Though I Am an Inept Villainess

Episode 6

There are no villainesses here. That's been pretty clear for a few episodes now – Keigetsu's no more “evil” than Reirin is unrelentingly “good;” they're just two young women who were forced into roles by the people around them. This week's Though I Am an Inept Villainess shows us not just Keigetsu's childhood, but Reirin's as well, and that shines a bright light on how they ended up where they are.

Reirin's past is perhaps a bit more interesting simply because we got the measure of Keigetsu's before, when she remembered how her parents had committed suicide. (I'm still not 100% certain that they weren't murdered, but that's not important right now.) Yes, it's unthinkably horrible that her mother emotionally abused her as well, locking her in a shed because she was “embarrassing” in ways that Keigetsu can't understand but certainly can internalize, but we basically knew that things were not good for her in that way. Reirin confessing that she put on her Sweet Girl™ persona because it was the easiest way to make others happy, though, is a different kind of awful. Where Keigetsu simply stopped trying to be loved, embracing the idea that she was somehow naturally bad, Reirin threw herself into making sure she was perfect. It may be a lovely memory for the prince that she told him she wears makeup to make other people happy, but for us it should be a flashing red light. Like Keigetsu, she thought that she wasn't enough, and her need to be a people-pleaser is every bit as self-destructive as Keigetsu's anger. Reirin denied herself the chance to be anything other than a perfect girl.

That's why being in Keigetsu's body has been so freeing for her. She's still essentially nice, but it's an authentic kindness that comes from her basic self. Her sheer determination to use the bow to help Keigetsu is genuinely her, but so is the determination with which she goes after the mysterious lady-in-waiting who tried to hurt Leelee. Reirin's a go-getter in truth, and her previous existence simply didn't allow her to do that outside of her own health. And, if we're being fully honest, that's still what she's doing by wanting to help Keigetsu. She may be enjoying life in a healthy body; the other one is still hers. And she has Keigetsu to thank for the swap, so I do think she truly wants to help her – and probably would even if she wasn't dealing with the body swap.

What I'm not sure Reirin wants is the prince. And that's fair; she's never had a choice or the ability to show him anything other than Lady Reirin. I'm not sure Keigetsu really wants the prince either, of course; to her, he's simply the embodiment of success, power, and the tantalizing possibility of being loved. I think the saddest person in this show might actually be him, because he doesn't even have the agency that Keigetsu and Reirin do to switch lives and bodies. He's truly a bird in a gilded cage, and while Keigetsu is now, too, she was able to choose it. (Even if she didn't quite know what “delicate health” actually meant.) And Reirin's flying free, making the most of it with every ounce of stubbornness she possesses. Gyoumei can't even do that; the most he can do is choose which of the five maidens he'll marry – and Keigetsu has taken that choice from him.

I really want to see Reirin and Keigetsu realize that they're on the same side. Both of them have been ill-used by the system, and while Reirin's health played a role, that's no more her fault than the circumstances of their births are Keigetsu and Leelee's. They're part of a system that pits women against each other, and if they team up, they can take steps to dismantle it. By using her earth magic to wield the bow and break what looks very much like a curse (that incense burner is highly suspicious), Reirin has taken the first steps.

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Though I Am an Inept Villainess is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.