Reminder: don’t discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show, otherwise Dorkness will punch you you’ll spoil other users and the mods will give you a ban.
I loved the opening half of this episode, just super well done. We see the story from Alicia’s POV, get the reveal as we find out that it was all taking place in a game, and then later the final layer is that it might have originated in a game, but it is also real with this new character, Yumiella, lurking out of view in those previous scenes. The way they revealed those layers of plot is anime-original and it was fantastic, even including an entire fake OP. The way this opened up from a different character’s POV reminds me of how they did the first episode of Eminence in Shadow.
The comedy portion of this story hasn’t really kicked into gear yet, but I think they did a great job of setting up the story. The fact that they did such a great job rearranging and playing with POV/characters in this opening episode gives me a lot more confidence that they “get” the series and what makes it funny and enjoyable. Yeah, the animation is pretty lackluster with some sketchy CG horses/monsters, but I can deal with that if they tell the story well.
The “reincarnated as an otome villainess” premise is really common; you probably saw this in Bakarina, or The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen, or going full meta- in Endo and Kobayashi, so goes on.
Even then I think that this story is worth watching. Yumiella is surprisingly relatable; she’s simply trying to step off trouble, but by doing so she ends becoming the center of attention.
I really like what they did in the first episode - first showing the story from within the game, only introducing the actual protagonist (the “villainess”) in the second half of the episode.
Bakarina, Endo and Kobayashi, and this series are some of my favorites within the genre. I haven’t read/watched Heretical Last Boss Queen yet, but if you are lumping it together with the others in this group, then it is probably worth a go.
Last Boss Queen is totally worth a go! It’s a lot like a serious version of Bakarina, with an MC motivated by guilt instead of insane troll logic. Be aware however that the animation is a bit lower in quality.
If in the game she’s the hidden boss that requires a max level team to beat does that mean what she did is canon? I mean, Yumelia had to have gotten strong somehow in game too.
I remember that this is discussed in the webnovel (I read the webnovel rather than the published light novels). However I read it long enough ago that I don’t remember exactly. I also don’t know if they are going to cover it during the show, so I am going to put the rest behind spoiler tags just in case.
Vague Webnovel Memories
The game-canonical Yumiella starts school with a normal level, but is able to raise her level off screen while the three in-game years are happening. I forget if she raises her level by grinding or if it is some kind of awakening of a hidden power.
Really liked the first half of an episode including fake OP. I have read the LN so I won’t keep up with it and will just check it out here and there.
How much did you like the LN?
Not the person you asked, but I really enjoyed this series (I have read most of the webnovel version rather than the light novels). However, it depends a lot on whether you find the sense of humor this story has to be funny rather than annoying.
This first episode was played pretty straight, but once this story gets going it becomes very silly and comedy first, romance/adventure second. I remember a while back I recommended this series on the /c/lightnovels community (on lemmy.ml) and the mod over there, NineSwords picked up a volume and they were not a fan of the humor. However, I find it very funny and this is one of my favorites in the Villainess genre (is it a genre? idk). So, I would give it another episode or two, see if you connect with the humor or not.
Yumellia is very much a personification of the “Emotionless Girl” trope, and a lot of people hate that, this might be the reason specially since NineSwords compared her with others that are on the other side of the pendulum, Katarina for example is absurdly expressive and incredibly endearing, i imagine Yumellia might feel dull in comparison despite being around the same level of good and kind person in general. Oh well, not everything is to everybody’s taste and that’s OK 😄
Quick edit: Noting his answer, adding Tearmoon Empire to my watching/reading list, hadn’t heard of it and sounds interesting 😄
Like others have said, I appreciated the effort they put into making the first half of the heroine POV show and the fake OP.
I enjoyed the first episode, but I’m somewhat pessimistic whether story has anything new to offer.
Have read the novels out so far (3 volumes officially translated), and I’d say it does
Really like what they did with the fake OP, at this point we have very much established the setting, the main players (the main character with her rare light magic and the 3 main potential love interests), and the fact that this is a game OUR main character used to play in her former life, really like that they gave it an opening complete with in-game captures (you can notice the moment they switched to in-game captures by the pixelation in the battle scenes). Then suddenly we switch to our gal as that’s done. From now on the main 4 should be secondary, and the next episode should be interesting as her quiet life is solidly derailed, to her annoyance an our benefit 😂
I love a good fake-out mc, and the fake op was a masterpiece, but they dragged it out way too long. Like, the title already gives away the twist.
Even with the anime stalling, I was fully on board when we switched characters, but that good will ran out fast when the real main character was just grinding video game levels for her whole childhood. Like, if she doesn’t want to be the last boss, can’t she just… not attack the main characters? Doesn’t she have any interest in learning why her game counterpart did what she did (so she can avoid that plotline?)
I really wanted to like this one, but the poor storytelling got in the way for me, and the premiere ended up at a 3/5.
