My Next Life As A Villainess: 10 Ways Season 2 Is Even Better Than Season 1
My Next Life as a Villainess season 1 has a large cast of characters already, including one of the best female isekai protagonists, but season 2 goes all-in with introducing new and exciting characters, settings, and situations to expand the world of Fortune Lover.
Although some things are sorely missed from the first season, such as Catarina's mind conference and her best friend Acchan, they do make minor appearances here and there, and they may pop up in future installments of the series now that Catarina's doom flags have increased with the introduction of Fortune Lover II.
10 Making Wishes In The Dollhouse
The first season of Villainess featured a magic book that sucked everyone except Maria and Mary inside. The book fed on the trapped inhabitants' desires, eventually releasing them when Catarina's desire for sweets overcame the magic. Everyone's desire is pretty much the same, kissing Catarina or spending time with her.
In season 2, a similar situation arises with a dollhouse, sucking inside everyone except Sirius, Anne, and Sora, and making each character experience a dream that they want to come true. The dollhouse has more variety in the dreams than the book. For example, Mary becomes a prince and sweeps Catarina off her feet, Maria becomes a bodybuilder making tons of sweets, and Keith envisions everyone as the gender-swapped versions of themselves. The characters are also more proactive in breaking everyone out of the dollhouse, with Anne willingly stepping inside the house and Catarina breaking out of its spell.
9 Character Development At The Lake
Season 2 includes a lake episode just like season 1, but this time there is much more character development. Season 1's lake episode was full of cute antics like having a picnic and racing each other in rowboats, furthering the characters' love of Catarina's wholesome personality.
Season 2's lake episode contains a flashback to the characters' childhoods and sees them go on a hunt for a ghost. Lots of things are brought up in the episode including Catarina's rivalry with Alan and Sophia's phobia of lightning. Rather than just being wholesome, Catarina in My Next Life as a Villainess demonstrates her helpful nature in this episode, aiding Sophia to overcome her phobia and dance to ignore the fear.
8 Introducing Geordo's Brothers
The characters make Villainess one of the funniest isekai anime, and it is a welcome sight to have Geordo's older brothers, Geoffrey and Ian, finally make an appearance. Geoffrey stands out as the funniest of the brothers, being flippant and flamboyant, caring about his siblings deeply even if they push him away.
In contrast to Geoffrey, Ian is stoic and strict, never really letting his emotions show. Ian holds himself back from showing affection to his fiancee, Selena, even though they are both deeply in love with each other. Geordo's brothers have a lot of layers to them, and it is exciting to explore them in season 2 and beyond.
7 Geordo's Confession Sets Romance In Motion
Catarina has no romantic experience from either this life or her previous life, so she becomes overwhelmed when the other characters are forward with their intentions. However, Geordo confesses to Catarina and kisses her in front of everyone multiple times in season 2, not allowing Catarina to run away or forget his status as her fiance.
Geordo's confession sets things in motion rather than dancing around the topic, waking Catarina up to the fact that she has successfully avoided her doom flags but has dived into an even bigger situation. It is interesting to see Catarina deal with her feeling, namely by avoiding them, and future installments of the series will have fans on the edge of their seats to see who Catarina will choose.
6 Catarina's Mother Gets More Screentime
Millidiana Claes is one of the best characters in the show, and it is tremendous fun seeing her get more screen time in season 2. Catarina's mother acts as an antagonist to her, and if she were truly a villain, she would be one of the funniest anime villains of all time. A good example can be found in the scene in which the main characters believe there is a ghost haunting their house, but it turns out to be Millidiana yelling at Catarina once again.
Millidiana and Keith often join forces to stop Catarina's engagement to Geordo, as Keith is in love with her and Millidiana believes Catarina isn't good enough to be a prince's bride. Catarina's mother is always scolding her, resulting in some hilarious scenes. But deep down, Millidiana cares about Catarina, trying to make her into the lady she should be.
5 More Worldbuilding For The Kingdom
The characters graduate from magic school in this season, allowing them to explore the world around them and visit other towns. The worldbuilding of the kingdom of Sorcier, the setting for Fortune Lover, becomes more expansive, introducing more characters such as Larna Smith (aka Suzanna Randall) and Sora, an immigrant from the neighboring kingdom of Ethenell.
Season 2 explores a little bit of the magic ministry, which will feature in upcoming installments of the series as Fortune Lover II becomes part of Catarina's journey. In addition, new technology is introduced such as Larna's wind magic-operated cell phone.
4 Kidnappings Have More Stakes
The last third of season 2 takes on a slightly darker tone, showing Keith being abused and hurt by his brother Thomas and a mysterious woman. Although the show has consistently had a light-hearted tone, and it is unlikely to kill off a main character, Keith seems to be genuinely in danger during these scenes, eliciting sympathy from the audience.
Dark magic played a small part in season 1, forming Sirius' arc after he kidnapped Catarina, but season 2 presents the magic as a genuine threat that can be used by many other characters, including Catarina. There are two main kidnappings in season 2, of Catarina and Keith. It's the latter that has more stakes, since Catarina can charm her way out of anything, and Keith was in a genuinely dangerous situation.
3 Animation Gets Even More Beautiful
Episode 8 of season 2 showcases some of the most beautiful animation in the series as Nicol has a marriage interview with Fray Randall. The gorgeous settings of flower fields and sunsets are a lovely backdrop to the conversation, giving the audience more to look at than a traditional anime diner scene.
The animation overall is improved in the earlier episodes, as well as the kidnapping attempt on Keith, showing the dark magic twisting and corrupting the characters. The characters themselves become more expressive, for example, Catarina showing her hesitation towards Geordo and her genuine concern for Keith.
2 Nicol's Personality Finally Shines
Nicol is the quietest character in the show, often adding little more than a nod to a conversation, but season 2 opens him up and makes full use of his voice actor, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, best known for Kirito from Sword Art Online.
Nicol's personality shines in the later episodes such as episode 8 as he opens up and realizes his feelings. He takes action in the situation by dancing with Catarina and considers his sister's advice to steal her away from her fiance. In addition, season 2 includes more boy talk, where the boys talk to each other about things other than Catarina, for example, Alan and Geordo discussing the royal family, and Nicol and Sirius/Raphael having a chat over coffee and cake.
1 Catarina Becomes Even Braver
Catarina accumulated her reverse harem in season 1 by being wholesome and helping them through their personal challenges, but she truly showed her bravery in season 2. Catarina's wholesomeness leads to many characters being redeemed, such as Sirius, but until this season she had never shown her true anger at someone she loved being hurt.
Catarina rips the dark magic off Keith in a desperate attempt to save him, and during the lake episode, she was willing to help Sophia with her lightning phobia as much as she could. Catarina also talked down Sora, and although it may have just been her innocence, she was able to hold her own in a dangerous kidnapping situation.
Source: Screenrant
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