“I’ll Become a Villainess That Goes Down in History” Doesn’t Deliver on Its Title’s Promise

Maho Film

Let’s face it: Even if we can wholeheartedly root for the hero in a story, the villain is usually much more fun to watch. One need look no further than the rogues’ gallery of Disney Animation for evidence: Scar, Hades, Maleficent, Ursula, Dr. Facilier—all are fun and colorful baddies who we look forward to seeing on screen. So, theoretically, if a villain is the protagonist of a story, that must make it a recipe for instant success, right?

Unfortunately, no. Case in point, Maho Film’s 2024 anime I’ll Become a Villainess That Goes Down in History. When an unnamed woman wakes up to find she has been reincarnated as the villainess of her favorite otome game, she devotes herself to becoming the most legendary antagonist this world has ever seen. With a premise like that, you would reasonably assume that the whole run time would consist of back-to-back bouts of bullying, backstabbing, and perhaps even brutality, but sadly, this turns out to not be the case at all.

The main issue is that the leading lady, Alicia Williams, possesses many traits that are objectively the opposite of villainous. For example, she is shown to be highly compassionate to those less fortunate than her: She gives away her right eye so that another person can see. She takes in a banished child. She even cuts her own hair in sympathy with a bullied girl in her school. All of these acts are done out of the kindness of Alicia’s heart without any ulterior motives whatsoever.

In fact, most of the conflict comes from the supporting cast and even the world around Alicia. Political conflict is one of the more core issues of I’ll Become a Villainess, and I was expecting Alicia to use her cunning to leverage the kingdom’s situation to rise to greater heights of power and stomp out anyone who gets in her way, but I couldn’t have been any more wrong. The anime primarily focuses on Alicia’s relationship with the main love interest, Duke, which I wouldn’t have minded if it was more of a B-plot that served her drive to become a villainess, but that really isn’t the case either.

Is it truly so difficult to create a villainous main character that is compelling without making them seem too sympathetic? No, of course not. We’ve seen time and time again that having an evil protagonist can work. Such examples include anime such as Death Note and Saga of Tanya the Evil, and live-action movies like Gone Girl and American Psycho. If you want a more comedic take on the trope, there’s the Canadian cartoon League of Super Evil.

But this is why many people disliked Disney’s Maleficent and Cruella—they take two characters that are beloved for being shamelessly wicked and give them sympathetic backstories that take away that timeless edge they had for decades. I don’t know why this trend of reinventing classic villains to be more morally gray has persisted for so long, but if there really is a need for such characters, then create an original character and leave the old-school baddies be. Not everyone wants a villainous protagonist that they can relate to or sympathize with.

Overall, this is the most disappointing anime I have watched since Delusional Monthly Magazine. I was promised a villain, and I did not get a villain.