The World's Finest Assassin

Episode 4

Just as the last episode introduced our first heroine, Dia, this episode introduces us to our second: Tarte. While Dia was presented as Lugh's equal, Tarte is his subordinate—his personal maid. However, unlike Dia who only knows of the public-facing aristocratic side of his life, Tarte is familiar with both sides of Lugh's existence. In addition to her maid duties, she has been trained by Lugh as an assassin just as he himself was trained, more or less becoming the teacher he hoped to become in his first life in the process.

Of course, what's interesting about this episode is the moral dilemma at its heart. Lugh saves Tarte for a purely selfish reason: she possesses a staggering amount of magic power. After learning about her tragic circumstances—i.e., being abandoned to die because her family didn't have enough food for the winter—he plays on her insecurities to mold her into a fanatic loyal only to him. Yet the way he does this is through treating her kindly and giving her a purpose in life. He grants her the love and care she has been desperately searching for and cruelly denied by her own flesh and blood.

All this raises the question: At what point does pretending to be kind become true kindness? If he pretends his whole life to care about her and acts accordingly, is that any different from caring about her? From her point of view, there is likely no difference. After all, if we judge him by his actions alone, he is a good person who saved a dying, abandoned girl. He gave her food, a place to live, and a job. And for her part, she's happy to repay the favor—no matter the personal hardships.

On the other hand, if we judge him by his thoughts, Lugh is devious and manipulative. Every kindness he gives is to further solidify her loyalty to him. Each word is calculated to craft her into the perfect tool and companion in his mission to kill the hero. His thoughts make him disingenuous at best, evil at worst.

Yet, there is one more caveat to this: his overly pragmatic thoughts might just be the lies he tells himself, a way for him to justify to himself the actual emotional connection he has built with Tarte. While in his past life he may have been an emotionless killing machine, we have seen hints in the past few episodes that he is learning to become more human in his second life, whether he intends to or not. The way he humors his mother and the joy he shows in creating magic with Dia both show the emotional connection he has built with them.

After all, it would no doubt be better as an assassin for Tarte to master daggers and other small weapons regardless of her talent with a spear. While she may never be a master like Lugh, she is hardworking enough to become proficient with time. However, for her own mental wellbeing, he goes out of his way to figure out how to turn a spear into a concealed weapon—to merge what he needs with her talents. Likewise, he has no need to keep a childhood promise to let her share his bed when she is feeling emotionally vulnerable. With their current relationship, if he ordered her to go, she would do so unquestionably. Yet, instead, he lets the ever-more-problematic-as-they-grow-older promise stand just to make her happy.

All these layers make The World's Finest Assassin a complex and surprisingly enjoyable watch. At this point, I can't wait for the third heroine to be introduced and see what wrinkles she throws into the whole situation.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• It's almost terrifying how unsexy the body development scene is in this episode. Despite Tarte's nakedness and her voluptuous body, there is zero sexual tension between the two. Tarte becomes almost an emotionless doll as he inspects her—exactly as he does when his father does the same to him. Kudos on making something so genuinely unsettling out of something that could be played for titillation in other circumstances.

• Based on the body inspection scene, I wonder how much of Tarte's bubbly personality is an act and how much is real. It's possible that she knows exactly what Lugh is up to—how he is trying to manipulate her—and simply acts as naïve because she doesn't care if he is genuine or not.

• It's good to hear that Lugh has stayed in contact with Dia over the years and has been visiting her regularly.

• Lugh's mother is also more than a bit scary when you think about it. It seems like she enjoys playing the mother more than actually being one. That's not to say she doesn't love Lugh but she is 100% aware of the emotional manipulation she is using to get her way.

• I liked the whole bit with the Goddess and the world's greatest soldier. It makes her seem more intimidating and intelligent by showing that she hasn't exactly been waiting till the last minute with her plans to kill the hero. In fact, Lugh is just one of several plans she has running to deal with the situation.

The World's Finest Assassin is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of experience living and working in Japan. For more of his writings, check out his Twitter and blog.