Tag: otome game

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Dumbest Otome Villainess Protagonist

Tiberius2 Comments

Her braincell is always out to lunch

Multiple times on this blog, I’ve explained that I don’t make a beeline for the Isekai genre. My tastes are varied and, if I had to look at it objectively, inconsistent. But if it wasn’t me being lazy, it was life reminding me that the big picture exists.

Thank god for stock imagery

With the case of Isekai, recently I’ve had a look at some of the shows I’ve been watching, some of which have appeared on this blog before, and I don’t think the statement holds up anymore. Matter of fact, some earlier anime I watched as a kid technically count as Isekai by the slimmest margins and the loosest definitions. Similar to when I watched Shield Bro Loli Pokemon, I came across the subject of this post on Crunchyroll sometime in 2020. It’s not in my watch history for some reason, but I did see the entire first season and part of the second season, so I definitely remember the plot beats going on for this series.

This series is an otome harem Isekai that would become more and more commonplace after 2020 for some s[piano]ing reason. As I recall, the anime skips over the Isekai-ing action, and drops the protagonist into the shoes of the villainess/antagonist, Catarina Claes, who is known to the Japanese audience as Bakarina for having an IQ level as big as her shoe size. The full English title doesn’t really do the series any favors, as the point of the game she’s isekai-ed into is to avoid all the doom flags. The game, known as Fortune Lover, has a series of different paths for the player to follow given specific conditions. One ending sees the villainess exiled, another puts her behind bars, and the third sees her killed in a crime of passion.

When the protagonist takes command of Bakarina’s braincell, the roles are reversed in even the design. Robbing the game of the villainess irreversibly changes the flow of the game to the point that the game semi-acknowledges the takeover, although the major consequences of this aren’t even that punishing, given the English translation of the Japanese title being “I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess with only Destruction Flags” as opposed to the subtitle All Routes Lead to doom. A distinction I make seeing as the former explains the concept of and subsequent obsession with doom flags as opposed to the latter that leaves it largely vague. Couldn’t help but get pedantic about that…

Be it the villainess or the actual protagonist of the video game (to distinguish from the Female MC), the opportunity to romance any of the archetypes characters is, on the surface, divvied between the two, but with Bakarina being the queen of this series, that’s a decision largely left to her. Bakarina’s definitely different from how the original Catarina behaves, being more charitable than selfish, all to avoid the death flags. In so doing, she unlocks a secret ending that most games won’t give you until you 100% it once at the minimum.

Without a real window into the game before Catarina’s mind was taken over, all we the audience have to go off is what Bakarina claims she was. To be fair, there’s a few scenes that show what would happen to Catarina if she was the same as she was before the plot of the series kicked off. Now, as for concrete proof that this is an Isekai, again, the anime never shows the action, but it does have a flashback to what the pilot of the Catarina mech-suit looks like, all without ever giving her an actual name.

Another thing done differently is a semi-timeskip. The first five or so episodes start off in Bakarina’s childhood before transitioning to her and the rest of the cast as first- or second-years in high school. And although they’re all adolescents going forward, the recurring gag is that before a major life-altering decision is made, Bakarina retreats to an inner council within her own mind where five younger-somehow chibi-er versions of her debate the pros and cons of a certain path before moving forward with the decision.

And to put the cherry on top, the reason she’s referred to as Bakarina has to do with a variety of weird and idiotic moves prior she’d become famous for. I guess I would also find it difficult to explain that the world is an otome game from a different world, but with death acting as a portal from one world to another, the most I can do is reflect on my previous life before pulling a “when in Rome.” While Bakarina acknowledges the doom flags and bends over backwards to avoid them, she brings mannerisms and habits from her old world into this one.

Funny enough, I did a quick Google search and found this Reddit post that posits, with evidence, that she’s on the spectrum. It’s credible, but medical and mental health professionals make the distinction between autism, ADHD, and simply having those symptoms without fitting into either category. But their is also evidence that she is simply braindead. A lot of it having to do with her being clueless to a lot of things going on in the lives of the romancibles, notably their feelings towards her.

The show is entertaining enough and deserving of its second season when you keep in mind that Bakarina is a moron, though not completely. She does have her moments, though the plot doesn’t give much in the way of character development for Bakarina. She stays mostly the same from beginning to end, even after realizing how much of the plot of the game she’d changed. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s a noticeable thing to keep in mind, especially for puzzles, such as one episode where everyone else was in despair while Bakarina kept stuffing her face.

But on the subject of idiocy, a distinction needs to be made between intelligence and wisdom. There’s overlap between the two concepts and some believe that they’re merely interchangeable. But that’s false. In layman’s terms, it’s merely the book smart VS street smart debate. A professor can tell you all about physics and maths, but will probably be lost in the worst parts of the Bronx. On the other end of the spectrum for wisdom, someone may be unable to do complex maths, but they can still learn you a thing or two about life.

The anime’s has two seasons with 12 episodes each plus an OVA. It was adapted from a 2017 manga which in turn was adapted from a 2014 light novel.

Need I elaborate?

Before I go, I have plans for a post concerning the corruption subplots of the video games, Max Payne 3, Sleeping Dogs, and Spec Ops: The Line, with all three handling it all differently. I can’t say for sure when it’ll be done, especially since Spec Ops had been delisted in most online retailers, leaving me the only option to pirate over it. Once I’ve finished at least the last two games (having finished MP3 before), I’ll have the full context of all three ready.

Middle-Aged Salaryman Becomes Otome Villainess

Tiberius2 Comments

Isekai strikes again

Remember when I said that I don’t particularly gun for isekai anime? Well, it’s not because I have strong feelings towards it; it’s quite the opposite. I’m indifferent. A few good isekai will make the rounds and come up on my radar a few months after people finally stop yapping about them… except in this case where I discovered this one due in large part to its upcoming and currently airing anime adaptation that I haven’t been able to access through the usual channels.

Created in March of 2020 (flashbacks), the manga follows middle-aged salaryman and damn near everyone’s Ojiisan, Kenzaburo Tondabayashi, 50something pencil pusher whose reward for the consideration of a young boy’s life is an isekai journey into an otaku blindspot of his that is more of a specialty of his daughter, Hinako: an Otome video game, known as Magical Academy: Love & Beast. For those who don’t know, the Otome genre of visual novels and JRPGs consists of a female protagonist and series of branching story paths that determine the fate of the characters in relation to the MC. More often than not, the MC faces a challenger in the name of the sadistically evil villainess as a competitor for the affections of the same male romance targets.

In recent times, the isekai genre has begun to saturate with a twist on the formula by inserting Truck-kun’s victims into the minds of the listed antagonists. And in the case of My Dad’s in an Otome Game?!, Mr. Tondabayashi is an ultimate fish out of water. Or he is in regard to this specific genre. As luck would have it, Kenzaburo and his wife, Mitsuko, are expert otaku having been adolescents and young adults during the boom of the 80s and 90s. So Hinako’s parents are intimately familiar with some old school anime that have found new life online in memes, not the least of which include this:

There’s a story of a Japanese man who, at his first job in the 90s, spent a significant portion of his paycheck on VHS tapes of Yu Yu Hakusho, Hajime no Ippo, Captain Tsubasa, and Neon Genesis Evangelion. That man now works in a museum where most of his collection was donated. The rest sold well online for a collective hundred thousand yen. I made that all up, but how far outside of reality is that?

As a result of Kenzaburo’s and Mitsuko’s experience in the medium, they practically raised Hinako on the same animanga series that shaped their youths. And like the child of an otaku, she went on to discover her own favorite animanga genres. Something I share personally having grown up on Naruto, Bleach, and Dragon Ball Z, while my mom and uncle were also present for DBZ’s western debut alongside Speed Racer.

You just know a series is influential when the west tries to ape it to mixed results and more than once.

Following the isekai-ing incident, Kenzaburo navigates the game with his limited knowledge unknowingly aided by his family back home. The set up is not dissimilar from tackling a problem with an outdated but still effective solution, sort of like fighting a modern war from the trenches or on horseback. Mounted riflemen!

The fish out of water comedy in this anime is the contrast between Kenzaburo and the in-game villainess he’s currently piloting. A nasty wench named Grace Auvergne, she has a reputation for being as delightful and radiating as nuclear fallout. Toxicity is more than just a System of a Down song and Grace pre-takeover was a textbook mean princess. Berating the help, unrealistic standards, short temper, a cutthroat attitude, and a silver tongue sharp enough to dice your soul like onions on a chopping board.

Post-takeover, Kenzaburo overriding her character has transformed her into a firm but considerate character. She respects her servants equally, lifts their unforgiving standards, lengthens her fuse, and although still confident, she’s not a show-stealing showman. She let’s the game’s protagonist Anna Doll get her time of day, assisting and dare I say playing cheerleader for her.

This is the result of Kenzaburo empathizing as a father, and although I’m currently watching subbed, the comedy has transcended the language barrier. It’s never not funny to watch Grace/Kenzaburo attempt to be an intimidating villain and have his better nature overpower her villainous intent. He’s aware of his role as the primary antagonist, but can’t help but be a gentleman. He simply spent too much of his adult life living well.

Now you may have caught on that I listed Kenzaburo as another of Truck-kun’s victims and he is, but perhaps because he’s built like a brickhouse compared to the popsicle sticks Truck-kun normally runs over, he’s spared death in favor of a coma. So Truck-kun only gets half a point for this. Aside from that, Kenzaburo’s condition is stable physically while mentally he’s extrapolating with incomplete information on a genre he’s not intimately familiar with, but will try his best to play his part. The keyword being try, because the first few episodes do him no favors whatsoever.

As of writing, there’s 8 volumes, 4 of which have been translated online and the anime recently concluded with 12 episodes. Of the available services to watch it for yourself, there’s HiDive, any pirate site for our unscrupulous types, and would you have it: YouTube. For now, anyways. It’s only a matter of time before the Chad uploading them as they air gets the channel terminated for theft.

Channel: WOLF RECAP

Let me use my Made in China Nostradamus powers and say this channel will go under before October 2025. Watch it while its fresh! Or get HiDive; I’m not your boss.