it says something knowing what happens in TOWTV! The protagonist must attempt to avoid his fate, but he has a problem – the story has a system that prevents him from acting too out of character, and his situation is further complicated by the fact that the few kind moments he is allowed to have caused his student to fall for him. The story mixes humour and horror in a manner the author is famous for, and gets really dark at points. If you can think of a story element that requires a trigger warning, it’s likely present in TSVSSS.
Title: Demon King Evelogia
Author: Kaziwara Io
Original medium: Webcomic
Adaptations: anime movie
LGBT: Yes
TW: sexual relationship between an adult and a preteen as main focus, some body horror
Tone: Light
Oh my, this one is a doozy and one of my very guilty pleasures. Here, the protagonist is a yakuza man killed by a rival gangster who is reincarnated as a professional assassin in the world of the video game he liked to play. His current assignment – kill the titular demon king, his absolute favourite character, and currently a cute preteen boy. He instead decides to take him under his wing and help him become the best, most powerful villain in the history of his world. The story is basically porn with plot, but I also enjoyed the cute and elegant art style and the frequent humorous scenes.
If you have a villainess story you really liked (or disliked), please share your thoughts. I love talking with people about this subgenre! :)
When in a typical modern isekai story the protagonist becomes the hero of his (it’s almost always a boy who is a protagonist) story, in a ‘reborn as a villainess’ story, as the name suggests, the protagonist finds herself (it’s usually a story about a girl, but there are some stories with male protagonists) a villain opposed by the people of the new world. It’s a very wide definition, including stories where the reincarnator is the big bad of an epic fantasy, or has potentially extremely destructive powers, or is simply a school bully, etc. The key being the role being distinctly non-heroic, and the original fate of the character usually tragic. What ‘original fate’? A twist specific to this subgenre is that protagonist is usually familiar with her new world, having experienced it in life as a game or a book. Of course, it does not apply to all stories. Below I wanted to introduce my favourite Villainess stories, in random order.
Title: I Reincarnated into an otome game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags... aka My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
Authors: Satoru Yamaguchi (writer), Nami Hidaka (illustrator and manga author)
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: Manga, spin-off manga series On the verge of Doom, anthology manga, anime (25 episodes + movie)
LGBT: Yes
Tone: Light
While the general premise of being reborn as a villainess in a fantasy story is very old, My Next Life As a Villainess is the story that codified the genre, with various elements repeating in subsequent stories: the setting of a magical school for aristocratic youth, the dating sim visual novel (basically choose your adventure book with illustrations and voice acting) as the medium of the ‘original’ story the protagonist was familiar with, and the kind hearted protagonist who changes the story with befriending the cast – and unknowingly making everybody fall in love with her, male and female characters alike, which is unique to this series specifically. The story is light-hearted and comedic in nature, with some mystery elements and one dark subplot. The volumes released after the conclusion of the original premise suffer from some quality drop, but nonetheless if you were to read a villainess series, I highly recommend this one.
Title: I Favor the Villainess aka I'm in Love with the Villainess
Authors: Inori (writer), Hanagata (illustrator), Aonoshimo (mangaka), Kim Miyou & TS Team (manhwa artists)
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: manga, manhwa, anime (12 episodes), spin-off manga Maid’s Kitchen, two perspective flip novel series
LGBT: Yes
Tone: Light and Serious
This series is similar to MNLAAV in setting, characters and tone, but with a twist – the protagonist was reincarnated as the main character of the ‘original’ game but decided to romantically pursue a character not intented as a romantic option, the very tsundere ‘villainess’. It belongs to a subset of villainess stories where the villainous character is portray as an acually pretty decent person when approached from the right angle, and definitely not somebody who deserves the gruesome fate they got in the ‘original’ story. It’s also one of the rare series that discuss (even if briefly) what it means to be a queer person in contemporary Japan and social justice. Please note that some of of the story choices are, let’s say, problematic.
Title: Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte
Authors: Suzu Enoshima (writer), Eihi (illustrator), Rumiwo Sakaki (manga)
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: manga, anime (12 episodes)
LGBT: Minor (two major female characters are canonically bisexual but neither pursues a woman in main story)
Tone: Light
This is another story very similar to MNLAAV, with the twist that nobody gets reincarnated into a fantastic world – instead two teenagers achieve telepathic contact with one of the male leads of the game they love, and with their knowledge of the story help the characters achieve their perfect endings – with special attention given to the titular villainess, who is portrayed as misunderstood and victim of circumstances rather than evil. It’s a sweet story that is much shorter than typical for the genre and the story is finished.
Title: The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady
Authors: Piero Karasu (writer), Yuri Kisaragi (illustrator), Harutsugu Nadaka (manga)
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: manga, anime (12 episodes)
LGBT: Yes
Tone: Serious
This is another story where the protagonist romances the ‘villainess’ character, but overall has more to do with typical fantasy adventure series than standard villainess story. The magical school setting is present only in the opening scene, where the extremely intoverted Young Lady gets publicly humilated by her royal fiance (in homage to a scene that is often mentioned as happening in the ‘original’ game in MNLAAV), only for the scene to be crashed by the Reincarnated Princess, who rescues her and teams up with her to create magitech gadgets to compensate for the princess’ lack of magical abilities. There are two lesbian couples with major focus in the series, and the story is pretty feminist, with some story choices being arguably over the top.
Title: From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated!
Author: Michiro Ueyama
Original medium: Manga
Adaptations: anime (currently ongoing)
LGBT: No
Tone: Light
This is my newest find – a comedy series where a middle aged man gets transported into the world of his daughter’s favourite game in the role of the local villainess, where similarly to MNLAAV he befriends the cast. Two interesting departures from the game standard is that the protagonist is not dead, but in a coma after a traffic accident, though he doesn’t know it, and his adventures are being viewed by his daughter and mother in the game, who are able to influence the setting this way.
Title: 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!
Authors: Touko Amekawa (writer), Wan Hachipisu (illustrator), Hinoki Kino (manga)
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: manga and anime (12 episodes)
LGBT: No
Tone: Serious
This series is unusual due to the protagonist not being a reincarnator – instead, she has the strange power to reset her life to the moment her fiance breaks up their engagement every time she dies. Unfortunately, due to a massive war of conquest led by the ruler of the neighbouring country she tends to die young and brutally. Every time she returned, she chose a different path, by the seventh time ending up as an multidisciplinary specialist who caught the eye of the future tyrant. I really loved how the story writes really smart and talented character who however cannot just act openly and has to delicately navigate court politics. The series also has some nice social commentary and subverts some romance novel cliches. I also enjoyed seeing the heroine crossdressing.
Title: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion
Authors: Milcha (writer), Whale (illustrator and manhwa artist)
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: manhwa, anime (12 episodes)
LGBT: No
Tone: Serious
This is another unusual series in which the protagonist ends up being murdered only to find herself reincarnated as the victim character from the historical fantasy detective novel she’s read. Determined to avoid being murdered by her fiance, she uses her book knowledge and blackmails the most powerful person she knows – the crown prince! Now as his fiance, the titular princess investigates a mystery – where is the original novel’s female detective and Raeliana’s close friend?
All the stories mentioned from this point on are very dark and require heavy trigger warnings!
Title: The One Within the Villainess
Authors: Makiburo (writer), Shiraume Nazuna (manga)
Original medium: Webnovel
Adaptations: manga
LGBT: No
TW: Gore, torture, cannibalism, sexual abuse of a minor
Tone: Serious and Dark
This story is a deconstruction of the villainess genre, MNLAAV in particular. It starts similarly to the famous predecessor – a Japanese woman dies and finds herself reincarnated as a villainess in a game she used to play and promptly attempts to improve personal situation of major characters, preventing their traumas and losses and offering friendships. However, she is not a true reincarnator – instead, the real villainess becomes a prisoner in her own body, observing the events from the perspective a reader, and while she was initially furious, she eventually came to love the uninvited guest who truly loves her. The second change comes with the ‘original’ main character, who here is another pseudo-reincarnator and an absolute scumbag dead set on obtaining a male harem and seeing the pro/antagonist as an obstacle. When her supposed friends side with the new girl against her, despite all she did for them, the protagonist falls into a coma and the villainess reemerges, bent on revenge against those who harmed the kind girl. Major part of the story is also focused on the demonic nation, with a lot of focus on why exactly would a whole nation of people exhibit ‘evil’ tendencies, being basically a villainess story on the scale of a species. Often gets very dark.
Title: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System
Author: Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Original medium: Novel series
Adaptations: donghua (Chinese cartoon, 10 episodes), manhua (discontinued after three chapters)
LGBT: Yes
TW: Gore, torture, canibalism, sexual abuse
Tone: Starts light and gets progressively darker
One of a rare villainess stories with male protagonist, this one takes part in a setting of Chinese-style fantasy (xianxia), it’s as much a straight (pun intended) villainess story as it is a parody of the standard isekai genre with its focus on amazing powers and harems. Here, a reader of a poorly written isekai novel gets reincarnated as the protagonist’s evil teacher, whose original fate ranks high among the worst punishments ever written in history – and it says something knowing what happens in TOWTV! The protagonist must attempt to avoid his fate, but he has a problem – the story has a system that prevents him from acting too out of character, and his situation is further complicated by the fact that the few kind moments he is allowed to have caused his student to fall for him. The story mixes humour and horror in a manner the author is famous for, and gets really dark at points. If you can think of a story element that requires a trigger warning, it’s likely present in TSVSSS.
Title: Demon King Evelogia
Author: Kaziwara Io
Original medium: Webcomic
Adaptations: anime movie
LGBT: Yes
TW: sexual relationship between an adult and a preteen as main focus, some body horror
Tone: Light
Oh my, this one is a doozy and one of my very guilty pleasures. Here, the protagonist is a yakuza man killed by a rival gangster who is reincarnated as a professional assassin in the world of the video game he liked to play. His current assignment – kill the titular demon king, his absolute favourite character, and currently a cute preteen boy. He instead decides to take him under his wing and help him become the best, most powerful villain in the history of his world. The story is basically porn with plot, but I also enjoyed the cute and elegant art style and the frequent humorous scenes.
If you have a villainess story you really liked (or disliked), please share your thoughts. I love talking with people about this subgenre! :)
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In this one, the main character is dying from cancer when she's offered a deal: retrieve a macguffin from inside her favorite melodramatic dark fantasy series, and she gets to return to her reality with her cancer cured. Naturally, she finds herself in the body of the heroine's wicked stepsister the night before she's supposed to be executed.
There are a couple things that, at least to me, would make it stand out from the crowd. The world the main character finds herself in is gothic and overwritten to the point of camp. People have overwrought titles like The Last Hope and The Beauty Dipped In Blood, and most of the story is set in a castle built right on the edge of a ravine filled with ravenous undead. Second, due to chemo brain, the main character doesn't recall some significant parts of the story.
LGBT: Yes.
TW: Parental abandonment, cancer (protagonist), murder, torture & flogging
Tone: Mostly comedic, but can get pretty dark.
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(Sure, there's a bit of " power fantasy " in that - but no more than anyone has in the real world.)
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