Daisuke NamikawaNana MizukiAimiIkumi Hasegawa
I'm in Love with the Villainess
Also known as: Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou
Medium: TV, series
Year: 2023
Director: Hideaki Oba
Writer: Ayumu Hisao
Original creator: Inori
Actor: Aimi, Daisuke Namikawa, Ikumi Hasegawa, Karin Nanami, Kenn, Minami Kurisaka, Nana Mizuki, Sara Matsumoto, Yoko Hikasa, Yu Serizawa
Keywords: anime, fantasy
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Format: 12 episodes
Url: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=26725
Website category: Anime 2023
Review date: 26 September 2026
in Love with the Villainess
It's silly, but it has a strong comedy concept. Our heroine (Rae) is a loud, single-minded stalker who in real life might get a restraining order... but she's funny because the object of her affections (Claire) is a vindictive, bullying snob with a vile personality. She's the villainess. Rae's been dragged into the world of her favourite game, where she pursues Claire even though the girl's human garbage who goes around being shitty and throwing around her status.
Rae could have dragged Claire in chains through the streets and we'd have still been cheering for her. She doesn't, of course. What she does instead is funnier and arguably worse. She's got the kinky lesbian hots for Claire's foul personality. Bullying just gets Rae excited, even when Claire's giving it everything she has in an attempt to drive away this crazed pervert. Physical pain? Rae enjoys that too. She'll critique Claire's bullying techniques and make suggestions.
This is genuinely funny. The show can, though, sometimes dig deeper and have thoughtful conversations. Rae and Claire both have layers. Rae's a freak who's never had anyone respond to her affections and is in a weird place where she'll cheer on Claire's heterosexual romance because she wants her darling to be happy. Rae's love confessions have only ever creeped people out. (If she behaved in the real world as she does here, I'm not surprised.) "I've never had anyone I like reciprocate my feelings."
Meanwhile, Claire knows she's a bitch and refuses to believe that anyone could like her personality.
The show does something with the oppressively class-based society it's created. This is a world where royalty and aristocracy are all-powerful... but we'll see social unrest, an attempted commoner uprising and threatened executions. The latter was good. It had emotion.
This one made me laugh. Rae and Claire are silly but fun, over time growing and becoming more serious. I was also amused by the princes who are theoretically the targets of this romance otome game, except that Rae often forgets about that because she's so utterly uninterested in men. She knows how the game works, though, and she'll juggle its challenges to try to avoid attracting the attentions of any single prince. Above all, though, the show has a kind heart. Rae's nice and does good (despite creeping out Claire to hell and back), while Claire takes a lesson in basic humanity to end up becoming likeable. The show might have seemed sinister had Rae been male rather than female, mind you.