Before I Was Born, I Planned Revenge: A 60-Episode Rebirth-Verdict
The whole premise is 'revenge plotted before you're born' — a heroine who never gets the naive first act most rebirth stories give, because she's strategizing from the womb.
The setup (no spoilers)
Most rebirth dramas open with the lead waking up young and scrambling. This one opens earlier: the protagonist retains her past-life memory in utero and uses the nine months to decide exactly who to become. By the time she's born she already knows which relative will betray her, which 'ally' is a poisoner, and which powerful household she needs on her side.
What works, what doesn't
WORTH IT
- The 'planning from the womb' hook is genuinely distinct from typical rebirth fare
- The antagonist poisoning plot is set up early and pays off without a dragged middle
- ReelShort's player and unlock rhythm stay out of the way
- A complete 60-episode arc means a real ending, no cliffhanger bait
WATCH OUT
- The novel-within-a-story framing is explained in exposition rather than shown
- Some 'foresight' beats rely on the lead knowing things she logically couldn't
Who it's for
For viewers who love rebirth/revenge but are tired of the lead wasting the first ten episodes figuring out they've been reborn. Here the intelligence is the premise, not the reveal — she's playing chess before she can talk.
TL;DR — Before I Was Born, I Planned Revenge (ReelShort, 60 episodes, complete) is a rebirth-revenge drama where the heroine remembers her murder before she’s even born and spends her entire life in utero plotting. We rate it worth — a 7.4/10 — because the premise actually changes the structure instead of just repackaging the usual “I woke up younger” beat.
The premise, without the spoilers
The engine is the title: revenge planned before birth. In her first life, the lead was shamed as illegitimate and killed by her father’s mistress. She doesn’t get a do-over as a child — she gets one as an unborn child, keeping every memory. That means there’s no naive first act. She’s choosing her personality, her alliances, and her timing before she can even speak. The fun is watching a character who has already decided the ending quietly steer everyone else toward it.
We’re keeping the resolution out of this write-up on purpose. The pleasure of the show is the gap between what she knows and what her enemies think they know — so we won’t close it for you.
Story
What saves this from a gimmick is that the rebirth isn’t just flavor; it reorders the plot. Because she starts with the plan, the drama spends its time on execution — winning the trust of the one household her abusers fear, and turning a poisoning scheme back on the people who built it. The middle doesn’t sag the way 60-episode runs often do, because the lead is always three steps ahead on purpose. The one weakness: the “world is a story” explanation is told in a chunk of dialogue rather than dramatized, which briefly stalls the momentum.
Binge
It’s built for vertical binging — short episodes, a clear antagonist, and a heroine who keeps delivering small wins. The downside is that once you accept the premise, a few “she knew because she knew” moments ask you to suspend more disbelief than the setup strictly earns. Still, the pace holds.
Value
Sixty complete episodes for the standard unlock cost is a fair trade, and the fact that it’s finished means you’re not renting your attention toward a season that may never land. For the revenge-rebirth lane, this is one of the tighter completed runs on the platform.
Who it’s for
If you’ve burned out on rebirth dramas where the lead spends ten episodes realizing they’ve been reborn, this is the antidote. The intelligence is the premise. It’s less interested in the shock of return and more in the cold satisfaction of a plan that started before birth.
Keep reading
- Zero to Alpha: Return of the Wolf King — a werewolf power-climb review
- Vengeance in Silk — a revenge-lane verdict
- Crown of Ashes — a fantasy verdict
Where to watch
Before I Was Born, I Planned Revenge streams on ReelShort (iOS/Android), with the first episodes free and the remainder unlocked via coins.