Villains Are Destined to Die is a novel and villainess manhwa with uniquely dark themes and humanly flawed characters. It follows a gamer protagonist who is reborn into the body of Penelope Eckhart, the villainess character in the otome game she had been playing. While similar villainess stories like My Next Life as the Villainess focus on romance and are generous with fluff, Villains are Destined to Die dives immediately into a more gritty and desperate struggle for survival from its main character.

Penelope is calculating, and at times even ruthless, in prioritizing her survival over feelings. This makes her far from the typical heroine, allowing Penelope to reclaim the aura of a villainess as one focused on self-preservation and even self-esteem, to the extent the reader is encouraged to cheer her on through (much-deserved) verbal lashings to characters who have misjudged her.

Villains are Destined to Die has been at the forefront of a wave of similar villainess heroines with incredible human depth. This manhwa deserves to be brought to life in an anime adaptation, as one of the first to expand the scope of the genre and the potential characterizations of its heroines.

This Manhwa Isn't Just Massively Popular, It's Groundbreaking

An Anime Adaptation Would Bring This Incredible Story To An Even Larger Audience

Villains Are Destined to Die has been a standout success on Tapas, and has achieved enough following to have the manhwa beautifully published and readily available in the ever-growing manga sections of bookstores like Barnes & Noble everywhere. Its loyal reader base proved audiences' willingness to embrace these more cold characters with the same love and fervor they do other romance-focused characters and love interests in any otome isekai.

The unique approach of Villains Are Destined to Die allowed for a wider array of personalities and flawed traits in heroines, which creates interesting and unique relationship developments and conflicts for the story to delve into. But even aside from its popularity and large reader base eager for an adaptation, this story deserves to be brought to life to expand the scope of villainess anime available.

The majority of current villainess anime puts intense focus on romance and harem tropes and features protagonists that still largely follow the heroine model of other genres, such as the extremely wholesome Catarina Claes. Penelope Eckhart is a prime example of the way so many manhwas create villainesses with unparalleled depth by diverting from those norms. Manhwas like this one truly deserve an opportunity to showcase these complex, flawed characters in anime adaptations.

Penelope Eckhart Is A Unique Villainess For The Genre

Webcomic By Gwon Gyeoeul And SUOL

Though common tropes are still present and there is a bit of the usual heroine plot armor, the story is stark in Penelope's single-minded prioritization of completing a route. More than that, she is willing to be downright unlikeable in interactions with characters she feels she cannot raise an affection score with and thus don't serve her, evidenced by her initial interactions with her brother Reynold. Her willingness to be blunt and almost cruel when defending herself instills a strange iration, though her choices can also be frustrating.

By leaning into a fully human, flawed protagonist like Penelope who experiences immense growth over the course of the story in slowly learning to respect and trust her feelings, this manhwa more directly challenges and subverts the idea of the villainess character itself.

Villains Are Destined to Die endears the reader to some of the traits typically associated with the villainess type of character in a new, desirable connotation, and offers incredible nuance and depth. For these reasons the villainess manhwa is more than deserving of an anime adaptation, and would add sorely needed variety to what is currently available.