One of the more unique isekais out there is Mushoku Tensei – Jobless Reincarnation. The anime didn’t feel too original at first besides the degenerate protagonist starting his new life from birth for a second chance at living, but then you find out the series started as a light novel back in 2014. The media wasn’t so saturated with isekais back then (sh*t I’m making it sound like so long ago). So it was unique. It was original. It did some things differently.
I love the fantasy genre. Can’t get enough bad@ss dragons and sparkly magic, drunken dwarves and sophisticated elves, cold-steel swords and mystical bows, persuasive bards and wicked mages, etc.
Anime is also something I love. Often fantasy and anime come together to make some fantastical stories. But a specific subgenre of the two, isekai, has saturated the media landscape.
Isekai
I don’t remember the first time seeing someone get transported to another world. Honestly it might’ve been Dinotopia way back in the 90s, but even then I barely remember that VHS tape. But being transported to another world, “isekai”, seems to be all the rave in anime and manga.
I was so engrossed by the Jobless Reincarnation/ Mushoku Tensei anime that I didn’t think to review it, and by the time the season ended I was thirsty for more. So I did what I thought other otaku would do and picked up the manga, starting right where the season ended. And my God does it hit differently.
By no means is it bad. I actually quite enjoyed it. But when it gets adapted into anime… I feel quite a bit of viewers may be turned off by it. Why? Because it has a completely different feel to it.
Rudeus is alone. Well… at least he starts out that way. Gone are the adventures to vastly different lands/continents. Gone are the large variety of characters Rudy often meets. Gone is the drastic character growth and development Rudy undergoes. Gone is Eris. Hellooooooo Sylphiiiiiiiiieeeee!
*Ahem* got ahead of myself there.
If you haven’t read the manga before or watched part one and two of the anime… please go check it out before proceeding further! You won’t regret it! Maybe….
It’s… difficult to describe the second season/school arc without talking about the events that take place in it. So I’ll split this single post into two parts. One without spoilers and one with. I’ll be sure to label each so there’s a fair warning of it.
*SPOILER-FREE SECTION* - Did I do this right?
So it’s been some years since we’ve seen our boy Rudy. There’s a bit of a time gap between when Eris leaves him and when we see him again. She didn’t leave him with the best impression: “We’re not a good match” she wrote. But what she really meant to leave him was “you’re so much stronger than I am and I need to find myself first to get on your level; also I still want to bear your babies so don’t forget about me xoxo”, or something like that.
But clearly there was some serious miscommunication, because not only did she quite literally take his manhood, but his happiness and self-worth as well.
And five or so years later, he isn’t over it. So much so we see him take out his frustration on a literal dragon with a magic blast from his iconic staff (whether or not that’s related to eris is debatable) (also this happens right at the beginning of the arc).
Do the Time Warp… Again
It’s a shame Jobless Reincarnation doesn’t show us what happened to him during those years. We get a brief moment of him talking with a band of adventurers at a pub in a snowy region. They seem like a lively bunch, having mixed relationships with Rudeus.
This should be a time for him to move on with his life; have a fresh start and make some new friends. But we first find out about Rudy’s… loss of a certain s*xual drive, labedo, if you may… from an account of one of the frustrated female adventurers. Another adventurer comments on the pitiful state Rudy is in, as a mere mention of touchy subjects like Eris affects his emotional state.
We witness our boy Rudy has grown older but receded into a melancholy character stuck with regret over hot-headed Eris disappearing from his life. But not all is lost, as the voluptuous Elinalise arrives to deliver a message and accompany him on his quest.
#Goals
But what is… Rudy’s quest? Did he even bother to go find his lost mother? Apparently God came to him in a vision and told him to enroll in the school of sorcery instead, because plot device. It’s a little blindsided, I mean Rudy has the location of his lost mother, but his father as well as Roxy are already on the mission to find her so maybe that’ll put his mind at ease?
So Rudy and Elinalise go to enroll at a prestigious magic academy. And after Rudy is put through a magic trial, they’re both accepted (although Elinalise didn’t even do anything, hah).
Best Girl Sylphie
It’s no secret that Slyphie is at the school, as the first season shows a glimpse of her talking with the student council. But with hair that’s white instead of green and sporting fancy glasses and masculine attire, you would think they’re a completely different person. And they might be… if you wish to believe that. Fitz-senpai is a fairly convincing identity. Anyway Rudy had to challenge Fitz to show the academy his magic skills, and of course he’s just the most powerful sorcerer ever.
Of course Rudy meets some new faces. He also meets familiar faces, like that girl with the mask, Shizuka, who was with the dragon God, as well as that prince Zanoba who was obsessed with Rudy’s Roxy sculpture, and even the demon king makes another appearance.
But it’s really no secret that Sylphie would enter the stage. If the first arc had anything to do with Rudy’s relationship with Eris, season two would be about his rekindling relationship with Sylphie. But with her disguise, will Rudy ever recognize her? I have just a feeling… this season won’t end on such a sour note as the last. And we can already assume Rudy will reunite with Roxy in a third season. This is just an educated guess though, as I haven’t read the light novel.
Remote Location
Most events that occur within the Jobless Reincarnation university arc take place in the same location, the university, so don’t expect another big adventure. It’s better to think of this arc as more of a school romcom than what it was prior. If you don’t fancy that, you might not dig this season.
Between the slapstick and cliché moments that come with most romcoms (eg. Rudy walking in at the wrong moment or getting caught in situations he can’t outright explain), Rudy uncovers more secrets about the massive blast that dispersed his family, as well as meet another person who may have isekai’d along with him. Also he cures his… labedo, which is honestly probably the most important thing to him.
Being older now and having gone through puberty, Rudeus is physically as well as magically stronger, often going for jogs in the morning and practicing his magic daily. Although he’s probably just as pathetic and perverted and with a personality as animated as ever
Alright that’s really all I can share without spoiling things here-on out. I realize I spoiled minor details, but really we saw all this coming. I’ll be going over some events that take place within this arc and some neat things I enjoyed reading and finding out. So if you like being spoiled, read on! Otherwise, thank you for reading this far!
*SPOILER SECTION*
I’ve read from chapters 40 – 82 of the Jobless Reincarnation / Mushoku Tensei manga and I can say not a crazy lot has happened, at least nothing dire or life-threatening. It mostly plays out like a comedy in a school setting. Why a school? To learn magic of course! Nope, actually Rudy just wants to cure being impotent/infertile. I kid you not.
Remember those beastmen in the last arc? Well they make a comeback, but not in the way you think. You see, there’s a cat girl and a… dog girl. They both have… ecchi features about them. The pair bully Rudy when he first enters the classroom, the cat girl doing most of the batting while the dog girl just kinda stands there eating meat on a bone (get it? Because dogs like bones…).
Fan…Service?
The two don’t equate to much in terms of the story besides providing unnecessary fan service. They do break his beloved Roxy statue however, and in his anger Rudy quite literally domesticates them by tying them up to a chair for a day, you better believe it. From then on they treat him like their master.
But that Roxy statue was precious and one of a kind! How will Rudy and the prince ever make another? Can you make an educated guess…? You guessed it, they buy a slave to do it.
Wait, what?
That’s right, Rudy and Zanoba and even Fitz-senpai go to some slave market and adopt a loli-child dwarf-girl to raise and teach how to make sculptures, because why not? Rudy takes responsibility teaching her, Juliette, the common language and other practices. I sometimes question how good of a parent Zanoba could actually be, but they seem to treat her well.
Remember how Elinalise accompanied Rudy to the university? She’s been quite busy doing… things. If you remember how she was in the last arc, she’s no different now, getting familiar with the boys on campus. But shota Cliff (he looks like a kid to me, sorry) is infatuated with her, oblivious to her “curse”. Well… Rudy introduces him to her and… that goes better than expected for him surprisingly.
Redhead in Love
Who is this Cliff guy anyway and how does he connect to Rudy? Well, between those years Rudy spent with his other party, Cliff came across a swordswoman none other than Eris. Did you think that last arc was the last you’d see of Eris? Nope! Rejecting Cliff’s advances, she totes how amazing and in love she is with Rudy. But when Cliff asked Rudy about her, he assumed they’d broken up. Poor Rudy.
Can’t get enough of those beast-girls? There comes a time they go into heat and allllll the beastmen come to mate with them. Yeah, they went there… so they lock themselves in their room and Rudy is forced to fight them all. Well… not exactly. You see, coming out of the library Rudy finds a pile of these beaten beastmen, but who got to them before he did? The Demon King of course!
Yet Another Familiar Face
Recall how Elinalise and the Demon King were both sent out to tell Rudy of his mother’s whereabouts. Well after the Demon King finds Rudy, he wants to challenge him to a duel. And… Rudy quite literally blows a hole through his body, but it takes more to kill a Demon king than that. But that’s enough to make him forfeit and everyone sees just how powerful Rudeus really is, including a swordswoman who wanted to see this supposed man Eris raves about.
Oh and the Demon King enrolls as a student at the academy.
Seriously? Yeah… seriously. This is a King of the demons by the way.
On to the important bits however. Rudy comes across the Dragon God’s assistant, that girl with the black hair and white mask. Her name is Shizuka, and she caused the blast that tore Rudy’s family and life apart. It’s not her fault, however, because it was the result of someone summoning her from another world.
There are Two Kinds of People…
You mean to tell me Rudy wasn’t the only one isekai’d?!!
Well… yes.
But not in the same way!
You see, while Rudy was reincarnated from birth, Shizuka sorta just appeared there just a few months ago from that moment she and Rudy met. Oh and she speaks Japanese. So her and Rudy speak in their native language and it’s funny seeing Fitz/Sylphie get jealous and curious about what they’re saying. But Shizuka doesn’t give a fuuuu*# about this world of magic and monsters; all she wants to do is find a way home. And this separates her goals from Rudy’s, as he loves his second chance at life in this crazy world.
A Climactic Reunion
One last very important detail I have to mention is Rudy’s reunion with Sylphiette. With Sylphie’s disguise as the quiet but wise student council member and right hand of the princess student council president, Rudy would be the most likely person not to notice her under the mask. Because Rudy’s not the brightest, let’s be honest here.
Why Sylphie doesn’t reveal her identity to him right away is a mystery to me, but the only reason I can think of why she’d stay hidden is because….
Drum roll.
Sylphie’s shy.
We’re used to seeing Rudy with a hot-headed go-get-em Eris, but Sylphie is the shy type. With as much social anxiety as I have, she’s afraid he won’t remember her, and that’s a very real fear. I remember seeing former classmates back from high school and not being recognized; it’s a low feeling.
It’s only after so much time spent together that Rudy actually develops feelings for Fitz-senpai. So much so he starts to beleive he may be homosexual. One classic Fitz “falling onto” Rudy cliche and he finally gets… “hard”. He’s been cured! Fitz is the answer Rudy’s been looking for all along!
But Sylphie has other plans for Rudy. With the help of the student council, she creates such an elaborate scenario to make him recognize her. And do you wanna know how she does it?
Just Like Old Times
Just like the undressing scene back when the two of them were children. That’s right!
With Rudy and Sylphie on a quest to get some herb in a forest, she secretly gets assistance to make it downpour-rain, and the two of them seek shelter in a cave. Soaking clothes need to be stripped off to dry right?
You can imagine how that scene plays out. It’s very comical, and that moment of realization is absolutely precious and I’ve gone back to reread that scene over and over. Things happen a little fast, but Rudy’s not completely “cured yet”, but not all is lost, because they found each other again.
I’d describe “their scene” that comes later but that would spoil the fun of reading/watching it when it gets animated. I just found it comical that the two of them both take an aphrodisi@c to get in the mood. What’s really important here though is that when Rudy wakes up the next morning….
She’s still there.
She hasn’t left his bedside, something he’s feared to happen again since Eris left him. It’s finally time for him to move on; the chains (or rather locks of Eris’ long red-hair she left behind) have been lifted. And the feelings are mutual between Rudy and Sylphie. Love at first sight.
Overall Score
To wrap this up, if Jobless Reincarnation season one was a solid 9/10, season two (or the ‘school arc’) is a generous 7.5/10. I’ll say it again; it hits differently. Instead of Rudy starting from birth to a pre-teen, exploring a bunch of different lands, meeting many abstract characters and fighting real dangers… there’s very little of that in this arc.
Jobless Reincarnation goes from a fantasy adventure series to a school rom-com. But I still very much enjoyed it. I think many people will turn away from it because of how different it feels, but the story still has me intrigued and I look forward to where it’ll go next. If you’ve seen the anime or read the first 40ish chapters, I highly recommend checking this story arc out and judge it for yourself whether or not it’s heading in the right direction. Thanks for reading!
