#in this one the protagonist's fiance breaks up with her to date his female best friend

[vfdinthewild]

"We sat next to each other, in an elective class that was more a semester-long Jane Austen book club, on our very first day of college."

-from Funny Story by Emily Henry, ch 13

[ladyloveandjustice]

Belated Spring 2020 Anime Overview: My Next Life as Villainess

For the Spring 2020 anime season, I mostly watched continuations of shows I was already into. The one new show I did pick up was My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! follows Katerina Claes, a spoiled young noble girl deviously scheming to win the heart of a prince- oh wait, never mind, she hit her head and remembered her past life! Turns out she’s an eighteen year old Japanese otaku chick who died and got reincarnated as the villainess in her favorite otome game. 

If you don’t feel like reading the wiki article, an otome game is basically a female- targeted dating sim where you play as a blank slate main character and date a bunch of pretty boys (and sometimes girls, but usually only if you go outside the mainstream ones), unlocking their backstories and collecting all the romantic endings.

Having played this game, Katarina is well aware that the Villainess character- who constantly tries to interfere with the game’s heroine and whichever boy she’s pursuing- is either exiled or killed in all of the games endings. And now she IS that villainess, living in the world of the game and all its characters! Does that mean she’s doomed to a horrible fate? What’s a girl to do?

Well, if you’re Katarina, what you do is be supportive and kind to the people around you and in doing so accidentally get every single character in the game to fall in love with you. And yes, this includes all the boys the heroine is supposed to date, the other female romantic rivals the heroine is faced with and the game’s heroine herself.

That’s right, we finally got us some bisexual romantic comedy hijinx last anime season, my friends! My Next Life as a Villainess was the delightful little show I really escaped into during these anxious pandemic times . All these girls casually falling in love with Katarina without it being treated as ‘weird’ was what particularly drew me to this show and warmed my gay little heart to see. It was honestly the perfect fluffy, low stress watch during these high stress times.

Anime has long been oversaturated with ‘harem’ stories- where a usually unwitting protagonist somehow gets a bevy of beauties in love with them- but it’s still unfortunately really unusual to see bisexual harems, especially ones with a girl at the center, so right away there’s a big draw to this story that helps it stick out from the rest.  (And worry not, the story is largely focused on Katarina having fun with these pals-who-are-not-so-secretly-in-love-with-her, rather than having a ton the dubious shenanigans you see in more sexually charged tales.)

Harem protoganists also famously tend to have the personality of potatoes, being so painfully bland it’s unclear why so many people would fall in love with them in the first place. But that definitely not the case for Katarina. She’s brash, ridiculous, kind and INCREDIBLY dense, and that for a pretty dynamic combination in this setting! She does genuinely come off as a fun person to be around. Unlike a lot of modern isekai shows, she doesn’t stumble into having incredible magic powers or skills, so her compassion is genuinely her greatest strength and what saves the day and wins hearts time and time again.

Katarina’s five brain cells doing their weekly check-in

(The moment she won my heart was when she responded to a tragic Frozen style situation with her friend locking himself away from people because he believed his magic was dangerous by taking an axe to his door. My kinda girl!)

The premise also allows for some plausible built-in reasons for the characters to take such special notice of Katarina- having been raised in a different world, she isn’t beholden to all the social rules, class divisions and noble family drama all the other kids in this very specific midevial-esque fantasy world are so embroiled in. This combined with her naturally earnest, accepting and straightfoward nature means she’s able to cross boundaries and reach out to them in a way they aren’t accustomed to. She was significant in each character’s life because she genuinely was the first to show them acceptance and affection without pretense, if only because she isn’t even aware there was supposed to be a pretense.

Katarina’s focus on trying not to die and her fear she’s going to meet the same fate as the villainess in the game also at least gives some kind of a basis to her comical obliviousness to everyone being in love with her. She assumes that everyone has to be into Maria (the heroine) and terrified of her because that’s how the game GOES okay, that’s CANON! Of course, this logic stretches thin as time goes on and it would be abundantly clear to most people that things have diverged greatly from the game’s storyline, but the show makes it clear that Katarina’s determined, one track mind is as much a gift as a curse. 

Her bullheadedness when it comes to picking up how everyone REALLY feels about her is an intentional gag on the show’s part and even her love interests are well aware of what a colossal dumbass she is and not afraid to point it out!

My Next Life as a Villainess isn’t without its flaws, and the personalities/backstories of some of the ‘love interests’ Katarina gathers may be a stumbling block on some- mostly the male ones.  Geordo, “the black hearted prince” has a bit of the “ possessive shoujo bad boy” archetype about him, and though he’s far from the worst that genre of love interest has to offer (there’s not much bad he can get up to due to Katarina’s obliviousness, the lighthearted nature of the show, and his rivals constantly getting in his way), the way he refuses to break Katarina and his engagement off despite her repeatedly asking him to, as well as some of his lines here and there, are definitely NOT cute. 

Keith is Katarina’s adopted brother, but clearly has a thing for her too. On one hand, they only first met when they were nine and he fell for her pretty immediately. On the other hand, he still refers to her as “sister” constantly which is kinda eesh. 

The other two guys are all right- Nicol’s big thing is he’s inexpressive and doesn’t talk much which, considering show doesn’t spend much time inside his head, doesn’t make him a very interesting character in the ensemble (maybe he comes across better in the novels) but there’s nothing wrong with him. Alan is undoubtedly the Best Boy in my book. He’s another common trope- rambunctious and competitive with Katarina but clearly soft for her- but he’s done well and they have a lot of cute moments together.

I find the girl love interests to be a much more interesting group overall, though this may be my obvious bias talking. Sophia has the strongest connection to Katarina, their backstories being intertwined in a surprising and touching way (I’m told in the novels her affection for Katarina was treated as more platonic, but the anime definitely plays it up as having romantic elements). Maria’s original role as the game’s heroine puts her in the most interesting position (and would make her the most narratively satisfying choice of love interest, if the show was actually interested in choosing). And while Mary is comically tenacious in her pursuit of Katarina, she’s doesn’t ever act ‘sinister’ or overstep boundaries in the way Geordo does, her “scheming” only really amounting to straightforwardly asking if Katarina wants to ditch her fiance and run away with her. 

As I mentioned, one thing that really contributes to My Next Life as a Villainess being a relaxing watch is that the queer characters are treated with casual acceptance. Mary in particular isn’t subtle about her crush on Katarina, but nobody bats an eye at her and she’s completely open and comfortable with herself too. The observing maid notes that the girls are in love with Katarina with the same bland affect as when she notes she notes the guys are. And while the social practices of the nobles are pretty heteronormative- girls are always engaged in arranged marriages to guys, the guys are expected to dance with the girls (something Mary complains about!)- there’s apparently a booming queer romance novel industry that inspires our young wlw.

Katarina, having grown up in a different world, seems to be the one most prone to heteronormativity of her group. She never really considers  that a girl would ever fall in love with her, but is also never hostile to the idea. It’s telling that when Mary very clearly indicates her desired romantic partner would be a girl, Katarina’s the only one that gets tripped up and has to walk back her assumption that Mary would be talking about a guy. 

Mary LAYING DOWN THE LAW

Also, Katarina has  SEVERAL “she’s so cute! My heart is beating faster!” moments with the other girls, on par in frequency with her moments with the guys. This strongly hints she’s an oblivious bisexual disaster.

So, My Next Life as Villainess is a fun, frothy watch and the rare positive example of silly wish-fufillment that’s inclusive to a wlw audience. But is the actual plot good, or remotely complex? The answer to that is no, the plot is fairly predictable and one definitely shouldn’t got into this story expecting a deep examination of the nature of fate or anything like that.There’s no real explanation of big reason as to why why Katarina was reborn into this game world and so on.

 The antagonist that does eventually emerge plays off otome game tropes a bit, but ultimately isn’t that interesting or built up all that well. . The attempts at drama the show makes towards the end fall a little flat, especially since it tends to rely on very-late-in-the-game-exposition-dumps (dark magic isn’t even MENTIONED as existing in this world until like, the second to last episode where it becomes relevant and we get a vague infodump explaining its mechanics). The conflict honestly almost feels shoehorned in and the climax is pretty standard and doesn’t really utilize the big cast of characters all that well

But in the end, that’s okay! The show makes it abundantly clear from the beginning it’s not here to be Deep, but to be some silly fun. And it really fulfills that purpose well, from it’s catchy, peppy theme tune to its consistently warm tone. It MAY get repetitive at times for some, and I do have some quibbles- like how I found the childhood segments to be some of the shows best material and wish we could have stayed in that section for a bit instead of rushing through it, how I wish Katarina had kept her cute little scar, etc- but overall, it was definitely the soothing balm I needed during a very rough time and I absolutely recommend it if you’re looking for a chill, feel-good watch.

 And hey, a second season’s supposed to be on the way too, so there’s something to potentially look forward to!

[him-e]

Could you give some recommendations of TV shows that are, in your opinion, good/interesting/fun to watch/etc.? They can be recent or older ones, and pretty much of any genre (also, the more recommendations, the better).

disclaimer: I haven’t been in the *right* mood to really get into anything for a LONG WHILE, so my feelings about tv and movies at the moment exist in a spectrum that goes from “ok I guess” to “this somehow sucks even more than my life does and I want to crawl into a hole and rot in it”. So don’t expect lots of flailing and squeeing, lol. THAT SAID, I’m going to focus on the stuff I’ve seen recently:

bridgerton. mildly fun. very cw-ish but with occasional sexplosions. a mix between reign and gossip girl set in regency era. no mr darcy equivalent, unfortunately (the duke of hastings is 100% a chad). also don’t expect historical accuracy or anything like actual jane austen vibes. the main couple is quite shippable and has some decent banter and slow burn until it suddenly escalates into marriage and the sexplosion I mentioned above. the best part, though, is that i’m apparently shipping in*cest again 

the undoing. nicole kidman is married to hugh grant, who is, shockingly, an asshole. but before you think “typecasting”, more on the creepy than pathetic side. the mystery is kinda underwhelming imo bc it leads you to think there’s much to the story than what you originally thought, but no, it really is that simple.

the crown. what can i say? very well written and acted. It’s also super slow and analytical, and can be occasionally boring, if you’re not in the mood. I’m being super slow at catching up because I’m watching it with my mother, and I’m still at season 3 and feeling inappropriately (but also predictably) sympathetic towards Charles (but I’m looking forward to the Diana episodes). This is also a good show if you wanna play “drink every time you recognize a Game of Thrones/Being Human/*insert iconic franchise starring predominantly british folks* actor”. Speaking of royals...

the queen’s gambit. 10/10. Singlehandedly cured my depression for a week. absolutely perfect in every aspect (almost---the lack of a main romance with HEA was a bit of a bummer, but there’s shipping material nonetheless): only one season, “strong” heroine in the sense that she’s a character with an actual PERSONALITY who falls and has genuine flaws and---despite being “inexplicably” a genius (the show gives the context of how she learns to play chess but doesn’t go out of its way to *justify* her talent or how she managed to pulverize guys older and better trained than her)---falls, and loses, sometimes badly, actually at one point slips into a pit of depression and self destruction but only to eventually rise again. I also somehow didn’t come out of this show hating the entire male gender any more than I already do, even though it’s a story about a woman in a male-dominated field who often has to face sexism and patronising attitudes from her peers. but almost everyone she meets is, actually, a quite decent guy? even those who initially challenge her or treat her condescendingly. It’s also a lesson about writing stories with very definite ANTAGONISTS who, however, are NOT villains (but obviously this wouldn’t work for every genre, this one is a fairytale-ish coming of age, a female power fantasy set in the real world, it actually reminded me of 80′s spokon/shoujo anime like Attacker You) 

a discovery of witches. I’ve seen only season one so far, and let me say I didn’t expect a main romance between a VAMPIRE and a WITCH to be such a SNOOZEFEST. dear god. I swear they’re giving me Bill/Sookie vibes (and I like Matthew Goode). but aside from this, it’s sorta watchable, and there’s an *evil* finnish witch who’s in a sorta kinda enemies-to-friends dynamic with the protagonist

his dark materials. Still have to catch up on season 2 because I feel rather lukewarm about it. I haven’t read the books so I can’t tell if it’s a good adaptation or not. From what I can see, everything is in the right place to make it a good story, but somehow, I’m not vibing with it? Maybe I’m just too old to care about stories with child protagonists lol.

cursed. watch it for the weeping monk. YES he’s Medieval Kylo Ren.

the boys. pretty much the most FUN (and plot-heavy) shit I’ve seen recently, but also the only good take about marvel-style superheroes and their whole fake-deep, dishonest, intensely capitalistic rhetorics i can stomach anymore (beyond the on the nose parody and obvious--a bit insufferable actually--genre-subverting intent, try looking at Homelander & co. through the lens of this post). oh yeah I also ship Frenchie and Kimiko btw, which just proves how a mediocre show can become good, and a good show can turn into AMAZING if there’s something I can ship in it.

now quite out of character for me but here’s a couple Netflix rom com movie recs:

holidate. yeah I know christmas time is over but this somehow became my new comfort movie. Fake dating at its finest. Hot, fun, not insufferably cheesy, definitely not a Hallmark Xmas movie (you know those movies where as a set up the female protagonist breaks up with her long term fiance and she’s like, “oh.”, and proceeds to be sad for 0,5 seconds? This is not one of those), it’s an actual slow burn, and there’s a part where the heroine has a diarrhea emergency which a) is not played as a gross joke and b) somehow leads to hot, romantic sex??

leap year. a 2010 movie with Matthew Goode (who is sexier here than in vampire form) and Amy Adams, it’s a road trip in Ireland (!!!!) with a shitton of belligerent romantic tension and fanfic tropes, 10/10