Mushoku Tensei s2 eps 1-3

This is the first installment in a rotation I intend to do for the Summer 2023 season, where each week I will choose one title that I’m following and look at what it’s doing so far/since its last review. I am starting with this one, but I also intend to cover Rurouni Kenshin and one or two others that are likely to fly under the radar, including possibly The Dreaming Boy is a Realist and perhaps one or two others that show signs of doing something interesting.

Rating: B for episode 1, B+ for episode 2, A for episode 3.

Note: Episode 0 was covered in my Preview Guide.

After spending episode 0 looking at Sylphie, the focus firmly returns to Rudeus for the season’s short first arc, and he’s not in a good place. He did hit the road with the intent of looking for his mother after Eris left him behind, but he’s still struggling with a strong sense of abandonment and isolation even as he tries to make a name for himself as an adventurer up north. That gets him involved with an established party of adventurers called Counter Arrow, and in particular with their youngest member, the archer Sara. She’s quite prickly towards him at first, but her disposition noticeably changes after Rudeus endangers himself to save her life. The problem is that she has unwittingly chosen the absolute worst time to get interested in Rudeus, who’s nowhere near as ready to move on (romantically or sexually) as he had convinced himself he was.

I have heard some complaints about an initial drop in animation quality compared to last season, but frankly, you have to watch very carefully to catch any of it, and episodes 2 and 3 seem like distinct improvements. Episode 1 and especially episode 2 do offer some nice action scenes which give both Rudeus and others chances to show off, but those scenes are practically afterthoughts compared to the bigger character development afoot. Rudeus is in a deeper emotional hole here than at any point since his reincarnation, and as episodes 1 and 2 plainly show, there’s only so much that he can do to climb out of it on his own. Association with Counter Arrow seems to be helping some, but it’s not enough. Unlike in most such situations in anime, though, a new girl in his life isn’t the answer; in fact, his abortive fling with Sara only makes things worse, not better.

That the series actually takes time to explore this fully is part of why episode 3 is such a stand-out. Anime series willing to tackle issues like sexual dysfunction are an extreme rarity, but Rudeus certainly has reason to have a hang-up, and Sara – who’s probably not much older than Eris – isn’t mature enough to be sensitive or understanding about it. Granted, Rudeus isn’t shown doing anything to reassure Sara that his inability to perform isn’t her fault, but Sara going all tsundere on him at that moment – when she was clearly interested in him and only using “obligation” as an excuse – was the worst thing she could have done. Rudeus’s later drunken, ill-timed counter-bashing certainly earned him the slap Sara gave him towards the end of the episode, but Sara was hardly blameless overall.

The interactions with Sara make for an interesting comparison/contrast to Rudeus’s later interactions with the prostitute. Beyond it being her job, she was also grateful to him for the free healing he gave to her sister (the random little girl early in episode 2), but she was far more mature than Sara in every respect. Perhaps because he had collected himself a bit by that point, Rudeus did make a point this time of assuring her that the problem was all his and not hers, which may have contributed to her giving him advice: he needs a woman he can feel safe with to get over this. Though he first thinks of Roxy, given the last episode of last season and the first episode of this one, Sylphie seems the more likely candidate at this point.

The other interesting facet of episode 3 is the adventurer Soldat. (Interesting name choice here, since that word also is the lowest enlisted rank in multiple European armies.) He was an outright prick during his appearances in episode 2, but he did at least have an angle: he couldn’t tolerate someone being a fake or a pushover. That makes his change of heart in this episode interesting and appreciable, as he seems to respect Rudeus more for venting (even if on him!) rather than just faking it and even seems sympathetic enough to hear Rudeus out about his Man Problems. As the episode progresses through the second half, it gradually becomes clear that Sol, as coarse as he is, is exactly the kind of friend Rudeus needs right now. Whether in this life or his previous one, Rudeus hasn’t ever really had a guy friend; Ruijerd was the closest, but he was a guardian figure, not a true friend. Sol can better see him eye-to-eye and talk frankly with him about sexual matters (again, something you hardly ever see in any other anime this side of Interspecies Reviewes) and won’t put up with Rudeus’s BS. I can see this being a positive influence long-term.

The appearance of a certain sex-crazed elf in the epilogue shows that a reunion on another front might not be far off, either, though the next episode title seems to point in a different direction. Regardless, the story seems ready to move on to the next stage after getting this largely satisfying character-development arc in.

Bonus Random Thought: This series has featured some excellent character designs, but I particularly liked Sara’s look. The short hair implies her tomboyish side, but without distracting from her emerging sex appeal.