When, during their introduction, Bertia Ibil Noches tells her fiancé, the genius 10-year-old Prince Cecil Glo Alphasta, that she is a villainess who will “rip Your Highness and the heroine away from each other,” his response is one of interest and confusion more than incredulity or shock. He’s even further intrigued when Bertia explains herself: She has been reincarnated from her life in Japan, where she played an otome game featuring this very prince! In that otome game, Bertia’s schemes lead to the fall of her house and Cecil’s eventual marriage to the heroine, so Bertia will do her best to avoid that fate—no, wait, she won’t? Instead, Bertia intends to march toward her doom with elegance and strength! Spoken like a true otaku! But there’s perhaps more to Bertia than meets the eye. Meanwhile, the prince plans to observe his strange fiancée for a while…
Why does the writer who doesn’t particularly enjoy villainess anime get the task of reviewing this villainess anime? Hmm…maybe it’s because of villainess fatigue among our staff. Do you feel the fatigue? I do, which is why it’s refreshing to see the admirable effort in this premiere—not necessarily at something unique, but at something well-executed. Right from the beginning, I was pleased with how much effort was put into the animation and direction: sound effects, dynamic movement, and a multitude of angles used for scenes—this isn’t a lazy adaptation. And Cecil is the type of prince character I like—smarter than those around him and full of depth; in fact, we know way more about his internal thinking at this point than we do Bertia’s, with the episode (and from the title of the series, presumably the entire show) taking place from his perspective. That there are hints that he plans to use Bertia in various ways also adds some intrigue. Less interesting to me, however, were the efforts to make the relationship between the two kids seem romantic; thankfully, I’m expecting a time skip shortly. And I’m looking forward, too, to the cast of characters that should accompany that jump, introduced only briefly through the OP. So while I’m still not aboard the villainess anime hype train, I can say this opening episode has me ready to take this journey—an optimistic sign for all those drowning in villainess anime fatigue!
An Observation Log of My Fiancée Who Calls Herself a Villainess can be streamed on Crunchyroll. Stay tuned for the short scene following the ED!
Ooo, this sounds good! Honestly I love the villainess trope, if done right. There have been far too many that only slap the word Villainess on the title and then never actually have any kind of villainy in the story. It’s annoying. Hands down my favorite villainess manhwa is Villains Are Destined To Die. A Korean woman gets transmigrated into the body of a villainess, and from the beginning she’s not a nice person, but she is a survivor. And in this gritty story that’s what’s needed. I love it!
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