I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss (悪役令嬢なのでラスボスを飼ってみました, Akuyaku Reijō Nanode Last Boss o Katte Mimashita) is a Japanese light novel series written by Sarasa Nagase and illustrated by Mai Murasaki. It began serialization online in May 2017 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. It was later acquired by Kadokawa Shoten, who have published ten volumes since September 2017 under their Kadokawa Beans Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation with art by Anko Yuzu was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's seinen manga magazine Comp Ace from June 2018 to August 2019. It was collected in three tankōbon volumes. Both the light novel and manga are licensed in North America by Yen Press. An anime television series adaptation produced by Maho Film aired from October to December 2022.
Synopsis[]
Being acutely ill, a young girl has spent most of her life in a hospital room playing otome games to fill her time. However, she one day finds herself in the midst of a scene from one of these games as the story's villainess, Irene Loren D'Autriche.
At the banquet to celebrate the end of the academy's winter term, the crown prince and Irene's childhood friend, Cedric Jeanne Elmeier, publicly annuls his engagement with Irene and announces that he is in love with Lilia Rainworth, the game's female protagonist. Aware of the tragic future ahead of her and determined to change it, the young girl resolves to conquer the game's final boss, the "Demon King" and Cedric's half-brother, Claude Jeanne Elmeier, by making him fall in love with her instead.
With time running out, can Irene succeed with her plans, or will she remain bound to the ill-fated ending that awaits her?
List of Published Books[]
Light novel[]
The series by Sarasa Nagase began serialization online on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō in May 2017. It was acquired by Kadokawa Shoten who began publishing it as a light novel with illustrations by Mai Murasaki through their Kadokawa Beans Bunko imprint on September 1, 2017. The light novel is licensed in North America by Yen Press. As of October 2021, 9 volumes have been released.
| No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | English release date | English ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 1, 2017 | 978-4-04-106036-0 | October 12, 2021 | 978-1-9753-3405-5 |
| 2 | March 1, 2018 | 978-4-04-106037-7 | February 22, 2022 | 978-1-9753-3407-9 |
| 3 | September 1, 2018 | 978-4-04-107258-5 | June 21, 2022 | 978-1-9753-3409-3 |
| 4 | March 1, 2019 | 978-4-04-107259-2 | November 8, 2022 | 978-1-9753-3411-6 |
| 5 | July 1, 2019 | 978-4-04-108267-6 | April 18, 2023 | 978-1-9753-3413-0 |
| 6 | September 1, 2019 | 978-4-04-108268-3 | August 22, 2023 | 978-1-9753-3415-4 |
| 7 | January 1, 2020 | 978-4-04-108962-0 | December 12, 2023 | 978-1-9753-3417-8 |
| 8 | September 1, 2020 | 978-4-04-109847-9 | April 16, 2024 | 978-1-9753-3419-2 |
| 9 | October 1, 2021 | 978-4-04-111863-4 | — | — |
| 10 | September 30, 2022 | 978-4-04-112995-1 | — | — |
| 11 | December 28, 2022 | 978-4-04-113125-1 |
Manga[]
A manga adaptation by Anko Yuzu was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's seinen manga magazine Comp Ace from June 2018 to August 2019. It was collected in three tankōbon volumes. The manga is also licensed in North America by Yen Press.
| No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | English release date | English ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | November 26, 2018 | 978-4-04-107720-7 | October 26, 2021 | 978-1-9753-2120-8 |
| 2 | June 26, 2019 | 978-4-04-108347-5 | November 30, 2021 | 978-1-9753-2121-5 |
| 3 | December 26, 2019 | 978-4-04-108930-9 | March 1, 2022 | 978-1-9753-2123-9 |
| 4 | October 25, 2022 | 978-4-04-113039-1 | ─ | ─ |
Character[]
The main protagonist (Definitely not a hero) of this work. She is the reincarnated form of the villainess of the otome game "Regalia of Saints, Demons, and Maidens" the one who interferes with the heroine's love life. She is the only daughter of the House of D'Autriche Duke of the Ellmeyer Empire. She died from an unknown disease in her previous life and was reincarnated as the main villainess of the game she was playing during her last days.
A reincarnated girl from Japan, she recovers her memories as she is experiencing the Condemnation Event in the game. Knowing Aileen is destined to die in the normal course of events, she uses her vast knowledge of the original game to avoid her demise, getting closer to Claude who is the one bound to kill her. A diligent, kind, and empowered lady, she is shown to not just rely on her knowledge of the game, being politically savvy, a successful businesswoman, and a careful tactician, she puts her current self's skills to use to avoid danger.
She has a bit of an inferiority complex towards her brothers, as being the only female meant she did not gain as much attention or recognition, thus she put tremendous effort into her education to be acknowledged. However, this ended up ostracizing her from her peers. Although she was viewed with skepticism, her competence along with her culinary ability gained her the favor of the demon populace.
Personality
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Character Actions[]
In Part 1, after being broken off by Cedric, she approaches the fallen prince Claude and becomes the heroine after various exploits. In the final part, she is kidnapped by Cedric, who intends to make Lilia his empress and Irene his concubine. Bound and on the verge of being violated, she witnesses this and, enraged, embraces Claude, who awakens as the Demon King, and is stabbed by Lilia's holy sword. Afterward, she seizes the ownership of the holy sword from Lilia, uses it to restore Claude to human form, officially becomes a saint, and gets engaged to Claude, who returns as the crown prince, ending Part 1.
In Part 2, upon hearing about the rampage of monsters in the Duchy of Milchetta, she recalls the sequel of the game and, disguised as a man, secretly infiltrates Misha Academy, the main setting of the sequel, to investigate. Collaborating with the targets from the sequel, she resolves the incident. Later, she encounters Lilia, who has been manipulating the events from behind the scenes, and after surprising Lilia, spends a peaceful time with everyone in the Demon King's castle for a while.
In Part 3, due to Lilia's schemes from the start, Claude loses his powers and memories of the Demon King and recuperates in the royal castle. Additionally, the royal family sides with Lilia, preventing Irene from meeting Claude, putting her engagement in jeopardy. After receiving help from Cedric, she reunites with Claude and proposes again, but Claude, unable to remember Irene, feels burdened and declines. Misunderstanding Claude's intentions, a monster attempting to retrieve him tries to kill Irene but fails. Irene also misinterprets Claude's true feelings and, in anger, decides to give up on him and vows to marry Belzebuth or Zelm to become the Demon King. However, Claude eventually acknowledges his attraction to Irene, invites her to a ball, and they reconcile.
This peace is short-lived as they are framed by the turned Emperor, Empress, and Lilia's faction, and are betrayed by Elefas, who fails to persuade them, pushing them to the brink. Just as Irene acknowledges her defeat and prepares to confess her false feelings to protect Claude, Almond rushes out to deny her words and is attacked. The shock causes Claude to regain his memories, transforming in anger, and they are forcibly taken to the Demon King's castle. While trying to rescue Claude, she is kidnapped by Elefas Levi but manages to persuade him after understanding his situation. However, monsters like Belzebuth, who resonate with Claude's screams due to the demonic energy, attempt to attack the castle to retrieve Claude, and when Irene intervenes, she expresses hostility, questioning if she ultimately sides with humans. Irene negotiates with Belzebuth to gain a one-hour reprieve, then heads to the tower where Elefas and Claude are trapped, joining forces with Zemus' group, ultimately rescuing Claude and defeating Lilia.
In Part 5, after everything concludes, she marries Claude and becomes the Empress of Ellmeyer.
Abilities[]
"Dresses are battle armor for women!"
― Aileen Lauren D'Autriche
There are many animations about reincarnation in another world that say, "After dying in this world, you are immediately reincarnated in another world as a different personality." However, it is easier to understand that "villain daughter's last boss" is reincarnation in another world.
At the beginning of the anime, Irene is told to break off her engagement and realizes that she has been reincarnated into an Otome game. When she thinks of reincarnation in another world, she thinks that she was reincarnated in an Otome game at that moment. Until now, she lived normally in the world of Otome games, and she only regained my memories of my previous life, so she still has memories of living in the world of Otome games.
She uses her vast knowledge of the original game to avoid her demise, getting closer to Claude who is the one bound to kill her. A diligent, kind, and empowered lady, she is shown to not just rely on her knowledge of the game, be politically savvy, a successful businesswoman, and a careful tactician, skills she puts to use to avoid danger to herself. Despite her figure, Aileen is trained in both swordsmanship and Martial arts, even though her swordsmanship is very novice she still can deflect and parry any opponent's attack.
| 「Maiden of the Holy Sword」 - The only way to defeat the Demon King is the holy sword used by the "Sacred Sword Maiden". Holy sword attacks can defeat monsters, but they are ineffective against humans.
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"I consider quality over quantity!"
― Aileen Lauren D'Autriche
Because of Claude (Husband of Aileen and Ruler of the Ellmeyer kingdom & Demon), tampered with Aileen's shadow to protect and communicate with her. Because of this, Aileen's shadow became a gateway for the demon to protect or aid her. Thus her shadow can also communicate to other mages who want to rely on a message even though she can see the people/person who is on the other side of the message. As the "Villainess", she had "higher base stats" compared to the Heroines.
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TV Anime[]
On October 1, 2021, an anime adaptation was announced. It was later revealed to be a television series produced by Maho Film and directed by Kumiko Habara, with scripts written by Kenta Ihara, and character designs handled by Momoko Makiuchi, Eri Kojima, and Yūko Ōba. The music is composed by Natsumi Tabuchi, Hanae Nakamura, Miki Sakurai, Sayaka Aoki, and Kanade Sakuma. It aired from October 1 to December 17, 2022, on Tokyo MX, MBS, Wowow, AT-X, and BS-TBS. The opening theme song is "Kyо̄kan Sarenakute mo Ii Janai" (共感されなくてもいいじゃない) by Rie Takahashi, while the ending theme song is "Nomick" (ノミック, Nomikku) by ACCAMER.
- Staff
- Original work - Sarasa Nagase
- Original illustration - Mai Murasaki
- Director - Kumiko Habara
- Series Composition/Screenplay - Kenta Inohara
- Main character designs - Momoko Makiuchi, Eri Kojima, Yuko Oba
- Prop Design - Hikaru Kodama, Kumiko Habara
- Concept Design - Hijiri Edamatsu
- Art Director - Satoshi Shibata
- Color design - Aki Watanabe
- Cinematographer - Yukina Nomura
- 3DCG Director - Dick Ogahara
- Editing - Mayumi Komori
- Acoustic director - Toshiki Kameyama
- Music - Tabuchi Natsumi, Nakamura Tomomi Na jū, Sakurai Miki, Aoki sayaka, Saku kansō
- Music Production -Hine
- Music cooperation - Milica Music, Nichion
- Music Producer - Daisuke Mizuta
- Producers - Hiroyuki Aoi, Harumi Sato, Mika Sugimoto, Satoshi Cao, Miho Iijima, Keisuke Sato, Hirotaka Kaneko & Akio Fukui
- Animation Producer - Yuki Mukai
- Animation production - MAHO FILM
- Production - Akulas Production Committee 2022
Crunchyroll licensed the series outside of Asia, and have streamed an English dub starting on October 15, 2022. Medialink also licensed the series across Asia-Pacific.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Storyboarded by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Wicked Heiress's Story Begins" Transcription: "Akuyaku Reijō no Makuake" (Japanese: 悪役令嬢の幕開け) |
Kumiko Habara | Kenta Ihara | Kumiko Habara | October 1, 2022 |
| 2 | "The Villainess May Have Many Enemies, but She Also Has Many Underlings" Transcription: "Akuyaku Reijō wa Teki mo Ōiga Teshita mo Ōi" (Japanese: 悪役令嬢は敵も多いが手下も多い) |
Naoyoshi Kusaka | Kenta Ihara | M.F.K | October 8, 2022 |
| 3 | "The Villainess Is Greedy and Goes for the Win" Transcription: "Akuyaku Reijō wa Gōyoku nanode Kachi ni Iku" (Japanese: 悪役令嬢は強欲なので勝ちに行く) |
Kyōhei Ōyabu | Kenta Ihara | Kumiko Habara | October 15, 2022 |
| 4 | "The Villainess Should Be Able to Tame the Final Boss" Transcription: "Akuyaku Reijō wa Rasubosu datta Kaeru Hazu" (Japanese: 悪役令嬢はラスボスだった飼えるはず) |
Toshiaki Kanbara | Kenta Ihara | Kunihisa Sugishima | October 22, 2022 |
| 5 | "The Villainess Tricks Her Fiancé" Transcription: "Akuyaku Reijō wa Konyakusha o Damasu" (Japanese: 悪役令嬢は婚約者をだます) |
Naoyoshi Kusaka | Kenta Ihara | M.F.K | October 29, 2022 |
| 6 | "The Villainess Is Unforgiving of Evil" Transcription: "Akuyaku Reijō wa Aku o Yurusanai" (Japanese: 悪役令嬢は悪を許さない) |
Kyōhei Ōyabu | Kenta Ihara | Kyōhei Ōyabu | November 5, 2022 |
| 7 | "The Villainess Steals the Show" Transcription: "Akuyaku Reijō wa Deban o Sōdori Suru" (Japanese: 悪役令嬢は出番を総取りする) |
Naoyoshi Kusaka | Kenta Ihara | M.F.K | November 12, 2022 |
| 8 | "The Crimes of the Villainess Are Revealed" Transcription: "Akuyaku Reijō no Akuji wa Abakareru" (Japanese: 悪役令嬢の悪事は暴かれる) |
Naoyoshi Kusaka | Kenta Ihara | Kunihisa Sugishima | November 19, 2022 |
| 9 | "The Villainess Should Just Be Forgotten" Transcription: "Akuyaku Reijō no Koto wa Wasureta Kata ga Ii" (Japanese: 悪役令嬢のことは忘れた方がいい) |
Kiyotaka Kanchiku | Kenta Ihara | Tetsurō Amino | November 26, 2022 |
| 10 | "The Love of the Villainess Doesn't Reach" Transcription: "Akuyaku Reijō no Ai wa Todokanai" (Japanese: 悪役令嬢の愛は届かない) |
Toshiaki Kanbara | Kenta Ihara | Kunihisa Sugishima | December 3, 2022 |
| 11 | "The Villainess Always Gets Condemned" Transcription: "Itsudatte Akuyaku Reijō wa Danzai sareru" (Japanese: いつだって悪役令嬢は断罪される) |
Naoyoshi Kusaka | Kenta Ihara | M.F.K | December 10, 2022 |
| 12 | "Even the Villainess Can Be the Main Character if There Is Love" Transcription: "Akuyaku Reijō datte Ai ga Areba Shujinkō" (Japanese: 悪役令嬢だって愛があれば主人公) |
Naoyoshi Kusaka | Kenta Ihara | Tetsurō Amino | December 17, 2022 |
| TRAILERS | |
Reception[]
Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network said of the first volume of the light novel: "It isn't wholly innovative, but Aileen's growing awareness that she's actively rewriting the plot is good, and the novel just gets better as it goes on." She praised the illustrations and said that "Aileen's active script-flipping gives the book a real edge", but criticized its use of familiar story beats and present tense narration. She later reviewed the second and third volumes, stating: "Both books have a lot of good giggles in them, with the ducks being a highlight across both volumes. The epilogue to volume three is a delightful comedy of errors ... and Aileen, although at times unbelievably dense, is mostly a very engaging heroine."
External Link[]
- Akuyaku Reijou nanode Last Boss wo Kattemimashita ─ Web novel at Shōsetsuka ni Narō (in Japanese)
- Akuyaku Reijou nanode Last Boss wo Kattemimashita ─ Light novel official website (in Japanese)
- Akuyaku Reijou nanode Last Boss wo Kattemimashita ─ Work information (Manga Official Website) | Comp Ace (in Japanese)
- TV Anime "Akuyaku Reijou nanode Last Boss wo Kattemimashita" official website (in Japanese)
- TV Anime "Akuyaku Reijou nanode Last Boss wo Kattemimashita" Official (@akulas_pr) - Twitter X
- Akuyaku Reijou nanode Last Boss wo Kattemimashita ─ Wikipedia JP
- Akuyaku Reijou nanode Last Boss wo Kattemimashita ─ Wikipedia EN
See Also[]
- Akuyaku Reijou no Naka no Hito: Danzai Sareta Tenseisha no Tame Usotsuki Heroine ni Fukushuu Itashimasu, is another light novel series with the same illustrator.
Trivia[]
to be added.