I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss is a brand-new isekai anime of the Fall 2022 season, but in some ways, it feels familiar to anime fans. The premise of a reborn otome game villainess making friends with everyone is reminiscent of My Next Life as a Villainess, starring Katarina Claes the harem master. However, the worlds feel totally different.

Recent episodes of I'm the Villainess brought Aileen d'Autriche the protagonist to an all-new province of her empire, the Mirchetta region. This region is male-dominated, a patriarchal society where girls are second-class citizens, and that feels like an inversion of Trapped in a Dating Sim's own matriarchal game world. Aileen and Leon Bartfort aren't just fighting villains; they're fighting society itself.

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Aileen's & Leon's Struggles in Unequal Otome Game Worlds

Aileen confident in student uniform

Anime fans might expect otome games to take place in idyllic, beautiful fantasy worlds populated by attractive maidens and handsome male love interests, but it's not always like that. The game Fortune Lover in My Next Life as a Villainess was like this, but I'm the Villainess and Trapped in a Dating Sim shake up that idealistic formula with shockingly harsh settings where inequality and unfair societal rules are the norm. This creates an all-new challenge for protagonists like Aileen and her antihero counterpart Leon Bartfort, since it's far easier to destroy a person than to destroy societal norms. Systemic inequality is an intangible foe that's not so easily beaten, and so far, neither Aileen nor Leon has claimed victory in that regard -- and they might never do so.

This inequality is based not just on social classes or magical talents but also on the sexes. In Dating Sim's world, girls and women make the rules, with boys and men only having upward mobility by marrying the daughters of powerful families in that matriarchal society. Firstborn sons of elite families have it a little easier, but overall, boys can only hope to meet a noble girl who will accept them, meaning those boys are almost like birds, competing fiercely with dazzling displays to impress the choosy females. Leon Bartfort, as the third-born son of a minor noble family, has it even worse than the other boys, and he'll be lucky if any girl whatsoever looks at him twice. At least Prince Julius can sweep girls off their feet, but not third-born peasants like Leon.

Inversely, the Mirchetta region of I'm the Villainess' world is a patriarchal one where male chauvinism is the norm. Manly strength and authority are prized here, and girls and women are expected to know their well-defined place as subordinates according to that society's rules. Even the mighty, heroic Holy Sword Maiden has a "but she'd better remember her place" clause to deal with, and many girls are treated more like servants or maids than true partners by their boyfriends and husbands. Aileen d'Autriche, as a smart and strong-willed girl, can fight back against this system but must do so carefully, to the point where she disguised herself as a boy to attend the Mische Academy.

Not even Leon Bartfort considered disguising himself as a girl somehow to make progress, which suggests that either Mirchetta is even more unequal than the Dating Sim world or Aileen is simply craftier and more resourceful than Leon is. In both cases, though, the hero's struggle is not to overthrow society's inequality but simply to survive it and work within its constraints.

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What These Unequal Societies Say About Otome Game Challenges

A collage of the characters from Trapped In A Dating Sim.

At a glance, it seems that I'm the Villainess and Trapped in a Dating Sim created these unequal societies simply to give the heroes a tricky challenge to overcome and give their worlds a more distinct flair compared to other isekai anime settings. While it's true that systemic sex-based inequality is rarely seen in isekai anime, this concept does more than set these two series apart. It also says something about the very concept of otome games and the idea of a person being reborn in one.

Isekai anime like Black Summoner and Reincarnated as a Slime are all about action and adventure and are not set in otome game worlds. By contrast, Villainess and Dating Sim do take place in otome games, with these games emphasizing interpersonal relationships above all else. They can include other elements such as the school life trope or even some fantasy action, but personal interactions and emotions are the meat of the matter. Such games usually focus on male/female relationships from a female hero's point of view, too.

So, by creating sex-based inequality, the worlds of Villainess and Dating Sim create a highly relevant challenge for Aileen and Leon. Leon, as a boy, must befriend girls in a world where boys are considered second-class at best, and Aileen must tame boys like James Charles in a society that views girls as lowly servants to their male "betters." This inequality isn't a problem for boys and girls befriending or dating members of the same sex, but Aileen and Leon, individually, must tango with the opposite sex and make progress despite the system working against them. This is how otome heroes like Aileen and Leon can grow stronger and smarter by fighting an intangible foe that will never be defeated.