From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated!

This show is a bit of a disappointment for me, because it could have been great, but it wants to be a parody without understanding the underlying genre (the villainess genre) well enough to be a good one. Which isn‘t to say that the jokes can‘t be funny, but the jokes aren‘t varied enough to carry the show throughout its whole runtime and the story and characters are basically non-existent. To give you an idea, imagine Konosuba (a parody of the standard Isekai genre), but take away all the actual story elements like the party meeting and fighting different demon army generals and also takeaway all the arcs that give you a better understanding of the main characters, so that their only contribution is to say their one line jokes like „Explosion“ all the time and nothing more. This is in principle what this show is. But if you want to read a more detailed explanation, continue reading. 1) Story The story starts quite funny, because while you have the typical villainess genre setup with it playing in an Otome game, it‘s not a female player that gets transferred to this world, but a 52 year old salaryman from Japan, who only knows this game, because his daughter played it and now he has to live his life as the villainess of the story (named Grace). And that‘s pretty much everything there is to say. This is the first big issue with the show: it has no actual story. Usually in villainess anime, there is some form of motivation that drives the plot forward. Most often, it is the knowledge of the player that the villainess is going to have a bad ending as she usually gets punished for her actions, so they try to avoid that. But here, our MC just wants to play his role as the villainess. Despite being an Otaku knowing that this isn‘t what you‘d do in that situation. And also, he is obviously fumbling this idea which is one of the main gags. At some point, it is mentioned the goal might be for him to reach the ending of the game, but since we have no clue what that „ending“ is even supposed to be or if he has to be careful, the show is just a random collection of Slice of Life elements with no deeper story. 2) Characters Now you might say, Slice of Life elements sounds fun. And they are on the surface. But if you don‘t have a story, then the characters become important, because you want to see them develop or just interact in different situations with one another. This is a second big aspect of villainess shows as these are not so much about strong powers, but dialogue choices as the underlying games are usually Otome games where you can romance different options. Sadly, this aspect is also heavily underdeveloped. Again, in a setup like this, you would expect some form of conflict coming from the fact that the MC is in the role of the villainess. Usually, the villainess already has some form of reputation and maybe even a group that copies her behaviour, so a sudden shift in personality means that people now either start to target her as well or they are very cautious expecting some deeper plan behind this nice facade. You know, something that makes the MC have to actually interact with these characters, understand them on a deeper level than what is shown in the game and by that, form new relationships. But not so here. Yes, Grace had a reputation, but from episode 1, everyone just accepts her shift in personality. Even the other bully characters completely change in the first episode to copy her new, more graceful appearance. Not only that, but all of the characters are very 1-dimensional. Again, a big thing about shows like these is usually that the MC gets a new perspective of the other characters because instead of them just being romance options, they can interact in all kinds of ways. But not so here. For one, because our MC doesn‘t know the game well enough to even make a comparison. But secondly, because all of these characters only have one quirk that gets repeated whenever they are on screen. And nothing more. Most egregious is that when it comes to Anna, the original protagonist of the game. Again, the show copies a lot of the surface level elements, like her being a commoner in a school for nobles and who is picked on by the villainess in the game, but instead of creating an interesting new relationship, Anna‘s whole character gets reduced to saying „Sasuga Grace-sama“. Yes, I know that the original MC (as well as basically ever other character) falling for the new villainess is also a trope of this genre, but at least put some effort in and don‘t make it happen in episode 1 already. Now, there might be ONE exception to this and this is Grace as they gave her a „reason“ to become a villainess, but this comes with its own problems. First of all, it's not really explored and only hinted at in a total of three short scenes. But more importantly, this whole "backstory" starts to make less and less sense the more we learn about Grace's surroundings. It's again very surface level. The author understood that the villainess shouldn't just be a villainess because she is in the game, but they didn't care enough to craft a world that actually supports this idea. Which in return means, the opposite happens as Grace's reason for being a villainess ir more or less just "because it's in the title of the show". Maybe they have a bit more planned with that in the future, but considering the show misunderstood every other part of the genre, I highly doubt it. 3) Comedy But okay, so much for story and characters, but as mentioned in the beginning, this show wants to be a parody and one might say that they don‘t care much about anything else but the jokes. So are they any good? Yeah, they got a few chuckles out of me every so often. Obviously, since there is no development in story or characters, the jokes stay mostly the same over the course of the show, you will basically have seen them all by episode 4, but they can be fun regardless. There are jokes about the MC having a „cheat skill“ where all his actions and words get translated into „noble form“ which is kind of fun. There are obviously his attempts at being a villainess and either fumbling, because he is too much of a good guy or people around him misunderstanding and reading more into his actions (which is one of the jokes normal villainess genres like to do as well). There are the jokes around the other side characters, like how one is constantly doing dad jokes, which our MC obviously appreciates. And then, since our MC and his whole family are Otaku, there are obviously references to other shows. But this last point in particular was the weakest, because these references are often not included properly. For example, there is a father-son-Kamehameha reference, but the story didn‘t support this and it wasn‘t even funny in the moment. It was literally just „We need a reference here as a joke, pick one“. All in all though, I do think, the jokes are good and if you don‘t mind them not developing and just cycling through them, then you can have a fun time. 4) General criticism Finally, there is one last critcism I want to adress, because while it might not be a big issue, I found this really annoying at times. As mentioned, there is no story or character development and obviously, you can‘t just have jokes every second, so one question might be: How is the rest of the time filled? Mostly by exposition. Really boring exposition. I am not joking. There is a whole exposition scene to explain the simplest four-element magic system I have ever seen for several minutes. And that‘s not even the worst part. The show repeats exposition at several points. This magic system? Yeah, it gets explained to us once when they basically get their element (to avoid spoilers I leave that vague) and a second time, when they fight for the first time with that element. It wasn't complex enough to have one exposition scene, but they really went and said "Make two boring exposition scenes". And this example isn't an exception, they did this several times over the course of the show, which resulted in some really boring moments. 5) Summary All in all, the show is fine. It‘s a simple parody like a lot of the Isekai parodys where they just make fun of the surface level elements. If you like the jokes, it can be entertaining, but it‘s not a show where you should expect anything more. And it's definitely not a show where you will be interested in future seasons. For that, it just doesn't do enough or anything at all.

It’s a mediocre anime, but it's well-made, which makes it surprisingly enjoyable. The pacing is very good, and the gags are actually quite funny. I found it better than other "reincarnated as a villainess" series, and I believe there are three reasons for that: Respect for its characters – In many hastily made shows, characters are nothing more than simple plot devices, used and then shelved until needed again. Not here. While the characters are definitely simple and not explored in any meaningful way, they still have their own personalities, agendas, and goals. The pacing – It doesn’t try to cram as much content into its runtime asother shows do. It’s not a constant barrage of dialogue and action. There are pauses between characters' lines and moments for them to "think" about what to say next. I know this might sound obvious, but a surprisingly large number of anime—even some popular ones—fail at this, making them boring and annoying to watch for me. A coherent plot – The story doesn’t feel like the author is rolling dice every chapter to decide what happens next.

(Completed series in roughly a week) I almost feel like the best way I can describe this anime is "fan service for middle aged people." I'm close to 48, my wife is roughly the same age. We both loved it. I'm not the most experienced anime watcher on this site, but at this point I'm at around 4,000 episodes total across various genres. My wife's probably at around 4,500. I don't think I've ever identified with a character in an anime as much as I did with Kenzaburo Tondabayashi, the MC. His character is a couple of years olderthan we are, had a normal job before he was transported into the video game, is all around a good guy and a good father. But beyond that, when he's sent into the body of a teenage girl, rather than doing what it seems every other anime does, he isn't a perverted hornball. He relates to everyone with the mentality of a middle-aged dad, doing his best to make the lives of the high schoolers better. The anime doesn't even do the usual isekai thing of making him try to make up for some mistreatment of his own real-life past, and become the most popular person in school. He actively tries to put the spotlight on who he knows is the main character of the game. I kinda feel like this is what most of us would do if we found ourselves in that situation. You know, after the initial panic attack. The animation in the show is fine, the music only really gets to shine in a couple of episodes. The voice acting is very good (I can only speak for the Japanese cast, as I watched the sub). Kazuhiko Inoue is perfect as the dad. There's none of the other "fan service" to speak of in this anime that I can remember. No saunas, jiggle-physics, or panty shots. It's not that kind of show. There are a few battles, which aren't bad considering the show they're in. But don't expect it to be Solo Leveling or anything like that. There's very little tension in the show. There aren't real "enemies" to speak of. Most of the plot is moved by "progressing the game forward to finish the game" which would, one expect, get the dad out of the game. The wife and daughter are watching/playing/intervening in the game from the outside, and there's a secondary plot which I won't spoil here, which adds a wrinkle to it and really makes me hope there's a second season. But on the whole, the show is mostly about its heart and its humor, which is wholesome without being corny. And as the show goes on, you do get the feeling it's building up to something bigger. I will say that despite giving it a 10/10, I have a small fear that the "bigger" it's building up to might be too big for the show's vibe. Like, I get that the need to explain how and why the dad is in the game, and the mechanics of it all. But I don't want ponder the universe of this show the same way I did with Tonari no Yōkai-san. That's not what I'm here for.

Ever since Hamefura burst onto the scene 5 years ago, the villainess genre has been booming. Every season we get 1-2 entries and while they can be hit or miss, Tensei Ojisan is a massive hit. 50 year old salaryman reincarnated as a cute villainess? This guy’s living my dream! This show is amazing. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, the cast is excellent, strong yuri vibes, it’s genuinely funny as hell and most importantly, the MC actually acts like an adult that got reincarnated rather than a teenager like in the vast majority of fantasy series! Every single episode went by in a flash,I found myself cracking up for half the runtime and smiling from seeing Grace doting on characters like a loving father for the other half. If you’re a fan of villainess/otome series or characters who have absolutely no idea what they’re doing and being praised as a genius by the cast, this is a must watch! I won’t sit here and say that everything in this show is original or groundbreaking. But the execution and writing makes it fun as hell. The biggest thing that separates this series from the increasingly popular villainess genre is Grace as an MC. Having the mind of a 50 year old salaryman in the body of a young noble understandably leads to some hilarious moments, but it’s her maturity that really does it for me. Grace acts like a doting father, making sure everyone’s ok, taking charge in situations and giving advice. The biggest conundrum she faces is forcing herself into the villainess role when she really just wants to chill and play a supporting role. No matter what she does, people end up praising her as a genius. She tried to escape the MC allegations for 12 weeks and couldn’t get it done and I’m very glad. The comedy really landed for me in this show as it pokes fun at a ton of traditional otome and more general otaku tropes. Additionally, Grace finding herself in the craziest situations every week and having to BS her way out of them usually resulting in characters falling deeper in love with her was great. The supporting cast really were a joy to watch, especially Anna who’s gay af for Grace. Genuinely spent most of my time laughing watching this show, especially when Grace’s family on earth came into the fold and you see how their dynamic worked. It’s a really fun series that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is very easy to digest. This might be the most underrated production of the season. Ajia-do, who also did Honzuki, put some of their best work into this show. Had surprisingly great animation, the style is really pretty and the direction was also solid. For a series that’s so low stakes and has relatively little action, I was constantly blown away by how good basic scenes like spell weaving looked! The soundtrack is also really good, top marks for the production values. This show doesn’t reinvent the wheel and it’s probably not going to make you like villainess shows if you don’t already. It has a lot of the same tropes and Grace despite her best efforts does become a harem MC, BUT again, it’s that execution and Grace’s maturity that set this apart for me. I mean tbf, even without that I’d probably like it because I am a massive otome stan, BUT it’s no doubt that they enhanced the experience. Grace and Anna will never beat the yuri allegations and Grace is forever going to be an icon. Had a blast watching this and I’m going to miss it very much. It actually reminded me a lot of Tsunliese which is another villainess series with a different twist on the genre. Highly recommend this one if for Grace and Anna’s banter alone. Tensei Ojisan gets 9 out of 10