I’m in Love with the Villainess – 07 – The Noble and the Commoner

The president of the Knights asks Rae to find someone to train everyone in proper service technique, and she chose Lene. Little did she know Lene would immediately become drunk on power, wear glasses and carry a whip and make everyone, regardless of station, call her sensei.

However, it works, and she whips nobles and commoners alike into a bunch of passable maids and butlers. However, Lene’s “reliability” tracks, as she was the only one of young Claire’s personal maids to last more than a week, all because she knew how best to deal with her selfish whims.

The day of the Foundation Day Fair arrives, and Claire, Rae, and Misha are resplendent in their butlers’ outfits. Claire can’t help but compliment how good Rae looks, completely unbidden! She also proves a top-notch server, even when Rae on her break is her customer.

Claire maintains a serene face and patient tone throughout their interaction, even though she knows full well Rae is loving every second of being waited on by her mistress. I love a good role reversal!

When a young man tries to get Prince Yu’s attention, blushing the whole time as if he wants to confess to him, we then cut to a mysterious masked man lurking in the shadows. I have no idea what that’s about except that the masked guy appears in the OP so he was bound to show up at some point.

Speaking of showing up, Rae has the misfortune of getting some difficult stuck-up foreign royalty for customers. In the game, one of the princes would have bailed her out, so she assumes she’s on her own. However, it’s Claire who comes to her rescue, able as she is to speak the royals’ language fluently.

Rae later thanks her for saving her, and Lene, who observed what went down, isn’t surprised. Claire also saved her from some uppity royals when they were kids, and Claire wanted to buy her a dress. Sure, Lene was only a commoner, but she’s a commoner under the employ of the Francois family, which is different.

When Claire and Rae share a break, Rae helps her with her hair, and while Claire is impressed with how good a butler Claire has been, she prefers the “usual, honest” Claire. Claire scoffs and asks what part of her is honest, and asks Rae to skip the flattery as she’s well aware of her flawed personality. To this, Rae gets on one knee and holds out her hand, and offers to escort Claire around the fair.

Claire could have easily turned Rae down, but instead she takes her hand. Why? Because, like us, Claire knows that whatever headaches Rae may cause, she’s a hell of a lot of fun to hang out with. So hang out they do: Claire is predictably petrified by the haunted house and clings to Rae, while Rae (probably) lets Claire win the biggest stuffed animal at target practice.

When they take a break and Rae offers to grab Claire some water, I was suddenly worried that masked guy might kidnap Claire or something. Instead, it’s Rae who gets accosted, by fellow commoners, who are starting a “Commoner Movement” calling for equal rights and treatment. Claire, wondering what was delaying Rae, takes her by the hand and leads her away from the hard sell.

Rae later admits that she believes the movement makes some great points, but also assures Claire that no matter what, noble or commoner, she’ll always serve Claire. Rae then presents to her the gift of an amulet meant to aid with romance, wishing her good luck with Thane.

When Claire asks why, if she loves her as she claims, Rae supports her having success with the second prince. Rae simply states that Claire’s happiness is more important to her than having her own love realized. After all, Claire is her “heart’s savior.”

Back in her old world, Rae was worn down to the bone by the pressures of her job, but playing her otome and interacting with Claire helped soothe her troubled, exhausted heart. Claire may not know or believe it, but she saved Rae. It’s only natural she’d want to pay her back by prioritizing her happiness.

Claire does her usual thing where she says Rae is just messing with her as usual (she’s not), re-establishes that they are noble and commoner, “nothing more or less” (untrue), but the fact is she doesn’t refuse Rae’s gift, but holds it carefully in her hand as she walks away.

The next day, while performing more mundane Knights tasks, Rae, Claire, Lene and Misha encounter a commotion, and learn from Claire’s friends that there was a skirmish between commoner and noble. It’s looking like a battle between the classes is inevitable, and Claire will soon learn that Rae isn’t all talk about serving and supporting her no matter what.

I’m in Love with the Villainess – 06 – Claire Brûlée

No sooner do the Academy Knights’ newest members attend their first meeting does President Kruget (Claire’s Flunky #1’s big bro) announce the upcoming Foundation Day Fair, which is for all intents and purposes the school’s culture fest.

They usually do a café, and Rae both appreciates how having maids and butlers wouldn’t be that novel in this world. Thankfully, Rod and her think alike, and his suggestion of a cross-dressing maid cafe (with the girls dressed as butlers) is voted through, as Claire and Misha wouldn’t mind seeing Thane and Yu in maid’s outfits.

That said, there are other Knights matters to attend to, and a gung-ho Claire accepts, with gusto and an ojou laugh, a new job from the vice president (Lene’s brother) without knowing what it is.

Turns out the job is to stake out the kitchens after dark in order to investigate reports of a weird, possibly slimy ghost. Claire may want to back out, but her honor forbids it, so she and Claire head to the kitchens that night. When Rae emerges with a tasty chocolate dessert, Claire puts two and two together.

Rae is the “ghost”, working into the night after her maid duties are complete. As for the “slimy hand” another student felt on her shoulder? Claire feels it too, and rushes into Rae’s welcome arms. It turns out to be simply Relaire, who is practicing transforming and tagged along with Rae.

With the mysteries solved, Claire is ready to split, but finds the hallway too creepy, so she curls up in the two-person bed Rae made for them. As she sleeps, she dreams of a sad memory, perhaps the worst of her life. Upset that her mother was ditching her on her birthday, lil’ Claire told her she hated her and stormed off.

That was the last time she saw or spoke to her mom, as she died in a carriage accident on the way home. Claire was devastated, as you’d expect, and her father was nowhere to be found, as you’d also expect. But Lene and the other maids were there to comfort her and tell her it’s not time for her to join her mother yet.

Rae watches Claire crying in her sleep and calling for her mother, and in the morning, Claire finds Rae clutching her hand and slaps her. But Rae wasn’t trying anything, she was merely comforting her in the night.

As the Foundation Day Fair approaches, Rae enlists the help of Lene, Claire, and Misha to try out some dishes for the café, including one with mayonnaise. Like the chocolate desserts, Claire believes them to be from the high-end eatery Broumet…and they are. But it’s Lene who discovers that it’s Rae who is supplying the new-fangled recipes to Broumet, in exchange for cash.

Lene doesn’t tell Claire this, but she can’t keep Claire away from trying out another new recipe: Crème brûlée. It’s an instant hit, and Claire wants perhaps more than a high-class young lady should have in one sitting. She also notices Rae and Lene have become fast friends, and can’t quite hide her jealousy.

As for Rae, she takes Lene aside, slips her a recipe for mayo to memorize and then burn as “insurance.” Rae then narrates the end of the episode, saying how blessed she felt for these days when not much of anything happened, and wished—past tense—that they could last forever.

Even with something as lightweight as a cross-dressing maid café coming up, these ominous words portend some kind of reckoning or dark times on the horizon for Rae. Combined with Claire’s past tragedy, the show is looking to balance the comedy with more serious drama here at the halfway point.

I’m in Love with the Villainess – 05 – Knight Trials

Upon discovering Rae’s new familiar Ralaire, Claire prepares to report it so it can be killed, and isn’t impressed by its lesser tricks. So Rae appeals to Claire’s vanity by having the slime mimic Claire’s form. This pleases her, and she allows Rae to keep the familiar.

Rae, Claire, and Misha all pass the written portion of the Knights entry exams, so they all move on to the practical. Claire takes Rae aside and again asks her to agree to leave the school if she wins. Rae, who is certain Claire will pass, instead agrees to Claire’s terms if Rae loses.

If Rae wins, Claire has to do whatever she asks. With that, the magical duels commence within a magical barrier set up by the Knights captain and vice-captain. The first duel is between Princes Yu and Thane, whom Misha and Claire have the hots for, respectively.

Yu would seem to have the upper hand with his water and ice-based magic, but Thane is no ordinary wind-user, and manages to get his younger brother to yield. Misha puts up a good fight against Rod with creative use of her wind magic, but ultimately loses the battle of endurance due to lack of oxygen.

The final duel is perhaps the most anticipated among the students: Rae vs. Claire. As expected, the vast majority of the crowd is on Claire’s side, and Rae can’t blame them; she’d normally be on Claire’s side too! When neither girl attacks first, Rae decides to start by encasing Claire in a rock pillar, which she effortlessly melts with her flames.

Rae counters with a personal barrier made not of earth or rock, but tungsten carbide, borrowing a material from her original world. Claire tries to get around the shield by firing a fusillade of fiery blasts, but Claire shoots them all down with earth projectiles.

Claire can’t help but be impressed with the Commoner’s aptitude, rotten though she may be. But she intends to turn the tables by using an elite hereditary beam weapon. Her only mistake is going easy on Rae by firing a warning shot first; she would have surely won if that shot had been on target.

Instead, Rae simply creates a hole for Claire to fall in, then makes the hole so deep she cannot hope to escape. Even if she tried, Thane reminds Claire that Rae can also wield water, against which her fire is weakest. The Knights call the match for Rae by unanimous decision, while Claire is taken down another peg.

The next day the list of new Knights entrants is posted, and to Claire’s shock, her name is on it. Turns out whether combatants won or lost didn’t matter; the point of the practical exam was to determine the would-be members’ magical ability, which was exmplary for all three princes, Misha, Claire, and Rae.

So they’re all in the Knights! Also, because she didn’t lose, Rae can ask anything of Claire. Curiously, she asks for the exact same thing as last time: asking Claire to swear never to give up no matter what. Could Rae still be taking into account Claire’s default status as the villainess in the game, and this is a defense against that? In any case, Claire isn’t about to be rid of Rae anytime soon.

I’m in Love with the Villainess – 04 – This is Where the Magic Happens

This week begins with a rather lengthy lecture on the magical system of this world, which isn’t anything fancy. You have your fire, earth, wind, and water, each of which is strong or weak against another, forming a cycle. Rae initially matches my mood about all this: it’s not terribly interesting, and it sidesteps the lesbian romance.

When Misha urges Rae to put in some effort, she demolishes a target and gains the attention of her classmates. Rae is worried she overdid it, but Claire can’t resists destroying a target even more thoroughly with her fire magic, then letting out another exquisite ojou laugh.

While Claire’s intention is to one-up Rae, she doesn’t get the reaction she hoped: Rae is of course overjoyed to have her earthen walls constantly torn down by Claire’s fire. Their magical back-and-forth attracts the attention of Prince Rod and Yu, who try to recruit them into the Knights.

The Knights are basically this school’s student council, and while Claire initially isn’t interested, as it would bring her closer to the princes whose routes she’d rather avoid, she changes her tune when the princes suggest she could be Claire’s knight in shining armor.

Claire then bursts Rae’s bubble by declaring she’ll be taking the exam to join the Knights as well, but it doesn’t burst Rae’s bubble at all. Rae would jump at the opportunity to either save or be saved by Claire.

That becomes more than just one of Rae’s fantasies when a colossal water slime emerges from the woods. All the students turn to flee at the teacher’s urging, but to Claire’s shock, Rae stands her ground and positions herself beside the teacher to help.

She builds a giant four-sided wall to contain the slime, enabling the teacher and all the other students to launch a multi-pronged attack. However, as Rae expects, this only unlocks a boss slime’s flag. It levels up and grabs a bunch of students with its tentacles…including Rae, who is out of magic.

Rae panics, not because she fears death, but because she doesn’t want to choose between one of the princes to save her, as is the normal progression of the otome. Thankfully, her willpower wins out, and a fourth option, Claire, appears in her “menu”. But in one of the better comedic beats of the episode, Claire can’t save her, as she’s been snatched by a tentacle too!

Claire’s crush Prince Thane ends up freeing her than calling upon her to help him defeat the slime. As they combine their fire and wind magic and exhibit some nifty acrobatics, Rae is in awe of how dashing Claire appears. This is a shining, valiant Claire the game’s programming normally wouldn’t allow.

When the slime is destroyed and everyone is safe, they all praise Claire, because Thane suddenly sidles off. Rae also slinks away, because she knows that the giant slime was only trying to protect its young, which is now all alone in the woods.

After coaxing the cute little baby slime out from behind some shrubbery, Rae forms a familiar contact with it and names it Ralaire. Meanwhile, Claire tracks down Thane so she can properly thank him. In response, Thane tells her he’s sure she could have handled it without him, then pats her on the head.

Rae accidentally interrupts what could be a crucial romantic flag by snapping a twig with her foot, but to her surprise, Claire isn’t angry. She’s relieved that Rae is ok, inspecting her to make sure she’s not injured, and telling her how worried she was. This, of course, makes Rae extremely happy. Even if Claire keeps calling her Commoner, they’ve come a long way.

After the credits, Rae gets to know her new familiar Ralaire, and realizes he’ll need training. There’s also the matter of him technically being a monster. When Misha first spots him she cries out, but upon closer inspection she’s charmed by the adorable little guy, and agrees to help Rae.

Inevitably, their mutual secret is exposed when Claire barges in to their dorm room looking for her brush. Seeing the monster, Claire screams as well. We’ll see if she’s as susceptible to cute things as Misha.

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.

I’m in Love with the Villainess – 02 – A Maid Matched in Heaven

While everyone is stunned by her “immeasurable” magical level, Rae stays mum about the fact that she, the protagonist of the otome made flesh, is a water-and-earth dual wielder. This is incredibly rare even for nobility, and it’s the first sign to Claire that Rae isn’t your typical commoner.

Because Rae isn’t included in the overall ranking, Claire considers their bet off. However, Rae was careful to make her promise to do one thing for her “if she didn’t win”, and Claire did not technically win. Fortunately, Claire doesn’t ask for anything lewd; just for Claire to promise never to give up.

While this seems like a random request, the fact of the matter is Claire ends up losing everything in the otome—she is the designated antagonist. Rae intends to keep forging route of her own making—a route that ends with winning over Claire.

For now, Rae’s strategy seems to be remaining in Claire’s presence as much as possible. To that end, she applies for an open maid position in Claire’s household. The head maid informs an exasperated Claire that Rae is actually the most impressive and qualified maid by far, and her apparent devotion to Claire only makes her a more enticing candidate.

Of course, the last thing Claire wants is for this creepy commoner to serve as her maid. Her father Dole, third in line to the throne, initially takes her side, but a few cryptic yet knowing phrases from Rae and a brief private meeting later, and Dole is insisting Claire take Rae on, citing a Francois’ need to “hold a restive horse’s reins”. Political blackmail—You know I love it!

Claire grudgingly accepts, and warns Rae that she’d better do everything she says. We meet Claire’s other maid, Lene, who has served Claire since childhood and acts like a big sister. Lene takes an instant liking to Rae, which makes sense as she’s one of the few people who know Claire as well Rae does, if not better.

The benefit to Rae is obvious: she has an easy excuse to always be by her beloved’s side, even at a tea party with Claire’s noble friends. When told she likes Claire and awful lot, Rae says she doesn’t like her, and her reward is a look of shock from Claire. Of course, she doesn’t like her, she loves her.

When the time comes to bathe Claire, Lene handles the washing of her body, while Rae is tasked with washing her hair. Claire admits Rae is quite good at this, and Rae takes the opportunity to praise Claire’s hair, which is naturally straight but put in curls by Lene every morning to honor her mother.

Lene like Rae and has high hopes for her, but Claire, always possessed of the lowest possible opinion of commoners (that is, those who aren’t Lene), believes Rae will eventually give up her games and make a run for it. When Lene tells Claire to stop calling Rae “commoner”, Claire says she’ll stop if Rae stops with the lovey-dovey talk. Rae, of course, immediately refuses.

That night, Rae sees to it that Claire is okay after spending so long in the steam. She sits beside her bed saying she’ll stay until Claire falls asleep. Claire sits up and tells Rae to come clean: why does she keep claiming to be in love with her? Rae tells her: she’s so cute she can’t stand it.

When Claire dismisses her love as skin-deep, Rae also says she loves her personality. That’s when Claire one has her realest moments yet, admitting that she knows she doesn’t have the kind of personality that people like. She’s convinced Rae is one of those people, and demands to know what she’s “really after.”

Rae tells her the truth: she loves her; there’s no ulterior motive, political or otherwise. She draws in close so their moonlit eyes meet, and says if Claire doesn’t believe her, she’ll do her best to make her believe her. With that, she leaves Claire, who blushes into her sheets. It’s the first sign that her tough armor is finally starting to crack. That said, I’d hope that the hard edges of Rae’s pushiness are smoothed off at some point.

I’m in Love with the Villainess – 01 (First Impressions) – The Thrill of a Girl with Drill Curls in an Ill New World

Oohashi Rei, who like Akira in ZOM 100 worked for an exploitative company, would unwind after work with Revolution, her favorite otome (dating sim) game. But one night the TV screen gets all glitchy, and the next thing she knows, she’s being dressed down by none other than her favorite character in the game, who is not of the designated hot guys, but the villainess Claire Francois. And Rei couldn’t be happier.

Rei, now “Rae Taylor”, has somehow been transported into the world of the game. Now occupying the same three dimensional space as her digital crush, she wastes no time taking her hands in hers and declaring her love for her. Claire…doesn’t know what to do with this, but one thing’s for sure,it throws her off! She’s supposed to be an effective bully, but none of her bullying works on Rae. It only makes Rae love her more.

Honestly I was surprised how up my alley this show turned out to be. Serizawa Yuu is a hoot as Rae, who is unabashedly head-over-heels for Claire, and while I’m not too familiar with Claire’s seiyu Nanami Karin, she knocks it out of the park with a suitably haughty performance, complete with enough robust ojou-sama laughs to give anyone using them for a drinking game serious alcohol poisoning!

I also love how Rae, when she was Rei, didn’t give a shit about the prescribed dating routes in the game, but interacted as much as possible with Claire. She does the same when thrust into their world, only remembering the three hot princes existed when they show up in the middle of Claire trying and failing to psychologically abuse her. Rae even gets Claire to neg the sensitive second priest she actually likes, a tremendous self-own!

This show may only work if you like both Rae and Claire, and get why Rae loves her. Claire may be a rich bitch and a bully, but Rae points out how Claire never goes too far in her bullying, and she’s also cute as hell when she’s flustered, which is constantly in Rae’s presence. But like a bug to a bug light, she just can’t resist trying to put a commoner in her place.

To that end, she challenges Rae to a duel involving their upcoming exam scores. If Claire wins, Rae will leave the school. If Rae wins, Claire has to do something, anything she wants. And while Rae isn’t that confident in her table etiquette, she’s extremely confident in the written exam since she did exhaustive research on the setting of the game when she wrote a doujinshi in her world. She’s also above-average to exceptional in magical abilities.

On the morning the exam scores are posted, Claire thinks Rae has bags under her eyes because she’s nervous about the results, but she’s wrong. Rae simply stayed up all night thinking of what she’d ask Claire to do for her after she won. And win she does, scoring higher than Claire in two of the three exams. Only two of the three princes scored higher than Rae in the written exam, while Rae takes the top spot with her “unmeasurable” magical power.

I’m in Love with the Villainess has a simple, fun premise that’s a great twist on your standard otome isekai story. Where past villainess shows I’ve watched make the villainess a tragic or sympathetic character, Claire is portrayed as advertised: she’s a real piece of work with drill curls. But love comes in all forms, and not only does Rae love her, but it’s totally understandable why she does. We’ll see if Claire ever comes around to accepting those feelings.