Introduction
Elizabeth Leiston, the daughter of Haldoria's powerful prime minister, is the picture of a refined noble lady and the perfect future queen. But when her fiancé publicly humiliates her, calls off their engagement, and starts spreading nasty rumors about her, Elizabeth reaches her breaking point. Why should her only friend be her loyal maid, and why should she continue to serve a country that doesn't respect her? Elizabeth concludes she won't stand it any longer and will bring down the kingdom, even if it's the last thing she does! As such, she uses her quick wit and, more importantly, her seven magic grimoires to embark on a quest for revenge. And let her tell you, there will be hell to pay!
(Source: J-Novel Club)
Audience reviews
13 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
ReinhardYozakura
Woa to be completely honest, the protagonist of this anime caught me off guard in the best way possible. What I love the most is a main character who is not naive and gets straight to business. This show is vastly different from your typical, villainess anime. When it comes to a revenge story, morality is irrelevant as long as the main character's actions remain highly entertaining for us, the audience of a fictional piece. It doesn't matter how brutal, cunning, or villainous the revenge gets, as long as it is well-written, I am all for it.
A. The Things I Praise:
1. Elizabeth Leiston
I absolutely adore her personality. She is pretty and cute, exceptionally intelligent, cunning, and completely devoid of any naivety. What I love most about her is that when it comes to revenge, she gets str…
Read at the sourceLiberKou
Surprisingly good, wasn’t expecting much and just wanted something easy to watch but was pleasantly surprised. First time I’ve seen a kingdom so thoroughly dismantled by someone who they should’ve appreciated, the mc is pretty much 2 steps ahead of her adversaries at every turn which sure isn’t super interesting but I appreciate that they go all in on her being dead set on revenge. Doesn’t shy away from the violence and the mental toll it will have on the mc in the future and sets up nicely for a 2nd season, most side characters around the mc are pretty bland but the pace is good enough to make up for it as the mc consistently is working on setting up her revenge while also strengthening her own standing.
Read at the sourceRemanTheArchean
This show has one big attraction: the protagonist is *actually* a villainess. She's very willing to kill and even torture people who get in her way. It's certainly refreshing to see that.
Everything else about this show is either average or below average.
It's the standard villainess revenge flick setup: A Mary Sue has a jerk fiance and gets dumped for some new slag. This show has an issue in that it doesn't really give a good reason why the MC decides the entire kingdom (including the common folk) deserve to be part of her revenge. We're told there are some rumors offscreen, but that hardly feels sufficient. I've almost never seen revenge arcs done well in anime. Usually the target is cartoonishly evil or nasty in an attempt to justify it, like they'd very aggressively beat puppies or…
Read at the sourceHyorinnn
The appeal of this anime lies in its revenge theme. There’s something satisfying about watching a character who has been brought down choose to fight back and make those who wronged her face the consequences. Anger has a place in storytelling, and characters shouldn’t always have to forgive just to earn the audience’s approval.
In my opinion, a villainess should act like a villain. A villainess who is constantly forced to be good is just nonsense hiding behind the word “morality.” If every desire for revenge is abandoned for the sake of being a good person, the villainess label becomes nothing more than decoration. The story promises a dangerous character, yet is afraid to let her make cruel, selfish, or morally questionable choices.
Such a character still needs believable motives and co…
Read at the sourcemrfried
I came for the revenge, I stayed for the soap
The promise of revenge attracted me, too many villainess series don't have an actual villainess at the helm, they are falsely accused and then go off to lead a better life elsewhere, or they simply seek to avoid their doom flags knowing the impending future events.
Here however we have our falsely accused villainess who has been keeping the Kingdom running for years now, and is still expected to do so, has had enough. So she leaves and seeks to plot the downfall of the Kingdom and of those who have treated her so unfairly.
And then she goes and sells soap
So the merchant stuff has a use, it is there so she can get herself a foothold in the Empire and establish a powerbase, the first couple of episodes that focus on this are good as it shows…
Read at the sourceZamolxis
If there is one thing, and just one, that this anime promises the viewer, it is revenge on the kingdom that used her solely for its own benefit, without the slighetest sign of gratitude. And unlike the usual "I was wrong" or "revenge is not good" tropes, she commits to her mission.
The anime alternates between her revenge and her merchant life, almost like you're watching two different stories tossed together, somehow mirroring her personality. You don't have to be a psychologist to understand that she has some issues. Her character has only two modes: merchant and vengeful, which makes her feel pretty shallow overall, especially compared to other villainesses. Honestly, the scariest part about her is how easily she switched from "let's do everything for the kingdom" to "let's destroy it"…
Read at the sourcedaisakura
‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ is an idiom that is adapted from a line in William Congreve’s play, The Mourning Bride (1697). The line from which it came is ‘Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.”
Everyone complaining about this anime/manga/story really needs to read more books. This is not a new story nor a trope, this WILL happen to you if you FAFO. I love it! I hope they make a second season, women with power, pissed off is GOLD!
Art: I love the art style and the costumes. I hope they get a bigger budget or make this a movie.
Character dev: The characters are a bit shallow and I'm not the biggest fan of how the story waves off slavery like its just a thing...
Realism: As far as anime goes, its as realistic as one punch man.
I th…
Read at the sourceTurtezin
Story
I really like the core concept of this anime, but the progression and character behaviors are so incredibly unnatural that it is genuinely sad to watch. First of all, the cast is strictly divided into two categories: 99.9% of the characters are single-digit IQ NPCs, while Elizabeth, Roselia, and maybe one other person are the only ones capable of actually thinking, planning, or doing anything. The King, the Prince, and the rest of the supporting cast are lazily written just to force the plot forward without an ounce of logic.
Furthermore, our MC Elizabeth essentially has two completely disconnected personalities. One moment she is genuinely caring and good, and the next she is purely evil and wants to slaughter everyone; there is simply no natural transition to explain these jarring…
Read at the sourceVannwyn
story: 8/10
this is just Saihito but if you removed the love interest then replaced religion feud with politics and economics, basically it's a revenge story featuring a strong independent girlboss MC. it's a good thing it doesn't feature any love interest, which made it feel unique with a "breath of fresh air" when compared to other villainess stories following the same generic formula. honestly, there's been quite a lot of villainess stories that feature amazing FMCs with great alluring characteristics, amazing intellect, and overarching influence just to waste it on some boring generic guy whose only purpose is to woo the FMC; which Livid Lady didn't do, which is what makes it great.
what i like about a story is when i genuinely can't predict what's gonna happen next, and it's what Liv…
Read at the sourceyadervasquez14
I honestly like this anime, its a breath of fresh air because we usually get a female MC who get betrayed and basically ends up forgiving everyone who wrong her, but not this she takes revenge and its the best way possible. For those who say its not good clearly have double standards. If MC was a man they'd be praising it saying everyone deserved it. It's not predictable and thats what I liked about this as at first I thought she would go to the empire and fall in love with the prince from the empire (if they had one.
Read at the sourceGaisericc
Possibly one of the worst things I've watched so far. Basically it's just a power fantasy. Everything in this, just revolves around the girl's revenge, which wouldn't be a bad thing. Hell, original GoW was all about revenge, but this shit was just done SO HORRIBLY! That it just felt like it was something a 10 year old girl would write after being forced to do CHORES. The characters just felt so insanely basic that it was almost impossible to even hate them? I didn't even like them or hate them, they genuinely had nothing going for them. Except the MC who was just an edgelord but female and don't even get me started on the antagonists. The villains seemed as if they were just made for the "hero" to look cool. Everything about this was unrealistic, unfulfilling and BORING. I genuinely felt l…
Read at the sourceBrotherCoa
Like it or hate it this is the best villainess show this season (Inept Villainess does not count as it more of a drama than villainess), and unlike many villainess shows this one really does not holds back when the revenge is agaisnt everyone. Before I give review I must note that the realistic grade for this anime should be higher than what it has on MAL, but many were not able to deal with high morality issues that main female lead is willing to go over and as a result many gave it bad grades without even finishing the show.
Animation and music: nothing special. Animation is not superb but it is not bad either, during some of the fighting scenes it can be nice and it is not shy is gore department either. Music is barely noticeable, it is doing it's job but barely.
Overall - industry s…
Read at the sourceMarinate1016
Well this was disappointing. Look, I’m all for a dark revenge story and seeing women get back at scummy men who’ve done them wrong; but when you just start indiscriminately killing innocent civilians to get back at people who wronged you.. you lose me. I really wanted to like this show, it wasn’t a great story to start with, but it was passable. Ellie is pretty, badass and a great businesswoman who wanted to use her business to get back at the kingdom who wrongfully imprisoned her after she did ALL the work of running it. I’m totally fine with taking action against the political and economic leadership of said country, but the sort of stuff Ellie gets up to in this show just feels like edge for the sake of edge and I can’t get with that at all.
Again, I like dark revenge stories, but ther…
Read at the source