My Next Life as a Villainess is a light hearted anime show that bridges the popular reincarnation novel theme with the other popular genre called reverse harems. The protagonist is a girl from the present world that gets reincarnated as the villainess in a popular otome game from her past. (Otome games are story-based where the goal is to develop a romantic relationship with one of the male character and female.) She has to survive as the villainess and avoid all the “doom flags” while the female lead of the game collects the hearts of the boys around them.

This show is funny and quirky for anyone that has been a fan of any otome games or series. It has all the elements that make it light hearted and witty. You will be entertained from start to finish, but that is not the only reason I wanted to talk about this amazing show. It is a marker of a progressive new world in story telling. How so? Let me explain.

It is nice to see the world of harem stories changing from the standard one boy with a bunch of girls to a more progressive side. We have seen the birth of reverse harem, one girl with a bunch of guy, in recent years but never anything more progressive than that. In a world with more awareness of different types of relationships and sexual preferences, there need to be a show that bridged that. My Next Life as a Villainess does just that. This harem is not just an all boys club or an all girls club. It is a harem that contains both , but I will leave the who of the harem a little secret for those that want to watch it.

I wanted to celebrate the evolution of harem stories as the symbol of a changing society. A society that can be more open to various relationships and that everyone is looking for love. So a round of applause for the symbol of progression in it’s on little way, My Next Life as a Villainess.