The Executioner and Her Way of Life (処刑少女の生きる道, Shokei Shōjo no Bājin Rōdo, transl. "The Executioner Girl's Virgin Road")[a] is a Japanese yurilight novel series, written by Mato Sato and illustrated by Nilitsu. SB Creative have released nine volumes since July 2019 under their GA Bunko imprint.
A manga adaptation with art by Ryo Mitsuya was serialized in Square Enix's seinen manga magazine Young Gangan from June 2020 to April 2024. It has been collected in six tankōbon volumes. Both the light novel and manga are licensed in North America by Yen Press. A 12-episode anime television series adaptation by J.C.Staff aired between April and June 2022.
Synopsis
Setting
The story takes place in an etheric world parallel to ours. The inhabitants of this world created an advanced civilization with strong Japanese influences due to the arrival of individuals from a parallel world called "Japan", called "Lost Ones". Over time, Japanese culture and language were integrated into this etheric world and for a time, this world prospered.
Sometimes, "Lost Ones" have power beyond imagination titled "Pure Concepts". It was discovered that with prolonged usage, the Lost Ones would lose control of their Pure Concepts, bringing disaster and calamity to the world. Even today, there exists four legendary disasters, dubbed "Human Errors", which effects continuously rage on: the Sword of Salt, which turned the whole Western continent into salt that is gradually melting into the sea; the Pandæmonium, a fog-like dead zone in the Southern archipelago from which monsters regularly emerge; the Mechanical Society, which controls the wild frontier in the East; and the Starhusk, which carved out the center of the Northern continent and set it afloat. To prevent such calamities again, the summoning of Lost Ones has become strictly forbidden and heavily managed by the Faust, a class of Church members in society. Among the Faust are Executioners, members that wield magic – etheric powers – and set out to secretly assassinate any Lost Ones that may still appear.
Plot
Top-class Executioner Menou has been tasked with eliminating Akari Tokitō, a Lost One who has been summoned by King Grisarika of the Noblesse, the noble class. However, she fails and soon discovers that Akari possesses the Pure Concept of Time, making her capable of reversing her death even after she has been killed. Shocked and fearful, Menou sets out on a journey with Akari by her side, in hopes of finding a way of killing her.
A young priestess who specializes in hunting down and assassinating Lost Ones before they can become a threat. She is well aware that most of the Lost Ones she kills are innocents who have done nothing wrong, but her training dictates that they cannot be allowed to live as their Pure Concepts will ultimately corrupt them. Even prior to meeting Akari, she had recurring dreams about meeting her in Japan; now, she inevitably acts as Akari's escort while searching for a way to kill her.
As a child, Menou was one of the sole survivors of the Sword of Salt. However, the incident and the trauma left her soul "bleached", turning her into effectively an emotionless husk. She was then discovered by Flare, the top Executioner at that time, and taken in as her apprentice, her "Flarette". As an Executioner, Menou possesses full mastery over her ether and primarily wields a knife to kill.
A Japanese high school student who was forcibly summoned to the world by King Grisarika. Her Pure Concept, [Time], allows her to control any and all elements time, including instinctively reversing time to revive herself if she is killed. She is initially portrayed as rather clumsy and air-headed, but also kind and trusting, leading her to easily trust Menou upon their first meeting as she believed that their encounter was fate. In truth, Akari has already made the world regress multiple times to prevent Menou's death, erasing her memories each time and leaving only a sense of déjà vu. She is deeply in love with Menou.
A young priestess and Menou's aide. She assists Menou on anything she needs during a mission, including reconnaissance, providing disguises, and providing support in battles. She has had a crush on Menou ever since they were childhood friends, and hence treasures the hair ribbons gifted to her dearly. With Menou insisting that she hide her presence from Akari, Momo begins to grow jealous at how close the two are getting. Like Menou, Momo has strong control over her ether and wields a wire saw.
The warrior princess of Grisarika. Rash and bold, Ashuna has little regard for her title or noble duties and prefers to seek out strong opponents to battle. She fights using a heavy sword that she can enchant with etheric flames.
A legendary priestess famed for incredible skill in magecraft as well as killing many Lost Ones. After saving a young Menou from a Lost One, Flare took her in as her apprentice.
The Archbishop of the Church. Orwell acts as Menou's direct superior and initially orders her to bring Akari to their capital of Garm so Akari can be executed. Menou later discovers that Orwell, having grown exhausted and disillusioned from her years of service, had been kidnapping young girls to drain their youth for herself, and now intends to use Akari to reverse time on her. Her plan fails and she is killed by Menou after she taps into Akari's Pure Concept, super-aging Orwell to death.
A high school student who was forcibly summoned to the world with Akari by King Grisarika. His Pure Concept is [Null], which allows him to completely destroy any object he wants. He was killed by Menou to prevent him from abusing his newly found power.
The daughter of Count Libelle, the ruler of the port city bearing his family's name, and a Lost One. Because she never inherited her mother's powers, people often scorned her and as a result Manon grew to seek death. Today, she leads a subversive group called The Fourth, who consider themselves a "liberated" social class of their own. While publicly naive and mild-mannered, she has a penchant for sadistic murder. In private, she is an older sister figure to Pandæmonium, whose blood she uses to produce destructive pills.
A Lost One that came to this world over several hundred years ago, although she appears like a ten-year-old child. Her Pure Concept is [Chaos], allowing her to create and control monsters, and this led to her becoming responsible for one of the Four Major Human Errors today. With her Pure Concept having completely corrupted her, Pandæmonium behaves like a little girl with no will of her own. Her blood is used by Manon to produce destructive pills.
The Executioner and Her Way of Life is written by Mato Sato and illustrated by Nilitsu. SB Creative have released nine volumes since July 2019 under their GA Bunko imprint. Yen Press licensed the series for English publication.[7] In an interview, Mato Sato explain that he did not want to be subjected to rapid production and wanted to release his story in a format that better suited the style of the story, so he choose a production in the form of a light novel and not an online production.[8]
No.
Title
Original release date
English release date
1
Thus, She Is Reborn Soshite, Kanojo wa Yomigaeru (そして、彼女は甦る)
A manga adaptation with art by Ryo Mitsuya was serialized in Square Enix's Young Gangan magazine from June 5, 2020 to April 19, 2024.[26][27] The manga is also licensed in North America by Yen Press.[28]
At the "GA Fes 2021" event livestream, it was announced that the series would be receiving an anime television series adaptation.[2] The series is animated by J.C.Staff and directed by Yoshiki Kawasaki, making his directorial debut,[42] with Shōgo Yasukawa supervising scripts, Keiko Tamaki designing characters, and Michiru composing the series' music. Egg Firm and SB Creative produced the series. It aired from April 2 to June 18, 2022, on Tokyo MX, BS11, and AT-X.[43][44][b] The first six episodes cover the first volume of the novel series,[45] and the last six cover the second one.[46] The opening theme song is "Paper Bouquet" by Mili, while the ending theme song is "Tomoshibi Serenade" (Serenade by Lamplight) by ChouCho.[4]
Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series outside of Asia and is streaming it on Hidive.[47] On May 11, 2022, Hidive announced that the series would receive an English dub, which premiered on May 20.[3]Medialink licensed the series in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Oceania (minus Australia and New Zealand).[48]
"The Executioner" Transliteration: "Shokeinin" (Japanese: 処刑人)
Yoshiki Kawasaki
Shōgo Yasukawa
Yoshiki Kawasaki
April 2, 2022 (2022-04-02)
Mutou Mitsuki is summoned from Japan to another world by the king of Grisarika Kingdom who measures him for a power called Pure Concept. Mitsuki is surprised when the king summons another, a girl from Japan, while he is thrown out of the castle. He meets a priestess called Menou who explains people from Japan with powers called Lost Ones have been summoned throughout history, so many in fact that Japanese culture took over the world. She also explains that besides the commoners, society is split between the nobility, the Noblesse, and the Church, the Faust. Exploring his power Mitsuki discovers his Pure Concept is highly destructive in nature. Menou kills him instantly, revealing she is an assassin for the church specializing in killing Lost Ones before they can harm the world. She reports to Archbishop Orwell her successful kill and the existence of the second Lost One, the girl summoned after Mitsuki. A flashback shows Menou’s village was destroyed by a Lost One before being assassinated by Flare, the assassin who trained Menou. Menou is assisted by Momo, her aide who is obsessed with her. Soldiers attack, revealing the king wants to use the girl's unusually powerful Pure Concept to overthrow the church and rule without their interference. Menou kills the soldiers then infiltrates the castle where the Japanese girl, Akari Tokito, is being kept.
2
"The Lost One" Transliteration: "Mayoibito" (Japanese: 迷い人)
Yoshiaki Iwasaki
Shōgo Yasukawa
Yoshiki Kawasaki
April 9, 2022 (2022-04-09)
Akari reveals her Pure Concept is a healing ability before Menou assassinates her. However, upon Akari’s death her power activates, revealing it is actually the Pure Concept of Time and it reverses her body to before her death, reviving her with no idea she just died. Contacting Orwell she reveals Akari’s power makes her immune to assassination. Immensely worried about a Pure Concept that manipulates time, Orwell demands Akari be brought to her in Garm in three days for a ceremony that should kill her. Menou finds Akari is absent minded but also a romantic who desires adventure. She convinces her the ceremony will send her back to Japan but Akari is disappointed as she feels meeting Menou was fate. The church arrests King Grisarika for heresy. Momo is not happy Menou has to spend time with a target and insists on secretly travelling with them to Garm. Menou warns Akari not to use her power, but almost straight away she uses it to heal a little girl's injured hand, forcing Menou to distract nearby royal soldiers so they don’t notice. Akari is impressed at Menou’s powers. Momo notices Grisarika’s warlike daughter Ashuna on the same train to Garm. Menou feels sorry for Akari that she is taking her to her death.
3
"Taboo in [Red]" Transliteration: "Kinki no [Aka]" (Japanese: 禁忌の【赤】)
Terrorists seeking Ashuna take over the train. Momo learns the terrorists want to trade Ashuna for their imprisoned leader. Heading to the roof of the train Momo meets Ashuna who, seeing Momo is a priestess, attacks her and deduces that her target Aika must be on the train. The defeated terrorists reveal theirs is a suicide mission as ether crystals they swallowed earlier absorb their bodies and craft an armored warrior to destroy the train. Momo and Ashuna fall off the train during their fight. The warrior damages the train’s engine, causing it to speed up uncontrollably. Menou, Ashuna and Momo suddenly experience extreme déjà vu and Menou is joined by Akari, who says she was worried. Menou defeats the warrior then punishes Akari for putting herself at risk and making her use more power to fight defensively. Realizing she hasn’t enough power left, Menou is forced to borrow power from Akari to stop the train, leaving them exhausted but thrilled. Momo is annoyed when her duel with Ashuna lasts long into the next morning with no end in sight. Menou can’t shake the uncomfortable feeling that the train actually did crash and kill everyone, including herself, meaning Akari must have actually reversed time for the entire world by several minutes and saved everyone.
4
"The Ancient Capital Garm" Transliteration: "Koto Garumu" (Japanese: 古都ガルム)
Yoshiyuki Nogami
Shōgo Yasukawa
Yoshiki Kawasaki
April 23, 2022 (2022-04-23)
As Menou and Akari continue their journey to Garm, Menou recalls her childhood after she was rescued by Flare. Having had her soul bleached as the side effect of her village being destroyed, Menou has lost all of her desires and motivations, only feeling compelled to follow Flare wherever she goes. After witnessing Flare killing numerous Lost Ones, Menou decides to become Flare's apprentice despite Flare's warnings that executioners like her are villains. Intrigued by Menou's sudden determination, Flare decides to train Menou to become a perfect copy of her. In the present, Menou and Flare arrive at Garm and Akari asks Menou to take her on a "date" and show her around the city later. At the cathedral, Orwell welcomes the two girls, saying the special chamber will be ready in two days. In the meantime, Menou is tasked with investigating the mysterious disappearances of young girls. Menou assigns Momo, who managed to evade Ashuna, to take care of the investigation so she can keep her promise with Akari to go out on a "date".
Menou and Akari continue to spend time with each other before heading to the special chamber, where Menou prepares to witness Akari's death. Meanwhile, Momo continues to investigate the case of the missing women and follows a lead into the underground sewers. There, she finds Ashuna, who proposes joining together into a temporary alliance to figure out what is going on below Garm. Underneath the palace, the two girls discover a summoning chamber, proving the Noblesse in Garm are involved in summoning. However, Ashuna points out that the Noblesse do not possess the knowledge of summoning, which is exclusive only to the Faust, meaning a high ranking Faust must be collaborating with them. Momo realizes that the only person capable of such a thing is Orwell and sends a warning to Menou before she and Ashuna are attacked by monsters. Menou tries to interrupt the ritual but is cornered by Orwell, who explains that she plans to use the chamber to erase Akari's mind so she can use her Pure Concept to reverse her aging, effectively becoming immortal. Orwell was in fact responsible for the missing women, as she was attempting to use them in failed youth experiments before Akari was summoned. Intending to use Menou as a sacrifice to power the ritual, Orwell summons a monster to attack her.
While Menou fights Orwell's monster, the archbishop reveals that it was her messing with an outworlder's power that destroyed Menou's home village. Just as she is about to get sacrificed, Akari's power of Pure Concept of [Time] takes effect automatically, retrieving her memories, soul and spirit to a certain time point and allowing her to consciously use her Pure Concept to full effect, before she willingly erases her conscious knowledge about her power again. When one of the monsters she and Ashuna are fighting destroys her hair ribbons, which were a gift from Menou, Momo goes berserk and damages the palace, and then attacks Orwell's cathedral, allowing Akari to rejoin Menou. Menou taps into Akari's Pure Concept, super-aging Orwell to death, and Ashuna takes her leave. During their joining, however, Menou and Akari have troubling visions of their future together, in which Akari unwillingly causes Menou to die after the latter failed to kill her. Akari wishes for Menou - and only Menou - to kill her before that happens.
7
"Port City of Libelle" Transliteration: "Minatomachi Ribēru" (Japanese: 港町リベール)
Yoshiyuki Nogami
Shōgo Yasukawa
Katsushi Sakurabi
May 14, 2022 (2022-05-14)
Menou realizes that the visions are actually flashbacks from the future, and that Akari has used her Pure Concept to rewind time by several months after she had caused Menou's death, which also made Akari lose her conscious memories of their time together. Menou takes Akari to the Sanctuary, purportedly a residential area for Lost Ones. They make a stop at Libelle, a port city and the site where one of the Four Major Human Errors, the Pandæmonium, had manifested and was sealed away. The city is also a base for the Fourth, a group of which Count Libelle, the city's ruler, and his daughter Manon are also members and who have a deadly feud with Flare. Upon learning of Menou's presence in the town, the Fourth decide to assassinate her, fearing that she might interfere with their current plans. Meanwhile, Menou decides to eliminate Akari by drugging her and sending her through the fog wall which isolates the Pandæmonium from the rest of the world, but Akari's power activates once more, sending her back to Menou's side. Additionally, Menou's resolve is beginning to falter as she begins to develop feelings for Akari. Meanwhile, Manon leads a young girl into an iron maiden-like device which harvests her blood.
With the attempt to trap Akari in Pandæmonium a failure, Menou returns to Libelle with her only to be ambushed by members of the Fourth. The attackers are defeated and arrested, but are forcibly turned into monsters by Manon to prevent them from spilling any secrets. The other members of the Fourth confront Manon, as monstrine is supposed to be an addictive and euphoric substance to be sold to fund their operations, as well as hold people hostage with the threat of using the monstrine to turn them into monsters. Manon reveals that she secretly slipped monstrine into their food, leaving them no choice but to follow her orders as she continues her plans against Menou as revenge for the death of her mother. Menou is tasked by Pastor Cilica to stop the production of monstrine in return for travel funds. Momo begins to investigate the source of the monstrine and encounters Ashuna again, who is also investigating the Fourth. Menou is able to secure an invitation to a ball Manon is hosting, but is forced to bring Akari with her when she insists on attending as well.
9
"At the Evening Ball" Transliteration: "Yakai nite" (Japanese: 夜会にて)
Shigeru Ueda
Shōgo Yasukawa
Kōichirō Sōtome
May 28, 2022 (2022-05-28)
Menou uses the ball to infiltrate Libelle Island in order to find evidence implicating Manon in monstrine production, but she encounters Ashuna, who challenges her to a duel. With no other choice, Menou battles Ashuna and is able to evade her, but loses her chance to scout the castle. Meanwhile, Akari regains her memories again and realizes events in this timeline have diverged significantly from the previous ones. Manon then approaches her, revealing she knows Akari is a Lost One. Determined to figure out why the timeline has diverged, Akari follows Manon. Momo infiltrates the monstrine production facility and opens the iron maiden, finding the girl inside. However, this triggers an explosive trap that leaves Momo incapacitated from a poisoned spike. Learning of what Momo has discovered, Menou asks Pastor Cilica to have the authorities surround Libelle Island since they now have enough evidence linking Manon and the Fourth to monstrine production. As the authorities lay siege to the island, Akari confronts Manon, intending to get answers from her.
10
"The Daughter of a Lost One" Transliteration: "Mayoibito no Musume" (Japanese: 迷い人の娘)
Katsushi Sakurabi
Shōgo Yasukawa
Katsushi Sakurabi
June 4, 2022 (2022-06-04)
Manon reveals that somebody informed her that Akari has regressed the timeline multiple times, which was how she was able to take action to change it, by gaining the knowledge to obtain forbidden power. She uses monstrine to give herself a living shadow and attacks Akari, but Menou arrives just in time to save her. Menou then faces off against Manon, who reveals she wanted to obtain taboo power to provoke the Faust into killing her, just like they did to her mother, a Lost One who was killed by Flare. Menou mortally wounds Manon, who uses her death as a sacrifice to summon the young girl, who reveals herself to be the Human Error Pandæmonium. Like Akari, Pandæmonium can't be killed due to the nature of her Pure Concept, which will automatically regenerate her every time she is killed. Pandæmonium then challenges Menou to find a way to kill her as she summons an army of monsters.
Menou continues to battle Pandæmonium but soon begins to run out of Ether. Fortunately, Ashuna arrives at the scene and provides crucial support, allowing Menou to use a powerful spell to trap Pandæmonium. However, she manages to escape and summons a large monster. Meanwhile, Akari decides to use her power to help heal Momo but is confronted by a clone of Pandæmonium. She reveals that due to Akari's repeated resets of the timeline, it is causing the world to slowly collapse, weakening the fog wall enough to allowing Pandæmonium to squeeze a small portion of her real body through a breach. Pandæmonium also reveals to Akari that her attempts to be killed by Menou's hand will be impossible due to more powerful beings like Flare having access to the Astral Archive interfering. Pandæmonium also reveals to Akari that there is a way to return to Japan. Outside, Menou figures out that the monster Pandæmonium summoned can only be manifested temporarily before it is pulled back into the fog wall, with the same happening to Pandæmonium herself. However, before she is fully pulled back in, she transformes herself into a monster for one final battle against Menou and Ashuna.
12
"The Duo's Journey" Transliteration: "Futari no Tabiji" (Japanese: ふたりの旅路)
Yoshiki Kawasaki
Shōgo Yasukawa
Yoshiki Kawasaki
June 18, 2022 (2022-06-18)
Menou and Ashuna battle Pandæmonium, but they are forced to split up when Pandæmonium sends her minions to attack the town. While Ashuna protects the town, Menou is forced to battle Pandæmonium alone and is only able to prevail when Ashuna lends her sword and Akari arrives to provide her a weapon. Menou powers up Ashuna's sword with Akari's Ether and destroys Pandæmonium. As her body dissolves, Pandæmonium reveals to Menou that the Sword of Salt, the byproduct of another Human Error, can destroy any other Pure Concepts, meaning it can kill Akari. Menou is left troubled, wondering what she would do if she found a way to ensure Akari wouldn't be a threat without killing her. Akari once again suppresses her memories and the two decide to continue their journey. Meanwhile, Momo sees Menou's growing friendship with Akari and vows to kill Akari in Menou's stead. Manon is revived by another Pandæmonium fragment, and it is implied Pandæmonium is Manon's older sister, having been sent to this world far ahead of her mother. Manon agrees to help Pandæmonium spread Chaos across the world. Elsewhere, Flare is informed that Pandæmonium and the Mechanical Society Human Errors are beginning to become active. Encouraged by this news, Flare resolves to kill Menou again in order to continue forcing Akari to reset the timeline.
Reception
By February 2022, the series had over 300,000 copies in circulation.[52] By January 2024, the series had over 400,000 copies in circulation.[53]
^The kanji生きる道 in the Japanese title, glossed with furigana as バージンロード (bājin rōdo, "virgin road"), are normally read as ikiru michi ("way of life"). "Virgin road" is a term used in Japanese to refer to a wedding aisle.
^Tokyo MX lists the series premiere at 24:30 on April 1, 2022, which is effectively 12:30 a.m. JST on April 2.
^The episodes first aired at 00:30 on the respective day, which was presented as the day before at 24:30 on the official website[51]
