PanzerIV-J

"Villainess Level 99" should've been a masterpiece, but it turned out to be good instead. Honestly, this series was really disappointing, and not in the way that it is overall bad, but it just felt like it had much more potential than what it concluded with... What I mean is: Characters don't really have very much characterization, and the plot feels a bit skewed. 1. Characters don't really have very much characterization: The entire plot tries to focus around the next hero's party, which makes sense why they would work towards that because the plot proclaims that the demon king will attack. The problem with this isn't thefact that the characters do stupid nonsensical stuff, the issue is that the story doesn't actually focus around the main character "Yumiella Dolkness" for a decent portion of the series, especially after episode 6. This is a problem since most of the "hero's party" are somewhat useless characters that don't make a difference to the plot. The only characters that actually somewhat matter to the story are; Yumiella, Alicia, and maybe Edwin. The other hero party members, William and Oswald, are basically all meant to draw a fake romantic conflict between Alicia and Edwin. That being said, there simply isn't enough time for you to get enough development to like these side characters to actually get to really liking them, plus it actively destroys the MC's own character development and likability since there is less development and screen time actually showing these characters gain traits. 2. The plot feels a bit skewed: This almost entirely only comes into effect at the end of the season, the finale with the demon king was very uneventful for an ending, and didn't come across as all of what it should've been. The last episode felt rushed, while the rest of the series felt very slow, possibly due to the amount of time the anime focused onto side characters, as I said in #1, but it also doesn't help that the characters were pushed out to fight a character that the viewer has no knowledge of, and the anime didn't make a good impression with the demon king. This isn't to say that this show was any bit unwatchable, it's actually pretty good. The lack of distinct focus on the plot and narrative really just hits this show right in the guts, making it feel much less worthwhile than contemporaries. Overall, this is a good anime though, it just has some issues, and had a lot of potential. 🗿 7.5/10 🗿

KANLen09

Villainess Level 99 - The smarts of a villainess, played like an actual Otome Game character who's nonchalant about its routes and goes on her own tune: I don't care (but deeply care), my way IS the correct way. *Pikachu face* "Reinventing the wheel". This has been a phrase ongoing and about for just about any kind of source work needed to inject a fresh look into genres that with so many potential formulas, has become pretty much copy-and-paste ideas, which give a sour taste at the afterthought. This is pretty much true in all sorts of media, even the AniManga industry, and especially when newgenres take flight and the potential is there, no matter how good or bad it is. For the Isekai genre, that is the Otome Game/Villainess theme, which has seen its share of highs and lows. This season, the Villainess theme is on a high, thanks to novelists Touko Amekawa's Loop 7-kaime a.k.a 7th Time Loop and this show: Satori Tanabata's only work that is Akuyaku Reijou Level 99: Watashi wa Ura-Boss desu ga Maou dewa Arimasen a.k.a Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I'm Not the Demon Lord. "Acting like an Otome Game, but also breaking its fundamentals". I love how Villainess Level 99 just wants to make its viewers think they're on a traditional route, only to give a middle finger and subvert expectations soon thereafter. This is quite the common theme going into this show, which features its titular MC of Yumiella Dolkness who does the whole boring Isekai reincarnation shtick but remembers her roots of playing an Otome RPG, only that she's not the specified demon lord, but only a hidden boss that still stands in the way of its titular hero and her companions on the tried-and-true "We must defeat the Demon Lord" objective/goal. The thing is, her mindset of being dived into the game and living a peaceful life away from trouble, that is a problem on so many levels: her dark hair and dark magic which are considered vile by the kingdom and its inhabitants, and literally everyone will stand at least 10 feet away from her, even if she doesn't have any evil intentions. So then, she decides to level-grind for her entire childhood, only to realize that she's quite literally maxed out her character status at Level 99 once she reaches into school, breaking the expectations of her entire magic academy (since Level 10 is the highest expected). With the consequences laid out, Yumiella must now find her place within this "new" Otome Game plot, prepare everyone for the forthcoming of the Demon Lord and negate the preconceptions of her dark hair and magic. What a wrench into the "quiet and peaceful" life, for Yumiella has duties to do, all while trying to get along with the people around her. "The gamer soul is fueled not for the main story, but on side quests". This is pretty much Yumiella's MO workaround when it comes to the traditional Otome Game story of "Light Magic and the Hero", where she has to now satisfy a lot of requirements to get back to her pre-programmed route, while hastening the background routes in the process. Let's start with the assumed hero and her companions: Alicia Ehnleit is the Hero of the game, and obviously the anti-thesis of Yumiella due to her light magic. However, like the rest of the student body, she is assumed to be a max of Level 10 at best given her rare light magic, something which Yumiella finds concerning because of her fate to face the Demon Lord much later in the game. At first, both the hero and the villainess do not get along (which SHOULD be obvious) due to their disparities of light and darkness, and Alicia is left with the capture targets, the original love interests of the game, which now programmed with the fact that Yumiella has to basically rewind herself back to where she was within the game, it really is a distaste of proportions leaving her even more vulnerable to face the Demon Lord in the future. Interestingly enough, where the capture targets are supposed to assist in the original game, the new timeline basically took them for scraps and made them very ignorant and selfish, separating both Alicia and Yumiella in their hopeful collaboration and constantly harassing the latter about faking her true level while smoothing relations with the former, which is the total opposite of what the usual Otome Game RPG will be like. Starting with Edwin Valschein, he's the second prince of the kingdom, and a magic swordsman with the affinity of all classical elements: fire, wind, earth and water. His two attendants are the magic prodigy of Oswald Grimsarde, which can handle all elements better than Edwin, as well as William Ares, a master swordsman. It's easy to refer to these 3 young upstanding but self-centered nobles as The Three Stooges, because they do have their reputation behind their names, though this is nothing but one word for Yumiella: catastrophe. Edwin is the least of faults since he only abuses Yumiella verbally, unlike both Oswald and William, where they strike at Yumiella physically, giving her a taste of their superiority complex. Of course, Yumiella doesn't mind, since all she has is her Level 99 skills and dark magic to speak for itself, which as the story progresses, made her more a viable target, but also a valuable comrade who is the only magic user who can face demons her size. They say, "revenge is sweet", and this is none further placed than through Eleonora Hillrose, the daughter of her father Duke Hillrose, the leader of the noble faction. Everyone in the magic academy has a side they stand on, but this does not apply to Yumiella as the neutral party, and this causes said girl to pick on her to try her best to recruit Yumiella into her faction. Conversely, she is into Prince Edwin by the lovestruck and naivety of feels, but as is with the Three Stooges, she also has her clique to go by. Though this would turn out to be a false facade as they are also jealous of her upbringing and are willing to do anything to lose her standing with Edwin, which Yumiella has to come to her rescue due to the common interest and love for dragons, citing that she is far better than the "clique" she has, thereby earning her as a best friend. "Dragons chomp people's heads for a greeting, as well as a romance subtext plotline between the unlikeliest of characters." Speaking of dragons and best friend, this subversion might just be the highlight of Villainess Level 99 as a whole. We all know Yumiella as the Hidden Boss but not a Demon Lord, and she has a loyal follower: Patrick Ashbatten. The son of a lord who's good at wind magic, he's the only one who didn't coward himself out of the fear of Yumiella's true Level 99 status. As the story progresses, Patrick trying to understand Yumiella's unusual and peculiar method of doing things that could result in the death of her and/or others, he just couldn't crack her head and thought process of everything she does, even becoming her caretaker in the process. Despite that, where the female Hero typically has her love interests, this time, EVEN the villainess ALSO has her love interest, though an obvious one-sided affair but with potential. The aloof Yumiella, who is intensely dedicated to her leveling-up craft, and yet have the Kuudere trouble of the terms of expression despite meaning well with her kind-heartedness, the one who holds no loyalty to kingdom politics nor family (who basically shunned her), as well as the confident Patrick, they're the rarest of couples, yet their banter makes the relationship work against all odds. Also, Ryu may be a dragon that Alicia is supposed to find during a game event, but Yumiella by hook or by crook, hacked that event and made it hers, nurturing it with dark magic, leading to its dark appearance just like her master. And like Yumiella, it too is regarded as a source of calamity, but it takes after her and is properly tamed and affectionate to everyone. But it's greeting of nonchalantly chomping heads can be seen as one of the many out-of-pocket gag comedy things in the show that is hilarious and trust me, it never gets old. I've expected of this when it came to the production: studio Jumondou may be a fairly old studio being established right at the tail end of December 2009, and has recently started working primarily as a studio since Spring 2022's Kono Healer, Mendokusai a.k.a Don't Hurt Me, My Healer!. 2 years on, and I've come to accept that like last season's Potion-danomi de Ikinobimasu! a.k.a I Shall Survive Using Potions!, the studio has not one single prowess other than it being just like many B or C-tier studios out there. Regardless of past works, Villainess Level 99 being its 3rd main show, and I can finally say that Jumondou has hit its stride in adaptation quality. Yes, the usage of CGI is still terrible, however, with that said, this is easily the best effort that the studio has put out thus far. So, great job to director Minoru Yamaoka and the staff team for putting their best forth into this adaptation, especially to legendary series composer Fumihiko Shimo. The one thing lacking about Villainess Level 99 is in the sound department. Granted, there isn't much, but what is here, still is decent to good in acceptability. The former singer of Myth & Roid, Mayu Maeshima, she may have her strengths for Re:Zero theme songs, and this show...is no different at all. Outside of Re:Zero, "Love or Hate?" is easily one of the best OP songs of the season with its dark-sounding blitz and power, and I love it to pieces. Yet another out-of-pocket moment, comes with the ED song with the pairing of Yumiella and Eleonora boasting about the love of their lives, I for sure as hell, did not expect the level of tenacity when it comes to professing romance, even going as far as to make it a song. Simply ingenious (though the song is rather meh). "Expect the unexpected". That's all I'll say about Villainess Level 99, and it's such a while that I haven't been able to be entertained this much, let alone a sub-genre that in my opinion, has been mindlessly jacked up like its Isekai/fantasy genre counterpart. I'm truly impressed of what this anime brings to the table: unexpected things that work so beautifully with one another, yet is kept consistent, and definitely an Otome Game-based show that's worth endless recommendations. If you want to be surprised, watch Villainess Level 99, I can guarantee confirm plus chop on it.