The My Next Life as a Villainess Season 2 release date is confirmed for July 2, 2021, the Summer 2021 anime TV season.
It’s also been confirmed that the second season will have 12 episodes in total. Episode 13 was a special OVA episode that will release with the special edition of manga Volume 7 on September 30, 2021.
The My Next Life as a Villainess Season 2 anime will have our favorite lovable idiot Bakarina (ahem, Lady Katarina Claes) still trying to survive doom flags even though she’s advanced beyond the story of the original Fortune Lover otome game by Episode 12.
The official title for My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Season 2 (Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta Season 2) is My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X.
In addition to the second season, a My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! movie was announced on September 17, 2021. It’s possible the My Next Life as a Villainess movie could adapt Volume 6 in the light novel series, but it could also be an original story. (Please the news story in the link for more details and the trailer.)
The new Japanese voice cast members include Takehito Koyasu as Jeffrey Stuart, Sumire Uesaka as Susanna Randall, Yuusuke Shirai as Ian Stuart, and Yui Ogura as Serena Berg.
Here is the English dub cast:
- Jeannie Tirado as Catarina Claes
- Griffin Burns as Geordo Stuart
- Bryce Papenbrook as Alan Stuart
- Griffin Puatu as Keith Claes
- Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Mary Hunt
- Kira Buckland as Sophia Ascart
- Nicolas Roye as Nicol Ascart
- Melissa Fahn as Maria Campbell
- Adin Rudd as Jeffrey Stuart
- Daman Mills as Ian Stuart
- Erin Yvette as Susanna Randall
- Julia McIlvaine as Selena Berg
- Kylen Deporter as Sora Smith / Rufus Brode
Crunchyroll’s My Next Life as a Villainess Season 2 English dub release date was on August 25, 2021.
You can also try out a new game called My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! The Pirate Known as Trouble, which is releasing for the Nintendo Switch. (Please see below for more details.)
The anime is yet another isekai adventure with an absurdly long title. Nicknamed Destruction Flag Otome, it’s officially shortened to HameFura or HameHura.
The full-length Japanese title Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta translates into English as I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags.
Thankfully, the official English title was shortened to My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
The anime series is being produced by animation studio Silver Link, which is known for other anime series such as Strike The Blood Season 4, Death March To The Parallel World Rhapsody, Wise Man’s Grandchild, and BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense (the BOFURI Season 2 anime has been confirmed to be in production).
Director Keisuke Inoue is previously known for directing Ao-chan Can’t Study!, although he was also an assistant director for Masamune-kun’s Revenge and episode director on the Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya anime series. Writer Megumi Shimizu is creating the series composition, while Baka and Test artist Miwa Oshima is the character designer.
The My Next Life as a Villainess opening (OP) theme song music was “There Isn’t Just One Route for a Girl!” as performed by angela. The ending (ED) “Bad End” was sung by Japanese voice actor Shouta Aoi, who plays as the adult Geordo Stuart in the anime.
The My Next Life as a Villainess Season 2 OP “Fall in Love at Andante!” was performed by angela, while the ED “give me ♡ me” was performed by Shouta Aoi.
Studio Silver Link celebrated the end of the production process with a party shortly after the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus pandemic started so that is why there was no delay to the Season 1 release.
The finale, My Next Life as a Villainess Episode 12, aired on June 20, 2020. Arguably, the HameFura anime benefited from coming out in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
Big-name competitors like the Re:ZERO Season 2 anime and the final season of the Sword Art Online: Alicization anime were pushed back, allowing Bakarina to suck even more viewers into her black hole.
-
Updated August 18, 2021: Added English dub info.
-
Updated July 1, 2021: Confirmed total number of episodes.
-
Updated May 31, 2021: My Next Life as a Villainess Season 2 release date confirmed!
-
Updated March 19, 2021: Added My Next Life as a Villainess Season 2 trailer, key visual, OP/ED info, and additional cast.
-
Updated February 17, 2021: Added My Next Life as a Villainess Volume 10 cover art.
-
Updated January 20, 2021: My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X release date time frame confirmed!
-
Updated January 4, 2021: Added My Next Life as a Villainess Volume 10 release date.
-
Updated October 20, 2020: My Next Life as a Villainess game promo scans and Nintendo Switch info.
-
Updated September 27, 2020: My Next Life as a Villainess game announced for 2021.
-
Updated June 20, 2020: HameFura Season 2 production confirmed for 2021!
This article provides everything that is known about My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Season 2 (Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta Season 2) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
Fortune Lover game bundled with My Next Life as a Villainess Blu-Ray release
The official website has announced that the My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Blu-ray Volume 1 bundle will be releasing on May 27, 2020.
It will include a special edition Fortune Lover game where you play as Maria from the original HameFura timeline.
👑 #はめふら Blu-rayシリーズ5/27発売！🐍
vol.1の特典としてはめふらの原作となった乙女ゲーム、
／
FORTUNE LOVER 体験版～ジオルド篇～が同梱✨
＼マリアになってジオルドたちを攻略しましょう❗
▼詳細はコチラhttps://t.co/3LKw3MvykM#hamehura pic.twitter.com/uIWUH3XVMn
— 「乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった…X」TVアニメ公式｜映画化決定！ (@hamehura) April 17, 2020
There will be four volumes in total, and each comes with an “original mini PC game”. Each game provides one of four routes for Maria’s love interests, so Volume 1 is Geordo, Volume 2 is Keith, Volume 3 is Alan, and Volume 4 is Nicol.
Presumably, Katarina’s original doom ending will feature since the character is evil in the game. So far, it’s not been revealed whether a full game will be released with the “secret route” character.
New Fortune Lover game My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! The Pirate Known as Trouble releases in 2021 on Nintendo Switch
A new Fortune Lover game has been announced for 2021. The new game was announced in late September 2020 with a trailer video during an “Afternoon Party” event.
Called My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! The Pirate Known as Trouble, the new video game is a quasi-sequel since features the Katarina from the anime series, not the original evil Katarina.
The new My Next Life as a Villainess game takes place after the graduation event. This time, Katarina faces off against a doom flag involving a pirate.
https://twitter.com/SugoiVisual/status/1318143899852894209
Based on announcements made in October 2020, the My Next Life as a Villainess game will be released on Nintendo Switch!
My Next Life as a Villainess manga spin-off Verge of Destruction arc explores an alternate timeline for Katarina Claes
Anime audiences looking to read something a little more dramatic should check out the manga spinoff, which goes by an even longer title: I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags… In a Dire Situation!? Verge of Destruction Arc (Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shite shimatta… Zettai Zetsumei! Hametsu Sunzen Hen!).
The My Next Life as a Villainess: Verge of Destruction manga has the same basic premise as the original story except that takes place in an alternate timeline.
In this spinoff, Katarina does not suffer from a fateful head-butt in her childhood. This time her reincarnated memories are not awakened until she is already 15 years old and has an accident in the middle of bullying Maria!
Yes, that means the Verge of Destruction manga has a literal title since Katarina has been reborn right after the Fortune Lover timeline has begun, and she has no time to gather friends to escape her fate.
The Verge of Destruction spinoff is pretty self-aware since an early chapter has Katarina thinking, “If only I’d hit my head and remembered everything like seven years earlier!”
Of course, Katarina is even more panicked since she knows impending doom is less than a year away. Worse, she was a bratty noble, so all of Maria’s suitors suffer from the personality defects that were avoided in the original light novels.
The drama starts quickly since Katarina is still technically engaged to Prince Geordo Stuart. She tries to break off the engagement, but the black-hearted prince is intrigued by this new Katarina and refuses so he can use her for his own purposes.
The newer manga series began releasing chapters in Monthly Comic Zero Sum starting in November 2019. As of July 30, 2021, it was up to Volume 3 in Japan.
It tooks years but Seven Seas Entertainment finally announced an official English translation of Verge of Doom. Volume 1 will release on November 28, 2021.
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! manga/light novels compared to the anime
The story for the series started as the HameFura web novel that was self-published by writer Satoru Yamaguchi. The original story was finished in March 2015 with only 34 chapters, but bonus chapters have released over time, including a new chapter in May 2020.
When Japanese publisher Ichijinsha Bunko Iris began adapting the web novel into the light novel format in late 2015, the series was only supposed to be two volumes long.
But the story was greatly expanded beyond the web novel’s ending. As of February 20, 2021, the book series was up to My Next Life as a Villainess Volume 10.
North American publisher J-Novel Club is releasing the official English translation of the My Next Life as a Villainess light novel series. Volume 1 was published in paperback format on May 5, 2020, while the eBook release was up to Volume 8 by November 28, 2020 (the paperback releases on July 6, 2021).
By January 2021, the light novels had over 4 million copies in circulation.
Starting in 2017, the original author teamed up with light novel artist Nami Hidaka to create the My Next Life as a Villainess manga series. The manga is up to Volume 5 as of May 25, 2020.
Seven Seas Entertainment is publishing the English My Next Life as a Villainess manga series. Already up to Volume 3 as of April 2020, Volume 4 is scheduled to release on October 13, 2020.
The narrative of the light novels is told from the first-person perspective of Katarina for most of the chapters. Certain scenes will be told from multiple perspectives, usually from the perspective of her suitors and friends. Even Katarina’s maid, Anne gets to voice her thoughts!
There is a definite tonal shift when the narrator changes, with certain characters coming off as more serious in comparison to Katarina’s trademark obliviousness (her density is the reason she’s known by fans as the black hole of reverse harems).
These chapters give more insight into the characters’ emotions and their confusing feelings for Katarina, greatly enhancing the storytelling.
Even though the original writer is creating the manga, the comics version of the story focuses only on Katarina’s perspective to the detriment of other characters.
Since the anime is more like the manga, that means the characters come off as less developed in both adaptations.
The anime tries to make up for this shortcoming in an alternate fashion. On a regular basis, the official HameFura Twitter account will release animated shorts that recap the characters from the perspective of Katarina’s Brain Conference.
Unfortunately, these episodes have not received English subtitles yet.
👑 #カタリナ脳内会議 🐍
／
#26「シリウス編」
＼学園の生徒会長シリウスについて紹介するカタリナファイブ‼️
書類仕事もお手の物で、紅茶を淹れるのが上手なシリウス☕️✨
ぜひチェックしてください‼
⚡️各種配信サイトにて好評配信中⚡️https://t.co/rmDhznVGZl#はめふら pic.twitter.com/Q4PSDeo3qz
— 「乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった…X」TVアニメ公式｜映画化決定！ (@hamehura) May 8, 2020
All in all, the anime is like a more streamlined version of the manga’s adaptation of the story. The manga also contained omake, or bonus chapters, that offered humorous short stories.
The anime follows the same outline, but the script tweaked some events and even borrowed certain character details from future light novel volumes.
While the anime’s scriptwriter did a good job of condensing the story, some relationships are skimmed over to make room for the major character developments.
For example, Katarina was friends with the Clea household’s maid Anne and the head gardener Grandpa Tom.
In the books, Anne becomes very fond of her master based on the kindness she displays to the maid and others after Katarina’s personality transformation.
It comes out that Anne is an illegitimate daughter, and her noble father wants to benefit the family by marrying her off to an older man with many lovers.
Katarina makes Anne realize she can be more than a tool for someone else’s benefit, so she defies her father and stays a maid when Katarina leaves for school. To be fair to the anime, manga Chapter 7 briefly summarizes all of these developments in one paragraph.
Anne shows up frequently in the anime, although their friendship isn’t readily apparent. Tom, on the other hand, was only given a brief cameo in relation to Katarina’s botanical exploits up until the toy snake antics of Episode 6, which also featured Anne.
This story rearrangement makes sense since Grandpa Tom’s history with the family was not detailed until light novel Volume 5, which is mostly unrelated short stories.
In the books, Grandpa Tom was not a people person, but he was a great gardener who changed employers frequently. But when Tom came to work for Katarina’s grandfather he became best friends with the previous Duke Clea.
When the old duke died, Tom was lonely and resigned to death, but when Katarina became his friend, Tom had a renewed sense of life and looked forward to telling his friend about his granddaughter in the afterlife.
Besides skimming over other characters’ points of view, some important plot elements are glossed over by both the manga and the anime.
For example, in the original Fortune Lover timeline, Katarina’s father, Duke Luigi Claes fell in love at first sight with her mother, Miri Diana Claes but arranged the marriage by speaking to Duke Ades, Miri’s father.
This start to their relationship only caused a strained marriage where they were distant toward each other despite having children. Both mistakenly believed the other was forced into an arranged marriage based on unrequited love.
Despite genuinely loving Miri, Luigi also felt guilty since he did not propose directly to Miri and sought her father’s approval without her consent.
Worse, Duchess Clea becomes estranged from her husband when she wrongly assumes Keith is an illegitimate child from a mistress of Duke Clea. Miri views Keith as proof that Luigi does not love her, but holds those feelings in and grows to hate the boy.
Or, at least that was how events proceeded in the original timeline. When reincarnated Katarina began acting up after the head bump the events caused Luigi and Miri to discover that their love for each other was real by clearing up the confusion over Keith’s identity.
In the light novels, Katarina’s action accidentally caused the parents to admit their love for each other as real, something they had never done before.
Miri became so fed up with Bakarina’s antics in the new timeline that she resolved to leave her husband so he could marry the supposed mistress.
Luigi, of course, was greatly confused, at this turn of events, but the resulting conversation caused the parents to resolve the misunderstanding.
Unfortunately, both the anime and the manga rushed to Katarina axing down Keith’s door, only briefly mentioning that Keith’s heredity was cleared up after the fall from the tree.
Without these details, the anime made it harder to understand why the parents went from cold and unfeeling to expressing genuine affection toward one another.
Episode 6 did have Katarina’s mother mentioning that her marriage had improved thanks to her daughter, but it didn’t explain the fuller context.
Thankfully, not all of the alternate POV chapters were skipped by the anime. In Episode 5, the story conveys the idea that Maria was ostracized by people who assumed that she’s an illegitimate child via born of an affair by Maria’s mother.
The reason, of course, is that magic is usually only found in noble families (magical affinity is why these families are rich and powerful in the first place).
The absence of Maria’s father is obvious, but the anime does not make it clear that he abandoned them after Maria’s light magic emerged since he believed his wife cheated on him.
This detail from the light novel makes it more clear why Maria’s mother came to resent her daughter since she was labeled as a w***e, even by her own husband.
At the same time, the anime did a great job of adapting the story since it showed flashback details from the chapter that was written from Maria’s point of view.
Another important detail that the anime skipped in earlier episodes is the fact that Sophia is Katarina’s friend from Japan, who was also reincarnated.
The Japanese friend was shown briefly in the anime, but the character’s connection to Sophia was made more clear in the light novels when the narrative switched to Sophia’s point of view.
Fortunately, HameFura Episode 6 dropped huge hints that Sophia is the reincarnation of A-chan (Atsuko Sasaki). The episode also teased that something isn’t quite right with Sirius Dieke.
The episode was quite interesting since it mixed story elements from light novels Volume 2 and 5 with original anime content.
HameFura Episode 7 expanded on A-chan’s story from her point of view. It was based on Volume 2: Chapter 1, which was skipped by the manga. The anime original content foreshadowed the coming twist and also showed more usage of magic, which was oddly rare in both the light novels and manga despite the story being an isekai.
Episode 8 was mostly anime original content again although one of the scenes involving Alan was pulled from Volume 5: Chapter 3. Otherwise, the new story content was apparently derived from small character details in the light novels.
Episode 9 wasn’t technically anime original, but it combined elements of Volume: Chapter 6, the pajama party of Volume 6: Chapter 1, and the harvest day was an omake/bonus content from manga Volume 3.
With the ending of Volume 2 in sight, Episode 10 took a dramatic turn, culminating in the kidnapping of Maria and the accusation against Katarina. The anime arguably did a better job of conveying the emotion of all the character drama.
The anime fleshed out a scene with Sirius and the dark wizard from the light novels, which was omitted by the manga.
The finale, Episode 12, ended with the school graduation and the dance where Katarina hopes to avoid her doom end.
Silver Link did a great job in adapting the story, although it could be argued that the scriptwriters lucked out since the light novel/manga’s story naturally lends itself to good pacing.
Many anime adaptations of light novels are forced to adapt 3 to 6 books per season to reach the “best” stopping point.
As such, it’s often unavoidable that exposition is overly condensed and rewritten to fit a self-contained story into a single “cour” composed of only 12 episodes.
Silver Link managed to avoid that doom flag simply because the best stopping point was the ending of light novel Volume 2. (Similarly, the Cautious Hero anime was a great adaptation due to only adapting two books.)
In fact, the best stopping point is so early on in both the manga and light novels that Silver Link decided to work in several side stories from Volume 5. There was also some anime original content in the second half of the first season.
The ending of My Next Life as a Villainess Episode 12 matched up with the end of light novel Volume 2. This stopping point corresponds to manga Volume 4: Chapter 22.
The good news is that this stopping point leaves plenty of room for making My Next Life as a Villainess Season 2. It’s possible the second season could adapt just Volumes 3 and 4, although that depends on how many cours are planned for the second season.
Better yet, English-only readers who want to read ahead of the anime series can jump straight to My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Volume 3. As previously noted, it’s currently only available as an eBook.
HameFura Season 2 spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The last time we watched Katarina, she had successfully survived to the end of the first year of magic school without being exiled or killed. The problem is, back in Japan, a Fortune Lover sequel was released, and poor Katarina does not have any knowledge of these future events.
Thinking that the great crisis is over, Katarina thinks it’s time to relax and enjoy life. She is excited to taste all the amazing food featured in her first school festival in this fantasy world.
Bakarina even has her maid loosen her dress before the event!
There is also a magical display event that allows other characters to show off their skills. Poor Katarina and her lowly earth bump! There is also a stage play where Katarina and her friends have a chance to perform.
Raphael Walt (who we previously knew as Sirius Deek) is being forced to work at the Ministry of Magic while under observation. Maria plans on working at the Ministry after finishing school, and she’s hoping to rope Katarina into joining her, but that would interrupt Geordo’s marriage plans.
Speaking of the Stuart family, the older brothers Geoffrey and Ian Stuart are featured in the sequel. Geordo finds First Prince Geoffrey to be obnoxious since he’s overwhelming and perverted, outright stalking them at times. But the eldest son is doting toward his younger brothers, going so far as to protect them from any hidden evil.
Despite finding a happy ending in Fortune Lover, Katarina seems to create doom ends on her own. She bumbles her way into yet another kidnapping by a dark magic user, but this time her kidnapper feels no remorse for having killed in the past.
Although the kidnapper’s job was supposed to end with Katarina’s death, she remains so dense throughout the whole experience that the kidnapper feels the need to sit her down and explain that she’s been kidnapped.
But Katarina’s interest toward him charms him, and he’s sucked into the black hole like all the others. She’s so relaxed she even accidentally seduces the mastermind behind the kidnapping plot!
And that’s just the first kidnapping. Katarina’s adopted brother Keith Claus goes missing, and there’s no ransom note, so she rallies together a team to find him.
Meanwhile, a war of love has erupted, with all the various suitors drawing the lines. Of course, Katarina is oblivious to all romantic pursuits, so it’s a guess who will be the winner in the end.
Unfortunately, anime fans will need to wait until the My Next Life as a Villainess Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!