My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
, also known as for short, is a Japanese light novel series written by Satoru Yamaguchi and illustrated by Nami Hidaka. It began serialization online in July 2014 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. It was acquired by Ichijinsha, who published the first light novel volume in August 2015 under their Ichijinsha Bunko Iris imprint. Eleven volumes have been released as of August 2021. The light novel has been licensed in North America by J-Novel Club. A manga adaptation with art by Hidaka has been  serialized in Ichijinsha's "shōjo" manga magazine "Monthly Comic Zero Sum" since August 2017. It has been collected in seven "tankōbon" volumes and licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment. A spin-off manga was serialized from November 2019 to July 2021. An anime television series adaptation by Silver Link aired from April to June 2020, and a second season aired from July to September 2021. An anime film is set to premiere in 2023. Premise. Catarina Claes, the young daughter of a noble family, one day bumps her head and regains memories of her past life as an otaku . It is then that she realizes she has been reborn into the world of the otome game "Fortune Lover" as the game's villainess who, regardless of what route the player took in the original game, is doomed to be either exiled or killed. In order to avoid these routes that lead to doom, Catarina begins taking countermeasures. This, however, ends up having unexpected consequences on her relations with the other characters of the game's world. Media. Light novels. The first light novel volume was published by Ichijinsha under their Ichijinsha Bunko Iris imprint on August 20, 2015. As  of August 2021, eleven volumes have been published. The light novel is licensed in North America by J-Novel Club. Manga. There have been two manga series associated with the light novel. The first, "My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!", has been serialized in Ichijinsha's "Monthly Comic Zero Sum" since August 28, 2017 and adapts the light novel series into manga format. The second, , was also serialized in "Monthly Comic Zero Sum" from November 1, 2019 to July 2, 2021. This manga focuses on the question of what would happen if Catarina were to  recover her memories when she was fifteen as opposed to during her childhood, leaving her without the friends and relationships that she garnered as a result of early planning against her bad ends. Both manga series are licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment. Ichijinsha published a "yuri" anthology of the series, titled , on June 26, 2020. The anthology is also licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment. Anime. An anime adaptation of the light novel series was announced by Ichijinsha on October 19, 2018. The anime was later announced to be a television series on July 18, 2019. The series was animated by  Silver Link and directed by Keisuke Inoue, with Megumi Shimizu handling series composition, and Miwa Oshima designing the characters. Natsumi Tabuchi, Hanae Nakamura, Tatsuhiko Saiki, Miki Sakurai, and Shu Kanematsu composed the music. The series aired on Tokyo MX, BS11, MBS, AT-X, J Tele, and other channels from April 5 to June 21, 2020. Angela performed the series' opening theme song , while Shouta Aoi performed the series' ending theme song "Bad End". Crunchyroll streamed the series with subtitles. On May 15, 2020, Crunchyroll announced the series would receive an English dub, which premiered the following day. Muse Communication has  licensed the series in Southeast Asian territories and released via Animax Asia. A second season aired from July 3 to September 18, 2021 on the Super Animeism programming block on MBS, TBS, and BS-TBS, as well as BS Asahi. Angela performed the second season's opening theme song , while Shouta Aoi performed the second season's ending theme song "give me ♡ me." An OVA was bundled with the special edition of manga's seventh volume, which was released on September 30, 2021. After the conclusion of the second season, it was announced that the series will be receiving  an anime film. It is set to premiere in 2023. On May 18, 2021, it was announced that Sentai Filmworks had acquired the home video distribution rights. Video games. Bonus DVDs containing demo versions of "Fortune Lover", the in-universe otome game, were included in the limited editions of the anime's first season Blu-ray releases. A free-to-play mobile game titled was released on July 31, 2020, with an online trial version being made available from June 19 to August 31, 2020. A game for the Nintendo Switch titled "My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes  Lead to Doom! The Pirate Known as "Trouble"" was released on December 23, 2021. The game has an original story that takes place beyond "Fortune Lover"'s final graduation event, showing Catarina having evaded all the doom flags only to face a new doom flag related to a new meeting and encounter with a pirate. Merchandise. On September 27, 2020, Premium Bandai began selling book cushions which "feature art of Catarina and her four (main) suitors" from the series, which each cushion folding up like a book, "featuring the character's name on the outside." Reception. The light novel and  manga have over 600,000 copies in print. LGBTQ. Some reviewers have described the series as focusing around Catarina Claes, who amasses a polyamorous, bisexual harem pining for her as she tries to avoid being a villain and becomes very thoughtful. Reviewers pointed out three queer female characters: Mary Hunt, Sophia Ascart, and Maria Campbell, all of whom have crushes on Catarina, as reviewer James Beckett of Anime News Network pointed out. In May 2020, seven of the 10 spots of a "weekly favourite couple poll" by Anime Trending featured Catarina paired with most of the characters. After the first season  ended, with a "friendship ending," one reviewer calling it a "very definitive ending for Catarina and Her Polyamorous Bisexual Harem of Doom," and the series was later praised by Rebecca Silverman and Theron Martin of the Anime News Network for being well-done, and offers "a rewarding bisexual power fantasy" which Catarina is unaware of due to her dense nature.