My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! (乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった, Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijō ni Tensei Shiteshimatta…) is a 2020 television anime series based on Satoru Yamaguchi’s light novel series of the same name with illustrator Nami Hidaka. The series was adapted by studio Silver Link, and the staff credits include director Keisuke Inoue, series composition writer Megumi Shimizu, character designer Miwa Oshima and music composed by Hanae Nakamura, Miki Sakurai, Natsumi Tabuchi, Shu Kanematsu and Tatsuhiko Saiki. The series first aired in Japan on April 2020.
Background:
“Some people may treat life like a game, but when young noblewoman Catarina Claes accidentally bumps her head, she has a horrifying revelation. In a previous life, she was an avid otaku and game player, and the life Catarina is living is that of the villainess of the game FORTUNE LOVER… a character doomed to be either killed or exiled no matter how the game is played!
Forewarned and forearmed with the multiple plots of the game in mind, Catarina sets out to re-code her fate. Can she not do what she would have done, befriend people she’d never befriend, and change her entire outlook on life? And will even that be enough to roleplay her way out of her destiny? She’s literally in the game of her life in MY NEXT LIFE AS A VILLAINESS: ALL ROUTES LEAD TO DOOM!”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, March 2024.
Isekai has grown a lot over the years with various different scenarios from overpowered main leads with harems to reincarnations and characters just wanting to chill for the sake of it. There’s a lot of them and while I have been entertained by a lot of what’s been adapted over the years, I do agree that it’s oversaturated the fantasy genre a lot. That said, My Next Life as a Villainess has taken the trope and introduced (or at least reintroduced) the concept of having a female lead reincarnated as a villainess character which introduces more antics and scenarios. This is a reverse harem but done well enough to feel fresh for the saturated genre.
Katarina (translated as Catarina by Crunchyroll) is a loveable idiot in the series and it’s been great to see the interactions between her and the cast, especially given the premise over how in this video game world she was sucked into it’s about avoiding the ‘bad ending’. So far we have had two seasons and a film, plus a video game visual novel so there’s many more to explore for this series!
Crunchyroll licensed the streaming and home video rights for the franchise, and so far the first season was among a small batch that was sublicensed over to Sentai Filmworks for home video release, as this was before the merger started to appear for Sony, Funimation and Crunchyroll. My Next Life as a Villainess was dubbed during its simulcast and again had some slight controversy due to how J-Novel Club translated Katarina’s name with a K and Crunchyroll decided to go with a C instead. It’s nowhere near as bad as Ascendance of a Bookworm though which had more issues on the naming/terminology side of things.
Sentai released the first season of My Next Life as a Villainess with Crunchyroll’s English dub on Blu-ray and mention of a premium edition later down the line which has yet to emerge. Meanwhile Anime Limited was able to license the UK home video rights from Crunchyroll to release the series over here and it’s also a collector’s edition. Sentai’s will no doubt have more physical content but would also be high priced as a result.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
With Anime Limited being known for their collector’s editions, it was no surprise that their Crunchyroll license pickups would receive this same treatment. My Next Life as a Villainess is going to receive a premium edition by Sentai in North America as I mentioned before, but here’s a look at how Anime Limited handled their UK release.
This release is presented with a rigid box containing an Amaray case to house the Blu-ray discs, in addition to a 28-page booklet and 4 art cards. The booklet includes character designs and artwork from the anime series.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £69.99, and will be available in a standard edition Blu-ray not long after this release.
The series was made available as an early bird during the month of March, and was on offer for £39.99 with the Anime Unlimited membership lowering the cost down to £35.99.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 28-page Booklet
- 4 Art Cards
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 25th March 2024
The collector’s edition release for My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! contains all 12 episodes of the show’s first season across two Blu-ray discs, with the encode & authoring done by Sentai Filmworks via their release in 2022. The audio options include Japanese with English subtitles and the STUDIOPOLIS, Inc. English dub commissioned by Crunchyroll.
The yellow subtitles are locked during playback, and the regions are accessible to Blu-ray players set to A & B.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 2 (1 BD-50, 1 BD-25) |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 2:
- Clean Opening “The Girl’s Routes Are Not Only One (Shōjo no Route wa Hitotsu Janai!)”
- Clean Ending “Bad End”
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Season 1 is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland. The collector’s edition Blu-ray release can be bought through the AllTheAnime Store.
For the standard edition, it will be available through different retailers including Amazon UK, AllTheAnime Store, and Anime-on-Line.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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