I have been a little desperate for the cozy; not only is the world (you know, gestures at the state of things), but there’s been some other unfortunately timed drama beyond my control in my life as well. Cozy mindless manga to the rescue! My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Is definitely cozy. The friendship angle always wins, and nothing bad lasts for more than a few pages. In volume 9 of the manga, Katarina is happily awaiting the end of the game she’s been reincarnated into successfully, meaning graduation from magic school. But plot twist! Turns out there was a sequel game, and it looks like she has to navigate through that, but this time without ever having played the game in her previous mundane life.
I still find it irritating that Katarina’s 18 (ish) and still beyond childish about things like food and personal relationships. I get that she’d rather be friends with everyone than choose a romantic partner, but this is going into the realm of intentional ignorance, and that’s frustrating because it means zero character growth. Some of the other characters also are getting frustrated, and one reveals this in one of the less appealing tropes, but it’s over with no real harm done in about 2 frames. The thing about everyone trying to borrow a dress is also kind of childish when everyone is supposed to be high society nobility and 18-20ish years old.
To be fair, I’ve seen the first anime season and read the light novels up to about volume 12, so I know where the story is going for the most part. The bonus identity swap story is a little light on content, but the premise is kind of silly in a way that I kind of wish had gotten more attention (there could have been a lot more fun with the swapped identities).
It’s not a perfect story, but the emphasis on friends over all else is nice right now. Seeing how the story get to where I know it’s generally going but maybe in a slightly different way is also kind of nice right now.