Thanks to COVID-19, a stacked Spring 2020 anime season saw a number of highly anticipated shows delayed or re-scheduled, resulting in a very low number of new and returning shows. Luckily, Silver Link's adaptation of writer Satoru Yamaguchi and illustrator Nami Hidaka's My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! (Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijō ni Tensei Shiteshimatta...) romantic comedy light novel series was able to shoulder a heavy load with its hilarious escapades. The final episode of the first season recently aired and it surprised fans with the confirmation that a second season was already in the works with a 2021 targeted release date.
The series is another isekai fantasy tale that follows a young Japanese girl named Catarina who is suddenly transported into her favorite visual novel where she's been reborn into the life of the game's primary antagonist. Having played the game numerous times, Catarina knows that few of the game's endings see Catarina still alive and breathing, much less the recipient of a happy ending. Armed with her knowledge of the game, Catarina sets out to avoid all of the game's "death flags" to ensure that she isn't exiled, beheaded or worst.
Details on the adaptation were first announced back in July 2019. Crunchyroll simulcast the series as it aired in Japan. The anime's official Twitter account also celebrated the news with a new key visual.
Wealthy heiress Catarina Claes is hit in the head with a rock and recovers the memories of her past life. It turns out the world she lives in is the world of the game Fortune Lover, an otome game she was obsessed with in her past life... but she's been cast as the villain character who tries to foil the protagonist's romances! The best ending the game has for Catarina is exile, and the worst, death! She'll have to find a way to avoid triggering the flags of doom, and make her own happy future! The misunderstanding-based screwball love comedy now begins!