Villain Lady's Anthology (or Though I May Be a Villainess, I'll Show You I Can Obtain Happiness!) is an ongoing 2019 manga anthology
Contains the following tropes
In General
- Covers Always Lie: All the volumes have three characters, a "villainess", a prince and another guy in the background, who don't resemble anyone in the short stories and are only exclusive to the cover art.
Volume 1
The Villainess Will Obtain True Love
Author: Nekomata Doremi
What seems like the typical confrontational scene ....don't judge a book by its cover
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Sylvainne, having nothing to lose after the accusation, thinks it's now the time to be straightforward with her feelings for Gilbert. Luckily, Gilbert feels the same way for Sylvainne which makes him realize she couldn't have done the bullying and that the so-called victim Marialle tricked him.
- Establishing Series Moment: While the first is simple and straight-forward in terms of the rest of the following stories, it does set the standard premise of putting a twist on the classic "Reborn as Villainess" Story and the villainess getting their happy endings.
- Foreshadowing: When the classic confrontational scene takes place, it's noted Prince Gilbert did so in a private room and not at a grand ball with hundreds of witnesses and never mentioned being romantically involved with Marialle despite her claims. It turns out he was more concerned over his fiance bullying Marialle which could lead to political consequences than any attachment for the latter and once the truth was out, Gilbert declares he always loved Sylvainne and arrested Marialle for lying to him. This was even alluded to before the story proper in his character bio where he's described as "rational and treats everyone fairly".
- Next Life as a Fictional Character: Marialle turns out to be one when she starts rambling about how the game is not going the way supposed to be as she was escorted by the Royals for getting in the way of Prince Gilbert and Sylvainne. However, the two brushed it off as they embraced each other for the first time as mutual lovers.
- Just Friends: While Gilbert might be a bit too chummy with Marialle, he doesn't see her in a romantic light at all but his friendly, laidback attitude towards her causes Marialle to mistake it for love. He immediately rejects the notion that he and Marialle are in love when the latter starts insisting they are and banishes her once he realises she tricked him as he's genuinely in love with his fiance Sylvainne.
The Tale of a Noble Girl who will go to a Monastery after her Engagement Annulment
Author: Yuuki Satoru
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Dahlia, pent-up anger and stress, All-Loving Heroine, there's only so much she can take before snapping and telling them how she really feels
- Did Not Get the Girl: nobody gets the girl, reputations are tarnished once the truth comes out, "The Reason You Suck" Speech
- Dump Them All: harshly rejected all her "suitors" on the spot, deserved it
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Dahlia, having enough of the crap towards her step-sister, calls out everyone in the ballroom about having no idea what they have been through, an especially scatting one to her self-imposed harem, basically telling them to drop dead and never speak to her ever again
- Unwanted Harem: never love them in the first place, declared themselves as such because Dahlia didn't had the guts to speak out for abusing their power and authority over her, only were interested in her breasts, had their egos completely shattered by Dahlia
I Will Definitely Get My Engagement Anulled! ~ I Will Become a Villainess!
Author: Reiga Utsuho
- Babies Ever After: Once the conflict was resolved... two children
Shall We Walked Hand in Hand Down the Flowery Path of Evil?
Author: Mafuyubi
- Depraved Bisexual: The Queen of Solier who is on her 13th consort, happily accepts concubines, "I shall personally take great pleasure in ensuring they are both well cared for"
Volume 2
The Villainess Laughs Innocently
Author: Yoruru
- Absurdly Powerful Student Council: The five members who make up the student council of the Luciano Boarding School are all prestigious, accomplished and influential individuals, including the crown prince himself, who have the power to expel anyone they find guilty of. In spite of their positions, this did not phase Tia in the slightest since she had proof that she could not be held accountable for any of these incidences and they were wasting her time. All they could do nothing but watch her walk away to plan for her engagement with Prince Algeron.
- Break the Haughty: The crown prince could do nothing but collapse to his knees in utter despair upon the reveal his beloved Sophia only sees him as a gullible tool and gets taken away to be executed offscreen and his former fiancee Tia is better off in every way he isn't. In addition, it turns out that breaking up his engagement with Tia to be with Sophia made the king have second thoughts about his first son's ability to rule and pass the throne to one of his siblings instead, leaving him as a foolish, unimportant royal with nothing to his name.
- Curtains Match the Window: Tia has silvery white hair and eyes that sparkle the same.
- Killed Offscreen: Sophia's fate was narrated in a panel where her attempt to harm Tia, the fiancee of Emporer Algeron, turns out to be a capital offense in the Calborne Empire that results in immediate execution without trial.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Sophia who has been playing the innocent bullied heroine throughout the story finally shows her true and ugly colors at the end... never loved the prince
- Next Life as a Fictional Character: Sophia, wanted to achieve the reverse harem ending, rambling nonsense, taken away by the guards, but Tia unlocked the secret character before her as evidenced by the hairpin he gifted her
The Art of Rebuilding a Nation Begins with a Broken Engagement!
Author: Hazuki
- Meaningful Name: Maryann has the last name of "Pawnsualley", meaning she was nothing but an Unwitting Pawn in the Spellmaster's scheme.
- Perspective Flip: The first story in the anthology told by someone other than the "villainess". In this case, it's Lysim Patrick, the "villainess"'s childhood friend and future fiance who is also the first guy protagonist.
- High Priest: The Spellmaster, power to predict the future, all bogus/a hoax, serve and manipulate the royal family for many generations, Phony Psychic
- Phony Psychic: extortion of the country's funds, the first Spellmaster was lucky to have her prediction true by sheer coincidence and timing, Maryann Pawnsualley became a saintess because of a fake prediction saying so and thus holds no godly or political power
You Were Set Up, You Know?
Author: Yuki Yukiko
- Batman Gambit: Cheryl was the one to spread the baseless rumor of Alexandra bullying Maria despite there being no evidence and let the gossiping ladies do all the work, knowing Prince Martin would fall for these lies. So when the confrontational scene happens and Prince Martin breaks up with his ever-suffering fiance, Maria finally stands up for herself and testifies over who was actually bullying her. He ends up losing the only chance to the throne and disowned.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Prince Martin requests his father the king to annul his engagement with Alexandra Hodger so he can be with Maria but doesn't expect to be stripped of all his titles and status as royalty immediately afterwards when this becomes the final straw for both the king and Alexandra putting up with his atrocious womanizing behaviour any longer.
- Character Narrator: The story is told from the perspective of Cheryl, the villainess' younger sister who watches from the sidelines the events as it unfolds and narrates the backstory with her own comments on the matter.
- Foreshadowing: Maria is seen scared and in tears at the confrontational scene but her eyes are looking at the first Prince Martin rather than her supposed tormentor Alexandra then her expression turns into an ice-cold glare when he holds her hand. That's because Maria never loved him in the first place and he only assumed it since she was way too intimidated by his privilege and status as royalty to speak up and point out the true culprits.
- Good All Along: In an anthology where heroines are usually the bad guys who framed the "villainess" of bullying and other wrongdoings, Maria turned out to be this since she's actually scared of speaking up and defying his royal highness who she doesn't even love in the first place and even became close friends with Alexandra once the misunderstanding has been cleared up.
- Laser-Guided Karma: ruined his life on a baseless rumor, exposed as an irresponsible womanizer who will never be king, only useful as a servant boy once he stops complaining and does hard work for the first time in his life
The Villainess Exploded
Author: Bouro
- Driven to Suicide: Celius was about to slash his own throat when Camelotte "exploded" in front of him but luckily she managed to stop him before he could carry out the deed.
Volume 4
Break off the engagement? I didn't do anything, directly or indirectly. But when I looked into the matter...Who would have thought it would end up this way?!
Author: Jinkazuta
- Parasol of Pain: Harriet's parasol is not only just for looks and keeping the shade out. It's incredibly sturdy to be used as a baton sword when One-Hit KO-ing thugs as well as being a tricked-out rifle enough to shoot one round straight through someone's chest.
- Ambiguously Gay: Victoria was under the impression that the crown prince and Harriet's fiance [...], we never know if this is true or not, while they do seem close, but most probably the delusion of Victoria
- One-Woman Army: Harriet, Kicking Ass in All Her Finery with her trusty tricked-out umbrella, singlehandedly takes out six grown men/military cadets wielding swords at once
A Story of Being Unable to Help Being in Love
Author:
- Demoted to Extra: The prince and heroine promptly vanished and lived their lives as no-named villagers
Nightmare Graduation Party
Author:
- Here We Go Again!: only to be pursued by three suitors right off the bat like those otome games. Her lifegoal of getting peace and quiet would not be achieved anytime soon.
Allow Me To Be...The Villainess!!!
Author: Kawano Akiko
- Balanced Harem: her supposed romantic rival, the prince and the demon all fall in love with him, end having a tea party absolutely adoring her
Volume 5
It Would Seem You've Broken Off your Engagement in Order to Marry Me, But I have No Intention of Marrying You
Author: Usui Tsukasa
- Art Shift: Raven was drawn with more detail when telling Din off
Volume 6
Overthrown for My Younger Sister, but She's a Ticking Time Bomb
Author:
- Ironic Name: Lucy Darlington, darling is the last thing you want to call her
