This anime series has the same premise as Bakarina*: an otome games fan reincarnates in one of them, some childhood event forces her to remember her life on Earth, and she realises that she has been reincarnated as the villainess. Then she tries to avoid the bad end of the game at all costs.

But beyond the premise, Last Boss Queen and Bakarina are nothing alike. Pride Royal Ivy is actually insightful and smart, unlike Katarina Claes; what motivates Pride is not fear of her own doom, but to avoid the suffering of the people around her; and the general tone of the Last Boss Queen series is heavier, more likely to pull your emotional strings than to make you laugh.

Overall, based on the manga and WN, I’d say that this is worth watching if you want something more serious in the genre.

The first episode was rather good IMO. It’s no high-budget production, but it follows the script of the WN rather well, focusing on Pride and Stale. I feel like some context might be missing for non-readers, but it should be still enjoyable for them.

*Bakarina: fan nickname for the My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! series.

  • rwhitisissle@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    I don’t think the series is anything special or terribly unique, but I enjoyed the first episode more than I thought I would. Also I like the outfits in these sword and sorcery style otome reincarnation anime. It’s way more appealing than seeing characters dressed as bog standard high school or middle school students for 95% of the time.

    • Lvxferre@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Also I like the outfits in these sword and sorcery style otome reincarnation anime.

      Yup, they usually have a heavier focus on how the characters dress and look like, and I think that it’s great.

      • rwhitisissle@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        I really like Pride’s dress. The contrasting deep red and black kind of reminds me of Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts outfit, or a variation on it, but way more toned down and realistic while still having frills around the collar and rose embellishments at the bottom.

  • homura1650@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    The main character is surprisingly likeable. She is your classic villanous suddenly turned good reincarnation, but she actually struggles with her environment forcing her to do bad; and we get to see that conflict weigh on her.

    I’m skeptical the show will be able to maintain this, but for now it is a solid entry.

  • Laxaria@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    Tearmoon Empire by another name

    Too early to tell what set of tropes and typical story arcs it’ll go through, but it works well as an establishing point.

    • Lvxferre@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Tearmoon Empire by another name

      Not really. At least, not based on the preceding webnovel.

      Tearmoon Empire is mostly comedy; the plot revolves around Mia being her usual selfish, petty and a bit dumb (she gets better over time, but still), and people misinterpreting her words/actions as deep and wise (“sasuga Mia-sama!”). Like, Mia doesn’t feel guilt, she just wants to save her own skin. In the meantime, Last Boss Queen has a more serious tone, and the protag Pride is a genuinely good person filled with guilt from reincarnating as the villainess, and she’s intentionally using her game knowledge to the benefit of the people around her.