AKUYAKU REIJOU NANO DE LAST BOSS WO KATTEMIMASHITA
STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
12
RELEASE
December 10, 2022
LENGTH
24 min
DESCRIPTION
Aileen Lauren d’Autriche’s wedding plans have been suddenly canceled— by her own fiancé! The shock of this jolted her into remembering she’s been reincarnated in an otome game as the villainess. As she recalls, her fate is one of doom, but maybe she can avoid it by marrying the final boss, the Demon King Claude. Her new game plan— seduce the Demon King and live happily ever after.
(Source: Crunchyroll)
CAST
Aileen Dautriche
Rie Takahashi
Claude Elmir
Yuuichirou Umehara
Almond
Tomokazu Sugita
Isaac Lombard
Yuuma Uchida
James Charles
Souma Saitou
Belzebuth
Yuuki Ono
Keith Eigrid
Jun Fukuyama
Kyle Elford
Chiaki Kobayashi
Walt Lizanis
Toshiyuki Toyonaga
Eliphas Levi
Kouki Uchiyama
Auguste Zelm
Tasuku Hatanaka
Rachel Danis
Rie Murakawa
Cedric Elmir
Toshiki Masuda
Quartz
Yuu Miyazaki
Selena Gilbert
Ayana Taketatsu
Ruck
Shinichirou Kamio
Doni
Takuto Yoshinaga
Jasper Varie
Hiroki Yasumoto
Lilia Rainworth
Kana Hanazawa
Rudolf Dautriche
Takaya Hashi
EPISODES
Dubbed
Not available on crunchyroll
RELATED TO AKUYAKU REIJOU NANO DE LAST BOSS WO KATTEMIMASHITA
REVIEWS
Epsev
A good entry point to the otome villainess genre. Fast-paced, but in a good way.Continue on AniListI'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss The Otomoe Villainess genre has been picking up steam lately with multiple series receiving adaptations.
For those unaware, the genre often features a girl being reincarnated as the villainess of a dating-sim game, often set in a magical medieval world. The protagonist, having knowledge of the game's entire story, must then find a way to prevent her oncoming demise, usually through some sort of romantic endeavor.
You might already be familiar with My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, otherwise known as Hamefura. While that was the first Otome show to really enter the mainstream, as a comedy first and foremost, it's quite different from what this show has to offer.
Premise This show wastes absolutely no time getting to the action.
Our protagonist is reincarnated as the villainess, Aileen, right as the game reaches its climax. Publicly dumped at a ball by her fiancee Cedric in favor of the game's protagonist Lilia, Aileen realizes that she's speeding towards her demise.
Aileen knows that she's destined to her doom at the hands of Claude, the outcast demon prince who's the brother of Cedric. In order to avoid her death, she decides not to prepare for her fight with Claude, but instead to marry him. She also must overcome Cedric and Lilia, who stand to block her at every turn.
Claude, as a half-demon, was outcast from the royal family and now presides over all demons. The lasting effects of a prior demon/human conflict ultimately damaged the relationship between the two, and there's an uneasy peace that permeates throughout.
Story The show splits itself into 3 distinct arcs, with each of them covering the plot different games in the fictional otome series. Each of these arcs could be an entire show in their own right, with their own central conflict and a batch of characters added to the cast. As a result, the story moves at a brisk pace, keeping it fresh and engaging every week. There's not a single filler episode, and there's barely any downtime either.
At times, the pace can be a little too fast. There's some elements that are handwaved, and quite a few characters remain underdeveloped. For some shows, this could result in something feeling directionless, or having underwhelming climaxes. In this case, it results in an extremely focused story which never strays too far on any tangents.
This show constantly has a sense of urgency, and Aileen is constantly forced to tackle new scenarios. There's a few twists and turns as the show progresses; however, the brisk pace leaves little room for nuance or anything extremely original. While this could be problematic for other shows, here, the strong cast elevate the otherwise average writing.
Characters Aileen is a fantastic protagonist who ultimately turns the series from something average into something special.
Hamefura, the otome mentioned earler, struggled a little because its protagonist, Catarina Claes, lost all of her villainess edge post-reincarnation. Of course, as a comedy, it had a different purpose than this show, but knowing her helps viewers appreciate Aileen even more.
Catarina feels like someone overwrote the villainess original personality. In contrast, Aileen truly feels like someone was reincarnated into the villainess personality.
She's bold, brash, cunning, and independent. She keeps the sharp edge of a villainess while channeling that energy to help herself and others. Things don't come to her; she goes out an makes things happen herself. Every time she's knocked down, she gets back up and keeps moving forward. She's a protagonist who you can't help but cheer for. On top of that, Aileen is also sensitive, and she shows a cuter side when teased by Claude.
Rie Takahashi does a fantastic job in this role, and she truly elevates Aileen to being an amazing protagonist with her exceptional range.
Claude is an interesting main love interest for Aileen. One would expect the final boss of the otome game to be more antagonistic; however, Claude shows kindness to Aileen. He pairs extremely well with her, and is also bold and cunning in his own right. The two have a delightful chemistry and bounce off of each other well.
Without spoiling, its hard to talk about Cedric and Lilia. Kana Hanazawa does a great job a changing Lilia's personality with the flip of a switch. She goes from cute to evil without hesitation, and this helps make her an antagonist that you'll enjoy disliking.
The rest of the characters serve their roles well. Although there's not much depth to the supporting cast, this doesn't hurt the story at all. By constantly adding new characters with every arc, the shallowness of the individuals is balanced out just by the sheer volume of the group.
Art, Sound, Etc. The art of the series isn't anything incredibly special, but it also doesn't get in the way of enjoying the series. It's not a show that you'll remember for having outstanding animation, but it's not a show you'll remember for having awful animation either. The background soundtrack is equally mundane, and there's nothing that gets in the way.
The OP's visuals are ok and get the job done, but the song stands out as something special.
The song is sung by Rie Takahashi, but it's not labeled as a character song by Aileen. Sometimes, characters songs can feel off if the seiyuu is forced to sing a style that doesn't match their solo work. The staff producing the song are the same people who work on her solo music, and as a result, the song fits like a glove for her. There's even slight additions to the OP, reflecting each distinct arc of the series. The song feels right in place with her other songs like this one, which might as well be the OP anyways. Rie Takahashi's solo music is absolutely worth checking out if you're a fan of this OP.
The ED, by Nomick, is equally as fantastic and was a great way to cap off each episode.
Conclusion I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss is an excellent entry point for newcomers to the otome villainess genre. It's a little rough around the edges, but it makes up for that by having a focused plot and very strong main cast. While it's not a show that will go down as one of the greats, it's one that was pretty good all around. If you missed it as it was airing, the brisk pace will make it an easy and enjoyable binge.
Soemwriter
Poor Imitation or Brilliant Composition? If you are looking for a light but likable series, this is a decent choice!Continue on AniList"Akuyaku Reijou nano de Last Boss wo Kattemimashita" [engl: "I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss"] is an Isekai Shoujo series by Maho Film studios. It was directed by Kumiko Habara, who formerly directed the Isekai "100-man no Inochi no Ue ni Ore wa Tatteiru" and was involved with titles like "Fruits Basket" or "Shaman King".
The series aired in October 2022 and adapts the first three volumes of the light novel written by Sarasa Nagase from May 2017 on. The twelve episodes (each ~24 minutes long) distribute equally among the volumes which each contain a closed story arc. This gives the impression of three seasons with each four episodes.
Story Overview
As first thing to mention, the title really does a great job in telling you everything relevant to the story: the main character is reborn as antagonist of a dating sim, this means a game based on building romantic relationships with other characters (love interests). She then tries to evade her tragic fate predetermined by the game plot by winning the heart of the end boss.
Since each story arc consists of only four episodes, both the reincarnated main character Aileen and the audience are thrown into action immediately. In front of all the assembled nobles, the crown prince Cedric dumps Aileen and declares his love for Lilia, the protagonist of the game. Aileen then decides to win the heart of Claude, who is not only Cedric's older brother and the vampire-like good-looking lord of all demons, but also kills Aileen in the original game.
While Aileen's motives are purely selfish at the start, she soon starts to fall in love with her chosen future husband. Therefore, not only Cedric and his new fiancé Lilia, but also Aileen's own bashfulness get in the way to Claude's heart. Talking about the heart of the demon king: at least in the game it was Lilia's fate to pinch this very heart with the holy sword in order to save humanity.
Setting Analysis
Humans and Demons
As Claude is the demon lord, naturally the world is inhabitated by demons, as well. In the choice of this setting, LastBoss jumps on the demon-hype-train which seems to be immanent in the Isekai genre (for example in titles like "Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken", "Mushoku Tensei", "Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu", "Kumo desu ga, Nani ka?",...). In contrast with the mainstream setup, the situation between demons and humans in LastBoss is mostly peaceful, because there is a non-aggression pact between both races. Yet again, discrimination and even secret violence create some tension. Since Aileen chooses the demon lord to be her future fiancé, the demons are merely displayed as cute animals with special characteristics (as for example talking crows). Thus, demons appear rather weak which perfectly sets the stage for Aileen helping them out using her bright intellect and outgoing personality.
Reincarnated as a Villainess
If the general setting sounds familiar to you, then it is because this series is not really innovative and shares common concepts with other Isekai Shoujos like for example "Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta" ["My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!", short: Hamefura], "Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen" ["Ascendance of a Bookworm", short: Bookworm], or "Otomege Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu" ["Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs", short: Mobseka]. (Seriously, what happened to nice compact titles like "Bleach", "OnePiece", "DBZ" which can be typed in an instant and without actively learning the title by heart?)
Just like in Hamefura, the anime protagonist Aileen is reincarnated as the antagonist of a dating sim, replacing a shifty noble girl with an honest-hearted woman. And similarly to Katarina in Hamefura, the main motivation after this reincarnation is to evade the events of the game that most certainly lead to her doom. However, the characters of Katarina and Aileen could hardly differ more. Whereas Katarina is oblivious to everything around her and simply does the right moves coincidentally, Aileen uses her wits and outstanding personality. This is truly necessary, as she is thrown directly into the fight without much preparation and has a true antagonist to face.
Furthermore, both series certainly have a different angle: Whereas Hamefura concentrates on the relationships of the characters with each other and on inscenating Katarina as the queen of involuntary comedy, LastBoss provides a much richer story and actual enemies to face.
Character Analysis
Aileen Lauren Dautriche
As described in the last paragraphs, Aileen primarily has her intellect and directness working for her. For example, she has founded several companies for medicine fabrication. After the breakup with Cedric, he steals all these companies abusing loopholes in the contracts. In return, Aileen assigns her loyal employees to craft cosmetics for her newly founded company - the Isekai goto solution for earning money (compare Bookworm or "Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life: Isekai ni Tsukurou Drugstore" ["Drug Store in Another World - The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist"]).
A very nice treat of Aileen is her character being composed of many different sides. In the situations in which she has to fight for Claude's attention and love, Aileen is displayed as forceful and direct, especially in the very first episode when she utilizes narcotics and a love potion. Yet again, she becomes timid around Claude whenever he displays his affection for her. Her cross-dressing and duck costumes in the second arc add a very funny side to her, as well. Last, her natural motivation to fight for demons in a bind and those she loves makes Aileen a truly likable person - although she likes to cover this up by playing strong.
In total, Aileen is a very nicely designed character and a particularly pleasant change to the regularly overpowered isekai protagonists (e.g. in "Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!", "Isekai Cheat Magician", "Leadale no Daichi nite",...). She brings in the necessary seriousness to face her enemies, but also amuses the audience by her bashfulness and weird ideas.
Claude Jeanne Elmir
The demon lord starts off as very mysterious character. He has been banished from the royal castle by his family in young years because of being half demon and his magic powers. A barrier protects his castle from the human world and vice versa holds his demons inside.
His all cool appearance changes drastically with Aileen around, varying between the extremes embarrassment and sorrow depending on how her words affect him. As a very nice touch by the producers, his state of mind is directly reflected on the weather. In this fashion, Claude is portrayed as very sensitive and gives rise to several amusing scenes.
Although Claude's magical skills seem totally overpowered at first, several weaknesses as for example the power of the sword maiden or demonic powder lead to a good balance.
# Cedric Jeanne Elmir
The prince Cedric is a character that is really hard to grasp, particularly because his angle changes during the series. His outward appearance perfectly matches his pendant Gerald Stewart in Hamefura, however he plays the sadistic crown prince much better. The scene of splitting up highly resembles the equivalent situation in MobSeka, where neither the prince nor the villainess are reincarnations. However, in MobSeka the prince did not purposely humiliate his former fiancé by inviting her to an engagement party. Furthermore, he acts violent against Aileen, justifying it with yelling: "She has always belonged to me!". Lastly, he helped willingly carrying out the intrigues in the first arc. Thus, he and the vicious antagonist version of Aileen would have perfectly fit together, but in the game he is supposed to end up with a pure girl that saves humanity. As this can hardly end up in a healthy relationship, this contrast seems like a logical mistake in the plot to me.Lilia Rainworth
Lilia might be the most notable and confusing person of this series. She is introduced as the docile game protagonist girl who wins the hearts of all men with her cuteness and charme. However, her actions in the first arc are in a total contrast to this: she writes threatening letters to herself and fakes being kidnapped in order to humiliate Aileen and get closer to Claude. Until the end of the second arc, this seemed to me like a very cheap implementation of game elements by the plot editors who wanted to show that the original plot events of the game are determined to happen. After Aileen exposing that Lilia is a reincarnated person, as well, everything makes much more sense.
Yet again, apart from this revelation Lilias character is rather boring: she views this world as a game and does not care about the feelings or lives of other characters - which is not innovative, as well (compare MobSeka). She is only determined to get her own reverse harem ending and to enjoy the show. However, she plays the role of the villainess much better than Marie Fou Lafuan in MobSeka, who has the very same background.
The Grey Matter that does not Matter
Apart of the two main couples, there are several background characters to support the action and acting as living canvas. However, due to the high pacing of the series there is practically no time for any background information on them. To be honest, out of the five employees of Aileen, I can only remember Isaac whereas the others were completely oblivious to me. Similarly, I am not able to remember the names of the members of the student council in the second arc. A very welcome exception of this is when Belzebuth asked for some tutoring in etiquette.
Art, Music and Synchronization
Considering that the story does not require high end animations, the art in LastBoss is acceptable. It definitely cannot keep up with action Isekais (e.g. "Seirei Gensouki" or "Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei suru") and in my opinion even looses to Hamefura, but does not bother the viewer either.
I personally found both opening and particularly the ending need getting used to them. The opening song "Kyokansarenakutemoiijanai" by Rie Takahashi starts off exaggeratedly happy and with sharp high vocals that made my ears hurt the first times. This gave me the excuse to skip the intro several times, which I often prefer anyways to prevent any visual spoilers. Yet again, the opening also symbolizes Aileen's extroverted and cheerful side. This is particularly well performed by Rie Takahashi as a voice actor during the whole series. She really conveys Aileen' personality and helps her carrying the whole series.
The ending "Nomick" by ACCAMER purpously features discords that took several rounds for me to grow liking them. The rather dark theme poses a nice contrast to the opening, featuring the very different sides in Aileen's life: the happy love live with Claude and his demons and the fierce attacks plotted by her enemies.
The most impressing detail is that I noticed the background music at some parts (mainly during the second arc where it appears in each episode), which I normally do never when watching an anime. The musical piece I am referring to has a large resemblence to "He's a pirat" by Klaus Badelt from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.
Considering voice acting, Yuuichirou Umehara as Claude is worthy being mentioned, as well. He does an extraordinary job, as well, by portraying the bored demon lord who does not care for the world outside his castle at first. When he warms up for Aileen, his tone changes slightly to being mysterious and alluring.
Lastly, Kana Hanazawa deserves a lot of praise for her realization of Lilia in the last arc. As mentioned above, Lilia seems a bit odd at first. However, after this is cleared up, she can finally play out the two-faced malicious girl and switch between evil, sarcastically nice, and polite
Conclusion
In my eyes, LastBoss is best described by the first dish after christmas: when you have lots of different things in your fridge and wildly put them together. As indicated at several points in the analysis, this series is composed of several elements that we already know from other Isekai animes and thus cannot claim the adjective "innovative" for itself. In contrast to discussions I read in some blogs, it definitely is not a pure copy of Hamefura which is particularly due to the presence of antagonists and the serious plot.
However, all of this is not supposed to indicate that this series was no fun to watch - au contraire! Apart from Claude being a bit overpowered with his magic skills, the powers of humans and demons show a nice balance which sets a perfect stage for the exciting plots. Those are definitely the big positive points of LastBoss. In contrast with Katarina from Hamefura, Aileen has a much richer personality and does not need to play the same kind of humor over and over again. Still and particularly compared to Hamefura, the other characters are much too plain and severely lacking background stories. This is mainly attributable to the constantly high pacing.
In case you are not bothered by flat characters and if you are a fan of the Isekai Shoujo genre, you will find this show very enjoyable and entertaining, even though it might not be innovative or outstanding in any points. If you are looking for a light but likable anime series, LastBoss is a decent choice.
RoseFaerie
While laden with a fair share of issues due to pacing and the animation budget, it's really an enjoyable series.Continue on AniListI'm honestly surprised that it's taken the anime industry this long to get on board the otome isekai trend, given how many isekai get churned out every year. (It's kind of shocking how this is only the fourth modern isekai series aimed at girls and women to get animated out of those dozens and dozens of series.) And I'm glad the I'm the Villainess So I'm Taming the Final Boss anime exists. I really do enjoy otome isekai, and I love shoujo to death.
However, Taming the Final Boss has a lot of issues. It's rushed, has lackluster visuals, and, from what I've heard, is a butchered adaptation when comparing the novels (the series apparently left out a lot of key context). However, that doesn't stop it from being an enjoyable watch. This was the anime I tried to keep up with the most in my failed attempt at watching seasonals.
The story begins with a young girl who played a lot of otome games in her past life, due illness keeping her from leading a normal life. One day, she awakens as Aileen Lauren d'Autriche, the villainess in her favorite game, just as she's being dumped by her fiancé, the crown prince. However, Aileen dies by the hands of the Claude, the Demon Lord, and the brother of her ex-fiancé. In order to avoid meeting her fate, Aileen decides to seduce the Demon Lord to ensure that he doesn't kill her.
The story is very rushed and crams a lot of content into just twelve episodes. There are three arcs, and each one is about four episodes each. As a result, I felt like the series was all plot with very little room for anything else. There's so much to be explored with the world and class system. The story that's being told is interesting, and it addresses the possibility of other people being reincarnated. There seems to be a lot going on, but unfortunately none of it is explored. If the series had more episodes or went at a much slower pace, I would have loved it. I already adored the manga, which adapts the first arc in a much less rushed manner.
As for the characters, Aileen and Claude are fantastic. Aileen is a fantastic protagonist. She's stubborn, strong-willed, and a little obsessive. She's a woman who is empowered in a patriarchal society, despite her intelligence causing others to look down on her. It's cute watching her lose her brave face in her interactions with Claude. Claude on the other hand is used to being shunned, and he's a bit socially awkward around humans. Aileen really makes him feel accepted since she loves even the worst parts of him. They are a really sweet couple, even if the anime removed context about their characters and relationship.
As for the other characters, I found the antagonists to be much more interesting than the side characters. Lilia and Selena were the easiest for me to understand and see as people. I could understand why they chose the antagonistic paths they did. I found that if one of the side characters who assisted Claude and Aileen to have a personality, that was a major win. I think that has to do with the pacing, since we never get to know the members of this huge cast of characters beyond the most basic of traits.
I like the color pallet of the series, and I love how Aileen looks. Unfortunately, the art and animation is just competent at best. Comparing the art to the manga, let alone the light novels, it just doesn't hold up. It's extremely simplified with little detail. The visuals are far from the best part of the series, since they're nothing to write home about. As for the music, I found the opening theme to be fine. It's super upbeat and fun, but it didn't particularly resonate with my taste in music. As for the ending theme, I actually really liked it. The visuals were super creative and fun to watch.
I know I complained a lot, but I actually really did enjoy the story a lot. The plot was interesting despite being rushed, Aileen was a likeable character, and the romance was done well. It really was an engaging anime, and I really appreciated it. That's why I gave it such a high score, because ultimately, the amount of fun I had watching it was what matters to me. If you're curious about it, it's worth checking out because, while it has a lot of issues, it's ultimately super enjoyable.
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SCORE
- (3.55/5)
TRAILER
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Ended inDecember 10, 2022
Main Studio Maho Film
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Favorited by 1,181 Users
Hashtag #悪ラス