The Executioner and Her Way of Life

The Executioner and Her Way of Life

The Executioner and Her Way of Life anime series cover art
The Executioner and Her Way of Life

Series Overview

The Executioner and Her Way of Life (Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road / 処刑少女の生きる道〈バージンロード〉) is a pretty good action-adventure fantasy anime. Its fans will try to tell you it’s either a shoujo ai or yuri series. But, that’s not true. It has female characters; that’s all.

Now, I’ll be honest, I started watching Shokei Shoujo in part because I heard it was yuri. So, I was a bit disappointed to learn that it isn’t. With that said, I still enjoyed watching it. The plot and characters aren’t the best. But, this series has a lot of great world-building.

I guess before I go any further, I need to say that the first episode has a twist. So, if you continue to read this review, you’ll spoil yourself on that.

The basic plot of this series is that it’s an isekai in which the otherworlders have immense power. If you’re summoned into this world, you may find you have the ability to control gravity or something.

Controlling gravity seems pretty cool. You could use it to fly. But, the powers the otherworlders have are on a much larger scale. If gravity was your power, it would mean you could reverse gravity on a continental scale, if not larger.

So, there are people in this world known as Executioners. And, the job of the Executioners is to track down and kill otherworlders before they go out of control. The more someone uses their power, the more their mind breaks down and they lose control.

Now, the main otherworlder in the series has the power to control time. The problem is that even if she’s killed, time resets back to before she died. So, our main Executioner has to take her on a quest to find a way to kill her.

Main Characters

Menou is the main Executioner of the series. Executioners are members of the church, also known as the Faust. And so, that also means Menou is a priestess. But, she’s a priestess who assassinates people with a knife and magic. As far as the main characters go, though, she’s pretty boring.

Akari Tokitou is my least favorite of the main characters. She’s the primary otherworlder who can control time. I didn’t mention this earlier, but the name for the otherworlders’ powers is Pure Concepts. Akari’s annoying. The only reason she’s interesting at all is that she has a Pure Concept.

Also, Akari’s last name is a reference to her Pure Concept. Toki (とき / 時) means time in Japanese.

Momo and Menou from the anime series The Executioner and Her Way of Life
Momo and Menou

Momo is my favorite character. I could honestly write an entire article only focusing on her. She’s Menou’s Executioner subordinate and seems to be stronger than Menou. Momo’s also the cutest character. And, has the same personality as Kuroko from A Certain Scientific Railgun.

Princess Ashuna is, well, a princess. But, she’s the kind of princess who carries a large sword around and looks for fights. While Menou and Akari are usually paired up in the series, Momo and Ashuna are, as well. I much prefer Momo’s and Ashuna’s dynamic over Menou’s and Akari’s.

Flare is the third and final Executioner we know of in the series. She’s the one who raised and trained Menou. And as such, Menou is also known as Flarette. We don’t actually know all that much about her other than that she takes her job very seriously.

Something I found surprising is that the community seems to like Menou and Akari a lot more than I do. I guess the fact that they’re so generic is a positive.

Pure Concepts and Human Errors

Okay, so now we’re getting to the part of the series I actually want to write about. Pure Concepts are a cool magic system. They’re not explained at all. But, the simple fact that each one represents the concept of something in its purest form is neat.

We know of at least six Pure Concepts by the end of the first season. But, we only know the names of three of them. And, we also know of another Pure Concept user, but nothing about their Pure Concept. So, it’s time to dive into real spoilers.

The Pure Concept of Null is the very first Pure Concept we learn of. This Pure Concept allows Mitsuki to erase things from reality. It nullifies things. We only got to see him use that power once before Menou killed him.

Akari Tokitou from the anime series The Executioner and Her Way of Life
Akari Tokitou

Akari has the Pure Concept of Time, as I already explained. The first time her Pure Concept activates, it only reverts time for her body after Menou kills her. But, later on, we learn that she can also turn back time for the entire world, if not the universe.

Pandemonium has the Pure Concept of Chaos. She’s considered one of the Four Major Human Errors. These were otherworlders who wreaked havoc on the world and left lasting effects. All the monsters that exist in the world today are the result of the Pure Concept of Chaos.

Pandemonium’s mother also had a Pure Concept, but we never learned what it was.

The other three Pure Concepts don’t yet have actual names we know. But, we know the lasting effects of them are the Starhusk, the Material Room, and the Sword of Salt. We know the Starhusk blanches things and the Sword of Salt turns things into salt. The Material Room is a mystery.

Conclusion

In the end, I gave The Executioner and Her Way of Life a 6/10. It could have been a 7, but I felt that the middle of the season was a bit boring. It’s still enjoyable, though, and I hope it gets another season. I want to know more about the Pure Concepts and Major Human Errors.

Also, this was one of the anime I reviewed weekly over the course of the season. So, if you want to read my thoughts on each episode, you can start with this joint review of Episodes 1 & 2.

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