“I Enrolled in the Magic Academy…”
What They Say:
Wealthy heiress Catarina Claes is hit in the head with a rock and recovers the memories of her past life. It turns out the world she lives in is the world of the game Fortune Lover, an otome game she was obsessed with in her past life… but she’s been cast as the villain character who tries to foil the protagonist’s romances! The best ending the game has for Catarina is exile, and the worst, death! She’ll have to find a way to avoid triggering the flags of doom, and make her own happy future! The misunderstanding-based screwball love comedy now begins!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The day has finally arrived! It’s time for Catarina to enroll at the magic academy. This is where the real game begins! Once there, Catarina immediately begins thinking about Fortune Lover’s heroine, Maria Campbell. Whether or not Catarina meets her doom will depend on how the romance develops between Maria and the four conquerable characters. Do you know what it’s time for? A strategy meeting inside Catarina’s mind! Many things in the past seven years have differed from the game. The Catarinas decide to analyze the information that they have. First up, Geordo! In the game, he’s not interested in Catarina at all. But now, they get along great! He still won’t break off the engagement though. Gee, I wonder why? It’s not like he’s fallen in love with her or anything. The Catarinas agree that the reason he hasn’t broken it off yet is that he’s using her as an excuse to turn down women. Ah, classic Bakarina. Next up, Keith! He was a frivolous playboy in the game but he’s grown up to be a fine young man. Although, he does still make women swoon with his handsome looks. Alan is up next! He has resolved his inferiority complex with his brother and has blossomed into a wonderful pianist. Unlike the game, his fiancée isn’t attracted to him in the least bit. Oh no, I wonder who Mary is in love with then? It totally can’t be Catarina, right? Anywho, Nicol is basically the same as in the game, silent and expressionless. His devilish charm may have gotten stronger though. But they’ve made friends with his little sister, Sophia! How will all of these changes affect Catarina’s future?
At the assembly to greet the new students, Catarina is frantically searching for Maria. We’re introduced to the student council president, Sirius Dieke. I’m not going to lie, I almost mistyped his name, haha. What am I, a kid!? Anyway, since he’s in the opening, I’m sure he’s going to be an important character in this story. After the assembly is over, Geordo invites Catarina to his room. Of course, Keith is with her. He isn’t too pleased about that. He was hoping for some alone time with her. As if Keith would give him the opportunity to make a move on his sister! While Catarina indulges herself in delicious sweets, Geordo mentions meeting a commoner girl who could use light magic. Uh oh, Catarina almost chokes on a sweet! That’s the very first meeting between Geordo and Maria! It’s also where their romance begins to blossom. Oh no, is it too late already!? Keith remarks that he didn’t think any other girl besides his sister climbs trees. Geordo adds that he’s used to seeing that by now and wasn’t too surprised. Catarina isn’t paying attention to any of this though. Too many thoughts are flooding her mind! Later that night, she resolves to not let her guard down. She won’t let Geordo be conquered that easily!
The next day, Catarina and Keith are to class. Keith mentions that he met Maria earlier. Say what!? Drat, Keith, and Maria’s first meeting slipped through her fingers! Catarina wants to know if he hit on her. Keith doesn’t understand. What does that mean? She explains it means to talk a girl into doing immoral things. Keith’s face turns red and he starts blushing! He would never do that! He’s a good, pure boy! Don’t fill his mind with smut, Catarina! Okay, but did he fall in love with her? Fall in love!? Keith isn’t thinking about such things! Look what you did, Bakarina! He can’t stop blushing now. It’s okay though! Catarina proclaims that she doesn’t plan to get in the way of Keith and the girl he loves. Also, she shakes him violently. Poor Keith is about to pass out from all of the shock! By the way, his reactions in this scene were hilariously great.
Catarina thinks that she’s been slacking. Geordo and Keith are on the verge of being conquered! And then it happens…she comes across Maria in the hallway. They lock eyes for a brief second. Aww, snap! During class, Catarina isn’t able to pay attention to the lesson. She’s too busy staring at Maria. After class, Mary and Sophia check up on her. If there’s anything wrong, they’d be happy to look after her! I bet they would. It’s a good thing they’re all in the same classes and dorm! Well, except for the practical course. Catarina is a bit bummed that all she can use is her Earth Bump. On a side note, it’s mentioned that Sophia uses wind magic while Mary uses water magic. I think they missed a funny chance here. If Mary had used fire instead of water, the trio could have been called Earth, Wind, & Fire. Does anyone get the reference? No? Welp, I feel old now. Anyhow, this isn’t the time to be lollygagging! It’s only a matter of time before Geordo falls in love with Maria. Yeah, I don’t know about that, Bakarina.
Time for another meeting inside Catarina’s mind! They acknowledge that Maria is way more charming than they had imagined! But you know what? Sophia and Mary are super awesome! They’re both smart, gorgeous, and proficient in magic. Maria can’t beat them that easily! The only person Maria can defeat easily is Catarina who lacks brains and magic. Wait a minute…they just dissed themselves! And that’s totally not a good thing! If they lose to Maria, they’ll get the doom ending for sure! What should they do? They decide it’d be best…to raise a farm. Interesting, interesting. Why? In case they’re exiled, they should gain experience in farming in order to get by as a farmer. It seems legit to me. Thus, Catarina begins raising a farm on the school grounds.
There seems to be a rule at the school that students who do well on exams join the student council. The top three scorers in the school are Geordo, Maria, and Alan. How’d Catarina do? She placed 80th which is totally normal. At least that’s what she says. By the way, the list didn’t even contain 80 names. How bad at math is she!? She’s probably dead last, haha. Since her friends joined the student council, Catarina started going to their office a lot. That’s something that didn’t occur in the game. The student council president welcomes her in and gives her a cup of tea. Catarina mentions that he and Nicol are the only two second-years in the student council. He confirms that’s indeed true but there used to be more of them. However, all the girls kept getting into fights over Nicol. Dang, he truly does have devilish charm! But more importantly, all this time at the student council office has given Catarina the chance to talk with Maria. They’re always eating sweets together. That sounds lovely. Randomly, Catarina inquires if she ever brings any of the sweets she makes. Maria freezes up. Uh oh, did she do something wrong? Did that come off as threatening!? Did she sound creepy!? Maria wants to know how she knew that she made her own sweets. Well, she can’t tell her because it was in a game. Instead, she says that she heard it from one of the cooks. Maria buys that lie. Safe! Catarina also remarks that she’d love to try some of Maria’s homemade sweets. She agrees to make some for her.
The next day, Catarina follows a pleasant scent. It’s Maria’s sweets! However, she finds her being bullied by some mean girls. They even slap her muffins to the ground! HOW DARE THEY!?!? Catarina will not stand for this and jumps in to protect her. She gives those mean girls the Villainess glare! It absolutely terrifies them and they run away. Catarina walks over to the muffins on the ground and begins chowing down! They’re just so delicious! She eats every single one of them. Maria stares at her the whole time. Oh no, did she mess up again? She shouldn’t have eaten all of the muffins! Catarina apologizes for eating all of the muffins but Maria tells her not to worry about it. She was just concerned because those muffins were on the ground. Three-second rule, yo! Catarina laughs and says that it wasn’t a problem. She praises her sweets and remarks that they are just as good as anything a professional would make. Maria is very happy right now and makes the most adorable face. Well, it looks like another one has joined the harem. In a hilarious scene, Geordo shows up and sees Catarina holding hands with Maria. He knows he just gained another rival, haha. Also, Catarina totally took Geordo’s scene away with him. It should have been him who saved Maria from the bullying. She broke a doom flag without meaning to! That’s the Bakarina we all know and love.
In Summary:
The harem just keeps growing and growing, huh? And Bakarina is none the wiser! I just love how clueless she is. One thing is for certain though, her milkshake brings all the boys and the girls to the yard, haha. If this keeps up, she won’t have to worry about any doom flags at all. Well, that’s not true. There’s one particular doom flag that hasn’t gone away since the start of the show. Do you know how she’s always eating sweets? Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up getting diabetes! Come on, I know y’all can see it happening! All jokes aside, I’m still enjoying this show very much. I never expected to love it as much as I do!
Grade: A-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll, VRV
