The My Next Life as a Villainess Season 3 anime will have our favorite lovable idiot Bakarina (ahem, Lady Katarina Claes) still trying to survive the doom flags of Fortune Lover 2, but this time there’s trouble with Dark Magic at the Magical Ministry!
But when will HameFura Season 3 aka Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta Season 3 come out?
While we’re waiting for the third season there are several options to keep anime fans entertained.
The first is that a My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! movie was announced on September 17, 2021. The movie’s release date is in December 2023.
The story summary hasn’t been announced yet. 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.)
There is a My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X OVA episode that will release with the special edition of manga Volume 7 on September 30, 2021. The OVA episode, which could be considered My Next Life as a Villainess Season 2 Episode 13, will tell a story of Katarina’s childhood from the light novels that was skipped by the anime.
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. The HameFura game features an original story set after the Fortune Lover game’s final graduation event where Katarina raises a doom flag in meeting Silva the Pirate.
The game is releasing as physical and digital editions for the Nintendo Switch in 2021 (this story will be updated once the final release date is announced).
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, Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World, and BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense.
In 2021, Silver Link is also releasing The Dungeon of Black Company, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya Movie, The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat, and The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!
Studio Silver Link is also producing many anime sequels in the future. Strike The Blood Season 5, BOFURI Season 2, Restaurant to Another World Season 2, and The Misfit of Demon King Academy Season 2 anime are all confirmed to be in production.
The second season featured a returning main staff. 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 (Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside) is creating the series composition
Artist Miwa Oshima (Baka and Test) is the character designer. Composers Natsumi Tabuchi, Hanae Nakamura, Tatsuhiko Saiki, Miki Sakurai, and Shu Kanematsu created the music.
My Next Life as a Villainess Season 3 OP (opening) and ED (ending) haven’t been announced yet.
The first season’s OP “There Isn’t Just One Route for a Girl!” was performed by angela, while the ED “Bad End” was sung by Japanese voice actor Shouta Aoi, who plays the adult Geordo Stuart in the anime. The My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X OP “Fall in Love at Andante!” was performed by angela, while the ED “give me ♡ me” was performed by Shouta Aoi.
The second season’s finale, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X Episode 12, released on September 18, 2021. The second season was released as four Blu-Ray volumes, with the first volume having released on September 1, 2021.
- Updated April 1, 2022: Added My Next Life as a Villainess movie release time frame.
- Updated September 17, 2021: My Next Life as a Villainess movie announcement.
- Updated August 18, 2021: Added English dub info.
This article provides everything that is known about My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Season 3 (HameFura Season 3/Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta Season 3) 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.
My Next Life as a Villainess Season 2 English dub release date on Crunchyroll
The second season, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X, originally premiered in Summer 2021. The anime TV series was initially streaming with English subtitles on Crunchyroll (not FUNimation, Netflix, or Hulu).
Crunchyroll has confirmed that it will release a My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X English dub.
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.
Presumably, a My Next Life as a Villainess Season 3 English dub will be released in the future.
HameFura Season 3 release date predictions
As of the last update, Studio Silver Link or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the My Next Life as a Villainess Season 3 release date. Nor has the production of a HameFura sequel been announced.
Once the news is officially confirmed this article will be updated with the relevant information.
In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta Season 3 release date will occur in the future.
The first season aired in Spring 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.
In 2021, Katarina had anime competitors like My Hero Academia, Tokyo Revengers, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Notably, the second season of My Next Life as a Villainess would often be buried on Crunchryoll’s popular anime list, sometimes not even being ranked in the top 30 (it was ranked right under Higehiro and the Slime 300 anime when this article was initially written).
We’ll get an idea of the second season’s popularity in Japan once the HameFura BD box sets release in early September 2021. The first season’s Volume 1 sold almost 5,000 copies in its first week, so it’ll be interesting to see how the second season compares.
But the fact that a movie was greenlit for production is a really good sign for the future of the anime series. Assuming that the movie comes out in mid to late 2023, it’s possible the film’s ending could announce My Next Life as a Villainess Season 3. If that happens, anime fans should expect HameFura Season 3 to come out in 2024 at the earliest, although 2025 seems more likely.
My Next Life as a Villainess Verge of Doom 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: My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Desperate Situation! On The Verge of Dom arc (Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shite shimatta… Zettai Zetsumei! Hametsu Sunzen Hen!).
(It’s also known as My Next Life as a Villainess: Verge of Destruction.)
The My Next Life as a Villainess: Verge of Doom 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 HameFura: Verge of Doom 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 Doom 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 took years but Seven Seas Entertainment finally announced an official English translation of Verge of Doom in 2021. Volume 1 will release on November 28, 2021.
My Next Life as a Villainess manga/light novels compared to the anime’s second season
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.
(Gasp… weez… that was a mouthful!)
Thankfully, the official English title was slightly shortened to My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
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.
The web novel ended with the graduation ceremony, but bonus chapters have been released over time, with the last new chapter having released in June 2020. Some of the earlier bonus stories were published in May 2017 as light novel Volume 5.
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 August 20, 2021, the book series was up to My Next Life as a Villainess Volume 11.
By January 2021, the light novels had over 4 million copies in circulation.
North American publisher J-Novel Club is releasing the official English translation of the My Next Life as a Villainess light novel series. Volume 8 was published in paperback format on November 28, 2020, while the eBook release was up to Volume 9 by July 2021 (the paperback releases on February 1, 2022). The English Volume 10 release date was on October 19, 2021.
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 7 as of September 30, 2021.
Seven Seas Entertainment is publishing the English My Next Life as a Villainess manga series. Already up to Volume 5 as of April 2021, Volume 6 is scheduled to release on November 23, 2021.
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.
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 in the books. 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, but Katarina makes Anne realize she can be more than a tool for someone else’s benefit. While the anime skips this side story completely, the manga briefly summarized these events in one paragraph.
In the first season, gardener Grandpa Tom was only given a brief cameo in relation to Katarina’s botanical exploits up until the toy snake antics of Episode 6. The books detailed how Tom was best friends with Katarina’s grandfather, so when the previous Duke Clea died Tom was lonely and resigned to death. 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.
Most importantly, the anime’s first season failed to explain why her parents, Duke Luigi Claes and Miri Diana Claes, were initially estranged from each other. It was actually love at first sight for the Duke, but both mistakenly believed the other was forced into an arranged marriage based on unrequited love.
Worse, Duchess Clea wrongly assumed Keith was an illegitimate child from a mistress of Duke Clea and started to hate the boy. Miri became so fed up with Bakarina’s antics that she resolved to leave her husband so he could marry the supposed mistress.
Thankfully, Katarina’s actions accidentally caused the parents to admit their love for each other as real, something they had never done before, and they finally cleared up their misunderstanding and began to express genuine affection toward one another. But both the anime and the manga rushed to Katarina axing down Keith’s door so without the greater context, it was difficult to understand why the parents went from cold and unfeeling to loving.
(For a more detailed comparison of the first season please see the article focused on My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X.)
The second season’s first two episodes followed the source material from the first two chapters of Volume 3 fairly closely but it skipped some inner monologues. As previously mentioned, the narrative would often shift to other characters in the light novel, and Chapter 2 repeated the events of Chapter 1 from other perspectives. But even the manga would reveal inner thought bubbles to give a better perspective on character’s motivations for their actions.
For example, Katarina’s heart skipped a beat when first meeting Suzanna Randall/Lana for the first time. She even had a close one when she almost accidentally proposed to Maria!
Episode 3 adapted light novel Volume 3: Chapter 3 in full. Then the big kiss in Episode 4 was from Volume 3: Chapter 4 and manga Volume 6: Chapter 34. Episode 5 then finished off Volume 3 by adding some anime original content.
While the anime showed Rufus’ backstory as Sora, Episode 4 didn’t explain that when Rufus acquired his dark magic his master was outraged that Rufus couldn’t manipulate people’s hearts at will. Rufus’ ability only amplified pre-existing emotions and was not effective on people with strong willpower like the princes. Thus, Rufus’ master came up with an alternative plan to target the prince’s fiancees.
Rather than adapting side stories from Volume 5 as originally predicted, Episode 6 was completely an original story set during the summer vacation. Rather than being filler, the episode fleshed out Katarina’s concerns about marriage and gave a good reason for why Katarina should join Maria at the Department of Magic.
Episode 7 continued this line of original stories by introducing the magical dollhouse. Since the anime rarely gives audiences the perspective of other characters it was nice to receive some insight into how everyone perceived Katarina in combination with their life dreams.
Episode 8 finally went back to the books. Nicol’s side story about the arranged marriage meetings and his resulting resolve to continue pursuing Katarina came from Volume 5: Chapter 4.
The one interesting change is that the light novel never named the girl who affected Nicol by supporting his desire. Fray Randall and Ginger Tucker originally weren’t introduced until Volume 6.
Episodes 9 through 11 then adapted Volume 4 with only three episodes. Surprisingly, that means Episode 12 will end at the beginning of a light novel, not the end.
Silver Link did a great job in adapting the first season’s 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 based on the need to have a climactic conclusion to a TV show that offers good plot resolution to a story arc.
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.
Thankfully, the best stopping point for the first season was so early on in both the manga and light novels that Silver Link decided to work in chapters from Volume 5, which is composed entirely of side stories based in the past. Similarly, the second season adapted some of these side stories as they fit into the chronological timeline but the anime original stories were also a welcome addition.
Silver Link managed to avoid the bad pacing doom flag in the first season simply because the best stopping point was the ending of light novel Volume 2 and manga Volume 4: Chapter 22. (Similarly, the Cautious Hero anime and the 86 anime were both great adaptations due to only adapting few books.)
All in all, the second season’s finale, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X Episode 12, found a stopping point corresponding to light novel Volume 4: Chapter 4 and Volume 6: Chapter 1.
I have to admit that the second season’s ending surprised me and wasn’t what I predicted. After all, Season 2 Episode 2 seemed to foreshadow Volume 6 by having Katarina mention the names of two new characters, Ginger Tucker and Fray Randall. These student council girls originally didn’t show up in the light novel series until Volume 6 (web novel bonus chapter 11).
Stopping the anime at the beginning of a book is very unusual, but it’s also a good stopping point since it had Katarina graduating from the Academy of Magic. Ending on this note also offers semi-closure to a previously established conflict by showing how Katarina deals with her desire to delay her wedding by joining the Magical Ministry. Plus, ending Season 2 Episode 12 with the conclusion of yet another kidnapping plot wouldn’t have been as strong an ending.
I also have to admit that the anime studio made the right choice since adapting Volume 6 completely would have required increasing the pacing in addition to skipping the anime’s original content. Volume 6 also serves more as a vehicle for introducing the Magical Ministry and several new characters so it connects directly to Volume 7 which means it’s better for HameFura Season 3 to tackle those stories.
The good news is that there is plenty of source material for making My Next Life as a Villainess Season 3. Better yet, English-only light novel readers can jump straight to Volume 6 if they wish to read ahead of the anime.
The bad news is that HameFura manga readers will need to wait a year until the manga catches up with the anime. As of manga Chapter 40, the manga adaptation was still finishing up light novel Volume 4: Chapter 1 (or Season 2 Episode 9).
Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta Season 3 anime spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
Despite being reborn into the role of the villainess from an otome game, Katarina has successfully graduated from the Academy of Magic and overcome all of the Catastrophic Bad Ends that awaited her. Now she’s working in the Magic Tool Laboratory at the Magical Ministry with her friends and her reliable and adorable Dark Familiar, Spot (Pochi), at her side!
While Katarina has hopes for only happy days ahead, it turns out there’s a sequel to Fortune Lover, and it takes place at the Ministry! If Katarina returns to the plot of the game, does that mean that she could face even worse fates than before?! And if that wasn’t enough to deal with, she now has to search for an ancient magical contract!
Katarina has already met one character from Fortune Lover 2, Dewey Percy the boy genius. In the game, Dewey was one of several game routes for the heroine Maria, but Dewey was initially distrustful of the heroine due to her privilege as a light mage. If the heroine won Dewey’s affection, he was responsible for uncovering the identity of the mysterious figure wielding dark magic, which was the villainess Katarina.
In the present timeline, Dewey still dislikes Katarina for trying to enter the Magical Ministry based on nepotism. Dewey especially hates how she moves through life with no goals and no effort, but when Katarina saves the day against a Dragon familiar Dewey quickly warms up to her.
Speaking of feelings, it appears there could be a potential romance brewing between Maria and Dewey. And while Maria may have found a new target Katarina’s antics finally cause her friend to become angry at her, but that’s a whole other story.
Audiences are probably wondering what’s going to happen between Katarina and her adopted lil’ brother Keith now that he’s expressed his feelings openly. Well, Keith has been repressing these feelings for a decade so when Katarina wears a tempting nightdress Keith can’t but help but push her into his bed… but you’ll have to wait until My Next Life as a Villainess Season 3 to see how that turns out!
Katarina also has to make sure that she doesn’t run afoul of Cyrus Launchest, the stoic anti-ladies’-man who puts the evil Katarina in jail in the game. A stickler for strict adherence to rules, Cyrus “The Lonely Genius” is business first as the Director of the Magic Research Department.
Behind the curtain of this no-nonsense exterior is simply a guise for his bumpkin personality. Cyrus grew up as a commoner and interacting with beautiful women makes him extremely nervous to the point that he hides his discomfort under a cold exterior.
Katarina and Cyrus begin to bond over farming. Cyrus had started growing crops near the Magical Ministry and when Katarina stumbled upon the field Cyrus found his discomfort fading when Katarina’s personality reminded him of his grandmother. Katarina is so easy to talk to that Cyrus even reveals he wants her help getting closer to Maria!
One of the other new characters is written purely for comic relief although the character’s depiction is certain to be controversial with Western audiences. Guy Handerson is a middle-aged muscle man with a blue beard. But Handerson prefers to go by the name “Laura”, acts like the cutest of girls, and wears heavy makeup and frills and ribbons on a custom dress uniform.
This transgender character is described as an “oddball” by Katarina and is played up for laughs by the books. It’s possible the anime could stick to this approach or change or remove the character completely for the adaptation.
While Katarina manages to suck everyone into her friend zone she’s still having problems avoiding the doom flags. In the game, the evil Katarina managed to gain powerful dark magic only to be defeated by the heroes. Katarina has done her best to avoid making enemies, but her puppy Pochi is Familiar with Darkness and now she comes into possession of the lost magic the Dark Covenant!
Katarina knows that users of dark magic are fated to succumb to illnesses and have their life forces drained at some point during their lifetime. Katarina not only has to deal with the backstabbing going on between the evergrowing harem, now she has to avoid going down a dark route that will only lead to doom.
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the My Next Life as a Villainess Season 3 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!