©Izumi Okido/Jun Hayase/KADOKAWA/”I want to be a bad girl who will go down in history” Production Committee
The story has a pattern. In love, we often have outbursts of misguided emotion: one of us alienates the other by saying something we shouldn’t. The story then goes through its ups and downs as they take time to process their own feelings of love, shame, and pride. It’s a lot of angst and drama.
I want to become a villain who will go down in history Cliché and throw predictable storylines in the trash. Alicia may not be entirely sure about her feelings for Duke and how they fit with the villain she adopts, but she’s sure of one thing: her ideal villain is a woman of action. When things get tough, she doesn’t sit back and wait; she faces it head-on. If she messed up, she would apologize. If she has been wronged, she will speak up. If she loves a man – she will be absolutely certain that she is the one being attacked.
It all adds up to a fantastic scene where Alicia makes it clear in front of Liz and all her sycophants that she intends to make Duke a Hers. What was Duke’s reaction? He smiled in surprise and joy. Not only was he put on the defensive, he was allowed to openly pursue Alicia, which was his true heart’s desire.
Just as important as Duke’s reaction is Liz’s. Liz had just seen Alicia do something she couldn’t: make Duke smile. It was obvious who was winning the war within him, but it wasn’t Liz. That’s a problem because, as Liz tells Alicia, things are going great for her. They had always been that way, and she thought they had always been that way. But no matter how hard Liz tries to win over Duke or befriend Alicia, she can’t seem to do it.
This was the first consistent failure in her life where things didn’t seem to go as expected. While Liz was undoubtedly a kind person, she was also a spoiled brat. She always gets what she wants, so she never has to deal with emotions like disappointment and jealousy. She has no coping mechanisms, so her emotions rage inside her uncontrollably, seemingly altering the emotions of those around her.
If that scene wasn’t awesome enough, we have a second one: one that condemns the villain, albeit with a twist. While Alicia plays the role of Lizzie’s rival, she doesn’t actually do any of the bullying that a villain is supposed to do. Since Alicia’s evil deed is to confront problems head-on, she never physically attacks Liz or berates her in private.
So Jane (one of Lizzie’s followers) decides to frame Alicia for bullying. Interestingly, this didn’t happen because of Liz’s superpowers – Jane wasn’t even in the restaurant when Liz had her meltdown. Instead, out of loyalty to Liz, Jane plays the role of a white knight who comes to save her. Of course, there is also an obvious motive for revenge hidden behind this. Alicia embarrasses Jane in public but narrowly escapes punishment. Now she’s going to make the evildoers pay.
Of course, Alicia was impressed with the whole framing job. As a villain, she can appreciate the evil deeds of others. But before she could do anything—either engage with it or refute it—someone stepped in.
Through this girl, Carol, we learn that while many are smitten by Lizzie’s powers, there are also many who follow because of peer pressure. Of course, just because Carol is telling the truth doesn’t mean she will be believed. In fact, the mob started attacking her just to “side” with Alicia.
It’s here, however, that we’re reminded again that Alicia is no normal villain. She has people who love her and respect her and are doing their best to take care of her. Mel is Duke’s spy among the girls and is responsible for protecting Alicia during school. When she learned that framing work was being planned, she decided to make her own recording of the incident to disprove it.
What’s interesting about Mel is that even though she’s a spy, she longs to be able to operate in the open. Alicia asks Duke to stop sneaking around, and she finally gets the chance to do so. While she’s somewhat obsessed with Alicia (which makes sense since it’s actually her job), she’s also one of those people who isn’t fascinated by Liz, and even hates Liz because of her powers. Unnatural ways distorted the minds of those people.
We see Alicia’s team growing in size and strength throughout this episode. But before we have more events at the school, it looks like we need to spend some time fleshing out Will’s story and how he ended up being a blind, deposed prince. I’m excited to see how he and the king develop as characters and kingdom next week.
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I want to become a villain who will go down in history Currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation and the majority shareholder of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
