While not necessarily the most popular series, I have personally loved watching The Executioner and Her Way of Life as part of the Spring 2022 season! Not only is it an interesting take on isekai anime, but it’s also constantly developing layers of intrigue, such as Akari’s different timelines.
The Executioner and Her Way of Life is starting to get complicated, with it becoming clear that Akari isn’t the lighthearted and doe-eyed captive that she appears.
While the show is great at worldbuilding, it’s not the best at explaining said world. So, if you need a refresh on what is and isn’t known, and what the timelines mean, I'm here to explain!
Note that this article has been designed to keep anime spoilers to a minimum. However, it does use some small knowledge from The Executioner and Her Way of Life’s light novels and later episodes of the first season.
Who is Akari in The Executioner and Her Way of Life?
Akari is a girl that was summoned into The Executioner and Her Way of Life and who possesses the Pure Concept of Time.
The Executioner and Her Way of Life’s premise is that students from Japan are ‘isekai-d’ into their world and come with powerful abilities. However, those abilities can wreak havoc on the world, which is why Menou and the other Executioners hunt the isekai children, known as Lost Ones.
Akari, at first, appears to be just another Lost One. However, she has a Pure Concept named Time. When Menou kills Akari, her ability causes her to go back in time to before she was killed, rendering her seemingly immortal.
Related: Is The Executioner and Her Way of Life a Yuri Anime?
Can Akari Time Travel?
Yes, Akari has the ability to go back in time in The Executioner and Her Way of Life.
The anime reveals that Akari’s abilities go much further than just saving herself from death. She can alter time for herself and other people, both physically and mentally.
However, Akari cannot alter the entire world, as explained below.
The Executioner and Her Way of Life’s Timelines Explained
The put it simply, the storyline that we see in The Executioner and Her Way of Life isn’t the first. In fact, it might be the last.
It emerges later on in the first season, around the time when they encounter Pandemonium, that Menou and Akari’s journey has come to an end multiple times before. Almost every time, Menou fails to kill Akari and is killed herself.
Akari, seemingly out of love for Menou, sends herself backwards each time to when they first met (the start of the series). She hopes to guide Menou to her end goal while keeping her knowledge a secret.
However, Akari doesn’t have complete control of time. Her abilities, crucially, don’t impact the Four Human Errors, which were caused by Lost Ones like herself.
This fact is revealed during Menou’s encounter with Pandemonium when she begins to talk about the world’s history and the having other encounters previously.
Therefore, when new events pop into this current timeline and Pandemonium reveals herself, Akari loses the knowledge that was previously her strength. They're officially in a brand new timeline.
During all this, poor Menou is none the wiser! At least for now.
You’ll need to keep watching The Executioner and Her Way of Life (or read the source material) to discover if Akari can keep guiding Menou on her mission, which will ultimately be Akari’s demise.