A friend suggested that I watch the anime series “Seventh Time Loop” and I’m glad I did, because it was a great example of the heroine’s journey that I write about in my first book. Rishe Irmgard Weitzner is a noblewoman who has been engaged since childhood to the crown prince of her country. At the beginning of the show, Rishe stands in front of the crown prince who denounces her as unfit and publicly annuls the engagement. Kicked out of her home by her shamed parents, Rishe walks into the night, only to meet up with a traveling merchant crew who take her in. She learns from them how to know the true value of things and also how to size up people and negotiate with them effectively..

But five years later, Rishe is “swept up in the war” and killed. She opens her eyes to find herself once again standing in front of the crown prince, being denounced. Bewildered, she runs off into the night again and tries to find the merchants, but misses their caravan. So she decides to follow a long-held desire and apprentices herself to an herbalist. She loves her work and becomes quite good at it—until five years later, she is swept up by the war and killed.

In the following time loops Rishe becomes a scholar, then a maid, and then, disguised as man, a knight. In each life she becomes adept at new skills. And each life, she is swept up into the war and killed five years later. In the sixth life, the one where she is a knight, she is killed directly by Prince Arnold of a neighboring realm, the person who has initiated the war each time.

Rishe opens her eyes once again to find the crown prince denouncing her. Ignoring him, she turns and leaves. Each life she goes out of the palace a different way. In this seventh loop, using the agility she gained as a knight, she jumps off a balcony. Her escape is witnessed by Prince Arnold, who has been sent by his father to the court. Arnold is intrigued by Rishe and follows her, catching up with her in time to hear her confronting the crown prince who has also followed her, determined to read off the list of Rishe’s supposed crimes. But Rishe realizes that he’s been lied to by another noblewoman, Marie, who wants to marry him instead. Rishe tells Marie she’d be better off trying to live her own life. Arnold, impressed, reveals himself and proposes to Rishe.

Rishe is at first stunned, but then she begins to think. It occurs to her that she might actually be safer married to Arnold; also, she is longing for a life in which she doesn’t have to work so hard any more, but can be pampered. She agrees, with conditions; for one, Arnold may not touch her. He accepts her conditions and brings her to his kingdom.

But this is no Cinderella story. Instead of being lazy, Rishe spends her days setting things to rights in the kingdom. She uses her merchant skills to mediate between Arnold and his younger brother Theodore; she uses her maid’s skills to clean up a long-neglected mansion for her and Arnold to live in; she uses her herbalist skills to create medicines to heal those around her; and she uses her scholarly knowledge to identify the problems with the nation’s economy. She sets up a school for the young women in the castle so that they can go on from being servants to having real careers, promoting the maids who already know how to read and write as teachers of the other girls. She helps Theodore with his mission of improving life for the people in the slums. When a terrorist sets a bomb near the castle, Rishe converts it to fireworks, and then convinces Arnold that the terrorist should be valued as a clever inventor whose skills can be put to use serving the kingdom for other purposes than war.

Meanwhile, she observes Arnold closely to find out why he initiated the war in all her other lives. Slowly, she starts to identify Arnold’s personal issues and help him with them. The series is still being written, but I’m guessing Rishe will solve the riddle of Arnold and avert the war this time, and they will live on as king and queen of a prosperous nation.

Rishe’s journey is the classic “wandering heroine” story. She has to leave home, goes into the wilderness, wears various disguises, is taught how to discern clearly, then creates a new life for herself in which she becomes an inspiration and role model to many. She draws her ideal partner to her and inspires him to change and become more like her. The ripples from her actions spread out across the community, making life better for everyone.