I'm in Love with the Villainess

Episode 11

Ooh, baby, that's the stuff. I'm in Love with the Villainess has tried its hand at many things, and like a promising but overeager fanfiction writer, its reach has sometimes outpaced its grasp. Trying to transition from a goofy meta-comedy to a serious political drama was awkward at the best of times. Still, with its latest shift into pure character conflict, we're firing on all cylinders. We've got dramatic duels and sore feelings, and both our heroines are on the verge of critical revelations as they unintentionally hurt each other with every step. It's prime, delicious melodrama that I'm ready to suck up like a thirsty little flower caught in a spring rain.

Seriously, the one place this series' writing has consistently excelled is in articulating the tangled and self-defeating emotions at play in both Rae and Claire. In other shows, a plot point like their end-of-episode fight would likely feel cheap or result from a contrived misunderstanding that could be easily and swiftly resolved. Here, things are a lot more complicated. The divide comes from how these women have learned to survive in the world. Claire is defensive, slow to trust anyone, let alone a personality as foreign as Rae's, and has just had her faith betrayed in a way that she's unwilling to process. Rae has spent a lifetime deflecting homophobia through irony and resigning herself to unrequited love, because giving up is easier than risking rejection. So we have one person who constantly holds people at arm's length to avoid getting hurt and another who only admits her feelings when she has an easy escape route. Things were bound to boil over even without Manaria's interference.

Of course, Manaria's presence speeds things along, injecting nitrous oxide into the fuel line of this runaway lesbian sports car as it barrels towards a cliff – and that's very much her intention. Her reasons for poking Rae in the ribs are still in question, but she's trying to accomplish something with our heroine. We do get some interesting gossip about her. However, the rumors about her visiting ladies in the red light district back home are more illuminating about the people spreading it than anything. Claire's lackeys fawning over Manaria, only to suddenly keep their distance when they hear that she does, in fact, have sex with other women, is a biting bit of commentary on a particularly two-faced form of homophobia. To them, Manaria's blatant flirting and princely demeanor were fantastical dalliances to get maidenly hearts thumping. The moment the idea of romance seems real and explicitly physical? Well, suddenly, they need Rae to keep Claire "safe" from this woman who might…gasp...have sex with her???

It's an interesting detail that adds texture to Manaria and invites sympathy in an episode where she's purposefully playing the villain. It also assures Rae that her sudden rival isn't just playing around with courting Claire, which just twists her up inside all the more. She's no longer in a position of untouchable power or control as an isekai'd game fanatic but caught up in real emotions that she can no longer distance herself from. Without her protective coating of self-effacing humor, she starts to stew in her angst, shutting herself off from Claire as it becomes harder and harder to keep up a fake detachment from her feelings. Throw in a dramatic duel, Rae's first genuine loss, and Claire's unbridled concern at her injuries, and you've got a rich and dramatic lead-in to our finale next week.

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I'm in Love with the Villainess is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.