The manhwa about to make a run at the isekai genre isn’t Omniscient Reader. It isn’t an action series at all. It’s a villainess story, and it just confirmed an anime that’s already in production.
Villains Are Destined to Die announced the adaptation on August 8, one month after wrapping its main story. The news came attached to the final main story chapter on Piccoma, delivered as a message from the creators themselves.
Not a maybe. Not a development deal. Greenlit and in production.
The subgenre that keeps almost breaking through
The last couple of years have been good to villainess and otome isekai anime. From Bureaucrat to Villainess, May I Ask For One Final Thing, and Doga Kobo’s Though I Am An Inept Villainess all landed. Good shows, all of them.
And yet stacked against mainstream isekai and fantasy, the villainess and otome isekai genres, which mostly mean the same thing at this point, still haven’t made their mark as anime. Not definitively. Not the way the genre’s readers know it could.
Villains Are Destined to Die is the biggest villainess manhwa of recent years, and it might be the one that drags the whole subgenre into the spotlight by itself.
What the creators actually said
The message from the series’ writer and creator of the original web novel:
“Hello, this is Gwon Gyeoeul, author of the novel Villains Are Destined to Die. Thanks to the tremendous support from our readers, the anime adaptation of this work has finally been decided. I am very happy that we will be able to deliver the characters moving vividly on screen! And congratulations on the long-awaited completion of the manga! Please look forward to the Villains Are Destined to Die anime.”
The webtoon’s illustrator, SUOL, followed:
“Thanks to the warm support we have received from our readers, the TV anime adaptation of Villains Are Destined to Die has been decided! In addition to the completion of the work, I am thrilled to be able to deliver this wonderful news. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who is breathing new life into the work. Please look forward to and support the Villains Are Destined to Die anime which is currently in production!”
Because the announcement landed alongside the Japanese release of the final chapter, the adaptation is likely a Japanese production rather than a Korean aeni. The studio hasn’t been revealed.
The track record is not encouraging
Japanese villainess manga get anime adaptations every year. Korean manhwa adaptations are still rare, and the ones that made it haven’t stuck. Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion. Who Made Me A Princess. Doctor Elise. Three swings, three misses, at least in terms of matching the source material or pulling in a mainstream audience.
So the precedent says be careful.
But no other otome isekai manhwa has arrived carrying this much momentum. Villains Are Destined to Die closed out a six-year run with a perfect rating, shared an award with Solo Leveling: Ragnarok, and racked up 138 million cumulative views across KakaoPage, Tapas and Tappytoon.
Why this one has a shot
The bar here is simple. If the anime can do justice to the series’ gorgeous visuals, there’s no reason it won’t be a success. It could break the streak and finally put otome isekai on the map.
And the timing helps. Isekai anime has felt stagnant for a while now, running the same engine into the ground. Something like Villains Are Destined to Die could be the change of air the genre needs.
Six years, a perfect rating and 138 million views walk into an animation studio nobody has named yet.
