At this point, there’s no anime fan left that hasn’t seen at least a single isekai. These stories where characters go from a normal world into a fantastical dimension have become more and more popular over the last few years.
There’s not a season that can go by without them, and sometimes multiple anime of this genre are released. Some are flash in the pans that last a single season, others become long-running franchises. It helps when the story has something that helps it stand apart. My Next Life As a Villainess is a series like that—it has the most unique premise for an isekai, and as a result it’s quickly becoming one of the more popular series.
Updated On November 2nd, 2021 by Jasmine Venegas: The series has a straightforward and simple premise of a girl being reincarnated as a game's villainess, as her main goal is to befriend every main character in order to avoid a bad ending. However, there are some minor details that a fan may miss during their first viewing of the series, and even some things that are only found in the manga.
10 Most Of The Characters Like Catarina...With One Exception
The main character is Catarina Claes. As a former otaku, her life was devoted to playing video games and trying to capture every pretty boy in an otome game possible. Though her old self was originally a total jerk, she eventually woke up and became herself again. The “new” Catarina Claes is thoughtful, kind, and obsessed with eating as many sweets as possible without seeming like an embarrassment to her family as a member of the royal class.
Catarina is so straightforward, sweet, and innocent that most people can't help but like her. The only exception to this is the bear Alexander, who seems to hate her with a burning passion for no reason at all.
9 This Is Technically Not A Reverse Harem
This anime isn't actually a reverse harem. The premise might make it seem like one, but that's only until the series actually starts. And for it to be a "reverse" harem, the men would have to be the only ones involved in the storyline.
Catarina has the denseness of a black hole, and everyone is pulled into her event horizon. Her proactive nature often leads to her helping people with deep seated trauma, resulting in men and women alike falling in love with her. It doesn't help that she often knows the right thing to say, even quoting the best one-liners from the original game.
8 Only One Confession Gets Through To Her
Most harem protagonists aren’t well known for being quick on the uptake. But this series actually leans into that fact, having everyone else acknowledge that Catarina isn’t the smartest person around. Her love interests all openly compete over her while she moves through her days completely unaware.
The fan community has lovingly given her the title “Bakarina”, to refer to how dense she is. Despite living 2 lives, Catarina never experienced any romance for most of her years, making her a complete newbie in matters of the heart. Although the love interests have all admitted to loving her, Catarina only comprehended Prince Geordo's confession because he kissed her.
7 Catarina Needs Someone To Get On Her Case
The manga provides an in-depth glimpse of Catarina's life. It is revealed that her personality is no different in both worlds, although she seems more hopeless in her original world.
She stays up all night playing games, procrastinates, is constantly late for class, needs her mother to wake her up in the mornings, and without her maid, Anne Sherry, to brush her hair every morning, her appearance is unkempt. Without all the people currently in her life supporting her, Catarina would be an even bigger mess.
6 The Council Of Catarina Isn't As Diverse At It Seems
One of the more unique aspects of My Next Life As A Villainess is the inner thoughts of Catarina, which are guided by a group of Catarinas known as “The Council of Catarina”. They are Chairman Catarina (who wears a fake old man mustache), Smart Catarina, Cowardly Catarina, Happy Catarina, and Fearless Catarina. The 5 of them work together to figure out ways to avoid the dangerous destruction flags that await Catarina if events follow the path of Fortune Lover, the otome game.
The manga briefly confirms that these different personalities play no part in any actual decision-making. Although their conferences involve them sharing their viewpoints and ideas, there is actually no difference since they are all Catarina. This means that they will usually prioritize things like food, field work, and romance novels before anything else.
5 Catarina Is A Bad Artist
Catarina has proven herself to be good with her hands. She has years of experience when it comes to growing vegetables in order to sustain herself in a worst case scenario. She has even made paper snakes that were convincing enough to fool Prince Geordo.
However, it turns out that the main reason why this ploy worked is because it had the general shape of a snake. When she posted a drawing of a snake on her door to scare the prince, he assumed it was some type of fish.
4 Every Villain Seems To Use Dark Magic
The show itself is supposed to have Catarina as the villain. But since she has the memory of her old life, she’s completely turned around and become someone too reliable and too nice to be an actual bad guy. Without her, the story lacks a proper bad guy. Villains come and go, and two of them happened to be love interests for Catarina.
Whenever something serious happens, dark magic is usually to blame, and is often forced onto unwilling recipients. Other types of magic seldom appear in the story, despite it being a common skill practiced within Catarina's school.
3 Fortune Lover Has A Sequel That Catarina Never Played
After Catarina achieves the "friendship" ending, the manga reveals that Fortune Lover received a sequel. Catarina is completely unaware of this fact, and the manga makes it seem like a big reveal. However, Catarina managed to live life just fine despite not even completing the first installment, and the sequel will hardly affect her life.
This is because she has changed the world so drastically. The teaser image of the game's sequel also depicts the evil Catarina as being back with a vengeance, which means that the evil villainess canonically never died in the first game.
2 Some Scenes Are Dragged Out In The Anime's Second Season
If some scenes in the anime feels like filler or like they go on for far too long, chances are, they aren't in the manga. The dollhouse episode never popped up in the manga, as it felt like a retread of the book the characters were sucked into.
The flashbacks that Geoffrey Stuart and his brothers have of their younger days also were absent in the manga. These flashbacks took the original humor out of the scene.
1 There Is A Spinoff
For fans who crave more content from this series, they can refer to the manga, the light novel, or the spinoffs. The most notable spinoff of the series has an incredibly long name: I Reincarnated Into An Otome Game As A Villainess With Only Destruction Flags... In A Dire Situation!? Verge Of Destruction Arc.
For fans who are tired of seeing Catarina in the middle of a dozen love interests, this spinoff is perfect. Catarina regains memories of her past life after she starts attending school with Maria Campbell. She spends her time atoning for the things that she has done, and despite her previous cruel actions, her feelings get through to the other characters. The stakes are higher at this stage of her life, since sherealizes that her destruction is less than a year away.