English Dub Review: The Executioner and Her Way of Life “The Executioner”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Mitsuki’s dreams come true when he is isekai’d to another magical world! Once he meets the kindly priestess Menou, his grand adventure is sure to begin…right?

Our Take:
The first episode introduces viewers to an alternate world where everything is inspired by Japanese culture. It also introduced us to Mutou Mitsuki (Bryson Baugus), a student summoned by the king of Grisarika Kingdom and gains an extraordinary power called Pure Concept. He later meets a priestess named Menou (Annie Wild), who tells him about the world and teaches him to use his Pure Concept, which allows Mutou to decimate anything he wants. However, as he celebrates his given power, Mutou is killed instantly by Menou, who’s actually an assassin for the church tasked with killing the otherworlders known as “Lost Ones”. Finally, Menou learns that another Lost One was summoned, a girl named Akari Tokito (Melissa Molano).
At first glance, I thought that Mutou would be the main hero of the series, with Menou being a supporting character. But that doesn’t appear to be the case, with Mutou biting the dust faster before you can say “Gotcha”. As a result, we now follow Menou as the main character, who’s tasked to kill any Lost Ones summoned to her world before they become a threat, even the innocent ones. Based on my experience with the episode, I do not mind this change regarding how badass she is while fighting off the knights.
The episode did a suitable job explaining the show’s setting without overstuffing things all at once, and the animation looks impressive in terms of its action scenes. There were also a few comedic moments that were pretty decent, mainly Menou’s aide Momo (Cat Thomas), who seems to have a strong fondness for the assassin priestess. My only issue with it was that the dialogue felt a bit rushed in some places, especially when one person immediately starts talking after another is done. It somehow made the pacing too sudden and janky compared to the other anime I’m recently watching. Other than that, “The Executioner” is an enjoyable start that kept the show from being swiftly executed. It would be interesting to see how Menou will execute Akari in next week’s episode.