Akuyaku Reijou Level 99: Watashi wa Ura Boss desu ga Maou de wa Arimasen • Villainess Level 99 - Episode 12

The ending left me a bit dissatisfied to be honest. Okay, they tied the stooge couple (prince x Alicia), killed the demon lord, had Alicia backstab Yumiella (instead of the two stooges)... but what about Eleonora?
Small cute detail: Ryuu following Patrick's orders. It shows how much time Patrick and Yumiella spent together, to the point that her dragon-sized puppy trusts him.
- Understandable. If/when we see Season 2, we will have A LOT more on Eleonora, i hope we do.
  That's the problem with ongoing stories, it doesn't help much the anime-only people when told "Yeah, what you want to see is on Book X which might never be adapted to anime". And in this case it HAS to be on the books because the manga is behind the anime, the novels are the ones multiple books ahead of both.
  I do still recommend going to the books though, up to at least Book 3 which is my favorite of what we have so far.
  
  If Sasaki & Pii-chan can get a S2, then there's hope for every show.

And here it is, the end. I will be sad to see this one go. Yumiella was such a fun character, largely thanks to the great VA work by Fairouz Ai. When she was trying to convince the boys to save Alicia at the end, her voice cracked me up.
I will say that the way this fight plays out is a bit different in the source that I read. In the original source, there isn't any kind of "game plot" driving force that controls Alicia's actions. Instead, Alicia takes it upon herself to kill Yumiella out of fear of her power and dark magic. I don't particularly mind this change because it makes more sense that Alicia wouldn't want to kill Yumiella at this point due to the friendship they have tried to build. Alicia might still see Yumiella as some ominous dark mass, but she is a heroine, she should be prone to trying to see the best in people. The only thing I don't really like about the change is that this "game force" trying to right the story just feels a bit lazy. I almost wish it actually was the demon lord controlling her, that would have been more interesting imo.
I am not holding my breath for a season 2, but if we do get one, there is plenty of content to adapt. This first season just adapted the first LN volume, so there is lots more material to go. However, I haven't read too much further than this in the source (and really don't remember it well past this point), so I can't speak too much to how good the content might be. I will say, that if this humor sensibility from the show connected with you, then it is pretty spot on to what I read of the source. So, I would recommend checking out the LNs.
- The voice acting at the end there really sent me lol.
  Depending on how they handle the changes to the new plot, the "game plot" control might be addressed later in the story. If the manga is following these changes, we might actually get to see it even if we never get a season 2. At the very least, I don't think the demon lord cursing Alicia would be very in character for him and would probably invalidate a lot of his characterization.
  I've read up to volume 3 and I'm going to start reading volume 4 soon when I actually find time. This has been a blast honestly and I'm also really happy that there were enough people who enjoyed the series that I could have these discussion threads here!
  
  The voice acting at the end there really sent me
  Where?
- Up to book 4 here. I BADLY want the anime to succeed at least enough to let them add two more seasons, JUST so that we see Book 3 adapted. I REALLY wanna see that animated, was my fav of the 4 we have translated so far. And as a bonus, S2 should have an episode where we will see drunk Yumiella, that alone makes it worth adapting the whole thing 😂
  Still, until we have word that they have greenlit more seasons i recommend people to go to the books (the manga still hasn't finished Book 1 so the anime is further ahead).

I wonder what level the Demon Lord was?
For all that time warring and plotting, he seemed pretty easy for Yumiella...
Alicia & Co. trying to defeat Yumiella if she was the actual hidden boss would be difficult indeed.
"A trash game" as someone else might say.
- Yumiella said something like "it takes a party of lvl 60 to defeat the demon lord", and assuming an exponential exp to level function (as with most video games), I suppose the demon lord should be around level 75 or so. It's just a quick estimation based on a half-remembered line from the anime though. But regardless, given that Patrick has just gotten to level 60, and was implied to be the hardest-working among the cast, I suppose Alicia and co's average level is less than that. Perhaps level 50?
  Alicia & Co. trying to defeat Yumiella if she was the actual hidden boss would be difficult indeed.
  I'm curious as to what might lead to this. Perhaps Yumiella herself got roped in by the story to become the hidden boss. Perhaps Patrick gets killed, with Yumiella herself being framed for it. At any rate, she'd easily be casted as the true end boss, and entire armies across all kingdoms and nations will be sent to defeat her.
  
  I'm curious as to what might lead to this.
  I was speculating that if playing the game, an actual player fighting the hidden boss Yumiella would be unfairly difficult if she was level 99.

Yumiella really needs a foil, someone to point out or contrast her power and dorkness. Early on that was everyone, but by the end that roll with the cast generally getting used to her, that role would once fell to Alicia.
LN Alicia reacted the way things in the game should have been. She blamed Yumiella for setting traps in the dungeon because the “real” yumiella would do so. She backstabbed Yumiella’s because the real yumiella was the final boss. With Anime Alicia retconned into a generic kindhearted heroine, that role was lost, and I feel like it made the show dull.
What really bugs me is I think they could made this work better, if only they had used the “will of the game” more. Introduce it early. Have it speak up through Alicia and play more of the role removed from anime Alicia. Better yet, introduce it as a voice in Alicia’s head and do some foreshadowing…
- I agree that there should have been more foreshadowing about the game plot driving force but apart from that I actually like the changes to Alicia's character. When I read the LN I really felt like it was a bit absurd that Alicia would act on her fear of Yumiella and that ended up making me feel like she was ultimately an uninteresting character.
  As for the foil, I think Patrick fills that role pretty well imo, and the contrast only gets funnier as the story progresses.
- I agree with@eldritch_lich having the "game force" compel Alicia to backstab Yumiella instead of her paranoia, preserves Alicia as a likeable character.
  But doing this also might set up inconsistencies with the LN plot that have to be covered up with more of the show writers' own fiction.
  I haven't read the LNs, so I don't know if that will come into play later.
  And of course assuming we actually get S2+

Negatives
I remembered Patrick being of wind attribute, so it seemed like a mistake when he used an earth spell - unless he has dual attributes?
Also, assuming Eleonora knows about Ed x Alicia's progress in relationship, she appeared to have gotten over it somehow.
Positive
This simple line from Yumiella is so sweet:
- Another negative I can think of is that there wasn't the cute ED with Eleonora and Yumiella. However, as a positive, we did get an insert song of the original, joke OP from episode 1.
  Iirc, Patrick can use both Earth and Wind. I think they showed him using earth magic to help hold the front line in an earlier episode while using wind magic to issue orders. Best boy Patrick is a man of many talents.
  
  You made me go back to episode 1 and watch the fake OP again.
  Seeing Ryu as a yellow light magic dragon was a cute detail!
  He's got fur along his spine instead of... triangle things.
  
  Can't blame you for missing the ED, it's damn cute indeed.

It's a bit different from the source material but honestly I actually like that Alicia's character got a glow up. "Game force" feels a bit like a cop out but based on the events of volume 3, I have a theory.
I'm not sure how likely a season 2 is but there are a lot of scenes that I really want to see animated.
I haven't yet gotten around to reading volume 4, and I might give the manga a try if it's following the new plot with Alicia.
Also that moment between Yumiella and Patrick was soo cute ❤️

This anime started off pretty strong, but the last 4 or 5 episodes saw a decline in quality imo. It start slowing down to almost a crawl, some episodes almost feeling like filler, and then at the final 2 episodes, it's like the studio realised 'oh shit, only 2 episodes left to wrap things up' and rushed the story like hell. That especially hurt my enjoyment of this anime. 11 and 12 just felt like summaries, far removed from the rest of the series. Started off as a 7 to a 7,5, ended at a 6 to 6,5 for me.
- I agree that the pacing could have been done better. It's been a while since I read it, but I remember thinking that the fight against the demon lord happened quite suddenly (and ended just as quickly) in the source as well.
  
  Fair. It's not just the fight itself though. Episode 11 is the lead up to the fight. From Yumiella's parents trying to assassinate her and solving it in half an ep and then the entire lead up to the final ep being the rest of the ep, even though a lot happened there. Both could've used at least an episode (or even 2).