Oh no. Not again! But yes it is. Another season, another villainess theme. That’s right. Somebody dies and gets reincarnated into a dating sim. This season we bring you Watashi No Oshi Wa Akuyaku Reijou. However this one differs slightly from the previous reincarnated-into-a-video-game’s-villainess shows. You see, whoever that lucky-cum-unlucky person who died from the usual black company culture of overworking, this time she gets reincarnated as the game’s heroine. However the character that she actually loves and admires the most is the game’s villainess. Hence the title of this anime as she is going to conquer the villainess’ heart and make her all hers. A non-yuri game gonna be yuri-fied? Oh boy, why do I have a feeling that this will be an even quicker doom flag for the poor villainess!
Episode 1
You know the drill. Rei Oohashi works in a black company. Her only respite is playing her favourite otome game, Revolution. Many times. Over and over again. Well, at least she didn’t die because one day she just finds herself inside the body of the protagonist, Rae Taylor! She is happy with this isekai treatment! Even more so, she is in love with the game’s antagonist, Claire Francois! Despite Claire’s numerous attempt to bully her, Rae actually loves it and considers it an act of love! OMFG! Is this not creepy?! The more Claire bullies her, the more Rae is impressed! Please, torment me more! Rae’s friend, Misha Jur is a fallen noble and warns her about getting too involved with Claire. However Rae reveals why she loves Claire because despite all the bullying, there is a line she doesn’t cross. Claire will only sully her own hands with the bullying and in a way, hides her real fragility via intimidation. Can you not love that human side of her?! Twisted. The bullying continues as Claire won’t give up. This means putting up with more of Rae’s twisted love. Since this is an otome game, we are introduced to the princes of the Bauer kingdom who also attend this school: Rod, Thane and Yu. Rae knows Claire loves Thane and tries to set them up. However this only makes an embarrassed Claire deny and in a way, sounds like a rejection. Because of this humiliation, Claire vows to bully her until she submits in tears! Well, I doubt it but whatever. As she thinks on how to take her bullying to the next step, she realizes with the exams coming, she throws down a challenge to Rae. If Rae loses to her, she must leave school. Rae doesn’t see any merit to participate but I guess it won’t hurt so she agrees. But if Claire fails to beat her, she must do 1 thing she asks. So we see them take different exams. When the results are out, shockingly Rae beats Claire in the general curriculum (Rod is tops if you want to know). You bet Claire knows everything from top to bottom because of all those doujinshi games too! For the etiquette exam, Claire thumps Rae by a mile (Yu tops it if you’re interested). Finally for the magic exam, to everyone’s shock, Claire is in first place and her score is immeasurable?!
Episode 2
The teacher explains because of this, Rae has been exempted from the overall exams (which means Rod takes first place followed by Yu and then Claire). So later with the princes, they discuss about Rae’s immeasurable stats and this could mean Rae is one of those rare talents that possesses 2 elements instead of 1. That’s right, in the game, Rae has the highest level in earth and water element. Claire thought the challenge is off but Rae reminds her the exact words of the challenge. This means Claire failed to beat her and thus she loses. Claire is about to except whatever perverted schemes but to her surprise, Rae’s wish is for her not to give up. Or would she prefer some perverted wish? And so Claire swears to God on that. As Claire holds an interview for her own personal maid, WTF Rae is one of the candidates! She wants to reject her but it seems she did better than the rest. When she complains to her father, Dole about it, he at first agrees but then Rae starts to spout some buzzwords. Dole then talks to her privately. After a while, he tells Claire that Rae will be her maid. This girl can be trusted. No buts about it. Claire continues to protest but Dole tell her to prove herself by keeping a hold on this wild horse. Claire relents and gets strict with Rae that she must do that is told. Gladly. Rae is now Claire’s maid and the other maid whom Claire has been with since young is Lene Aurousseau. She is more like a big sister than a maid. When Claire refuses to eat some veges, Rae is willing to eat it like an indirect kiss. Claire quickly swallows them up! That sure worked. Then there’s the bath time with Claire but don’t worry, nothing perverted. Yet. For starters, Rae just nose bleeding like hell. Before bedtime, Claire wants to know Rae’s intentions. She believes there is an ulterior motive for all this. However Rae says she truly loves Rae since she is cute. That’s about it. Claire refuses to believe it so Rae vows to prove it.
Episode 3
Rae plays chess with Rod and it seems she almost beat him. He finds her a good rival but tells her she need not hold back the next time. Then as Rae plays with Claire, Yu comes to check on them and suggests they play poker. As explained, Misha and Yu are childhood friends. Despite Misha’s family falling into hard times, she continues to admire him. Rae tries to rig the match to bring them together but with Yu being sharp and impressed on Rae’s skills, this makes Misha a bit jealous. Rae then brings Claire to secretly hear Thane play his harp. But Claire pops out to praise him. A bad move because in the game, that decreases his fondness for her. Since he was just passing time and had nothing to do with being a good king, Rae suggests playing a king’s game. Of course Rae and Lene rig it so as to make Claire and Thane get together. So when they are forced to kiss, this is when Thane puts his foot down. This game has nothing to do about being a good king. Rae admits it doesn’t and it is to see who would realize that. Since he refuses an unreasonable order, it shows he is a good king. Thane is not impressed with this testing. Later as the girls dine together, Misha brings up the topic of being homo! Basically, whether or not gender plays a role when it comes down to who you fall in love. For Rae it does because she will never fall for a man. This leads to them talking of why she tried to pair Claire with Thane. They thought she was in love with Claire. Rae explains she never expected Claire to return or accept her feelings. She is just happy to be by her side. Her end goal is not to be by her side but for Claire to be happy. This means she is happy with the way things are now. Then we hear some girls badmouth about Rae and this brings up some unpleasant memories about how the people she loved never returned her love. She felt the more she fell in love, the farther they become and hence she chose to stay quiet just to be with them. But this only encouraged their prejudice so the only thing she could do was to make jokes and laugh it off. Surprisingly Claire tells off those girls by making it look like an accident. Misha didn’t expect Claire to stand up for Rae but as Lene puts it, they were just convenient to vent out her frustrations since she had done something unintentionally wrong and it left her feeling unease. Rae wonders if Claire hates her. Of course she does! Even so, Rae will still continue to love her.
Episode 4
Torrid teaches the students about magic. We are enlightened about each element’s different uses, strengths and weaknesses against each other. Rod and Yu approach Rae and talk to her about the upcoming academy knights’ exam. They resolve conflicts between students and fight monsters that creep into the school grounds. Basically it’s this world’s version of student council. Rae doesn’t have any interest in it because it is one of those events where the heroine ends up with one of the princes. Until she is given the idea of being able to protect Claire as a knight. Wow. She’s in. Even more so, Claire shows interest in joining. Even better for Rae since Claire will be her knight in shining armour! As they continue magic practice, suddenly a huge slime attacks. Torrid tries to handle this himself as the students run for cover. Obviously Rae has seen this coming as she goes to support Torrid with her earth magic. With the slime trap. The other students help to defeat it. But in a turn of events, the slime grabs everyone. Tentacle rape?! This is one of the moments Rae dislikes because one of the princes will save her and this will be her romantic interest for the rest of the route. She wills it until there is a Claire option?! Although she got grabbed by its tentacle, somehow she got freed. Feeling weak, she gets back on her feet when Thane gives her the motivation she can take it on. With his support, she destroys the slime and frees everyone. Everyone praises Claire as their hero. In the midst of it, Rae walks into the forest to see a little baby slime cowering in fear. She knows they killed its mother who was just protecting it. In return, she will be its mother and forms a familiar pact. She names it Ralaire. Uhm, Rae + Claire? With Claire thanking Thane and while the mood seems to be going good between them, Rae doesn’t want to interrupt but accidentally steps on the branch. Claire rushes to her to scold her for the usual but is also concerned if she is hurt. It makes Rae happy when Claire praises her for a job well done. Rae secretly raises Ralaire in school with the help of Misha.
Episode 5
Claire soon finds out about the little slime and wants it disposed. She is not amused despite the few tricks. But when Ralaire transforms into a little sculpture of Claire, Rae pounds on the lies that it takes the form of anything beautiful (in actual fact it mimics its surroundings to protect itself). With that, Claire accepts Ralaire. Can’t do anything about the name, though. Claire, Rae and Misha along with the princes decide to take the academy knights’ exam. Claire using this to resume their challenge under the same terms. Lorek Kugret the captain the academy knights takes the successful candidates to the battlefield where they will be pitted against each other. One of the matches include Thane vs Yu. Yu starts off strongly but Thane uses his ingenuity to break free and get the better of him. Next match has Misha against Rod. It ends with Rod’s victory since his magic overwhelms Misha and she used up too much oxygen and can’t carry on. Finally it is Claire vs Rae. Claire is confident of beating her but of course Rae being her fanatic knows every move she makes. She squirms and is impressed in whatever moves Claire does. Claire even goes so far as to unleash the most powerful fire magic she has. This only resolves Rae not to lose to her and so it ends unceremoniously as Rae drops Claire deep down a hole she makes. Claire won’t give up until Thane tells her to since she is no match for a dual caster. Lorek then calls Rae the winner and that’s the end of that. But good news, everyone passes and are inducted as academy knights regardless whether they win or lose. Claire wants to get over with her penalty so Rae tells her to never give up. Eh? Same like before? Yes. Same as before. Once again Claire swears to God for that. Rae has a feeling she forgot something. Yeah, Ralaire is somehow in the hands of Thane.
Episode 6
Academy knights brainstorm on what to do for foundation day. Basically it’s their school’s version of cultural festival. Rae has this idea for a cross-dressing café. Lorek is against it but Rae manages to convince the rest to support. Wouldn’t you like to see the other in a different cross-gender outfit? Don’t you just love democracy? Claire realizes too late she has to wait on people too… Lambert who is academy knight’s vice captain as well as Lene’s brother, talks to Claire and Rae about handling some disturbances between the students. Especially those between nobles and commoners. He also hands them a task to solve some haunting incident in the school kitchen. You scared, Claire? Then it shouldn’t be a problem. So that night as the duo patrol about, suddenly Rae gives Claire eat this chocolate cake of hers. She wonders how she could make such delicious food if she is serving her most of the time. Then it occurs to her that Rae is that haunted figure spotted since she has been coming here every night to bake this. Heck, she even camps here! And the mysterious wet hand is just actually Ralaire. Claire has enough of this foolishness and wants to go home. Uhm, the hallways are looking dark and scary. Claiming she is tired from all the yelling, Claire returns to sleep next to Rae. Flashback shows Claire was sad when mom Melia had to leave on some duty on her birthday. Melia promised to make it up to her but Claire threw a tantrum and hated mom for it. The servants celebrated birthday with her and gave a brush so she could brush Melia’s hair. This made Claire happy. However Melia died in an accident. This made Claire very sad since she did not have the chance to apologize. Well Rae, do you find Claire cute crying in her sleep? Rae ropes in Lene to help make some recipes for the festival. As Lene knows a lot on recipes, Rae can’t fool her so she has her keep a secret that she wants to make something for Claire. But that secret won’t last as Lene breaks it to Claire. And that is why she is here to help test whatever they’re making. This crème brulee sure hits the spot. Oh Claire, you’re going to get fat if you insist for more! The trio have a great time although Claire getting a bit jealous that Rae and Lene are a bit close to each other.
Episode 7
Thane has Rae and Lene teach them the finer points of waiting. This doesn’t sit well with some nobles. So you think it’s an easy job? Wait till Spartan Lene beat into you some proper maid training! In your loudest voice now: Welcome home, master! The festival is here. The girls are looking gorgeous as butlers but for the guys in maid outfits, I’d say they’re an iffy case. One of the customers is a prince from the Loro Kingdom. This selfish fatty wants some dodo bird delicacy in which of course is not available. Rae is in a pinch as the events of the game, one of the prince will come bail her out. Yeah, start of the romantic route. But thankfully it is Claire who bails her out as she speaks fluent Loro language to appease that guy. The case is solved as Lene remembers something similar. Claire took her to a shop to buy her a new dress. A Loro guy got insulted just because Lene was around. Claire defended her and spoke in his language. He realized the circumstances and the status of Claire’s family and decided to overlook this manner. While Lene was apologetic for causing her trouble, Claire reminded her because she served her, she is the highest ranked commoner and must take pride in it. With Claire having her break, Rae offers to take her around the festival grounds. Rae is stopped by a commoner named Matt who is interested in recruiting her into his movement to fight for equal rights between nobles and commoners. However Claire is not amused and rubbishes it all. With Rae agreeing to such rights, Claire wonders if she actually believes their cause. Rae surprises her with an amulet as a charm to help realize her love for Thane. Confused Claire doesn’t understand why she is doing this so Rae hints about how Claire saved her and that her happiness is more important than her own love. Yeah, those black company stories and how playing such otome games as her only sanctuary from reality. Soon, a commotion between nobles and commoner movement. Dede Murray who is Yu’s attendant attacked Matt’s side.
Episode 8
Rae goes to talk to Matt at the infirmary. Looks like he is badly burnt and now has a negative views on nobles. He refuses to cooperate despite Rae assuring the academy knights’ stand are equal. But he starts to talk that his movement talked to Yu on this idea. Dede didn’t like it and confronted them about this. Both said something out of line and when Dede took out his wand, it went out of control and burnt Matt. On Dede’s side, he never meant to do it and just wanted to intimidate. His wand has been sent for inspection and it seems nothing was wrong with it. This incident has led a group of commoners protesting outside the school grounds. As the princes discusses the situation with the girls, Rae narrates a bit on their history. Especially Yu’s mom who is the current queen was previously a cardinal of the church (Rod and Thane came from a different mother who was the previous and late queen). The marriage between them hoped to strengthen the kingdom but somehow the church grew more in power. As the church is the dominant religious force in the kingdom, hence their teachings are very much in line with the commoners’ beliefs. Thus it is speculated why they were trying to recruit Yu. For now, both sides will explain and appease the nobles and commoners about the situation in their school. However the ire grows as Dede’s punishment is house arrest for a week. Commoners view it as a slap on the wrist as they grow more furious. Academy knights talk about the church financing the movement while making it look like they’re helping the nobles. After all, they want to take power from the royal family and weaken the nobles. Thane suggests Yu talk to his mom but she has rejected his audience. This causes a rift between them until Claire points out what if this is all part of the plan to make the brothers fight. They realize this won’t do them any good so for now they will do what they can to protect the school grounds.
Later Rae talks to Claire and wants her to stay in her room till tomorrow. She knows the school will be attacked tonight. Claire is shocked about this. Even so, she won’t stay quiet. Rae puts her to sleep and trusts Lene will stay hidden with her in her room. That night, somebody knocks out the guards so the commoners barge in. Luckily the princes get in their way. Meanwhile Rae confronts the mastermind behind it all: Lambert. She knows he was the one who set everything up including the malfunction of Dede’s wand. Actually there’s nothing wrong with it. Just because he is in charge with maintenance of tools, he gets away with it via false reporting. Rae has no proof of this accusation. However she realizes Lambert doing this is against his family and kingdom’s wishes. His family has been entrusted with some mining rights and have amassed quite some wealth. So doing this will ruined it all. Hence he is doing it because Lene is held hostage. Turns out Lambert loves his sister as a lover and of course like homosexuality, it is forbidden. Lene stops Rae from revealing more as she takes Claire hostage. So much for that trust. Rae hopes Lambert will give up and she’ll try to do something about it. However Lambert believes that person is fearsome. If he fails, Lene will be killed. Ralaire frees Claire and she continues to tell them to give up. The mastermind pops up and eggs Lambert to call forth the monster. This is bad because this has not happened in the game. Uncharted territory. He further entices Lambert with promises to help the siblings escape this kingdom and they can forever be free lovers. Lambert gives in, believing it is too late to turn back. He summons a chimera so Rae and Claire have to run. However Claire believes Lene is her responsibility and will take care of this mess rather than wait for the military. They manage to freeze it temporarily and as Rae is at her usual twisted love for Claire, something feels off about it.
Episode 9
Rae becomes bait as she runs around to let the chimera chase her. This is to buy enough time for Claire to finish casting a very powerful spell. Her full focus is a must because a little slip up will be enough to kill Rae as she’ll be caught in the crossfire. Don’t worry, Rae fully believes she can do it. And she does. The chimera is killed. The perpetrator shows up to kill Claire but Thane protects her. He then escapes believing he has done enough. Because Thane is poisoned and is going to die. Only, Rae heals him! With the siblings arrested, Rae knows the Nur Empire is behind this based on the kind of poison they used. Obviously this is all later part of the game as this kingdom is their main enemy. With this incident over, the commoner movement dies down and it is a fact the Aurousseau will be stripped of everything and the siblings put to death for treason. However with Claire and Rae getting the chance to have an audience with the king and queen, this is part of Rae’s plan to have Claire request for their wish to spare the lives of the Aurousseau siblings. The king confides in his minister, Salas who stands firmly on the matter to punish severely this grave heinous act as it is the fundamental rule of law. Even if Claire argues of the great contribution they have done over the years, Salas maintains their crimes are too great to be offset by their works. All hope seems lost until Thane steps in to speak. This incident was caused by the belief from commoners of the injustice of nobles. If they fail to show that they don’t look down on commoners, the same thing will happen again. While this might upset the nobles, be reminded that commoners far outnumber them. This is also to show they stick by their meritocracy values. With that, the king decides to exile the Aurousseau. Claire and Rae can’t contain their happiness after that. The day comes when the duo see the Aurousseau pack their bags and leave. Lene and Lambert have been disowned but as long as they are alive, they can get by. They see them to talk and say a few last words. But Claire refuses to say goodbye as she believes they will meet again. Lene apologizes and thanks them for everything. Claire will always be her master. After they have left, Rae gives Claire and unauthorized hug. This is so that she can cry and from this proximity, Rae cannot see her tears. Better take up this offer… Then it’s back to more silly Rae I-love-you shenanigans.
Episode 10
Claire is still sad about Lene’s departure. Sorry Rae, can we stop with the seemingly sexual harassment jokes? Soon, Claire receives word that her sister, Manaria Sousse is returning. She is the first princess but has been ousted from the battle for succession. Obviously Claire admires her a lot and you bet Rae is not impressed. The banter between Claire and Rae amuses Manaria and she finds her amusing. Flashback reveals they aren’t really blood sisters. After Claire’s mom died, she was sent to live with a distant relative for a while. That was when she met Manaria and she helped soothe her loneliness and vowing to protect her always. Manaria continues to wow everyone in school since she excels in everything. Although Manaria is also interested to know Rae since she is amusing, Rae narrates that in the game, Manaria is one of the very few precious allies. However since Rae prefers Claire more and Manaria always gets in the way, she is her enemy! Love rival, if I should say? Soon Rod wants to test Manaria’s skills so they engage in a mock magic battle. It ends with Manaria overwhelming him. Rae could tell she used her speciality, Spell Breaker. Basically, analysing one’s magic composition and then breaking it down. In other words, a magic nullifier. Magic that erases magic. Claire picks up Rae’s jealousy and the latter does not bat an eyelid to admit it! Yes, Rae is serious about her. In that case, Claire challenges her to bring her some Flowers of Flora on the scales. According to legend, 2 men fought over the love of a priestess. Both were told to bring something to be weighed on the divine scale. The one who brought flowers won and the loser went on to be the nation’s king. Since then, the Amour Ceremony has been performed in accordance to this legend. So Manaria is asking about this and as learns from the princes about Rae’s unrequited love. Claire makes it clear if she is going to love the same gender, she would definitely pick Manaria over Rae! That’s your clear signal of rejection. Worse, Manaria starts to get real close to Claire. Much to Claire’s delight but Rae’s chagrin. She’s doing it on purpose, right? Rae trying to hold in her jealousy as she counts prime numbers! Hey, at least not reciting pi numbers!
Episode 11
Manaria takes over whatever Rae does and obviously the latter is seething mad jealous. But what can she do? Claire seems happy and if that is the case, so be it. Strangely, Claire’s lackeys then talk to Rae and hopes she can continue to be by Claire’s side no matter what. They heard some rumours about Manaria’s not so good reputation. Wow. If Claire’s lackeys are vouching for Rae, this can’t be good. That night, Manaria talks to Rae and admits that she was doing everything to provoke her. Because Rae has somewhat given up on Claire’s love, Manaria finds it disappointing. So is this how far your love for Claire is? In that case, she is not fit to love Claire at all. She’s just running away by accepting it all. Obviously, Rae can tell she wants to pick a fight with her and if it’s a fight she wants, a fight she’ll get. Next day, Manaria and Rae have a mock battle witnessed by other students. Whatever spells Rae casts, Manaria is quick to counter. Finally Manaria does her ultimate move by combining all her magic attributes to zap Rae. Claire sees blood on Rae and gets worried. She quickly rushes to her side. Although Manaria heals her, Claire is not happy she overdid it. Rae realizes she has lost. In the aftermath, Rae seems to keep her distance from Claire. When Claire confronts her about it, she is not amused to find out that duel with Manaria was a fight over her. She is not a prize! Rae went so far as to say Claire will have all her needs taken care of by the person she admires and thus no need for this commoner maid. Claire is mad with such shameless insult and chides her for sulking like a child. At this rate, she is not fit to serve as her maid. Okay then, Rae quits. Is that what she really wants? Okay then, Claire releases her from her service and thanks her for everything. But it will be Rae’s fatal mistake as she sees tears welling up in Claire’s eyes. Forget about making her happy, making her cry is an unforgiveable sin! As they part ways, Claire is sad that now Rae too is leaving her alone.
Episode 12
Manaria confronts Rae for being a coward and running away. Rae of course blames her since she was the one who stole Claire from her. Manaria reasons even if all these didn’t happen, Rae will still end up breaking up with Claire. Whatever Rae’s reasons in wanting to make Claire happy, Manaria isn’t buying it. She knows it better as she herself has experienced something similar. A brief explanation that she was in love with a maid and held back her feelings until she couldn’t. It his hinted she raped her and after that the maid ran away. Manaria tried to cover up her own feelings by visiting brothels but it made things worst. She regretted hurting and losing her. Now if Claire is hers, she’ll toy with her as she pleases. If Rae disagrees, then challenge her via the scales at the ceremony. However the catch is if Manaria wins, Rae will be hers! Claire tries to look for Rae but she learns she is busy hunting monsters. To take her mind off Claire? Well, definitely she has a lot on her mind as she fights this tree monster. During the ceremony as many try their luck with the scales. Misha asks Claire about her opinion on Rae. Not good ones at first but with her praising Rae for the person she is, Misha is glad she is finally smiling. She also wonders if she would choose Rae if she wins. However as a noble with pride, she cannot bow her head to a commoner. Yeah, it’s complicated being a noble.
Manaria has obtained Flora and Rae is no show. Thinking she has won and about to kiss, Rae pops up. Is Rae serious because all she got is a twig?! But as she puts on a scale, it turns into a huge tree! Definitely it tips the scales. In the game, this twig from the tree monster is a secret item. As for how it could surpass Flora, Rae reasons that flower is the weightiest known. It just means that there is something else that could surpass it. Rae then pledges her love to Claire no matter what and she accepts. This is when Manaria laughs. She reveals her target was Rae all along! Oh my. Rae getting a taste of her own medicine! How does it feel to be loved by an annoying girl?! Before Manaria could kiss her, Claire takes her away. Rae is hers! Then back to the usual nonsense with Rae clamouring all over Claire as she resists like hell. Ah, back to normal. In the aftermath, with Manaria’s loss, she decides to return to the capital and resume the fight for her throne. Maybe she can win back Rae if she wins this. Then everyone teases Claire as they will support her love for Rae. So same sex marriage is allowed? As Manaria leaves, Rae is left to ponder the talk she had with her. Because Manaria wants to know who Rae is. How she knew about the Nur Empire’s poison and this special tree. Is she a spy? Rae rejects it but also refuses to tell. All she can say is what she is doing is for Claire. Because this is to avoid the day she gets publically executed. Rae returns to harass Claire with her love right in front of everyone who finds this so amusing. Yeah, best entertainment ever.
Hello, I Love You…
From the way I see it, Claire’s doom flag won’t be happening the way Rae is harassing her with her super genuine love. How can you have time doing evil things when you are busy fending off the dumb advances of a dumb commoner?! Yeah. That’s how I figure it. Rae-Claire shenanigans is what everybody else seems to have come to accept because when they are happy, everybody is happy and the whole kingdom is at peace. Besides, no YouTube entertainment here so everyone is going to have a blast watching the duo interact and all the drama that comes with it. Uh huh. Better than any YouTube content that’s for sure!
Although I am not impressed with the storyline, however I am not bored with it either. Obviously it would have been a big bore if the entire series was about Rae trying to bug and harass Claire into becoming her lover. No doubt that Rae continues to do that, but it is not the entirety and the backbone of the series. Had it actually been like that, every darn episode trying to showcase Rae and her sleazy attempts to harass Claire into submission and accepting her love, not only would it have become such a big bore but a hell a lot of annoying. Yes, Rae would have easily become the #1 most annoying character of the year in my books! But thankfully, it does not play out that way and with the few events taking place as per the game, it helps gives this series somewhat of a direction. Although like I have said, I am not entirely impressed with it because it is well, that dreaded doomed-villainess-in-a-video-game plot.
I don’t blame Rae for taking a liking for the villainess character because I am sure that most of us today probably share the same kind of guilt of liking the baddies. Oh you know me on a personal accord, in the Transformers series I seem to prefer the Decepticons/Predacons to the Autobots/Maximals. Yeah, probably the baddies have better and cooler designs than the good guys. But anyway! Rae continue to harass Claire like nobody’s business, it’s like she only has that privilege to do so. After all, she was handpicked and chosen to be Claire’s maid. Rae being this super harasser is perhaps the only way to get Claire’s attention and reaction. If she was being docile and bottles up her feelings, accepting this one sided love, I believe Claire wouldn’t even bother to take notice of her. So what a neat way to get psychological by being the joker and clown, it gets on Claire’s nerves and being the prideful woman she is, she won’t let this sit by quietly. And so it is a win-win situation for both Rae and Claire because as you can see their relationship draws closer to each other. Claire caring more about Rae than just being a simple maid of hers. Of course, the same ol’ harassment continues because would you prefer to see a stuck up unsmiling Claire face or one that flusters in embarrassment? The choice is obvious. All in the name of love! Really, love makes you do the strangest and dumbest of things.
Sometimes Rae taking too far with her harassments, she looks and sounds so much like a retard. It is annoying at times but I figure this is also probably a façade to hide her true feelings. Imagine if this joker was being serious, you think Claire would have taken her seriously? And so by being an annoying fool, Rae gets the reaction she wants as well as getting to hide her true love for Claire. Although Rae has many times straight up admit right in Claire’s face that she really wants and loves her but you see Claire always brushes it off like a joke, right? So yeah, being the annoying retarded clown she is seems to work best.
It is obvious that like most villainess, Claire is not entirely bad. Just misunderstood. Sure, the game painted her as one but as we delve a bit deeper into her past, we can see why. You can also say that with Rae being obsessed around her and all those harassments, it keeps Claire from turning into an actual villainess. I don’t think having a lesbian route was part of the game and if that is the case, Rae is now entering uncharted territory with Claire mostly warming up to her (although her pride forbids her from admitting it). Imagine the irony in the context of this anime, Rae is the one who is acting like the villainess because of her constant pestering while Claire feels more like a bully victim from all those unwanted an unsolicited actions. But at the end of the day, no matter how strained their relationship, you can vouch that the relationship between Claire and Rae are genuine and not because of some fake NPC programming on some secret route. Or is it? Essentially, Claire accepting Rae is only because she lives up to her promise of not giving up, right?
This is more evident with the introduction of Manaria towards the end of the season. Like as though they needed some sort of ‘antagonist’ to end the season and to ramp up the drama and tension. You know, something to rock the boat and test how strong the bonds between Rae and Claire. Obviously Manaria is trying to pick a fight with Rae. But I have to wonder at times could Manaria just like Rae herself, playing the role of the villain so as to ascertain and solidify their relationship even further? I mean, right now, Claire and Rae’s testament of their relationship is mainly due to all the harassment. Take away that, what will Claire and Rae’s bonds be? And so with a formidable rival that really threatens to take Claire away for good, this prompts Rae to take action to secure that Claire will be forever hers. So we’re really going down this lesbian route, huh? And so I was right on the money. There is no way in hell that anybody’s love for Claire would be greater than Rae’s, right? Though, I didn’t see it coming that Manaria was actually gunning for Rae. It was good to see a different side of Rae when she was actually pushed to the edge and getting her own harassment medicine. The irony Rae told Claire not to give up but she herself almost gave up. Oh right, that promise is only for Claire.
The other characters don’t really feel impactful and in fact, they feel quite negligible. Take for instant the princes. They are supposed to be the main characters and love interests of the game. However there is a good reason at least in this series’ context why they feel insignificant. As Rae wants to increase her romantic chances with Claire, she has tried to avoid important events in the game that would obviously lead her character to choose and become the lover to 1 of them. Therefore as I can see, Rae is doing her best to avoid all that and so far the princes may have find Rae to be interesting but not enough to actually want her to be by their side. Now we see them in the end being amused with Rae-Claire antics and that they’re even smiling while watching all that! Oh well, better this than Rae ending up with one of them? Then there is Misha too who I feel is just forgettable except for the fact to let us know that commoner Rae has a fallen noble as a friend. But other than that, her character contributes nothing significant to everything and is just well, one of those friends. Just like Claire’s lackeys (damn, can’t remember their names).
Then there were Lene and Lambert whom I thought would also be insignificant characters. Just some side characters that we won’t ever think much of. Like Misha. But oh well, they were used in some plot twist and my conspiracy theory says it is to do away with these characters so we don’t have to worry about them in the future. Oh you know, Lene has always been by Claire’s side since young. Even if Rae and Lene are friends, think about it, when it comes down to the love and attention of Claire, there can only be one. That’s right. They’re still rivals in that sense although we don’t see them get down and dirty to over Claire. But I’m just saying that as long as there is another person near Claire, it would be harder for Rae to monopolize her completely and with one obstacle out of the way… Yeah, you can guess it. Who is all hers now?
Before I forget, even that slime is forgettable. You think Ralaire would be some sort of pet mascot to the series but just like the rest of the characters, this little piece of cute blob seems as insignificant and not memorable. I do not see the point of having such a cute creature as their pet and it does no jack sh*t ever since it got domesticated by them. At least for this season. So for now I’m just going to say that they wanted to force this series to have a pet mascot and this slime got the part. Yeah, of all creatures. But I guess it’s better than a talking little furry animal!
For the art and animation quality, all seems really high quality and obviously the characters have to be looking gorgeous and beautiful. They are after all from a dating sim game. So yeah, as typical as they can get, for example, Claire looking very much like your typical prideful noble because of her blonde hair and of course those killer drills. Or oversized croissants. Or silkworm cocoons. Take your pick. Yeah, why do such ladies must have this kind of hairstyle? Is it me or does Misha look like a grown up version of Ilya? Must be just me then. My only beef is that the princes don’t really look like princes. Well, for starters, Rod looks like some sort of delinquent because of his spikey hair! WTF?! Thane looks like some sort of stoic evil boss while Yu looks more like an idol for shotacons! Holy f*ck?! WHAT?! This anime is done by Platinum Vision who did Koroshi Ai, Servamp and Kono Oto Tomare.
For the voice acting, I only recognized Nana Mizuki as Manaria. I couldn’t be more surprised to realize much later it was Youko Hikasa’s voice behind Yu seeing she is in quite a lower voice and that evaded my detection. The other casts are Yuu Serizawa as Rae (Kaname in Tonikaku Kawaii), Karin Nanami as Claire (Meiya in Muv-Luv Alternative), Aimi Terakawa as Misha (Kasumi in BanG Dream), Kenn as Rod (Jinbei in Mushibugyou), Daisuke Namikawa as Thane (Rock in Black Lagoon), Ikumi Hasegawa as Lene (Aisha in Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha No Oukoku Saikenki) and Naoya Miyase as Lambert (Sajou in Yumemiru Danshi Wa Genjitsushugisha). Rae and Claire become a duet and sing the jazzy fanfare opening theme, Raise Y/Our Hands. Doesn’t sound too shabby but can be weird at times because Rae singing in her character meaning she sounds a bit like a (cute) retard. The duo also sing the ending theme, Optimum Combination. Not as lively as the opener but it still does have its fair share of fanfare and funky bass lines. Once more, Rae singing in her retard character role…
Overall, this is just okay in my books. Especially when I still can’t look at any other way that Rae is just one big annoying retarded bully trying to get into Claire’s pants. I’m not sure what this psychological term they used but using the same constant and habitual repetition (in this case, Rae’s harassment) until the victim finally gives in. Yeah, it feels a lot like that. The way this villainess theme is creeping up every season, in no time it is going to be up there with those dreaded isekai animes themselves. So the only way for a doomed villainess to be saved is to love or be loved? I don’t know about the power of love that is always believed to prevail over everything. But imagine if Claire finally becomes Rae’s lifelong partner. Real true ending? Yeah, there are things that are much worse than death itself.
Chua Tek Ming~*Anime Power*~ !LiVe FoR AnImE, aNiMe FoR LiFe! 