(Neo): Good morning, afternoon or evening wherever you are. I’m Neo with Mira and welcome to Project Nitsuj where we’re continuing our looking into My Next Life as a Villainess.
(Mira): After the success of the first anime, Silver Link quickly announced that production of the second season was underway and in 2021 we got that second season. Many people weren’t sure what to expect from this season. After all, the first season seemed to wrap up any loose ends Catarina would have run into but dating sim games are never content with stopping at happily ever after. Let’s continue the game. This is My Next Life as a Villainess S2.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Neo): For the season’s opening angela makes a return with “Andante ni Koi o Shite!”. This opening is way better than the first one. It’s more upbeat, cute, and funny.
(Mira): Shouta Aoi also makes a return with “give me ♡ me”. I actually like this ending more than the previous one. This ending does seem to peel into the mind of Catarina and her struggles to avoid the bad ending.
Episodes 1-4
(Neo): The second season starts off with a quick recap of what happened last season as well as reintroduce the characters (Mira: It’s a classic trope in anime). It’s the start of the new school term and the school is celebrating with a cultural festival. With everyone being busy with student council responsibilities or other activities Catarina explores the festival alone while also visiting her friends and giving us a few funny moments here and there such as mistaking a possible love interest between Mary and Keith (Mira: Well that’ll spawn some fanfics. (Neo): As well as artwork). We also get to see Raphael again who invites Catarina and Maria to apply for the magic department (Mira: It’s like the CIA of this world) In the end, she meets up with Geordo and Alan where we get to meet Ian and Jeffrey, the big brothers of Geordo and Alan (first time I’m hearing of this) as well as their fiancées, Susanna and Selena. I do like how Ian and Jeffrey are the exact opposites of their respective siblings. Geordo is outgoing and approachable while Ian is all business and intimidating. Alan is brash and tsundere while Jeffrey is kind and affectionate. This sibling bonding soon gets interrupted by a servant who says there’s trouble at the festival.
So in episode 2 we see that major problem is Sophia’s play. One of the actors has sprained her ankle and can’t perform, so they ask Catarina to stand in. Not wanting to ruin all of Sophia’s hard work, Catarina agrees to stand in (scene here: https://youtu.be/UtAoRMcAjcE) where despite fumbling at first manages to pull off a convincing performance as a villainous stepsister (Mira: It’s the role her character was born to play. Scene here: https://youtu.be/A2XvF5vzkM4). Liking this new development and wanting to set up Nicol and Catarina (she really wants Catarina as her sister doesn’t she?), Sophia changes up the story to add Nicol as the black knight who steals Catarina away. Geordo takes exception to this and doesn’t like how Nicol is close to Catarina. This erupts into the two having a somewhat real fight on stage and things get even more complicated when Keith shows up and it becomes a 3-way battle. The plays ends up being a hit with everyone in attendance. At the end of the episode, Catarina gets kidnapped by a mysterious individual.
In episode 3 we see that Selena was the one who abducted Catarina and if Geordo wants her back he has to renounce his right to the throne (shouldn’t it go to Ian or Jeffrey in the first place? (Mira): Not unless the king feels these two aren’t good enough to take the throne. In which case, he can choose another child or someone he trusts to take the throne). Surprisingly Catarina is being treated quite well by her captors and her kindness and lack of peril makes Selena feel guilty about what she’s doing (scene here: https://youtu.be/hbDyJ6UNLkQ). She finally confesses to her that she kidnapped Catarina so that Ian would become king. She loves Ian but feels that she’s not worthy of him. She was the odd person out when they were in school and other nobles have also voiced their complaints about her not being worthy. Catarina manages to cheer her up and she decides to end this farce and turn herself in, but her butler, Rufus, won’t allow it as he intends to make Catarina, Selena, Ian, and Geordo disappear (double swerve).
At the start of episode 4 Catarina confronts Rufus and asks them directly if he knows how to use dark magic which he says yes (Mira: Why is it always the charming butler being evil?). Rufus acquired dark magic under the orders of his master who wants Jeffrey to become the next king. Rufus hopes that this information would discourage her, but it doesn’t as she continues to remain optimistic and carefree (one could argue this is Stockholm syndrome. Scene here: https://youtu.be/Q7taT2MaufQ). The two chat with one another where we find out Rufus isn’t even a butler. He was a kid born in the slums and taken in as a slave where he was eventually brought by his master. While in the slums he met with a traveling scholar who taught him how to read, write, do math, and even named him Sora. Sadly, the scholar fell ill and died of sickness. As Rufus/Sora continues to talk with Catarina the more he falls in love with her (Mira: She has that effect on people). Just when it seems like he’s about to go all the way with her, the maid stops him and hands him a letter. It turns out his master was captured meaning it’s over and they’re on their way to arrest him. He surrenders peacefully but gets the last laugh as he left a hickey on Catarina’s neck (oh la la). No longer able to stand the slow pace he’s been going so far, Geordo goes for broke and kisses Catarina in front of everyone (scene here: https://youtu.be/oOYfOC9NsZM. (Mira): Well played).
Episodes 5-8
(Mira): While not much happens in episode 5 it does give us a good backstory into the princes. We find out that Jeffrey is the oldest of the boys (Neo: And here I thought it was Ian) and he truly does love his brothers (more than a big brother should). Jeffrey swore to himself that he would love and protect his brothers no matter what. Sadly, thanks to their position and complicated family situation the four brothers never got much chance to hangout, but Jeffrey would always make the effort to go and visit his siblings and dote on them. As the episode goes on we get to see the childhoods of Geordo and Alan. Geordo never got a chance to see his mom despite wanting to spend more time with her. Every time he got his hopes up to see her, he would always be told he couldn’t (that’s so sad). Geordo decided to stop getting his hopes up and not look forward to anything no matter what (scene here: https://youtu.be/lnR08z02dsE). However, everything changed when he met Catarina (the physical incarnation of enigma). At first, Geordo’s plan was to get engaged to Catarina as a way to turn down other marriage proposals, but the more he spent time with her the more he began to change (Neo: He started looking forward to stuff again) and sure enough fell in love with her. Alan was afraid of Geordo. In his mind, he always saw Geordo as this perfect being thanks to what everyone said about him. Because of this he developed an inferiority complex and wanted nothing to do with Geordo until he met Catarina who taught him that no one is perfect. Thanks to their interactions with Catarina, both Geordo and Alan were able to open up to each other and develop a bond not just with each other but with Jeffrey and Ian as well. Speaking of Catarina, we see how she’s in denial about Geordo kissing her believing it was all a dream, but Geordo kisses her again showing her that this is real (Neo: And this is happening. Scene here: https://youtu.be/C9x9iGIJKLg).
In episode 6 its summer vacation and Catarina gets invited to stay at the palace villa by Geordo. While she’s still embarrassed about the kisses she knows she can’t keep avoiding him (Neo: True. Chances are he’ll just send his guards to get her) and goes to the villa. Luckily, everyone else shows up thanks to Alan who invited them over. While Catarina has nothing against Geordo she just doesn’t believe she’s royalty material and fears that she won’t be able to do the things she loves once she becomes royalty. For the rest of the episode, we focus on the ladies who head into the forest to go see a lake but a storm comes and they have to wait it out in a cabin. As they wait out the storm we get a flashback into when they came to the villa as children. Once there they went on a ghost hunt where it turns out the ghost they were looking for was just Catarina’s mom scolding her for being unladylike (scene here: https://youtu.be/WUTpbq6o5qM). It’s a good story and it’s nice to see them as cute kids again.
In episode 7 the group goes to visit the magic department to see Rufus and Raphael now going by the name Sora (where’s Goofy and Donald?). As you’d imagine everyone aside from Maria wants to snap Rufus’s neck for what he did to Catarina (Neo: Hey give him credit, he made a move. Unlike you cowards). We get to the heart of episode where the group gets to see a dollhouse which can grant wishes of a different life. Catarina accidently activates the dollhouse and transports everyone inside where they all live different lives. Alan becomes a bird, Nicol a cat, Sophia becomes a fairy that befriends Catarina, Geordo becomes a sailor traveling the world with Catarina, and Catarina just lays around all day reading books and eating snacks (she’s got the heart and mind of an otaku). As for Keith, Maria and Mary’s dreams. . .can’t show them, too mature for the audience (Neo: Or they’re just too strange to put for the human mind to comprehend). Rufus and Anne go in to save everyone where Catarina manages to escape her room and meet up with Anne. They search for Rufus where of course he falls into the trap of the dollhouse so it’s up to Catarina and Anne to save him. They manage to return him to his senses and disable the doll controlling the dollhouse to set everyone free.
Episode 8 focuses on Nicol who has decided to give up on his feelings for Catarina as he doesn’t want to get in the way of his bro (Neo: That only makes him all the hotter in my book). He starts doing marriage interviews but no girl seems to catch his attention like Catarina (you really can’t help but feel bad for him. He’s trying so hard to move on for the sake of his friend and suppress his own feelings, but he just can’t do it. He feels awful about it because he knows that he’s betraying his best friend). There is one girl he comes across named Frey who goes to school with Catarina and encourages him to keep on pursuing his love for her and not give up on his happiness just like she has no intention of giving up on her happiness and dreams. This talk motivates Nicol to forget moving on and continue to pursue Catarina (Neo: And cuckold one of his oldest friends in the process. Good message).
Episodes 9-12
(Neo): Episodes 9-11 give us a thrilling story involving Keith who has gone missing. We see he was kidnapped by his brother Thomas and a mysterious young girl (Mira: Who is giving off evil vibes like no tomorrow). At the Department of Magic, Catarina receives a teddy bear which has the power to locate people (scene here: https://youtu.be/pfY0tF4-eLk, wouldn’t a dog have been better?). We find out that Keith is going to be used in some dark magic experiment and we see him slowly lose his mind. Catarina and the others find out Keith is being kept in a mansion and goes to rescue him. They easily defeat the guards and enter the mansion where Thomas is mortally wounded (Mira: He deserved it). They then find Keith engulfed in some large dark aura that is slowly killing him. Catarina approaches him where an item she got from Geordo activates and allows her to save Keith. The mass of dark aura also morphs into a dog familiar for Catarina that lives inside her shadow. When Keith wakes up he kisses Catarina (kissing cousins) and later on confesses his feelings for her(scenes here: https://youtu.be/AtCJnSMVKrM and https://youtu.be/RhuqR6b6v6k). The mysterious young girl escapes but she says they will meet again (https://youtu.be/g33Pu5dfpqU).
(Mira): In the final episode we find out that the mysterious young girl is named Sarah who has potential ties to a noble family that’s no longer around. Meanwhile, Catarina and the others graduate (Neo: Man those were the fastest two years of school ever) with Catarina planning to join the Department of Magic with Maria in order to stave off her marriage to Geordo. They have a party, the girls also have a girls’ night, and when Catarina sleeps she sees a vision of her friend Atsuko telling her about Fortune Lover II (they made a sequel. (Neo): Keep milking the cow until it dries up. Scene here: https://youtu.be/5JyO0ty15DA). As the season ends, Catarina and Maria head to the Department of Magic where they Cyrus and Dewey who are two of the potential love interest in the second game (Neo: The other two most likely being Raphael and Rufus. (Mira): Good choices).
Final Thoughts
(Neo): I have to admit Mira this was a rather good anime. Now I can understand why you like these dating sim games so much. As far as isekai animes go this anime isn’t one I would consider one of the all-time greats, but it’s not a bad one either. It approaches the isekai genre differently. There’s not a lot of action, drama, or a save the world scenario. It’s just a female otaku getting put into her favorite game as the villainess and doing everything in her power to avoid the bad ending for her character. This results in a lot of fun scenarios, Catarina overthinking herself, being oblivious to the feelings of everyone around her, and ultimately making everyone’s life better through the story without her realizing it.
(Mira): While Catarina falls into the role of a dense MC she’s an enduring dense MC. She’s just so focused on staying alive and focusing on everyone in the room that she fails to focus on herself and read the feelings of everyone around her since she herself has never really been the object of anyone’s affection before. The rest of the characters are good with everyone having their own distinct character traits and relationship with Catarina that separates them from each other. Geordo and Keith are more subtle with their feelings for Catarina and secretly butt heads with each other. Alan fills the tsundere role and is often more competive and outspoken with Catarina. Nicol is more of the quiet/shy flirt. He’s not big on words but big on action and picking his spots. Mary, Sophia, and Maria have the female version of a bromance with Catarina. She’s done so much for them that they can’t help but fall for her. These dynamics are all interesting and provide a lot of fun and interesting scenarios. Just like Neo said there’s really not that much action or drama in this series. It follows a more slice of life kind of deal with the characters living their day to day lives. For some people this will be boring but I didn’t really mind the slow setup as Catarina and the others were enjoyable characters.
(Neo): The animation is alright. It’s bright and colorful with nothing major really standing out from it. The music does a good job matching up with the anime as it does sound like something you would hear in a game. The anime does a few touching moments and has a number of moments that will make you chuckle.
(Mira): As far as the second season goes, it’s actually a good follow-up to the first and expands on the world and characters. It even does a good job setting up for the next season.
Final Score
(Neo): My final score for My Next Life as a Villainess is a 6/10. Nothing major, but still a decent watch.
(Mira): I agree with your score. A 6/10 from me as well. It’s a decent series that doesn’t require a lot of thinking but is still enjoyable. A movie and third season have been announced and I look forward to seeing what happens next.
(Neo): Same here. I really did enjoy this anime and hopefully, I can join you next time.
(Mira): I was be delighted if you did. Until then, thanks for reading.
(Neo): And we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.