Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road

Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road / Shokei Shoujo no Ikiru Michi (処刑少女の生きる道〈バージンロード〉, The Executioner Girl's Way of Life) is a Japanese yuri light novel series, written by Mato Sato and illustrated by Nilitsu. SB Creative have released seven volumes since July 2019 under their GA Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation with art by Ryo Mitsuya has been serialized in Square Enix's seinen manga magazine Young Gangan since June 2020. It has been collected in three 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.

Setting
Long ago, wanderers called "Lost Ones" came from an alternate world known as "Japan", and each were given power beyond imagination titled "Pure Concepts". In this new world they created an advanced civilisation with heavy Japanese influences and for a time, this world prospered. However, 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 centre 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.

Novel
The Executioner and Her Way of Life is written by Mato Sato and illustrated by Nilitsu. SB Creative have released seven volumes since July 2019 under their GA Bunko imprint. Yen Press licensed the series for English publication.

Manga
The Executioner and Her Way of Life is written by Mato Sato and illustrated by Nilitsu. SB Creative have released seven volumes since July 2019 under their GA Bunko imprint. Yen Press licensed the series for English publication.

Character
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/blanched", 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.

Personality


 * Menou's soul was "bleached/blanched" during the disaster that happened to her hometown, and the only thing she remembered was her name. She grew to have a strong sense of responsibility and sees herself as a villain doing necessary wrongs. For the sake of stability in her world, Menou tries to dispose of Akari before her Pure Concept goes out of control. A major trait of Menou is that despite her claims to the contrary, she really does have a moral code.
 * She feels regrets over all the innocent lives she has taken. While it is her duty to kill Lost Ones, she also knows that they were innocent people who had no idea why she had to kill them in the first place.
 * Menou sees herself as this to protect her world against potential calamities. She doesn't like killing the Lost One, and she knows what she did to her previous victims was wrong, but she does it because she believes she has to.

Abilities
The executioner was set as a hero suitable for a brutal world view and as a person who hunts down the hero himself. She has now become a normal bright and kind girl, but she continues to agonize over killing her strays (Lost One), believing that her action is for the sake of the world. Her performance was also good to keep her target off guard by geared towards dealing with enemies fast, using agility and misdirection to hit vital spots and she is adept at approaching her targets and earning the trust by putting on an affable front to influence them to do her bidding.


 * A surprisingly important aspect of her personality. Menou fakes being a Nice Girl when going undercover, but in reality she has a sharp wit and is unafraid to criticize others.
 * Menou's Ether (Magic) capacity for ether is below average compared to most priestesses. However, she compensates with meticulously calculated moves without relying on raw strength. Although her etheric capacity is lower than normal, Menou is extraordinarily skilled at controlling ether, as she accomplished the feat of connecting the earthly and heavenly veins, which was much beyond what normal people could do according to Ashuna.

Menou is obviously extremely skilled in martial arts and is an accomplished acrobat easily able to do back-flips and mid-air cartwheels with little effort in terms of physical strain because of her Master's teaching. Her trademark weapon is a knife (dagger) on a Guiding wire/thread, which she uses as an offensive weapon, a grappling hook, or as a conduit through which to discharge any form of magic.


 * While no one will say Menou isn't a good fighter by herself, compared to the rest of the named cast, she looks to be a little lacking in firepower and special abilities. Flare even pointed out that her physical and magical abilities were subpar when Menou started her training. She makes up for this by carefully exploiting every opening available, using her weapons creatively, and playing dirty. Realistically, however, this can only do so much against some of the threats she deals with, and against someone like Flare, who taught her everything she knows, Menou is on a fast track to another reset from Akari.

She appears to have no issue with gaining the affections of Akari and Momo. Sahara comments that the rumours surrounding Menou claim that she seduces girls wherever she goes, but given Sahara's personality, she could be making this up to mess with Menou. Sahara herself could also count, as she has complicated feelings for Menou that mix admiration and envy. It's even stated in Volume 5 that Menou is Sahara's ideal beauty.

Production
The author, Mato Satou, wanted to write a bloody and unforgiving story, and was influenced by the 2007 TV anime 『DARKER THAN BLACK -Kuro no Keiyakusha-』, It is said that he wrote this work as a stylish spy action, a genre that he had never drawn before. In addition, he thought about creating a world that added unique elements while following the good points of existing isekai, such as the fact that the lost people are Japanese only.

Regarding the fact that all the main characters in this work are women, Sato said that if a man appears in a story with a female protagonist, one would inevitably expect a romance to develop. He said that he thought that it would be more suitable for this work to explore the feelings and friendships that flow between women rather than love between the opposite sex.

TV Anime
At the "GA Fes 2021" event livestreams, it was announced that the series would be receiving an anime television series adaptation. The series is animated by J.C.Staff and directed by Yoshiki Kawasaki, 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. The opening theme song is "Paper Bouquet" by Mili, while the ending theme song is "Tomoshibi Serenade" (Serenade by Lamplight) by ChouCho. Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series outside of Asia, and is streaming it on HIDIVE. Medialink licensed the series in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Oceania minus Australia and New Zealand.

Yoshiki Kawasaki made his directorial debut in this anime. On May 11, 2022, HIDIVE announced that the series will receive an English dub, which premiered on May 20.

Web Radio
“Execution RADIO ~The Way of the Execution Girl Talks (Radio Road)~” will be distributed on Warner Bros. Japan Anime channel on Onsen and YouTube on the last Friday of every month from January 28, 2022. The personalities are Iori Saeki, who plays the role of Menou, and Moe Kahara who plays the role of Tokitou, Akari.

Reception
The series won the Grand Prize in the 11th GA Bunko Taishou in 2018. It was the first work to win the Grand Prize since Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka in 2011.

External Link

 * Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road ─ Light Novel Official Website (in Japanese)
 * GA Bunko - Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road Official (@virginroad_GA) - Twitter
 * Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road ─ Manga official website (in Japanese)
 * TV Anime "Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road" Official Website
 * Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road Official (@VirginroadAnime) - Twitter
 * Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road ─ TMDb
 * Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road ─ Wikipedia (in Japanese)
 * Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road ─ Wikipedia (in English)

Trivia

 * Her name, as explained by Ivory, her creator, is a combination of the Japanese words me (eye) and nou (brain), describing her role in relation to Ivory.
 * Menou and Akari are in a time loop; with the real/present Akari's mind only surfacing whenver Menou picks a failure way to kill her. However, her Pure Concept is getting too strong; with little time until Akari is corrupted.

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