From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated!'s Premiere Episode is Just as Funny as it Sounds

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Whilst giving the audience a primer on From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated! (henceforth FBtV), HIDIVE 's own Star Butler couldn't help but profess their immense love for this series, and it's not difficult to understand where the appeal comes from. Even just FBtV's title makes you want to chuckle—and the first episode of the anime itself is no different. FBtV is the type of anime whose name more or less doubles as a plot synopsis: a 52-year-old dad, who's a bureaucrat with a bit of an otaku streak, gets hit by a truck and wakes up as the villainess in an otome game that his daughter had been playing. The only problem is that he only remembers fragments of what she told him about it, and his personality doesn't really suit that of a villainess—he's a polite bureaucrat, and loving father. And despite his best efforts to be a mean girl, he ends up triggering all the main cast's love flags, the heroine, in particular—a peasant in a school full of aristocrats—gets especially attached by the end of the first episode.

It feels like there's a lot more villainess-centric anime coming out lately, so I can imagine how it must be harder and harder for them to stand out. Still, the idea that the titular villainess is actually a middle aged man is a fun enough twist, and I love villainess stories. But the fact that I simply can't get enough of the protagonist, Kenzaburou Tondabayashi, aka Grace Auverne, is the foremost thing this anime has going for it so far. Through his fatherly filter, the villainess becomes more akin to an older sister or a helpful senpai. But as far as he's concerned, the villainess may as well be Regina George, and that's hilarious. He's so polite that things he expects to be regarded as slights or insults actually end up being taken as compliments or good suggestions—he's hardly recognizable as a villainess at all by the end of the episode.

Overall this was a really cute and silly first episode. My only main worry for this series moving forward is that sometimes, anime with a really funny premise like this one end up relying too heavily on those premises, and the result is that they end up telling the same joke—even if it is, admittedly, a very funny joke—for their entire run. I'd hate to see this one stumble down that pitfall as well. But I guess the only way to find out is by actually watching it once it starts airing, which I fully plan on doing.

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