LogFAQs > #969079906

56. The Executioner and Her Way of Life
https://myanimelist.net/anime/47162/Shokei_Shoujo_no_Virgin_Road
Spring 2022 (12 episodes)
My Score: 8/10, MAL Score: 6.83/10
Best Character: Tokito Akari

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ixSWvF7L-A

Premise: People from another world are often summoned to a fantasy world for the special powers they possess. Such powers always go out of control eventually, however, and Menou is one of the priestesses charged with hunting them down before that happens. Her latest target, Tokito Akari, has an ability which will make things exceedingly difficult.

The Good: The Executioner and Her Way of Life is a fantasy isekai. In pretty much every other write-up for an isekai during this ranking, I complained about disliking the concept and gave them a low score. Executioner is one of the rare ones that uses the genre well, though! I really like how it isnt just one person being summoned for unexplained reasons and getting overpowered cheat powers and having the whole world revolve around them. This fantasy world has been dealing with people from another world for centuries, to the point where its a well-documented procedure. Its also a banned practice, because people from the other world always have a power of some sort, and they always eventually lose control of it with calamitous results.

I really like the setting. It has a neat code-based magic system that people can tap into. Its also a world that has been dealing with overpowered Japanese people for a long time, and they are sick of it. There are lots of vague hints of past disasters, which is the kind of world-building I love. Menou needs to navigate various political and religious organizations, too, which gives the world some depth. The story is still mostly focused on her trying to find a way to kill Akari, who has a time-rewind power that unconsciously reverses her deaths. Theres also a lot more going on than anyone realizes.

The Bad: There were some budget problems during the later parts of the season. Some episodes looked legitimately impressive, but I remember one episode that was hilariously bad. It had things like an entire minutes-long conversation that cycled between the same three angles and awkwardly reused footage. They were probably just saving budget for the climax, though, so Ill give it a pass.

Overall: The Executioner and Her Way of Life is an isekai. I hate how so many anime in that genre use it as a way to bring a boring Japanese dude into a fantasy world where he has cheat code powers and a harem of babes. Thankfully, Executioner isnt like that. It takes a serious look at what would really happen to a world where people with superpowers are constantly appearing. It would cause chaos, and eventually the people of that world would start fighting back. The story with Menou and Akari was great, as Ill cover more in Akaris write-up below, but I also fell in love with the setting and its background full of great disasters.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/6/3/AABz_zAAD1Tb.png

CHARACTER: Tokito Akari (The Executioner and Her Way of Life)
https://myanimelist.net/character/192059/Akari_Tokitou
Voiced by: Kishimoto Moeka
TOP 100 RANK: 32nd

SPOILERS FOR THE EXECUTIONER AND HER WAY OF LIFE

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KUeY71wOs0

Akari is a fun character, always doing her best to enjoy her time in the fantasy world. She clings to Menou oddly quickly, but I didnt think much of it at first. Her personality isnt the reason why shes one of my favorite anime characters, though. Akari is the target Menou needs to kill, but she has a time rewind power that unconsciously activates whenever she dies. This is the problem Menou is presented with at the beginning of the anime, and I found that interesting enough on its own. As the story unfolds, though, it becomes clear that a lot more is going on than either of them know. The first hint is a strange sense of dj vu after a near-disaster on a train. Then the scene I linked above happens, and that was when the anime became awesome for me.

Menou is off fighting a losing battle, Akari is about to get her personality wiped by a strange blob of white goo and then something in her mind clicks. Akari unlocks a personality thats aware of everything, meaning that this isnt the first time these events have taken place. She easily deals with her enemies and escapes their trap, then she partially wipes her own memory in a way that feels routine. Its unclear how many times Akari has lived these same events, always rewinding to the beginning when things dont go her way, but it mustve happened a lot. All of a sudden, the story isnt a straightforward journey where Menou needs to find a way to kill an unkillable girl. It became a time travel story, and I love time travel!

The dynamic between Menou and Akari, especially with this revelation, is something I find really interesting. Menou needs to kill Akari to prevent a disaster when her powers eventually go haywire, and Akaris inner self understands that. Shes formed such a deep bond during their repeated journeys (plus there are hints that Akaris life in the real world wasnt exactly great) that she wont settle for anything less than Menou being the one to kill her. What I love most about the Executioner anime is that it took an already interesting setting and conflict and kept finding new ways to make it deeper and more layered. Akaris hidden memories and inner self have lived through variations of the timeline so many times, and Menou is starting to realize it. I really hope this gets another season because I want to know where their story goes.