A brand new key visual has been released.
The official X (formerly Twitter) account of the upcoming anime “Though I Am an Inept Villainess” has revealed a brand new key visual and its 12 July, 2026 premiere date. Crunchyroll is set to simulcast the anime episodes in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, CIS, and the Indian Subcontinent, as they are released.
Though I Am an Inept Villainess
Premiere date: 12 July, 2026
Animation studio: Dōga Kōbō
Streaming platform; Crunchyroll
Who are the cast and staff members of Though I Am and Inept Villainess?
The previously announced cast members of the anime are:
- Manaka Iwami as Kō Reirin
- Natsumi Kawaida as Shu Keigetsu
- Makoto Furukawa as Ei Gyōmei
- Yūichiro Umehara as Shin-u
- Hana Hishikawa as Riirii
- Farahnaz Nikray as Kō Tōsetsu
Mitsuke Yamazaki directs the anime at studio Doga Kobo, with Yoshiko Nakamura handling series composition. Ai Kikuchi designs the characters for the series. Other production staff members include:
- Colour Key Artist: Kei Ishiguro
- Art Director: Seina Yaguchi
- Compositing Director of Photography: Yui Fukuoka
- Editing: Mutsumi Takemiya
- Music: Yukari Hashimoto
- Casting: Makoto Tanimura
- Sound Effects: Yuika Shiraishi
- Audio-Recording Engineer: Toshihiro Hayano
- Recording Assistant: Ryō Kaneko
- Sound Production: Tohokushinsha Film Corporation
What is Though I Am an Inept Villainess about?
The anime is based on the light novel series of the same name written by Satsuki Nakamura, which began serialising in the user-generated website Shōsetsuka ni Narō in July 2020. Ichijinsha began publishing it in print in December of the same year with illustrations by YukiKana. A manga adaptation illustrated by Ei Ohitsuji began serialising in the Monthly Comic Zero Sum magazine in December 2020. Seven Seas Entertainment publishes both the novel and the manga in English. Crunchyroll describes the story as:
As maidens from the Five Clans battle for the Crown Prince’s heart, jealous Keigetsu uses forbidden magic to swap bodies with the beloved Reirin. Switching places does not guarantee happiness for Keigetsu with her new body's ill health leaving her hanging on the verge of death. Meanwhile, Reirin, now wearing the face of a scorned outcast, must answer for Keigetsu’s crimes in a dangerous trial.
The unlikely pair become increasingly entangled in each other’s lives and they will need to work together to survive after discovering the dark conspiracies brewing beneath the palace's genial surface. To confront the deadly threats lurking in the shadows, Reirin must embrace her new identity and defy their expectations of the court's inept villainess.