Recently I got to make a new friend in the Vtuber community who was kind enough to recommend a new anime to watch. So taking that suggestion in mind I made my way to Crunchyroll to start I’m In Love With The Villainess. Our show stars a protagonist who suddenly finds herself reborn as Ray Taylor the protagonist of her favorite dating sim game. Now normally her character is supposed to go after one of the three princes as romance options. However, she doesn’t want them, she only has eyes for the villainous Claire.

What I like about this show is how it manages to make a unique twist on shows with Villainess in the name. Normally the protagonist is the villainess trying to circumvent something bad or create a better story for the character. In this case Rae is trying to turn the villainess into a new romance option by professing her love for her upon site. As Claire performs her role as the villainess by bullying Rae, none of it works as Rae loves any attention Claire sends her way. Rae also has to avoid the advances of the princes that are actually romance options and it’s hilarious how all of this unfolds as she changes the course of the game and daily life for all of the characters.

The story really has a lot of hilarity to it that was incredibly entertaining but it’s also a very heartfelt story. While Rae is open about her feelings for Claire she dismisses them at the same time. Rae very much understands that she is a woman vying for the love of another woman and just assumes there’s no way Claire would ever love her back for that. So the dynamic between these two characters is constantly changing as Rae both expresses her feelings but then struggles to be entirely open about them. When we reach the climatic moment where Rae and Clare have to decide how to process their feelings it is a genuinely powerful scene that had my full attention. Then you have the day to day conflicts that these two have to face just by being in the world they live in. These external conflicts serve as a nice catalyst to force scenarios to bring these two characters closer together.

The characters are equally as amazing as the story. Rae often exploits mechanics of the game to make the best outcome for her situation, but she’s also just fun to watch. She has a very energetic personality, exaggerated lines and some hilarious one liners. Then you have the fact that Rae and Claire just have great chemistry with one another. Sure it’s an unrequited love but the way these two bounce off each other is just incredible. Probably one of the best dynamics between two characters that I’ve seen in a long time. I also love how complex they both are. You have Rae with her internal conflict but Claire is equally conflicted. She’s not used to someone vying for her affection. At the same time she has feelings for one of the three princes and isn’t sure how to feel about Rae’s feelings towards her. This complexity in both of them is present the entire season but is told in a beautiful way that makes their struggles compelling. The supporting case is also rather entertaining but not as fleshed out to make room for the main story being told here.

So overall this show is one I absolutely loved. It’s rare that I enjoy a show enough to binge an entire season in a day but that’s exactly what I did. The personalities of the main characters, the complexity of their emotions and struggles alongside great chemistry is a winning combination. There’s clearly a lot more story to tell too with how the season ended and I really want to see where it goes.