Villainess Level 99

Episode 7

All hail the advent of the cheeriest "villainess" ever to wander onto the screen: Eleonora! Some have noted that Eleonora, the blonde with the requisite group of toadies, much better fits our stereotypical villainess character, from her hairstyle to her obsession with the prince. Apart from her prominent role in the ending theme, though, we haven't seen much of her in the story – and that changes this week. And it turns out that, while she's full-on obsessed with a prince who doesn't deserve her, she's also just looking for a true friend. And who better to be that than Yumiella?

Yumiella, of course, can think of about thirty people off the top of her head, but Eleonora isn't asking. We can see what Yumiella perceives as a bug in the system (further proof she's having trouble shaking the gamer mindset) is actually just Eleonora looking for someone who won't fawn and pander to her. If she bakes gross cookies, she wants to be told that, and she doesn't want just to be unquestioningly supported; she wants someone to tell her the truth supported with (purported) facts. She may want to marry a prince, but Eleonora doesn't want to be a queen, and that's a wonderful twist on both the standard formula for the sort of game Yumiella's been reborn into and the plot in general. It shows that Yumiella is shaping the world around her like anyone else: her interactions with others matter.

However, they do not quite matter in the way Patrick is hoping for. The poor boy is head-over-heels for her at this point, and the implication is that he's drawn to her unusual worldview and the way she's clearly harboring some dark secret. The way he's immediately sympathetic to her multiverse theory shows that he's not looking at her as just a leveling freak or someone misunderstood; he recognizes that she's probably hurting and trying to figure out things without bothering anyone else. Even Yumiella may not have that much awareness of her character, and Patrick's empathy forms an excellent foil to Yumiella's social blindness. The downside? She has exactly zero idea that he's interested in her romantically; if she could have a negative number representing her understanding of Patrick, she would. The poor guy's got his work cut out for him.

And that brings us to Yumiella's greatest challenge this week: social interaction. She's faced with not just an overeager would-be best friend, but also a school dance, and she has no clue how to handle either of them. She's better with Eleonora, possibly because it's easier to give up and be her friend, making Eleonora the human equivalent of my cat Lucinda, who believes everyone will be her friend if she keeps pestering them. Sure, Yumiella can't figure out why Eleonora keeps bringing up Patrick, but that's still easier than actually dancing with a young man who is barely hiding his crush on her. At this point, Yumiella may be ignoring the signs he's waving around as a form of self-defense. She has no clue what to do, so she'll casually throw out her suitor-killing line and call Patrick "an acquaintance."

Or maybe she really is that clueless.

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Villainess Level 99 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.