Not RecommendedFunnyWell-written
“I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History” is what happens when you have an interesting idea but have no idea how to execute it. Cambridge Dictionary’s definition of the word “Villain” is: 1. A bad person who harms other people or breaks the law 2. A criminal 3. a character in a book, play, film, etc. who harms other people 4. Something or someone considered harmful or dangerous Obviously, none of those apply to Alicia — The MC — (and to be totally honest most of the “villainesses” in those types of shows from the last few years). She does harm people but only in self defense (I amnot counting hurting their feelings, that would be idiotic) and never does any sort of irrecoverable or long lasting harm. She doesn’t break the law in any meaningful way. She does break a lot of rules but it’s not the same as breaking government sanctions. I guess You could use the #4 definition but I’m hesitant because of the reason why she is considered that. So those are mostly worthless in the context of this show. Let’s look somewhere else.
Merriam-Webster’s have some other definitions:
1. A character in a story or play who opposes the hero
2. A deliberate scoundrel or criminal
3. One blamed for a particular evil or difficulty
Now, this looks much more fitting for the show. Alicia does have a boner for being in opposition to Liz — the so-called “Saint”. The problem? She does not oppose her in any meaningful way and the way she does are ultimately ways that would make both of them grow as people. It’s a rather interesting (in principle) clash of ideals, with unfortunately, terrible execution. She is not a criminal (as I wrote earlier) nor a scoundrel. She doesn’t fit the definitions. The only definition that somewhat fits is the #3, but even that is a stretch. Still… I guess this definition is used for story points, even if they are lazy.
Before I continue I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page…
I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa Cron describes them:
“What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.”
“STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”.
Let’s get back to trying to classify Alicia. Let’s see if she fits into a category that is not used often and even rarer used properly — The Anti-Villain. What is that? Well… there are a few definitions, more or less convoluted, so I will use the elements that repeat themselves in most of those definitions — someone who might have positive, even heroic adjacent traits, but their ultimate goal is morally corrupt or just evil. They may use positive actions and even achieve morally positive outcomes to some situations but their ultimate goal is one that has no other way of interpretation but evil.
So does Alicia fit this bill?
No. This is not even a debate. Her motivation is a bit weird but her goal is not morally corrupt or evil. Yes, she uses morally positive actions for utilitarian purposes, but that mostly turns out to be a facade almost immediately in most cases. Case and point? She saves a dying young woman and tells her that she only did it for her to be her insider in the town of, supposedly, criminals, only to barely use her in that case and provide more help for the town than she gets out of it. So no. She is far from being an anti-villain.
How about an Anti-Hero in that case? We will use the classic definition of this archetype — someone who has moral/noble goals, whose actions sometimes defy traditional morality, someone who has visible flaws (usually internal but sometimes both internal and external) and is not apologetic about them, in fact more often than not, they embrace them. In 9/10 cases they are also realistic or disillusioned by the world.
What about Alicia?
Well… the “is a realist and a pragmatic” one on that. She sees that Liz’s way of “saving” the town is idealistic and flawed, and she confronts her about it. She does have some flaws but they are mostly superficial and viewed only because she consciously tries to act like a stereotypical villain. I’m ill-inclined to call that a true flaw. So no. She is not an Anti-Hero.
So what is she? That’s actually a very easy question to answer. A hero. If we use the classical definition that a hero is a paragon of virtue then she fits the bill to the T. Virtues described by Aristotle are: Courage, Temperance, Generosity, Self-value, Magnanimity, Proper Ambition, Patience, Truthfulness, Wittiness, Friendliness, Modesty and Righteous indignation. During those 13 episodes we see Alicia demonstrate all of those more than once. I could give examples for it but I don’t want to write an analytical paper here. So yeah, despite what the title suggests Alicia is a hero. A hero that sometimes acts like an asshole but never in true malice. She just wants to be viewed in a certain way.
Sorry for that rant, I just had to get it out of myself.
Back to the show.
So let’s get something out of the way. This show starts like any other isekai. Shows the protagonist and establishes she’s special and sooner rather than later will become OP AF. Later in episode 4 (a bit too late for my taste, I would prefer it in episode 3 or even at the tail end of episode 2) teases at an ideological conflict between Alicia and Liz, something that could and should have been amazing. A clash of ideals, world views and methods instead of classical violence of pulling things out of asses. All to end in such a lazy and subpar way that it almost made me regret watching this show.
Unfortunately the writer had other plans and instead of creating a story driven show wrote a plot driven one. Not even an original plot. Most plot points happen only because Alicia needs a lazy, surface only, motivation to become stronger. Having a show concentrating on a protagonist becoming stronger isn’t a bad idea, but this show doesn’t even care enough for that. There is a moment in the show when Alicia has to earn 10 levels to continue on her chosen path. This should be something meaningful. It takes her 2 years to do so and… we see none of it. She isolates herself for 2 years, sees no one, talks to no one and not only everyone goes along with it but we, as viewers, see nothing of this rigorous training. NOTHING. She just one day stops isolating herself, is older, more powerful… and almost nothing long lasting becomes of it. It’s just a waste of a perfectly viable training arc. Granted, I’m not sure this writer could write an interesting, meaningful and engaging training arc but to give nothing is just insulting. The worst part? It seems the whole damn world (apart maybe for the so called town of criminals and it’s still a bit of a stretch because the whole town is rarely useful as a plot or story device) waited for her to reappear to have any sort of meaningful development (and no, I am not counting the incident with the wolf because it was told and not shown). Other characters did jack shit during those 2 years. Their relationships don’t change, their personalities and mannerisms remain the same and we only get to see small snips of what happened to them during her absence. We could get an episode or two about the supporting cast to flesh them out a bit. It’s really disheartening. Liz is obviously interested in the prince, who has feelings for Alicia, and yet, she did nothing to win him over, when her rival isn’t even on the stage? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? If anyone had any doubt that Alicia is a Mary Sue, this is the moment that the last remnants of that should die right here.
Honestly I was hoping that maybe Liz — the so-called saint that almost everyone loves — would turn out to be a true anti-villain. There are a few moments when it is hinted that it’s strange people are practically worshiping her. Even those that hated her guts in the beginning. It would be a heavy handed setup but at least running with it would be somewhat original. There aren’t many stories in this genre that play around with roles of the protagonist and the antagonist. To be honest I can only think of one at the top of my head and it’s pretty much bottom tier — “I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss” — so having that motif executed with care would be nice. Who am I kidding? The author proved to be inept at writing long before that so it was my naivete to have hope.
An interesting, and a bit meta, thing is that Alicia criticizes Liz, that everything falls in its place for her and everything works out for her but… it’s exactly the same thing with Alicia. Everything falls in its place for her, starting with the fact that she is able to use magic sooner than most people, to her ease of learning it (apart from the 2 year gap) and ends at the fact that the last episode is just bullshit that shows that the whole world bends over backwards and even lubes itself for her. Even her losing her eye (this is not a spoiler, in the very opening You can see Alicia wearing an eye patch) has no real consequences for her. It does however have consequences for others, consequences that earn her a reward from the king itself. What nonsense.
Now let’s talk a little (I’m not wasting too much time for this waste of space and screen time) about Duke (not Nukem) — the prince and love interest. This dude is creepy as fuck. Seriously. I am not touching the subject of a teenager (granted a young one) having interest in an 8 year old but from the moment they are both in school he is just creepy. He keeps tabs on her with her personal spy, he teleports her on a whim, forces medicine down her throat by the way of mouth-to-mouth without trying other methods first, after her rescue he just sleeps next to her topless. Basically 90% of what he does would get him a restraining order in real life and yet this show wants me to think this shit is romantic? Why? Do women really want guys, their into, to act like stalkers and creeps? I don’t get women if it’s the case.
When it comes to other members of the supporting cast… they’re just background noise. They are not even the supporting cast, everyone has one trait that pretends to be personality, they disappear for entire episodes only to reappear when they have something (usually dumb or pointless) to say. Most of the time they don’t even push the plot forward, not to mention they do next to nothing for the story. There are many of them but they do nothing. Even considering them as members of the “supporting cast” is a waste of a perfectly good label.
Despite thinking about this show as a wasted potential I do understand why someone would like it. The idea of a protagonist that actually wants to be considered a villain is a good one. I would actually want to watch something like a shoujo “Overlord”, it could be pretty awesome. This show… it’s just lazy, flirts with some really good ideas only to dump them 5 minutes later. It has one of the most surface level writing I’ve ever seen but it does have some moments (mostly those that are more meta) that are actually entertaining, like the kidnapping plot. Unfortunately it makes a lot of promises and never follows through on them.
