From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated!

Isekai has developed a shojo villainess subgenre where the protagonist is reincarnated or otherwise become the villain in an otome, or female-targeted romance video game. Most often, the protagonist aims to avoid the villainess’s fate in the game, such as My Next Life as a Villainess. In the process, they shift the game’s love interests away from the scripted heroine toward themselves. Most of these shojo games involve a reverse harem.

Now enter From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated! to satirize the tropes of this subgenre. It all begins with a truck in good isekai fashion. The cosmic truck hits a 52-year-old bureaucrat and father named Kenzaburo Tondabayashi as he saves a boy. He wakes up in the otome game his daughter had been playing, Magical Academy: Love & Beast, as the villainess Grace Auvergne. Kenzaburo is an old-school otaku, who is married to another old-school otaku, so while he’s not up on the modern nerd culture, he understands how the tropes work and has watched his equally otaku daughter play the game a bit. Some of the comedy comes from him making deep references to obscure manga and anime–obscure for Japanese viewers and likely even more obscure for modern Western anime fans. Which is the joke! Beyond his experience as a bureaucrat, as a married man, and as a father, he also has an overpowered skill. This comedy is an isekai, after all. His cheat skill is the “Elegance Cheat” which allows any physical action he does as Grace to be done with the upmost elegance. When combined with his experience, the skill becomes a cheat indeed.

Kenzaburo’s actions as he navigates through the game are seen by his wife and daughter, who, at times, are able to assist him through the game. They are able to read his thoughts on screen. He often goes into “dad mode” as he tries to act as he thinks a villainess might act, which only ends with him endearing himself to the characters and changing the game’s story. He tries to support the otome’s scripted heroine, Anna Doll, as they study and live at a magic school. He decides to support Anna in the pursuit of the various romantic options, only in the process he “levels up” all of their affection scores, including Anna’s, toward his Grace persona. He can’t help but look after Anna as a father would and looks at the game’s suitors for who would be the most compatible with her happiness. Of course, being an otome, all of the suitors have a character-defining quirk, like making bad puns.

Kenzaburo’s mannerisms make Grace a role model for other students, starting with the first episode. The school tasks the students with serving themselves lunch. Most of the students are nobility, so they have servants to do that sort of work for them. Many aren’t willing the lower themselves, but Kenzaburo as Grace carries her food elegantly and complements the chefs, prompting the other students to follow her lead. Most of Kenzaburo’s natural behavior becomes conduct the other students begin to emulate because of Grace’s social pedigree. He introduces an abacus to help Anna, works with her to develop her magic and Grace’s magic in the process. This increase’s Anna’s social status–she’s a commoner in the standard otome trope–and also makes Grace a target for gossipers. Kenzaburo handles these backbiters with fatherly sternness and turns them to favor both Grace and Anna instead.

Unknown to Kenzaburo, he’s in a coma in a hospital. After his wife and daughter realize his consciousness is in the game and that they are able to help him, they surmise reaching the game’s ending will free him from the game. In one scene, his daughter helps him summon a familiar which acts as a magic amplifier in the game. He summons a dragon with duel-attributes, fire and water, which compliment Anna’s wind attribute Pegasus. He uses his familiar to help make Anna shine as the game’s heroine, but his effort creates more affection toward Grace.

Laced throughout this are Dad jokes, both literal Dad jokes and jokes about Kenzaburo’s fatherliness. The contrast between his inner self and Grace leads to scenes which made me laugh. His old-school geekiness is also amusing throughout the series. As a protagonist, Kenzaburo stands as refreshing. He acts his age even within Grace’s teen skin. He’s firm and has an inner “Dad voice” which translates into a firm but softer voice through Grace. Many of the best jokes relate to moments he feels proud of the characters, particularly Anna, during a situation. He’s a genuinely good, geek guy. And his positive relationships with his wife and daughter comes through as they react to what they see him doing within the game.

Most isekai stories fall into junk-food quality stories. There are exceptions, and From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated! isn’t one. The story doesn’t subvert any of the villainess isekai subgenre tropes. It plays and has fun with them, but the story is comedic junk food. It’s a freshly baked paczki. There’s no depth here, but not all stories need depth. Kenzaburo is comfortable with himself and seasoned. The teen nonsense provides fodder for jokes and dadisms. Kenzaburo is married and has a daughter, so the story avoids the tired “male discovering a female body” trope. He has public experience, showing how being a geek or an otaku doesn’t mean you have to be a shy socially awkward personality. Kenzaburo is awkward, but in the way a 52-year-old dad comfortable with himself can be awkward. If there’s any lesson to take from this story, it’s that you can grow out of the socially awkward, self-conscious phase of being an otaku or geek and become a married comfortable-in-your-skin parent if you choose. But the story doesn’t sell or preach this idea. Kenzaburo is just himself in an outlandish situation.

If you enjoy isekai or comedies, From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated! is worth a bite. It’s junk food, as I said. I found the story an enjoyable and amusing way to relax after a long workday.