A Sub-Genre of works which adds new twists to Otome Game tropes, with a protagonist who inscrutably understands their fictional world's plot, mechanics or setting. Most often, an Ordinary High-School Student or Office Lady from whatever country the story originates from (mostly East Asian countries like Japan, Korea, or China) will die and reincarnate in the game world with Past-Life Memories, although some stories have the protagonist gain a new set of memories or personality some other way. It's unnecessary for the setting to be from a video game either; many have her transmigrate into other forms of media such as books or comics.

Usually, the protagonist takes the role of an Ojou "Young Lady" (called "Akuyaku Reijou" — 悪役令嬢 lit.: "Antagonistic Noble Young Lady" in Japanese; often translated as "Villainess"): a stock Disposable Fiancée of one of the Love Interests who terrorizes or harms the more innocent heroine for being a threat, and who, of course, is fated for a bad ending if the story continues as-is. This gives her motivation to do whatever she can to take the story Off the Rails and secure a better ending, often demonstrating that she is highly kind, intelligent, and/or skilled in the process.

The character archetype is actually a Dead Unicorn Trope: otome games with such a "villainess" are exceptions rather than the rule. The genre originated as a girl reincarnated as the villainess of a shojo manga rather than an otome game. The genre later added gameplay mechanics from otome games such as event flags, branching paths, and multiple love interests to the shoujo manga villainess base. The reincarnated as an otome villainess still follows most of the conventions of the reincarnated as a shoujo manga villainess genre resulting in a Dead Unicorn Trope as otome games don't typically have such a character. The otome villainess genre became the genre equivalent of a More Popular Spin-Off greatly overtaking the shoujo manga villainess genre in popularity causing most people to not even know that the shoujo manga villainess genre even existed.

Also contributing to the genre is Small Reference Pools as the primary otome game that the genre references is Angelique, the first and most famous otome game. Despite its pedigree, Angelique is rather unique amongst otome games in making heavy use of shoujo tropes including having a Stock Shoujo Heroine and stock shoujo villainess. Angelique is one of the very few otome games with the gameplay mechanic where the villainess will compete against the player for the capture targets. Also, Angelique is the source of the magical aristocratic setting where characters have a unique elemental magical ability common in the reincarnated-in-a-otome-game genre but rare in actual otome games.

In some variations, it's the "heroine" that has Medium Awareness for one reason or another. Sometimes she's reincarnated, or a story character that somehow became sentient, or a Physical God. She is often a Foil or an antagonist who is determined to see the story through to the original unaltered conclusion. In stories where the heroine is evil, questions may be raised over who truly deserves the title of "heroine" after all. Other times, the heroine becomes the villainess' closest friend, often laced with Homoerotic Subtext, or even becomes the love interest, thus still sending the story Off the Rails right into the Yuri Genre.

Other variations cast the protagonist or Point of View character as that of a supporting character with close connections to the "villainess," such as the male lead, a maid or butler, or even a complete unknown who was an unimportant character (aka a "mob") in the original story. They may end up becoming a friend/advisor to the villainess, seeing her for who she truly is, and falling in love with her. These variations are often not about being reborn as the villainess, but still have her playing a pivotal role in events.

This genre became increasingly popular starting in The New '10s, particularly in Shoujo and Josei Web Serial Novels and Light Novels, followed by many Manga and Manhwa adaptations. By definition, this genre is very meta: the reader is expected to recognize the situation on sight even if they aren't familiar with romance novels, old shoujo manga tropes or otome game mechanics.

Subtrope of Perspective Flip and Next Life as a Fictional Character, as well as a very specific variant of Stock Light-Novel Hero. Frequently overlaps with Peggy Sue and Trapped in TV Land. Inherently involves Fate and Prophecy Tropes.

Examples: