Katarina Claes and the Ultimate Harem - My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

In Spring 2020’s Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta... (My New Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!), an unsuspecting girl is reincarnated into the world of her favorite otome game, Fortune Lover. Unfortunately, the body she now inhabits is that of the game’s villain, Katarina Claes, who is doomed to death or exile in every single route! So, starting from a young age, she sets in motion a plan to avoid this terrible fate... and somehow makes just about every character in the game fall in love with her. Let’s talk about how Katarina became a harem master without even knowing it!

Operation: Make Friends with Everyone

Katarina has two main advantages going for her: a bubbly, outgoing personality and nearly encyclopedic knowledge of the game. She awakens in her new body as a preteen, overtaking the original Katarina’s snooty personality from then on and trying to steer her life toward success (or, failing that, self-sufficiency in exile). After absentmindedly agreeing to an engagement with a boy named Geordo who accidentally injured her, her next step is to make friends with her new adoptive brother Keith so that he doesn’t grow into the playboy with abandonment issues that he is in the game. She almost ruins the plan by goading him into using his uncontrollable magic, but when he locks himself in his room out of guilt, she breaks down the door and apologizes for making him do something he wasn’t comfortable with. From that point, Keith becomes her adoring little brother/long-suffering chaperone whenever she goes off on weird adventures.

She also manages to make friends with Mary—a shy girl who loves gardening—and Sophia, a romance novel buff who everyone else calls “cursed” because of her albinism. These two serve as romantic rivals on certain routes of Fortune Lover, but Katarina’s kindness softens their attitudes considerably.

Operation: Steal Your Girl

Several years pass and Katarina finally reaches the timeline of the game—her first year at the magic academy. Here, she meets Maria, a commoner with rare light magic who she recognizes immediately as the protagonist of Fortune Lover. All of her hard work could still be undone if Maria gets with one of the four love interest characters (Keith, Mary’s fiancé Alan, Sophia’s brother Nicol, and Katarina’s shifty fiancé Geordo), so befriending this girl is the most crucial part of the plan. She saves Maria from bullies but realizes too late that she stole an important romantic scene from Geordo. In the game, Katarina was the one bullying Maria and Geordo came to save her. And this isn’t the first time Katarina has accidentally stolen someone’s thunder...

When she first met Mary many years ago, she gave the same exact compliment to the girl’s gardening skills that Alan was supposed to say to her in Fortune Lover. With his chance at romance taken away from him, Alan became Katarina’s love rival from that point onwards. In her quest to prevent her own demise, she’s been accidentally redirecting everyone’s affections onto herself!

What Comes Next?

As it stands right now, Katarina has won the affections of Mary, Sophia, Maria, and Keith, with Alan and Nicol as possibilities for the future. But the one person who hasn’t been swayed one bit by her bubbly wiles is Geordo, the proper and calculating noble to whom she is still engaged. Could he become the new villain and introduce challenges for Katarina that she has no way of predicting? Could he convince Alan and Nicol to join his side, or use the power of the student council at school to ruin Katarina’s image? We don’t trust him one bit!


Final Thoughts

We hope Katarina can find love and happiness with the ultimate harem that she’s accidentally accrued around herself. Eventually, though, the game’s events will change so much that she’ll have to rely entirely on her own wits to avoid death flags. You can do it, Katarina!

What did you think of our overview? Who’s your favorite member of Katarina’s unlikely harem? What do you think Geordo will do? Let us know in the comments, and thanks so much for reading!

Otome-Game-no-Hametsu-Flag-shika-Nai-Akuyaku-Reijou-ni-Tensei-shiteshimatta…-dvd-1-394x500 Katarina Claes and the Ultimate Harem - My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

Editor/Writer

Author: Mary Lee Sauder

After the hard-hitting East Coast lifestyle hit me a bit too hard, I started pursuing my passion as a writer in my cozy home state of Ohio. Aside from that, I spend my time cooking, cosplaying, collecting anime merch, and being an improv comedy actor. I also love sneaking alliterations and stupid puns into my writing, so be on the lookout for them! 😉

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