Marinate1016

I’ve spoken at length about how much I love this trend of Otome/villainess style anime we’re getting lately and I really think Lastame is one of the best of the bunch. If you’ve ever watched fantasy shows and cringed at how stupid the main character acts or the usual anime shenanigans like not being able to communicate properly which would solve 90 percent of issues, good news for you. This series actually addresses those things. In fact, that’s the bulk of the show. The characters communicate and talk through their issues like normal people. It was such a breath of fresh air and I willmiss it greatly. If you’re a fan of good worldbuilding, fantasy, shoujo, otome or just cute anime girls, this is a great watch that you won’t regret. I’ve always felt that the best fantasy shows are the ones that you forget are fantastical. Instead of focusing on magic and action, they focus on interpersonal relationships and character growth. Lastame is exactly that. There’s several episodes that largely consist of just the main cast talking and working their way through ideological issues, but they’re set up in such a way that you become captivated and lose track of time. Pride as a MC just finds a way to compromise and achieve results no matter what. The thing is, it never feels like an asspull. The show walks you through the perspectives of everyone involved and by the time a solution is found it feels natural. This is the biggest selling point of the show for me. Yea, Pride is cute, but she’s not just a pretty face. She’s aware of the things that she’s done in the past and truly wants to make amends, while promoting equality for her kingdom. She doesn’t just want to change her future, she wants to change the systems and traditions that made that future possible in the first place. You’ve probably gathered already, but Lastame is a slow-burn character driven story that focuses on Pride and her relationships with the side characters. All of the side characters are dealing with some trauma that Pride helps them through. They all feel developed, meaningful and their emotional story beats land very well. There’s a couple scenes throughout the show that truly got me emotional. It’s always good to see smaller casts in these fantasy shows as they really make it easier to flesh them out and become attached. There’s no harem or fanservice antics either in here. There’s a little bit of romance hinted at, but it’s very much on the backburner other than a blush every now and again, so if you’re someone who likes good writing that doesn’t rely on anime booba or wish fulfillment, you’ve got one here. Lastame takes its time getting into the meat of the story. It’s not until the last 3 episodes that we even get hints as to the big bad(s) of the story. Up until then it’s mainly worldbuilding and conflict resolution. That’s not a knock on it though. In an era where every fantasy show has 3 episodes before a 5 year time skip where the MC is already OP, I will always appreciate shows like this that take their time. There’s two minor time skips, but for the bulk of the show Pride is still a little kid/pre-teen. Albeit a very smart one. I think if you enjoyed Honzuki, Niehime or other slower paced stories you’ll see similarities both in the maturity of all 3 MCs as well as the vibe of the story. Really the only flaw I could point out with Lastame is that the animation is a little meh. The studio aren’t exactly known for groundbreaking stuff, so it is what it is. The story also doesn’t have too much action, but when it happens, it’s noticeably low grade. A few of the fights use that generic white line going towards the character to indicate motion gimmick. If you’ve watched enough anime you know what I mean. But, since it is overwhelmingly dialogue based it did not affect my enjoyment too much. In closing, I think we’re in a weird limbo of sorts with anime. People claim they’re tired of the same old same old, but then they get shows that actually focus on characters and establishing a world, and they don’t check them out. This show is quite simply put criminally underrated and deserves more love and attention. One episode is all it took for me to know it would be in my top 4 of the season and to go out and buy all the books. I thoroughly enjoyed this series and am very much looking for a possible second season. Here’s to hoping it’s soon. Lastame gets 9 out of 10.

red-artist

Its a simple show. At around age 6, MC gets her memories from past life and realizes that she is a villain princess who will bring this country to ruin (does lots of evil stuff in the process). And she wants to somehow try to save her kingdom from herself. It does resemble bakarina in regards to villainess + harem + not realizing that everyone loves her + saving the love interests etc.. But this show is much darker with basically no comedy/romance. Right now, we are still in the harem gathering phase. It basically loops through a plot that roughly goes --> "introduce sadboi, MC does something nice for him and saves him, sad boi become happy and join her fan club". MC saves 4 bois by the end of the season. 1. In the supposed game, the villainess was really fucked up and felt like a truly evil person. not like the usual stuck up ego princess bullshit, but someone who truly enjoys the misery of others. 2. MC is (sort of) realistic and actually understands her situation. She also has no problem with killing people or making people into slaves as long as it is in the best interests of her subjects/country. She is also a little suicidal (self-sacrificing?) when trying to save others. 3. She uses her brain, which is a rare trait among anime leads. And She has something called the "last boss buff" which allows her to be OP. This makes her really strong and we can always appreciate a strong badass female lead. 4. The harem members. instead of infighting, they actually work together hard to be of better service to our future Queen (MC). Lots of bromance moments. On the negative side though, 1. the original villain character was so unhinged, that i am starting to wonder if she had brain damage. why so dark :(. I am here for otome harem gimmicks, not to be repulsed by tragedy/torture. 2. The show milks that "tragic" heroine sentiment really hard. our MC is continuously worried (whining) about how she may become a cruel person eventually. It gets annoying after a point and doesn't need to be forced into every episode. It definitely needs a Drama tag. 3. zero creativity. The story is very predictable (especially the plain dialogues). Every scene feels like you have already watched it a hundred times in the past. Overall, this is a mediocre show just like most isekai/otome productions. But within the otome genre, this may be a decent watch.