Mr. Villain's Day Off

 Mr. Villain's Day Off (休日のわるものさん) is a 12 episode slice of life comedy based on the manga of the same name by Morikawa Yuu.  The series originally aired over the Winter of 2024.

    Eponymous 'Mr. Villain' is a general in the Evil League, a group of aliens bent on destroying humanity and taking over the Earth.  While they have infiltrated the planet and live among its populace in secret, their plans continue to be foiled by a group of Rangers, super hero defenders of the planet.  Destroying humanity is a job like any other to Mr. Villain and he strives to separate his working life from his non working life, cherishing his days off as much as he can. He has come to adore panda's, excited to befriend them once humans are out of the way.  He frequently visits the panda exhibit at the local zoo, eats panda themed sweets and generally gravitates toward panda emblazoned merchandise.

    As he goes about doing chores, shopping and generally relaxing on his days off he frequently encounters members of the Rangers.  His unwillingness to fight them while off the clock makes them reconsider their own position when dealing with him.  He isn't always aware of the identity of the people he encounters through out the city, but has a strong sense of duty that leads him to help out those he feels needs help.  He's not a bad guy, his side just views humans as a danger to the Earth and their on ambitions, so its just a matter of removing them once and for all.  The lack of ill will in his mission influences how he interacts with them outside of work, leading him to ignore them in an antagonistic sense.

    This series delivered what it promised but had a hard time holding my attention.  After a few episodes all of the mundane eccentricities are well established and the rest of the show is callbacks mixed with increased lore.  You can only go through some many segments of him being disappointment by the seasonally changing snacks at his local kombini and the internal monologue of the girls who is always at the counter.  Panda's are inherently boring beings and its hard to make it interesting and exciting as he stares at them for hours at a time, internalizing his plans to be friends with them following the death of humanity.  He cleans his house diligently, maintains a stoic and serious attitude at all times and has a generous heart.  The entire set up for his personality being an evil general for the race of beings bent on destroying mankind doesn't come through in his off work persona, but that joke only stretches the story so far.  What was interesting was breaking down the Rangers near the end of the show, but it felt too little too late to really make it worth the task of watching all 12 episodes.

    Aside from the show running out of steam halfway through, if not earlier, the artwork isn't the greatest and can be ignored for the most part.  Honestly, there is little that remains in my brain for this show that makes me want to tell others about it or watch it again or find the original manga and read it.  This was quite a leave it series in the end that I pushed myself to get through for little more than something to talk about.  I can't have every series I finish be something I deeply love and sometimes need to stick with these shows that are really not worth anyone's time.

The series was simulcast on Crunchyroll and is currently only available in sub format.  But its really not worth the time.