Kazuma_satou64

Honestly, this was a refreshing twist on the usual villainess trope. Most stories have the protagonist trying to change the future or "redeem" the villainess, but this one? nope, she’s all in on being the "best" villainess ever, and it’s great. Alicia has this vibe where she’s still got some moral codes, so she’s not just being evil for the sake of it, but she’s definitely not about to let anyone walk over her either. It’s a nice balance. One thing I really appreciated is that not every guy in the story falls for her. Like, thank you! It’s such a cliché in thesestories, and this one dodged that (mostly). That said, the prince? Yeah, he wasn’t written super well. He felt kinda bland, and I kept wishing for more depth from him. The first seven episodes? Absolute *peak*. I was hooked. But after that, it kinda lost its spark and slowed down a bit, which was a shame because it started so strong. Overall, I still liked it a lot. If you’re into this genre and want something with a unique spin, I’d definitely recommend giving it a shot.

Marinate1016

When I think about the best villainess characters of all time, I’ll have Alicia in that list. Rekiaku is a pretty straightforward otome style story, but Alicia is what really makes it enjoyable. She’s determined to go down in history as a legendary villainess in a world where no one’s ever heard of the role. This was a fun watch from start to finish thanks in large part to Alicia’s antics and the way she genuinely wants to make a difference in the world. It had some issues, but I was overall very pleased and will miss this one a lot! Like I said, Aliciawas the main draw here for me. She was just such a cool lead, full of energy and ambition, while not being stupid. Whereas a lot of otome leads want to lead normal lives out of the spotlight, Alicia embraces her abilities and wants to improve her country. She recognises the inequality that’s rampant in the country and actually stands up for the voiceless in society. While she tries to be an edgelord at times, she’s got a heart of gold and throughout the show we see everyone she comes into contact with’s lives drastically improved. Whether it’s helping a poor village out or stopping bullying in school, Alicia just seems to know exactly what to do! As we’ve come to expect from otome shows, the world Alicia gets reincarnated into doesn’t end up going the same way as the game she played on Earth. Particularly as it relates to her role and relationships as the villainess. This leads to conflict between she and the saint and that’s where my first big issue with this show is. The Saint is the most annoying character ever. She has this superficial holier than thou gimmick that just made watching every scene with her such a chore. It’s so obvious that it’s fake and not who she really is, leading to a lot of conflicts between she and Alicia throughout. But even when she got fleshed out at the end of the series, I just couldn’t bring myself to care about her. She’s annoying and a weak antagonist. My other issue is the male lead in the show who’s like 4 years older than Alicia and has been into her since she was 7. Very creepy relationship dynamic that the show tries to play off as a cute, but it never landed with me. In fact that’s one of the major reasons I can’t rate this as highly as I want to. The story is solid, Alicia is a great character, but man that romance is bad. Production wise, nothing really to speak of here. Art is solid, animation is mediocre to passable and the voice acting is decent. I’m kind of met with a conundrum when evaluating this show because I love the MC, but dislike the romance and conflict with the saint. For me personally this took it down a little bit, but it’s still worth checking out if you like well written female characters. Alicia is badass, beautiful and competent. While the story has its flaws, I still really enjoyed watching it when the prince wasn’t on screen. Rekiaku gets 8 out of 10