I’m in Love with the Villainess – 03 – Not All Fun and Games

Rae has settled into being Claire’s maid, and Claire seems to have a little more of a tolerance for Rae…she even calls her by her name on occasion! She also gains a little more respect for her after watching her go toe-to-toe with First Prince Rod in chess.

Rae’s goal is to keep Rod’s affection points as low as possible, but he knew she was going easy on him and is charmed by that fact. Claire meanwhile really wants to beat Rae at chess, but finds doing so difficult. When Third Prince Yu stops by to give her some pointers, she’s not interested, and the gaggle of young ladies following Yu are none to pleased!

Yu, trying to get a better bead on Rae, proposes a game of poker. Like Rae, I loved Claire’s adorable lack of a poker face, as well as Misha’s strong poker face. Rae’s first hand is a good one, and her first card swap gives her a straight. Rae correctly assumes her hand isn’t good enough to beat Yu, and while she knows he rigged the game, she doesn’t call him out.

Mostly Rae wants to take her leave from Yu as he’s Misha’s childhood friend and she doesn’t want to anger her. While out in the courtyard Rae leads Claire and Lene to where Second Prince Thane is playing the harp. She knows from the game the proper way to approach and talk to him to score affection points, and so is dismayed when Claire doesn’t do that.

When Thane laments that harp-playing won’t prepare him for the throne, Rae proposes a game that might: the King Game. He draws #1 first, and orders Rae and Claire to hold hands, which Rae loves. Lene is the next king, and has Thane pat Claire on the head, which Claire loves.

Finally, Rae is king, and we learn that she and Lene decided before the game that they’d blink out their numbers. Rae orders Claire and Thane to kiss, but he puts an end to the game when he deduces that the King Game doesn’t test one’s kingliness any more than the harp.

Rae does a masterful bit of bullshitting (or is it?) by revealing to Thane that she was actually counting on him to expose her true intentions. His refusal to carry out an unreasonable order (kissing Claire) followed by uncovering Rae’s “treachery”, shows that he does indeed have the makings of a king.

The one most confused by how Rae played the game is Lene. After all, if Rae loves Claire, why would she work to bring Claire and Thane together? That’s more or less answered in the most serious and dramatic scene of the series, as Misha comes right out and asks Rae if she’s gay, and Rae says that she is.

When Claire reacts like she’s in danger, Misha admonishes her for being prejudiced. While Claire is justified in not trusting Rae due to her words and actions, Rae simply being gay doesn’t make her some kind of sex-crazed maniac. The point Misha makes is that no one lusts after anyone, anytime.

When Lene tries to clarify that gender doesn’t matter and Rae just happened to fall for Claire, Rae gently corrects her: There’s no way she’d ever fall for a man. This gets Rae thinking about how she’s never had any luck in love, and indeed anytime she’s tried to take a step in that direction, those she loved drifted away.

When asked, Rae says she may have given up on Claire, but it’s just as accurate to say she never expected Claire to ever return her feelings. As such, she’s simply content to be by Claire’s side. This also explains why she asked Lene to help her bring Claire and Thane closer. Rae’s “end goal” isn’t necessarily to get with Claire; it’s simply to make Claire, the ostensible villainess in this game, happy.

When two random girls start talking shit about Rae under their breath, but loud enough for everyone to hear, Rae smiles and laughs it off—her longstanding defense mechanism—but Claire isn’t so passive. She pours her tea all over one of the girls, then ojou-laughs it off as an accident when it very clearly wasn’t. Rae is speechless.

Misha is also surprised that Claire actually stood up for Rae, but Lene says it’s more a matter of Claire being angry about unintentionally hurting Rae and needing an outlet for her anger, and those two girls fit the bill perfectly.

When Claire orders Rae to follow her out, Rae sheepishly asks if Claire hates her. After a beat, Claire shouts that of course she hates her. Rae responds with a smile and a laugh, but that smile seems more sad now that we know what Rae has gone through in the past and going through now, and that she’s coping with loneliness and unrequited love the only way she knows how, at least for now.

Thankfully, we’re only three episodes into this, so even Rae, with all her encyclopedic knowledge of Claire and the game, can’t say with certainty how things will shake out. She should remember the promise she ordered Claire to make when she won the exam bet: Never give up; never lose hope.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades – 07 – For Pete’s Sake

It’s been four months since Professor Grenville disappeared in the Labyrinth. Headmistress Esmeralda gathers the faculty to ask if any of them are responsible. They aren’t, but they consider who might be. When asked what happens if it’s a student, Esme simply says they’ll suffer like any other culprit.

It’s clear Oliver is biding his time after finding the perfect opportunity to off one of the individuals on his list who betrayed and murdered his mother, so the show presents us with something entirely different and unexpected: One morning, after a dream where he transforms into a woman, Pete wakes up with breasts.

He—or rather they—keep it a secret both from their dorm-mate Oliver and from the rest of their friends, who pass it off as prickly Pete being particularly standoffish that day. The group has their first broom-riding class, and Nanao is worried that it won’t go well since she’s used to riding a horse.

Upon given access to the broomhouse, she learns that brooms are living magical creatures who choose their partners and allow them to fly with them. While Nanao proves quite popular with the friendly brooms due to her massive amount of mana, she ends up choosing a “bucking” broom, embracing the challenge as she did her trusty steed.

After speaking a few words declaring her intent to pair with it, the broom flies up into the air, and then straight into her hand. After a brief red glow, she and the broom are matched, and she flies into the sky for the first time. It is one of the most joyful moments of the show, and I loved watching Nanao as much as her proud friends. Also, that wild broom’s last rider? Oliver’s mom.

I should also mention that during broom class Chela encountered her cousin from a branch family, Stacey Cornwallis, but Stace brushes her off. Later at lunch, Chela’s father Theodore pops in and gives her a big hug. It’s nice to see Chela off balance for once! She and the others learn that Theo is their new substitute alchemy teacher in missing Grenville’s stead.

After alchemy, we sit in on the group’s first magical engineering class with Professor Forghieri, one of the people on Oliver’s list. He runs an unyielding class, which includes throwing them into the task of diffusing four magical trap boxes in 60 minutes or suffering whatever they contain. Oliver and Chela manage to diffuse three of the four, but the fourth opens to reveal vicious flying snake/eel creatures.

Pete, who has been suffering bouts of pain throughout the day, is right next to the box, but Oliver shields them, getting bit in the process. Also, Guy does a thing! Having grown up on a farm and being well-versed in these creatures, he douses himself in water and casts lightning on himself to knock them out.

After this ordeal, Oliver, who is aware that they’ve changed, requests a private chat with Pete in the conservatory. Pete confirms that they now possess a female anatomy, and Oliver tells them it’s because they’re a Reversi, someone who can switch back and forth between sexes.

From the get-go, Oliver takes care to describe this as an extremely rare gift, not a curse. He demonstrates how by telling Pete to cast a lightning spell, and to their shock (pun intended) they’re much better at that element as a woman than they were as a man.

The two are interrupted by Chris Whitlow, who tells Pete that Oliver told them everything he wanted to say, showing Oliver’s quality as a friend and a person. Chris offers Pete an invite for a gathering that night.

Pete is escorted to the first-level of the labyrinth by Oliver, as well as President Godfrey, who takes the opportunity to apologize for the incidents they’ve gotten caught up in. He’s been working hard to make Kimberly a safer place, but worries he hasn’t made enough headway. Oliver internally praises Godfrey as one of the good ones.

This is borne out when Godfrey grants them access to the gathering, which is full of students with sex-based magical traits such as Pete. In other words, this is this magical world’s version of the LGBTQ community. Three upperclassmen soon approach Pete and Oliver, whose stiff formality evokes laughter. They tell both Pete and Oliver that there’s no need to worry, they’re all friends here.

That’s when attention is directed to the stage, where Chris begins to sing in a gorgeous enchanted voice while Oliver’s brother Gwyn accompanies on the violin. Oliver notes that there’s no charm ability in Chris’ song, but it’s something simpler and more pure. And that’s what this part of the episode felt: simply pure, and beautiful.

Yes, Pete went through a sudden and immense change, but they’re not alone. Both Oliver and the many others like Pete are there to provide affirmation, support, friendship, and love. I especially appreciate Oliver being empathetic and kind even after he dropped his mask to kill Grenville. He’s a complex dude!

Pete and Oliver meet up with the others after the performance, and make up a white lie about magical training. I’m sure, when the time is right, Pete will tell the others (no doubt to prevent Guy from grabbing them as if they were still a dude). Even the reveal at the end of some sneering dude not happy about these friends being all buddy-buddy can ruin the lovely vibes of this episode. And like Oliver last week, Pete is suddenly much more interesting!