Villainess

The basic Tropes of the Otome Isekai Villainess Genre[]

1. The Main Character (MC) often has foreknowledge of the events to come. Our MC wakes up in a novel she read, an Otome game she played, or she is reincarnated to a younger version of herself after an untimely end the first time around in her life. Sometimes she becomes aware of her situation as an infant, sometimes as a young child, and sometimes not until the moment of her "bad ending."
2. Our Main Character almost always wants to avoid the "bad ending." Using the foreknowledge of the book, game, or previous life, our MC almost always wants to avoid the bad end she knows awaits her (there are a few exceptions).
3. The setting is Lords and Ladies. Where in Shounen Isekai it is almost always a Fantasy RPG Action Adventure world, for Otome Isekai it is almost always a Victorian-esque world of Lords and Ladies; beautiful dresses, tea parties, noble lords, knights and chivalry.
4. The Story is about Relationships. The stories themselves almost always focus on the relationships between characters and the drama/romance, even though they are often set in a fantasy world. While shounen stories like "My Life Reincarnated As a Slime" has our hero out fighting monsters and building cities, series like "Bakarina" will have our heroine fighting fate and building relationships.
5. The Female Gaze. These series are written for a female audience. The men are usually quite pretty and drawn for a female gaze. The stories rarely focus on combat or have shounen power creep. A series might meet all of the other criteria, but if it isn't intended for a female audience then it doesn't quite fit in here.