Directed by Masafumi Tamura at Silver Link & Studio Palette, “The World’s Finest Assassin” was originally aired on October 6th, 2021, and was later released on Netflix on August 1st, 2022. The anime is based on the manga “The World’s Finest Assassin,” authored by Rui Tsukiyo and published by Kadokawa Shoten. The anime is a delight to watch with its plot twists and intriguing storyline. It follows the journey of a past assassin after his reincarnation as an assassin in the current world. The anime keeps the audience guessing at every plot point and keeps them on the edge of their seats, puzzled after proving their deductions wrong. A recommended watch after “Spriggan.”
Spoilers Ahead
‘The World’s Finest Assassin’ Season 1: Plotline – What Is The Anime About?
The series follows a seasoned assassin as he trains an amateur while he completes his mission. However, he faces betrayal from the organization he works for when he informs them of his plan to retire and instead teaches the new students the art of assassination. The organization plans carefully and murders him instead. He then reincarnates with his memories intact as Lugh Tuatha Dé on the Goddess’s command to save the world from a rampant hero, Brave, 18 years later. Lugh is then reincarnated as the heir of House Tuatha Dé, the clan of assassination, and learns the art of assassination from his father yet again. He inherits the eyes of the house from his father after a successful eye operation, which assists him in his missions. Lugh swears to himself that he will take on missions and carry them out according to his judgment and not as a tool like he was before. He will not kill his emotions like in his past life, nor act according to the orders of his house or the Goddess. He will assess the situation by himself and then carry out the orders.
The first season follows Lugh’s journey as he learns to incorporate magic, swords, and the skills he sought before his reincarnation into his assassination techniques. With the help of his father, Lord Tuatha Dé, and Dia Viekone, he learns and gets accustomed to the knowledge. Dia teaches him magic, and Lugh surpasses her with exceeding knowledge and skill. He had the skill of a Spell Weaver, which helped him in creating new magic. Dia introduced him to magic with care, and he quickly helped her create new magic. In the meantime, Lugh had also begun his search for magical people to build up his team. He recruits Tarte under his real identity and later recruits Maha under the alias of Illig Balor, the illegitimate child of Merchant Balor. In the last episode, he finally recruits Dia as his wife after successfully saving her from the attack of a supposed Brave with a holy relic.
The Goddess and the Reincarnations
Throughout the series, small snippets show the Goddess setting up the world as a stage for the Brave and reincarnating people she thought to be capable of keeping him in check. With the interval of 5 years, for 40 years, the Goddess has been recruiting the best people from one dimension and reincarnating them either to help Brave or to kill Brave if their magic gets the best of them after defeating the Demon King. All of the reincarnations are given a specific time limit, that is, until the Brave turns 18 and after they have killed the Demon King. The very last person to be recruited was Lugh, who asked if he could save the world without killing off Brave. Before him, the Goddess recruited the best Special Forces Commander first 40 years ago, the World’s Strongest Samurai 35 years ago, the World’s Best MC 30 years ago, the World’s Best Paparazzi 25 years ago, and the World’s Best Teacher 20 years ago, finally catching up to recruiting Lugh to eliminate the Brave if none of them was able to do it. However, she recruited the teacher only to teach the Brave to the best of her capabilities so that they could give Lugh a good competition.
However, the Goddess, while chatting with the system and an unknown entity, reveals a glimpse of a more sinister plot. Brave is supposed to go rampant and destroy this world after defeating the Demon King; therefore, she recruited the best from a different dimension to kill them before they really end up destroying the entire world. This is, at best, a front to hide a much darker and sinister plot. The system that the Goddess is an underling of commandeers the current world to give birth to a brilliant individual, Brave, who is absolutely overpowered and is taught by the best teacher that the other world has to offer. However, they also recruit and reincarnate other individuals to either kill or overwhelm them or to keep Brave in check. It gives off the essence that, essentially, the world is made for Brave, and the rest are bystanders who need to keep them in check; otherwise, they might destroy the world after realizing the farcical plots made by the Goddess and the System. Although this is simply a conspiracy theory, the audience might agree that the Goddess and the system might not like being questioned, which is why they had tried to upstage Lugh, and they were behaving quite suspiciously.
‘The World’s Finest Assassin’ Season 1: Ending Explained – Who Is Setanta Macness?
Setanta Macness, also known as the Hound of Cullan, was also in possession of the Holy Relic, the Magic Spear, Gae Bolg. He was presented to Lugh and his team as an omnipotent enemy, who they mistook for Brave. While saving Dia, Lugh had to face Setanta, who had been threatening the county to hand over Dia, who was famous due to her prowess in magic. Setanta then made a deal with Lugh to back off and not covet Dia only if Lugh could win a duel with him. Lugh won against Setanta by skillfully assassinating him by launching a pillar of Tungsten into space and relying on the atmospheric pressure to turn it into a flammable missile. However, he was thrown into confusion because Setanta possessed the S-rank skill of Berserk and the Holy Relic, and therefore he thought Setanta could be the Brave, although he realized his mistake after finishing him off because, according to the Goddess, there was still time before he met Brave.
In Episode 10, she recruited the best teacher for Brave to give him a rather big headstart before Lugh’s reincarnation. In Episode 11, the Goddess plotted to kill Lugh by introducing a powerful enemy that could very well kill Lugh if he did not have the expertise, knowledge, and skills he had chosen after careful deliberation before being reincarnated. The Goddess deliberately set up Setanta for Lugh to kill him, as she was shown telling the system in the snippet of Episode 11. However, it might even come off as setting him up to test his skills and gauge if he was suitable for the job. Although his soul seemed to be suitable to stop Brave’s rampant rage, the Goddess deemed it necessary to put him to the test. The Goddess seems very suspicious because it is questionable if she actually wants to stop the Brave or if this is simply for the other Gods’ and Goddesses’ entertainment.
In Episode 12, before the beginning of his duel with Setanta, Lord Tuatha Dé receives a message from the Brave appearing in the Kingdom of Alvan. After the duel with Setanta and successfully rescuing his future wife, Dia, Lugh realizes that Setanta is, in fact, not the Brave after his conversation with his father. The Brave is Epona Rhiannon, who is introduced at the end of the last episode of the first season by her teacher, who is the reincarnation of the World’s Best Teacher from the other world. Lugh has yet to meet the Brave and is simply informed of her existence just before the season ends.
Will There Be A Season 2?
There will be a “The World’s Finest Assassin” Season 2 for the series because Season 1 was a set up to explain the circumstances behind the main protagonist, Lugh, as well as his journey to becoming the best assassin in the current world. The Brave is introduced at the absolute end of the anime. The backstory behind the Brave will be revealed in the next season. In the next season, there is a chance to unravel the plots of the Goddess. It could be that the true Brave is none other than Lugh himself, or that the snippet from episode 11 was, in fact, not to set up Lugh for a test but rather to introduce Epona as his rival who has been sent to keep Lugh in check due to his prowess. Lugh’s intelligence and capability surpass those of any other individual present in this world. It is also a bit suspicious that whenever the Goddess checks up on the reincarnation, the familiarity of the surroundings coincides with the territory owned by Tuatha Dé. Therefore, the Brave, the Goddess, is talking of could very well be Lugh Tuatha Dé. This could also be mere speculation over the plot, but “The World’s Finest Assassin” Season 2 is setting up a plot ready to garner huge expectations from the audience.
“The World’s Finest Assassin” is a 2021 Action Animated Series streaming on Netflix.
