A veteran mafia hitman dies on his last job. Then he chooses to reincarnate in a fantasy world for a specific mission.
First Thoughts.
We in the manga and anime community mourned the recent passing of Golgo 13 creator Takao Saito. The longest-running manga series found itself without a satisfying conclusion because Duke Togo’s story hadn’t finished yet. Oh, sure, Golgo 13 now has a spinoff, but what about Togo? The World’s Finest Assassin anime can smooth over your sore spots if you’re an isekai fan.
The anime adapts the light novel series The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat (Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei suru). The customary mouthful of a title tells the story of a career mafia hitman put out to pasture with extreme prejudice. Instead of a gold watch for his retirement, the nameless Assassin (voiced by Junpei Morita) receives a Sidewinder missile launched from an F-16 fighter jet. That’s an honor of sorts. For the first time in his lengthy profession, the Assassin felt frustration and the need for revenge. That strong emotion, and the Assassin’s particular set of skills, gained the notice of a Goddess of another world. She needs him for one more mission!
The anime world is in the era of the isekai genre. Like the magic battle academy glut of ten years ago, it becomes difficult to tell the difference between a well-told story and a cash-money grab. These days, I need a new isekai anime to have a twist, occupy another genre, or just take the genre to another level in its execution. The World’s Finest Assassin combines a premise twist with occupying another genre. So it got my attention. That should not be surprising since the light novel’s author, Rui Tsukiyo, also wrote the genre-smashing fantasy adventure Redo of Healer.
The World’s Finest Assassin is Isekai with a Twist.
The generic plot of an isekai tale is a nondescript self-insert high school-age male character who has a fateful meeting with Truck-kun. He meets a beautiful goddess and needs to defeat a Demon Lord as the new fantasy world’s Hero. The World’s Finest Assassin tweaks every part of that formulation. The Assassin is a grizzled veteran of crime syndicate wars, not a weak teenage nerd with good intentions. Okay, the goddess is still beautiful, but she doesn’t need the Assassin to kill the Demon Lord. She needs him to kill the Hero! However, the Assassin needs to complete his mission within two years after the Hero defeats the Demon Lord. That’s a plot twist!
The World’s Finest Assassin is a Gritty Crime Procedural.
Can fantasy worlds have organized crime stories told through the hard-boiled detective filter? The World’s Finest Assassin will try to answer that question. The season premiere shows us a flash-forward of the Assassin and his crew on the job at a sex-trafficking auction. It’s clear from the execution and infiltration of the venue that the Assassin used his experienced tradecraft to ensure success. The events leading up to the Assassin’s rendezvous with a Sidewinder missile also paid close attention to the gear, tactics, and psychological environment a paid assassin would face.
The World’s Finest Assassin is a Harem Anime.
The isekai anime has become so cliché, it’s not a surprise that the harem genre would take advantage of recent popularity trends. In fact, it’s the rare isekai story in today’s mature era that doesn’t have a harem aspect to its cast of characters. The reincarnated Assassin will assemble his new cleanup crew with the best of the best. And it’s no surprise that they’re all beautiful girls around his age who fit a spectrum of body and personality types. You will find a waifu among Dia, Tarte, and Maha according to your personal tastes.
One More Twist: Redemption.
The Assassin in our world occupied the dark underworld of crime, where he followed orders and completed his missions. All of them were unambiguously evil. He knew that but swallowed his feelings and opinions so he could reach a peaceful retirement of training the next generation of assassins. All those years in that world and the world’s finest Assassin kept one scruple, one rule of honor that he knew didn’t exist for his employers: loyalty. The mafia repaid his loyalty with a Sidewinder missile. The Assassin’s reincarnation is the debt of loyalty that replaced his quiet retirement. Being reborn into an aristocratic clan of assassins isn’t peaceful. But he does have loving and doting parents who acknowledge his growth and accomplishments with praise and affection. That’s much better than a Sidewinder missile.
The other path of redemption in The World’s Finest Assassin is that the main character’s missions in the new world will protect the innocent and save the world. That’s right. Killing the Hero, who rescued the world from the Demon Lord, will keep the world safe. How will The World’s Finest Assassin tell that story? You’ll need to watch to find out.
The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in a Different World as an Aristocrat (Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei suru) streams weekly with English subtitles on Crunchyroll and VRV.
