7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! Review

No, This Is Not an Isekai

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! (Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsu suru / ループ7回目の悪役令嬢は、元敵国で自由気ままな花嫁生活を満喫する) is based on a light novel. How did you know?

The series is about Rishe Irmgard Weitzner, a noblewoman who’s died 6 times by the start of the series. Well, actually, the series starts with her 6th death. So, this is her 7th shot at life. But, she doesn’t restart from the beginning each time she dies.

Rishe finds herself in a situation reminiscent of Subaru in Re:Zero. Every time she dies, she restarts from a specific point — when her fiancé (a crown prince) calls off the wedding. And, he doesn’t only call off the wedding. He already has a new fiancée lined up and he makes some accusations about Rishe.

Okay, so why did I title this section “No, This Is Not an Isekai?” Well, it’s because I often found myself forgetting that fact. Rishe feels like she’s from our world. And, the whole thing about her restarting when she dies plays into that. But, she’s not. This is a pure fantasy series.

Something interesting about 7th Time Loop, though, is how Rishe dies. Her cause of death was the same each time — sort of. How exactly she died differed. But, the core cause of her death was the same. Five years after restarting she dies due to a war started by Arnold Hein.

So, imagine Rishe’s surprise when, at the start of her 7th life, Arnold Hein proposes to her. She’s not quite sure why he’s interested in her. But what does she have to lose? Maybe if she’s close to him, she’ll survive his war.

Is Rishe’s Life Really that Carefree?

There are three lies in the title of this series. In this section, I want to discuss one of them, that Rishe’s 7th life is carefree. Then, in the next section, I’ll go over the other two lies.

The title of the series says that Rishe enjoys a carefree, married life. But, does she really? I wouldn’t say so. For starters, she doesn’t even get married in this season. I’m sure she gets married to Arnold at some point. However, it’s not in season one. This is more like her “carefree,” engaged life.

When you read the title, though, the carefree part sticks out more than the married part. And, it would have you think that this is a slice of life series. It’s not. There’s quite a bit more drama than I was anticipating.

Some of this drama obviously comes from Rishe’s engagement to Arnold. But, I’d argue that most of it comes from Rishe’s previous lives. In each of her lives, she’s done something completely different. She was a merchant, herbalist, alchemist, maid, knight, etc. She’s done a bit of everything.

How does that lead to drama, though? Well, in some cases, it’s her knowledge from a previous life that causes trouble. For example, her swordsmanship and skills as a maid. And other times, it’s the people she knows from her previous lives. For example, the merchant Kaine Tully and the alchemist Michel Hévin.

Michel Hévin, in particular, causes a lot of drama. Other than Arnold Hein, I’d call Michel the main antagonist of the season. And, the stuff Rishe has to do to stop Michel is anything but carefree. Her previous six lives were what I’d call carefree. This time, she’s getting herself into all kinds of trouble.

I Was Wrong About This Anime

Alright, let’s talk about the other two lies from the title. Rishe isn’t a villainess. And, Arnold isn’t her worst enemy. So, basically, the entire title is a lie. But, how can those two things be lies? And, why does it matter if they are?

Starting with Rishe, she’s literally not a villainess in any way. She never did any evil deeds and nobody ever actually calls her evil. I guess you could say that she’s a “villainess” because her ex-fiancé made up some rumors about her. But, I don’t think we even ever heard what those rumors were.

Aside from him, nobody thinks poorly of Rishe. The kind (the father of her ex-fiancé) has no problem with her. And, everyone she meets likes her. “Villainess” being in the title made me think this was going to be another series like My Next Life as a Villainess. It’s not like that at all.

Okay, but what about Arnold being Rishe’s worst enemy? Well, as far as I know, the only time Rishe actually met Arnold was during her 7th life. So, they’re not exactly enemies. The only previous time she “met” him was when he personally killed her, ending her 6th life.

Now, you could argue that since he caused the war that killed her six times, he’s her enemy. And, you could argue that him actually killing her once means the same thing. But, it wasn’t personal in either case.

Arnold didn’t know who Rishe was. He didn’t target her, even the last time. She was an enemy combatant whom he killed — that’s it. Even from Rishe’s point of view, Arnold isn’t her enemy. She wants to prevent him from starting his war this time. But, that doesn’t make him her “worst enemy.”

Final Thoughts

Surprisingly, I gave 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! a 7/10. I expected to be giving this series a 4 based on the title alone. But, it was actually a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.

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