Terrorists on the Train

I didn’t like The Executioner and her Way of life Episode 3 as much as I liked the first two episodes. The episode wasn’t as good as the others in general. But, there was also something specific about it I wasn’t a fan of, which I’ll get to later in the review.

The episode starts out with Menou, Akari, and Momo taking a train to the city of Garm. As we’re reminded, they’re going to Garm to kill Akari. Akari still isn’t aware of this, but my guess is that it’s only a matter of time until she figures it out.

Also on the train is Princess Ashuna Grisarika. She’s the daughter of the king who’s currently on trial for heresy. The heretical action the king took was summoning otherworlders, including Akari. As we know, otherworlders wield powerful magic, and the king wanted to use that for his own gain.

Something both I and Akari picked up on was the fact that the terrorists were wielding modern guns. At first, I didn’t think this made any sense. But, then I remembered that they were riding on a modern train. So in retrospect, the guns don’t stand out that much.

But, Menou does explain to Akari (and us) that these are ether guns. Aside from the fact that they’re illegal to own, she doesn’t go into any more detail. It’s unclear whether they fire ether itself or if ether is the propellant used to fire the bullets.

Thinking back on it now, it’s kind of weird that we never actually got to see any of the terrorists fire their guns. We didn’t even get to see Menou do something cool like use ether to harden her knife and deflect bullets off it.

Princess Knight Ashuna Grisarika

On top of the train, Momo comes across Princess Ashuna. At first, I thought these two were going to be on the same side. I know Ashuna’s father is being put on trial by the Faust, but I wasn’t expecting her to care. That wasn’t the case.

Princess Ashuna holds a grudge against her father. This is despite the fact that she didn’t appear to agree with him summoning otherworlders. But, I’m starting to think that she was more annoyed with the otherworlders than with her father.

It’s clear that the princess is looking for the otherworlders — if they’re even still alive. She admits that one of the Faust’s executioners may have already killed them. If they aren’t dead yet, though, Princess Ashuna may want to kill them herself.

Why? Because it kind of seemed like she was jealous of them. Rather than relying on her strength, her father summoned outsiders to rely on instead.

I will say that, so far, I like Princess Ashuna. I’m not sure if she’s going to be an antagonist or an ally to Menou and Akari going forward. She’s an antagonist right now. But, things could change. Either way, I doubt she and Momo will ever get along.

During the fight that ensues between the princess and Momo, we get to see both of their fighting styles. The princess uses a large sword along with fire magic. Momo uses a sawblade chain that she can craft into different shapes and make vibrate like a… chainsaw.

Along with Princess Ashuna, I’m also liking Momo a lot. She has pink hair put up in twin tails, her outfit is cute, and her personality is the same as Kuroko Shirai’s. Momo is the best girl of the anime.

Akari’s Ether

Now we’re getting to the discussion of the part of the episode I didn’t like. So, I knew going into this anime that it’s a yuri series. I have no issue with that. But, I didn’t realize that there were going to be ecchi elements as well.

When the terrorist confronted Menou and Akari at the start of the episode and told Menou to strip, that was fine. Menou told herself he was doing it because she might have weapons on her (she does). But, we know that wasn’t the terrorist’s reason for ordering her to do so.

The first inclination that this series might have some ecchi content came at this point. Akari volunteers to strip for the terrorist in Menou’s place. She then starts unbuttoning her shirt before Menou stops her. But, by that point, my view of the series was already shattered.

As I always feel the need to point out, I have no issue with ecchi content done right. But, it doesn’t fit into every series. And it doesn’t fit into every scene. Too many anime attempt to throw ecchi into the action or force it as some form of cheap comedy.

The big red flag for me came toward the end of the episode. When Menou’s attempting to stop the train, she taps into Akari’s vast reserves of ether to do so. And before she does this, she warns Akari that it’s going to be painful for her.

So, uh, pain wasn’t the sensation Akari felt as Menou tapped into her ether. I’d describe what Akari was feeling as something more like pleasure or euphoria. Look, if Akari wants to strip for a terrorist, fine. But this is where I have to draw the line.

Conclusion

What do you think of The Executioner and Her Way of Life Episode 3? Was it as good as the first two episodes? Worse? The same? And which character is your favorite so far? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 4 is available now.

Pure Concept of Null

I wasn’t planning to review The Executioner and Her Way of Life weekly. I wasn’t even originally planning to watch this anime. But, since weekly Onipan! reviews fell through, here we are. This review is going to cover the first two episodes. Going forward new episode reviews will be on Tuesdays.

Now, although I’m calling this a review of Episodes 1 & 2, what I’m really going to be discussing in this article is the most interesting part of the series: Pure Concepts. These are an extension of the magic system of this series.

You see, The Executioner and Her Way of Life is an isekai anime. In this series, those who are transported to the world of the series are given magical control over a particular concept — Pure Concepts.

In the first episode, we’re introduced to Mitsuki, a boy who was originally thought to have no Pure Concept because his test came back “Null.” However, Menou (the protagonist) discovers that Mitsuki actually has the Pure Concept of Null, meaning he can nullify anything.

Usually, Null abilities in anime are pretty lame — think Touma from A Certain Magical Index. Typically, it means they can cancel out other abilities. Mitsuki might have been able to do that, too. But, we see that his ability extends to nullifying even physical matter.

Essentially, Mitsuki’s Pure Concept allows him to erase anything from existence. That’s an extremely powerful ability. If Mitsuki used it for evil, or if he was unable to control it, the effects would be devastating. And so, we’re introduced to the twist of the series: everyone with a Pure Concept must be eliminated.

Pure Concept of Time

So, Mitsuki only survived about halfway through the first episode. But the second Pure Concept user we’re introduced to is going to last a bit longer. Akari was summoned to this world just after Mitsuki was. She was also told that her Pure Concept had to do with healing, but that’s not exactly true.

When Menou attempts to assassinate Akari, she finds that Akari’s Pure Concept is actually of Time. While this does allow Akari to heal wounds by reversing time, it goes far beyond that. Thanks to her Pure Concept, Akari can even reverse her own death, effectively making her immortal.

Time-based abilities are always the most powerful around. If someone can literally control time, there’s not really much anyone else can do to defeat them. So, Menou needs to take Akari to the headquarters of the church she works for where Akari can be killed once and for all.

So, I mentioned that anyone with a Pure Concept has to be eliminated because their powers have the potential to be extremely devastating. Let’s just take a look at the Pure Concepts of Null and Time and theorize about what the results of these powers going out of control would be.

For Null, I think the worst-case scenario is pretty obvious. If that power were to go out of control, it could literally erase an entire country (based on the scale of previously known Pure Concept events). Null very well may be the most dangerous Pure Concept in existence.

The Pure Concept of Time could accelerate, reverse, or even stop time for a large area. Any of those options would kill everyone around. I guess stopping time would be the best case because at least then the physical region would still exist. That’s still not great, though.

The Four Major Human Errors

We know of five catastrophes that occurred in the past due to Pure Concepts going out of control. The first one we learn about is one Menou lived through as a child. We don’t know what the Pure Concept was, but it turned everything into white dust.

Flare comments that this Pure Concept wasn’t White, because if it was, there would have been no survivors. Again, we don’t know what White is, but we can assume it’s similar (but worse) than what we saw happen. It’s possible that White is one of the Four Major Human Errors, the worst of the Pure Concept events.

The first of these events is known as the Sword of Salt, which “melted the western continent into the sea.” I think this could be the White Flare spoke of in Episode 1. From the sound of it, this ability turned everything into salt, which was then eroded and washed away.

Pandemonium is the name of the second Major Human Error. It “devoured the southernmost archipelago.” Based on the name I’m going to guess it induced mass confusion among those living there and caused the collapse of their civilization. But, honestly, I have no idea.

The third Major Human Error is the Material Room (another name that isn’t very descriptive). This one “took over the Wild Frontier in the east.” To me, that kind of sounds like Unlimited Blade Works gone wrong.

And, lastly, we have Starhusk, the event that “carved out the center of the northern continent and set it afloat.” That one seems pretty straightforward. I think it’s safe to assume the Pure Concept of Gravity was involved there.

You may also have noticed that each of these Four Major Human Errors happened in a different cardinal direction. So, it’s very possible that they’re just legends. But, if they’re real, I hope we get to visit those locations in this series.

Conclusion

What do you think of the first two episodes of The Executioner and Her Way of Life? I was very pleasantly surprised. I thought this was going to be a boring, slice of life isekai. But, while not the best anime of the season, it’s possibly the one I’m most interested in. So far, I’m loving the Pure Concepts.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 3 is available now.