DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ComedyTensei Akujo no Kuro Rekishi
OVA ComedyTensei Akujo no Kuro Rekishi OVA

REVIEWS

• 

  Zeichen

  79/100
  "Stolen my heart by the main character, caught my eyes due to plot twist, disappointed me with its lack of formula."

  

  DISCLAIMER: ANY REVIEW ALWAYS CONTAINS SPOILERS, NO MATTER WHAT OR THE WAY YOU'D SUGARCOAT IT (IT'S INEVITABLE).

  Alright, here we go.

  First of all, greetings...

  It's honestly been a while since I have done any quality review and I believe it's only fair to...

  Never mind, cut it out. No more cringe formality.

  Fuuh... haah. Let's go for real, this time. For you, readers.

  Wait, did I just break the 4th wall?

  Of course, that's the premise of this story after all, right?

  Right? Well...

  The idea of 4th wall break will never be boring as a premise, unless when it's overused and the delivery of it is quite a bit too much to handle: You need the exact recipe to make sure they can handle it.

  The same could be said for this anime. But why even?

  Well, it has the exact premise in-need to be reviewed.

  But to begin with, let me start this with a chronology.

  First of all I started watching it out of curiosity, mostly due to boredom. Back then, I thought it was like your average isekai slop, nothing else. But turns out it is... and WAIT, I haven't even said anything about the show.

  Long story short, the premise during the first episode hooked me. The main character and her voice acting to be precise. Iana Magnolia to me is a hidden gem among all of these mundane stereotypical characters known from either manga or web novel. However, that might be the point of this show: Iana as the center of everything.

  Because, simply short, she did guide us to write your own isekai story. Briefly, and slowly. She showed us everything she had known from beginning to the end, which set out a beautiful premise for the story: You can change your own story as much as you are liking, so long it is in your favour and obviously audience.

  This potentially glimmering premise was, at best, the one that hooked me the most. This story, along with Iana, feels like a hidden gem buried beneath the treasure. Dark History here was a very intriguing premise. Just think about an extraordinary power that allows you to change the story, without having any physical power. Very underrated but mostly showcased an extraordinary example of good writing.

  However, did it stop there? No, not really.

  "IN THE END, IT'S JUST YOUR AVERAGE ISEKAI SLOP."

  Dark History of Reincarnated Villainess offered something that no one asked: A fresh and innovative plot twist. The use of hidden plot here is elementary and should be understandable for many others, but it is extremely tricky to do so without any jarring ass-pull if not some overused tropes that made the reveal boring. There's also a lot of usage when it comes to techniques that captivated the eyes... no, my eyes as an author: McGuffin, Chekov's gun, and Deus Ex-Machina.

  And no, these aren't just some kind of ordinary writing: It could have been much more if executed properly. It had so many potentials to become remarkable for the audience.

  Not to mention those spicy plot twists... oooh, they are top-notch.

  However, the second part (E6 onward) of this show did bring me back to the reality.

  The message was short, quick and clear-cut:

  In the end, it's just your average isekai slop.

  That hook in the beginning, turns out was there for absolute nothing.

  Messy plot, along with awkwardness throughout developmens, ambiguous moral values, some characters turns out to be one-time-use only kind, especially when it's convenient to the plot, not to mention the lack of direction and development by the end of this series, perhaps, ruined everything I really wanted to see from quite a fresh trope. Yet still, it inspired me to analyze and write a review about this. I'm a writer who does these kind of stuff too, after all. I mean, who doesn't love a 4th wall break?

  Come on, you gotta be kidding me. The 2nd cour did break me.

  Yes, the premise was quite clear: 4th wall break. However, it's only for the sake of it in the end. This trope that should be interesting ended up being annoying (no offence to Iana's VA, she did great already). Like yes, I know you are the one who writes this but could you please not to ruin the flow for every single episode? It disrupted the flow and serious build-up promised in the beginning despite your self aware character. Another issue should be that the fact this formula did break in the end, leaving me no choice but to get heavily disappointed.

  However, there are still positives: I really applauded some other characters to at least provide a good grounding for the main character, especially Sol who had been quite a sneaky silent assassin throughout the show. However, that alone was never enough because he had been ghosting around with his presence only existed when it's convenient to the plot. The mystery was really good, its thematic presence could be felt throughout the show, which led to those great plot twists.

  Actions are kinda meh. Again, only happend when it's convenient to the plot, nothing else. Next, the music was... decent, maybe the OP was jarring (I skipped it) but hey, it fits the cringeworthy funny vibes of this show, the ED was quite fitting though. No, extremely fitting and perfect given the premise. The visuals, despite some slideshow, are still watchable enough unlike some certain specific anime shows I wouldn't mention since it's off-topic.

  Still, I would recommend this show for those who are getting tired of the same premise over and over again, given by the fact that this show will give you enjoyment like never before.

  Alright, that's all. If you enjoy this review, feel free to check many others.

  https://anilist.co/user/Zeichen/reviews

  Thank you.

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• 

  patkarunungan

  10/100
  A parody of an appalling story that's even worse than the horrible story itself.

  'The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess' seems like another average isekai involving a villainess, a genre of which I usually like. Its synopsis is interesting enough for me to take a look.

  

  The girl who used to be Konoha is reincarnated in her own shitty story that she wrote in middle school. Instead of reincarnating as her ideal girl and saintess, whom she named after herself, Konoha Magnolia, she reincarnated instead as the villainess, Iana Magnolia.

  As the villainess, Iana is to experience several death flags as he death is supposed to be inevitable. By avoiding an existing death flag, she will encounter several more until the story corrects itself as written.

  ---

  First things first, when she got to the isekai, the anime rushed through the tropes. We barely saw truck-kun. This anime fails to hook, or at least as far as I'm concerned. That's unfortunate, as it quickly mocks the tropes immediately.

  Going meta and mocking the tropes by itself is not bad. It's only bad if 1) it fails to hook you, and 2) the metafictional story doesn't stand as a good story on its own. Instead of being funny, this anime leans more toward being annoying.

  Why? It's an endless discussion of the trope being considered. The anime is merely self-aware and not clever at subverting the villainess genre. (If you want something that mocks and subverts the tropes of something yet in itself is an excellent story, just watch or, even better, read Trapped in a Dating Sim.) Iana yaps endlessly, over and over again. The viewer can barely rest from her verbal diarrhea.

  This leans more on telling, not showing. I'm not criticising this aspect. What I am criticising is how annoying this constant yapping is, which renders the telling not showing worse. Telling, not showing, works for the Monogatari series but not this one.

  ---

  Another annoying thing about this anime is the overuse of the background effects in shoujo, such as flowers and sparkles.

  

  Usually, such moments are reserved to show the heightened emotions that the shoujo protagonist feels for her love interests. This trope, however, is frequently used with no rhyme or reason. In some episodes, this can happen so frequently that it switches from one of the male love interests to Konoha. If the purpose, which I can only speculate, is to demonstrate that such effects make the anime so cheesy, it succeeds to the detriment of its watchability.

  

  ---

  Another annoying thing about this anime takes place in the earlier episodes. Whenever Iana is in danger, we hear a cheerful insert song. There is a disconnect between the tone of the song and the events that are playing out in the anime. Is this deliberate? Maybe, or maybe not. Regardless, it's annoying.

  ---

  This is its worst sin. My humorous title for this is 'Helicopter Villainess.' Why? Iana acts like a helicopter parent. Sure, she prevents Konoha from experiencing danger. But in the process, Konoha does not experience growth, and she remains a pretty but flat character. In other words, Iana's intervention militates against Konoha from becoming strong and acquiring her saint powers.

  

  I know that Iana's objective is to survive. But in doing so, she turns her already shitty story into something worse. Her old self looks like Natsuko from Zenshuu, which is saying something. I did not like Zenshuu, and I am disgusted by watching something worse than Zenshuu.

  

  ---

  Let's compare another anime that I considered 'torture watch.' I scored mono a 2 out of 10 due to how it can't find its identity. Despite that, it has four good episodes.

  To use another villainess anime, The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior, aka Lastame, I scored it a 4 out of 10 due to several weaknesses. Despite such weaknesses, I enjoyed watching it. Not so with this anime under review.

  'The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess', on the other hand, may have somewhat improved in the latter half, but it remained annoying, and therefore, there is no good episode.

  My judgement: It pains me that this is the worst villainess anime I've ever watched, and by extension, among the worst anime I've seen.

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• 

  Nayumi

  70/100
  It's trash with class.

  Does this anime have rather poor animation? Yes. Does it have a clichéd story? Yes. Is it aware of this? Absolutely! I would fondly describe this series as trash with class, but what is it actually about?
  The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess (I'll shorten it to Dark History from now on) is a classic romance isekai from the villainess's perspective. Read and seen dozens of times before. So why am I writing a review about it, what makes the series unique? Maybe you wrote a story many years ago that you would now be ashamed of. But what if, as an adult, you were reborn into the novel you wrote as a teenager and have spent the last few years hiding under your bed and repressing?
  This is exactly what happens to the protagonist when she is run over by the well-known Truck-kun. Konoha has not only realised herself as the perfect heroine or saint in her own story in order to experience adventures. She has also created her perfect Prince Charming. Unfortunately, the protagonist does not take on the role of the heroine named after her, but slips into the body of her little sister Iana.
  The jealous sister whom everyone hates and who dies as the antagonist in the prologue. What follows is the typical attempt to stay alive as a reincarnated villainess and avoid her predetermined fate.
  However, Iana faces several challenges, such as her lack of memory. After all, it has been several years since she wrote the story. Added to this is the fact that she dies an internal death at least once per episode due to the shame and cringe of her teenage fantasies. It doesn't make things any easier that within her first few days, she already influences the plot so significantly that an important trigger for the ongoing plot is not triggered at all.
  Added to this is the never-ending fear of being suspected by the other characters. The butler Sol, who kills her in the original story, constantly pierces Iana with suspicious glances and regularly drives her to despair.
  Iana is also plagued by the fear that something might happen to Konoha, which in turn would lead to her own death. Lots of wonderful chaos that never settles down thanks to new characters such as Yami.
  _Dark History _manages to deal with the clichéd story wonderfully. The constellation allows it to question, criticise and parody its own plot, even if it doesn't work nearly as well as in my absolute favourite series, Eminence in Shadow.
  The series cleverly avoids other genre problems. The isekai is explained pragmatically and simply in the very first episode without much theory.
  The series also avoids another common mistake in such stories. In many examples of the genre, the isekai quickly becomes completely irrelevant to the story and is merely lazy storytelling. Dark History, however, repeatedly draws on this fact by sketching out the protagonist's memories as a middle school student. These moments, in which she conceives parts of her own story, thus take up an important part of the plot.
  Iana herself, on the other hand, is particularly well written for a female character in this genre. She is not an all-powerful woman, but she is independent enough to tackle problems herself without outside help, which contrasts sharply with Konoha, who regularly turns into a damsel in distress.
  However, neither she nor Konoha are sexualised, which is almost an achievement when you consider that the protagonist, as an author, has also incorporated her romantic feelings into her story, which, incidentally, she now views critically and questions as an internally mature woman.
  But why do I still call the anime trash when I praise its plot so much? Well, as I said, the animation is average at best. Don't expect too much. On the other hand, I find it fitting precisely because it suits the story, which doesn't take itself seriously.
  A bigger criticism for me, however, is that the further the plot progresses, the more Iana's reactions bored me and got on my nerves. There is character development, but it is extremely slow. In addition, Iana regularly takes two steps forward and one step back in her development.
  Characters such as Yami, Ginoford and Konoha remain flat (which may be justified by the fact that they are the product of teenage fantasies). But especially in the relationship between Sol and Iana, viewers want to see progress, which only comes towards the end of the series. The ending, on the other hand, unsurprisingly leaves questions unanswered and teases the next arc in order to boost sales of the manga.

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