My (Completely Normal) Obsession with Villainess Stories

Hey folks, I've gone through and sourced every story I used in this project, so if you're struggling to figure out exactly which story is on screen at any given time, please check the closed captions / subtitle track "English (Canada)" which will have the corresponding title for whatever is on screen.

I am actually distraught about not being able to see the villainess alignment chart. I was genuinely looking forward to it. 😭

The best are the non-isekai variants where the villainess genuinely regrets their actions in their previous life and struggles to be a good person when doing it over again.

Villianus stories also opens up revenge stories. And a lot of us love seeing evil people get karma.

You know you’re in deep when you’ve already read all the stories he’s shown

The One Within the Villainess is GENUINELY ONE OF THE MOST WELL WRITTEN STORIES PERIOD

I'm just impressed so many authors decided to do this very specific setup often enough that it effectively became it's own genre.

Preach it brother. Villainess stories have replaced Isekai as my junk food media. I think what I like about them the most is how in villainess stories the MC is often a well fleshed out character, that already has an established background and relationships and a reason to be in the position they are in whereas in Isekai the fact that the MC was isekaid gets irrelevant 10 minutes in. There are so many Isekais were being Isekaied eventually gets in the way of the story wheras being "otomed" IS the main drive of the story.

How to Survive as a Maid in a Horror Game is a delightful dark twist in this genre. As the title suggests, reincarnator becomes a maid in a horror game. There’s genuinely quite tense moments but balanced with lightheartedness.

"...and that's why if you think Yona of Dawn counts as a villainess story, you probably think a hot dog qualifies as a sandwich." lmao well played, Replay Value. Damn, ok, you sold me on a "trend" I thought was not my thing, this kinda sounds gas. Thanks for the recommendations

Wait! NO!!!! I wanted to hear that 20 minute villainess alignment chart and compare it to my own!!! PLEASE.

My favorite one and the one I highly recommend is Observation Log of My Fiance the Self-Proclaimed Villainess, where the main character is actually the man she's engaged to rather than the girl reincarnated. Frankly, I love it not only because it puts a fun twist on the story format, not only because it's funny as all get out, not only because Bertia is the most precious of cinnamon rolls, but also because it has a genuine meta commentary about how people interact with media woven in. Bertia is reincarnated as the villainess, but it's clear from the original heroine's intro she's is also reincarnated, and what they do with their knowledge are night and day. Another one is Villainess for the Tyrant, where the main girl gets married to the vicious king, but he falls for her on sight, so she starts trying to act like a villain so no one gets to him through her, though I'll admit that sort of falls away as the story goes on and the story expands. Oh, and the reincarnated person is actually the author who wrote the story, but she got put into the body of a character she never really thought about instead of the Heroine, so she's trying to work out how to get to the perfect man she wrote and replace our protagonist. It's pretty good.

"I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss" was a fun story. Almond = Best Bird.

"The One Within the Villainess" is the one that really got me serious about this genre. Remilia actually feels like a proper villainess. The "what happened with the previous owner of this body" and how it was used to shape the villainess and provide motivation and justification for her actions is great. Not to mention it actually gave me the feels. The soul-crushing (literally) condemnation event of Emi was heartbreaking and got me 100% invested in the story of Remi's revenge. It's safe to say I'm now totally obsessed with this series. And I'm definitely checking out your recommendations.

ERIS MENTIONED HOLY FUCKING BASED?????

As you listed the different flavors of villainess stories I was surprised you didn't bring up "person isekai'd as a villainess character and decides to act out their role, only they themselves are not as wicked". I've seen a couple stories with this framework, but my favorite is An Observation Log of My Fiancée Who Calls Herself a Villainess. Sometimes it nice to see a story where the struggle isn't getting people to like you, but instead in trying to get people to hate you and being TOO LIKEABLE.

10:49 slight correction: villainess stories come from classical shoujo just like earlier games marketed towards girls (see princess angelique) but never had any correlation to otome games. And fun fact, with villainess stories being adapted into animes there are some becoming games and influencing the market as well but that's the inverse influence

"Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion" goes hard. Finished too, so it's a good villainess manhwa to read that has an anime adaptation with 1 season.

I'm so addicted to villainess stories that I recognize every single one you mention, I highly recommend you looking into Chinese villainess stories too. Chinese Manhua has so many awesome villainess stories where the setting is the popular Wuxia or cultivation story. I've noticed that Manga villainesses reincarnate into Otome games or games in general, Manhwa villainesses reincarnate into novels or manhwas, and Manhua villainesses reincarnate into cultivation stories. Similar to the villainess genre, there's the Chinese retribution system genre where those who were wronged initially become the villainess and get their revenge. I literally be eating these stories up.

Since you're such a villainess fan you may enjoy the Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess! Its a really fun parody on the genre that still plays it pretty straight. Also it just got an anime announcement too.