The World's Finest Assassin

Episode 5

If there is a theme in this episode, it's basically that making friends is the most important job of both a ruler and an assassin. Growing up, Lugh has made himself an indispensable existence to those he will one day rule. Be it by using his knowledge from our world or utilizing his skills in magic, he has spent a chunk of his time helping the common man while asking for nothing in return.

Of course, this kindness, like most of Lugh's actions is more pragmatic than anything else. Having the support of the people stabilizes his succession and builds up goodwill—minimizing the amount of time he'll have to spend dealing with his lands when it comes time to focus on killing the hero.

But what's cool is that Lugh is smart enough to know that befriending the common man isn't enough. You need to befriend your enemies as well. This is why after being challenged by—and easily defeating—the other rival for family succession, he “love bombs” the young man, singing his praises and convincing him to be a knight in his service rather than battle for the role of head assassin. After all, as a wise woman once said, “What greater weapon is there than to turn an enemy to your cause?”

His father clearly knows the importance of making friends as well as he gives free medical checkups to neighboring nobles to strengthen inter-fife relations. Of course, there is a more subtle reason for his actions: they provide him with tactical information on potential targets. Being invited into a noble's house not only gives him the floor plan but also a firsthand look at all security. Such access is vital to an assassin. And while Lugh will soon have a similar medical prestige—and can already fake being a cook or entertainer—a completely unrelated deep cover will no doubt be indispensable for his work in the future.

Which brings us to the plot side of things. This episode is largely set up for Lugh assuming his new deep-cover role as a merchant's bastard son in subsequent episodes. This means we spend a large portion of the episode tying up loose ends—namely his training with his father. Of course, our hero wins his graduation battle given that he has two lifetimes of experience but we are able to learn of his obvious weak point as well—namely that his father is a better doctor and has better control over his body. This makes sense and shows that outside of assassination skills, Lugh still has a long way to go.

We'll just have to see if he has the makings of a merchant or not next week.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• I don't think that Lugh understands Tarte as much as he thinks he does. She's not some wide-eyed innocent. It's not that she doesn't see his manipulations. It's that she doesn't care that they are manipulations. She just wants to be needed and he needs her. That's enough.

• The idea that the Goddess has at least 362 backup plans is excellent. Not only does it give us an ample helping of humor but builds up the threat of the hero dramatically. I mean, if you've set up hundreds of plans to kill one man and still don't think it's enough, just how hard do you expect killing him to be?

• The big fight scene in this episode does a good job of showing that assassination fighting is all about misdirection and feints—and that once you have figured out how your opponent thinks, you've won.

• I would have liked it if Tarte had fought the other potential heir in Lugh's stead. That would have proven Lugh's strength (as he is her teacher) and shown us that she is a physical threat rather than simply telling us that she is one.

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.