I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags...
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | 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… My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! (English title) |
| Abbreviation(s): | Destruction Flag Otome |
| Creator: | Yamaguchi Satoru (author) Hidaka Nami (manga artist) |
| Date(s): | 2014 |
| Medium: | light novel, manga, soon an anime |
| Country of Origin: | |
| External Links: | Japanese publisher's site |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags... (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…, Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta...) is the name of a light novel series, a manga and later, an anime adaptation, commonly shortened to Destruction Flag Otome, or from the original title,Hamefura, and published officially in English under the title My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! The series is a part of the isekai genre and follows a girl who's reincarnated into the body of a villainess in an otome game.
Canon
The protagonist was an otaku who loved otome games in her past life. One night she stayed up late playing the game Fortune Lover and as a result slept in the next morning. In her haste to bike to school on time, she was struck by a car and died. She was then reborn into the body of Katarina Claes, the daughter of a duke, and at 8 years old received a blow to the head that made her remember her past life and discover that she was now living in the universe of Fortune Lover, inhabiting the body of the villainess of the otome game whose canon plotlines all ended with death or exile.
Characters
- Katarina Claes — the protagonist who's trying to avoid being killed or exiled.
- Gerald Stuart — the third prince of the kingdom the series takes place in; engaged to Katarina. He was very cruel and a capture target in Fortune Lover.
- Keith Claes — Katarina's adoptive brother. He was a lonely womanizer and a capture target in Fortune Lover.
- Mary Hunt — Katarina's friend who's engaged to Alan. Plays the role of rival in Fortune Lover.
- Alan Stuart — Gerald's twin brother, the fourth prince of the kingdom the series takes place in; engaged to Mary. A capture target in Fortune Lover.
- Sophia Ascart — Katarina's friend and Nicole's younger sister.
- Nicole Ascart — Sophia's older brother. A capture target in Fortune Lover.
- Maria Campbell — a commoner born with strong, special Light magic. The protagonist in Fortune Lover.
English Light Novel Licensing
In March, 2018, two users brought up Destruction Flag Otome in the "Novel pick-up requests" thread on J-Novel Club, a site that licenses light novels for English translation directly from Japanese publishers. One of the users cited the books having a high rating on Amazon Japan as a reason to consider translating them.[1] Another user noted that the Japanese publishing company, Ichijinsha, had been purchased by Kodansha in 2016 and that that might complicate the process of licensing the novels.[2]
Only a few months later the translation request thread was closed and replaced with a subforum for licencing suggestions, where each suggested title could have its own thread. On May 17th, 2018 J-Novel Club member myskaros created a thread for Destruction Flag Otome requesting that it be licenced for translation by JNC. In addition to citing how likeable Katarina is as a protagonist and how fun and charming the series is in general, myskaros noted:
The fan translations stopped in the middle of volume 4 because apparently some hecklers were bothering the TLer and complaining about how they didn't like where the story was going, which was unmotivating for her. Would LOVE to see this get picked up![3]
Several other fans agreed that they'd like to see it translated, and in August 2018 the thread was locked because JNC announced that it had the English licence at Otakuthon[3] and would be releasing the first volume in December, 2018.[4]
Fandom
The early English fandom was centered around fan translations of the light novels and therefore mostly fannish interest was spread by word-of-mouth. The series gained more attention and interest when the manga was released and translated into English.
Destruction Flag Otome was nominated for Yuletide 2018 and several well-received fics were produced. It was also nominated for Hurt/Comfort Exchange 2019 and requested by two people across three requests.
Katarina seems to mostly be shipped with Gerald, Mary, and Maria, although the small size of the fandom makes it hard to generalize. Many people are fans of poly-shipping for Katarina and her harem.
"Bakarina" is an affectionate fandom nickname for Katarina, sometimes used to differentiate her from the original Katarina Claes of the Fortune Lover game. Katarina is seen as a big draw to the series:
Amazing lead and great supporting characters, with a premise that's so off-the-wall that it could easily fail but instead effortlessly amazes and leaves you wanting more. Part of the magic is just how innocent and straightforward Katarina is and how easy it is to simultaneously sympathize with her while shaking your head at her complete buffoonery. The rest of the cast are likewise superb foils for Katarina and similarly smitten with her all the while cleaning up after her.
This is just a really fun read that doesn't get too bogged down on the tropes commonly seen in noble society stories (rich vs. poor, politics, public/private etiquette games). Katarina is charming and not too stupid as to be a turn off, and her friends are all wonderful characters with ridiculously extreme dark sides that just swirl the pot even more.[3]
Bakarina in full coloured animation? Sign me the heck up! Seriously, for those who haven't read this series, it's really cute and funny. It seems like it'd be in danger of making you annoyed with the protagonist at multiple points, except she just comes across as so LIKABLE (at least to me) that you can't help but be endeared to her. If it was just about self-preservation, it would get old fast, but thankfully it's not. Give this series a chance if you're up for cute and funny slice of life shenanigans, because that's what you'll get here.[5]
Katarina is the true gem of this manga though. She carries the entire thing on her shoulders and i’m absolutely in love with her character, as are the majority of the characters within the world of her second life! Poor girl is trying so hard to avoid a bad end that she’s completely oblivious to everything around her… gotta love the girls work ethic and attitude though.[6]
Fanworks
Fanfiction
Fanart
- Portraits of Katarina, Mary, Alan, and Gerald by reptilmastaren
- portrait of Katarina by Zerakhii (line art) and rose-acia (color)
- Fortune Lover otome game cover by min 春24 東4ち11a
External Links
References
- ^ Novel pick-up requests thread March 3rd, 2018.
- ^ https://forums.j-novel.club/post/14275 Novel pick-up requests thread] March 7rd, 2018.
- ^ a b c Destruction Flag Otome licensing suggestion thread, started 17 May 2018 and later locked because the rights were picked up.
- ^ AnimeNewsNetwork announcement, 2018-09-27.
- ^ tendigitnumber on 1/26/19 commenting on CrunchyRole: Destruction Flag Otome Is Game for an Anime Adaptation.
- ^ Manga i’ve Read (Ongoing), February 5th, 2019.