My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

Catarina Claes awakens after a bump on the head and realizes she remembers a past life in modern Japan, where she was obsessed with the otome game Fortune Lover. In that game she was the scheming villainess whose job was to wreck the heroine's romances, so she quickly tries to rewrite her fate by acting nice, avoiding schemes, and staying out of trouble. Her efforts produce hilarious misunderstandings and unexpected relationships as the game's love interests and side characters respond in ways she didn't predict. The series follows her attempts to dodge all the bad endings while the world around her keeps reacting to her unusually earnest behavior.

Released in 2020, the anime adapts the light novel by Satoru Yamaguchi with illustrations credited to Megumi Shimizu. The TV production features a notable Japanese cast, including Maaya Uchida as Catarina, Shouta Aoi, Tetsuya Kakihara, Tatsuhisa Suzuki, and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka.

Critics and viewers generally enjoyed its comic tone and the way it upends otome conventions, reflected in a 7.4/10 average from viewer scores. Reviewers often highlighted themes about agency, identity, and how kindness reshapes relationships, while some pointed out occasional pacing unevenness across episodes.

The show developed a lively international fanbase, spawning fanart, memes, and cosplay focused on Catarina's exuberant personality and the series' set-piece misunderstandings. Its popularity helped shine a light on the villainess-reincarnation subgenre and made similar light novel-to-anime projects easier to market to global streaming audiences.

It didn't sweep major industry awards, but it earned strong fan recognition and frequent placement in seasonal viewer polls. Maaya Uchida's vocal performance in particular received consistent praise from viewers, and the series remains a popular, often-recommended entry for fans who like romantic comedies with a twist.