Are we tired of Isekai stories yet? Well, yes, and no. ^_^ The basic zero-reincarnates-as-a-hero premise was always pretty sad and got tired quickly,but that had more to do with the nature of their sad little power fantasies.   We’ve seen many stories, which still have room room for creativity. Even aside from a blockbuster like I’m In Love With The Villainess, there are  number of isekai and reverse isekai stories we’re reading now that have some cleverness or kindness or both. And, when a story both leans into its premise with gusto and has fun doing it, we’ll definitely make time for it.

Which brings us to From Bureaucrat to Villainess, Dad’s Been Reincarnated! streaming on HIDIVE.  This anime is based on a manga written by Ueyama Michiro  for Young King Ours magazine. Tondabayashi Kenzaburo is a 52 year-old salaryman who, after saving a little boy from being hit by a truck, finds himself in the body of Grace Auvergne, the villainess of the game his daughter is obsessed with, “Magical Academy: Love & Beast.”

Kenzaburo may not know much about otome games, but he has a lifetime of formal office manners, and with Grace’s “Elegance cheat” everything he does is translated flawlessly into faux European-esque, courtlyish, noble-like behavior.

Unlike the game’s original high-handed, cruel Grace as villainess character, Kenzburo practically adopts the game’s main character, Anna Doll, showering her with Dad advice for life and propping her up, so that the game villainess quickly becomes a beloved mentor. And, as a result of this new Grace being so kind AND beautiful AND talented Anna (and the other characters) develop an open crush on Grace that Kenzaburo doesn’t really see as a crush, so he is not opposed. Nor are we. The opening credits give us a glimpse of a uniformed Grace and gushing princess Anna at a formal dance and yes, I would like that, please. ^_^

This could easily be a creepy, tiresome story, but instead, it is wholesome and incredibly charming. This new Grace is making a positive impression all around the school, creating fans at high and low places. There are two running gags –  that Kenzaburo/Grace can’t remember the male love interests’ name  and that Kenzaburo is a HUGE otaku. Both are harmless, giggle-making fun.

The end credits deserve some explanation. Matsudaira Ken aka, Matsuken, was an actor who became popular in the late 70s’ who was best known for his samurai roles. He later had a hit song with Matsuken Samba II which you should totally watch the video of, so you can get an idea of what is going on with the end credits.  ^_^ The anime version leans away from the samurai towards the samba and is performed with perfection by the voice actors for Grace and Kenzaburo, M.A.O and Inoue Kazuhiko, respectively.
 
All in all, this series is very silly. An entertaining spin on the Anime->Isekai->Villainess sub-sub genre. And very welcome for finding one more new spin on an already played out trend, with just enough Yuri to get our attention here at Okazu. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – 2 for Anna’s crush

While I’m waiting for *good* Sci-fi Yuri to be the hot new sub-sub genre, I can definitely live with this. ^_^