Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation II
|
Goto page Previous Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Jabootu
Posts: 85 |
|
|||||||
|
When Rudy is reading Paul's letter, and we get a group shot of the rescue squads that includes a very queasy, nervous-looking Roxie, I didn't get it at first. Then I did a bit later and felt kind of dumb for not figuring it out instantly, although I also laughed pretty good. However, I appreciate the fact that they respect the audience enough not to try to explain every single little detail.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2525 |
|
|||||||
|
Ep17- Surprised Rudy screwed up several things here given his previous life experience, first assuming Norn's plight was the same as his old one and that she would operate the same way and deciding to angrily confront her classmates. The latter especially, he didn't want his parents to go to the school because he knew that never helps IRL and only leads to more persecution. If her class were like his on Earth. it would have been a disaster. Also saying he wouldn't get angry if someone confessed and then snapping at the girl who came forward. He sure didn't look like he would calmly hear anyone out...If only such situations were so easy to address as they were here...
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Jabootu
Posts: 85 |
|
|||||||
|
Sayeth Hiroki not Takuya:
Surprised Rudy screwed up several things here given his previous life experience For myself, I found it profoundly unsurprising. Rudy still has a lot of unresolved issues, so it would be more surprising if he dealt with the situation in a calm fashion then the way he did here. It's rather like how he's never thought about Eris' letter in a calm fashion (although Ruijerd's admonishments might push him to finally do so). He was just in too much pain and too wracked with self-loathing to do so. As for Norn's situation being more quickly resolved (to an extent, anyway), sometimes it *is* that easy. Norn was just braver than Rudy was in his first life. She was looking for someone to reach out for her, while he wasn't. Just a great episode, one of the series' best. Was I the only who whose stomach clenched when I read the title of the next episode? |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18211 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||||||
No, you definitely weren't. Nothing good has happened in the series when an episode has that title. But I also wasn't too surprised. Despite the problem with Noor, things have been going pretty smoothly for Rudeus lately, so the series has been feeling due for a shake-up. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Hiroki not Takuya
Posts: 2525 |
|
|||||||
So in that connection, they also make a very apt observation and is something I didn't consider because (I have to say) I expect people to be like Rudy and find those like Norn hard to relate to. For those like Rudy, resolution of the emotional state that leads to social isolation usually takes many years and is most often fed by the behavior of others, so one event is not likely to achieve anything. In this instance though, it seems that Norn was trying very hard to forge her own path and was dismayed that her class and teacher wouldn't relate to her as herself but imply she should be like someone she "hated". The resolution was simply having the "hated" person try to relate to her as herself and see him in a different light because the class and teacher weren't actually being malicious. I don't mean this to be pretentious, I just want to give credit where it is due while showing my understanding of a new POV. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Mami-kouga
Posts: 172 |
|
|||||||
|
It being yet another female character POV that eclxists to realize how great Rudeus actually is made the emotions of this episode land weakly for me (I feel like the story has been buying more into his hype this second season which I don't care for) in addition to novel readers overhyping this moment (I felt more emotional about Roxy reuniting with her parents) but overall I did like this episode. It's a return to Rudeus having to confront ways in which similar traumas from his past life can crop up in this one and I liked how he fumbled.around confused on how to help Norn and even assumed that he played zero part in her feeling better but was ultimately still happy that she was.
Norn's a pretty down to earth character, her anxieties for Rudeus while based off a misunderstanding is understandable, her mounting stress as she constantly has to grapple with her own mediocrity was relatable and her being able to reconcile her feelings by briefly seeing a bit of her dad in him at their most vulnerable but well meaning was good (I complained about the "Rudeus is great" thing but it's at least more forgivable in this case since no matter my annoyances at him that whole incident was 90% Paul's fault). |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
freebird1994
Posts: 73 |
|
|||||||
Honestly I hope this is what most people take away from Rudeus as a whole. The end goal of his life in this world should not be expected to be something grand and/or world changing. Those are possibilities yes but above all else, him just becoming a more or less normal and decent guy is good enough. His starting introduction had most(if not everyone) view of him at rock bottom. So if by the end of the story even his most ardent critics and haters can look at him and say "yeah he's fine", then I think the story will have succeeded with his character. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
jmckenna15
Posts: 120 |
|
|||||||
|
An underrated point about the whole underwear fiasco is that it encapsulates not just how much Rudeus has changed, but how he's changed so much in the eyes of other people. Were it Season 1 Rudeus, nobody would have believed him when he pleaded innocence -- and he might have kept the bag and enjoyed himself. Now, he not only didn't do it because he has no reason to now he's married, he knew it was wrong and told Linia and Pursenia off over it. And he was believed! That isn't nothing.
Ep17 was fantastic use of show don't tell. We didn't need to see an entire emotional conversation, or an internal monologs. We could see the trauma from his past life come back in how he initially approached the situation and how he was determined to ensure Norm didn't go down the same path as him. Excellent writing. Excellent storyboarding. So naturally we get a Turning Point episode right as it's all going so well. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
MFrontier
Posts: 11409 |
|
|||||||
|
Sometimes when someone is in a funk or basically given up on everything, what they need isn't someone who tries to lecture or rationalize them out of it, but someone who is willing to admit they don't have a magic solution for their problem and just wants to be there for them.
This was an episode about siblings, both Rudy and Norn and Rudy's past with his own older brother as his relationship with Norn offers him a chance to make up for the mistakes of his past life when he sees Norn struggling like he did. Though at the beginning it felt like he was looking for an excuse to act out his emotional trauma from being bullied on anyone messing with Norn (I mean, accusing the teacher of that?). Norn is a very real character. She had a less than conventional childhood living on the run with her dad with no home and no other family and only Paul to rely on, and seeing her father get beat up by someone left a major impact on her...especially it being the big brother she never knew. And then having to grapple with that and being constantly compared to him and not really understanding him, it almost broke her. But just being able to cry and face her brother as he is lets her move forward, accept Rudy, and improve herself on her own terms. I like to believe she gets that emotional resiliency from Zenith. I also hope that this leads to Norn's relationship with Aisha improving (though I feel like Aisha has a lot of baggage she needs to work through). I could totally stand a few more episodes of Rudeus' married life and bonding with his siblings...but I guess it was about time for the next Turning Point. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Juno016
 Posts: 2393 |
|
|||||||
I feel like contextually, this part was about reconciling misunderstandings between two people, and that naturally means both sides gain more respect for the other. Likewise, Norn's PoV gave us a much better understanding of her character as she has aged, so it served multiple purposes. In the novels, I was very happy with her portrayal here, and it will actually contribute to something else soon as well. I can't speak from an anime-only perspective, though, as the novel colored my perception of the scene. And while I wouldn't say Mushoku Tensei's female cast are... top-notch in character writing quality (they often act unnaturally "otaku-bait" and need Rudy's help), I do still feel confident enough to say they are nonetheless multilayered and exist on their own terms, not just as a proxy power reward for Rudy, and that makes me invested in them as people. Considering what's going to happen at some point in the future, I'm shocked I can still say that, but alas, I've been drowned in crappy female rep in isekai for long enough that Mushoku Tensei's mixed messages on women is still severat cuts above the norm and I respect it for that. (On this singular point, if there's an isekai/fantasy with an amazingly-written female cast I'm unaware of, I'd like to know, honestlyーmaybe I should get to watching Frieren finally?) |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Mami-kouga
Posts: 172 |
|
|||||||
I don't expect him to have grand ambitions, I just want him to stop being a sex pest |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Mami-kouga
Posts: 172 |
|
|||||||
The issue for me is that while I can appreciate the episode on its own merits and devoid of past trends I'd even be pretty satisfied with Norn's writing, the existence of said past trends means I can't divorce them from my watching experience. I like Norn, I think she's a good character and overall I think her reconciliation with Rudeus is good and it makes sense for other characters to both compare her to him and to try and help her view him more favourably. However she exists in this story. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
tintor2
 Posts: 1852 |
|
|||||||
I guess expecting less sex jokes in the anime is like wanting Gintama without grotesque jokes or Ranma 1/2 without tsundere moments. I don't find this season that filled with sex jokes especially since Rudeus is married like an actual family man. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Mami-kouga
Posts: 172 |
|
|||||||
There's a difference between sex jokes and being a sex pest even if the series sometimes mixes the two together |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Key
Moderator
Posts: 18211 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||||||
The Twelve Kingdoms features several well-written female protagonists/co-protagonists who all have strong, transformative character arcs. If you want non-isekai fantasy, Claymore and The Story of Saiunkoku (aka ColorCloud Palace) represent utterly different takes on well-developed female protagonists. If you want something current, Holo in Spice & Wolf might feel a bit more fan-pandering, but there's no question that she's a complex and fully-realized character. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group