Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Is there an isekai anime more polarizing than Mushoku Tensei? Yes, but for the sake of this argument, I’m going to say no. Opinions on Mushoku Tensei are split. For some, it’s considered the greatest isekai story out there thanks to its characters, lore, and world-building. For others, it’s a decent series held back by a trash MC. Personally, I really did like this series and can see why it receives such high praise. Do I consider it the best? No, but I said in my review of season 1 it is one of the best isekai animes I’ve seen in my life and when a second season was announced, I got excited. Done once again by Studio Bind, the second season was split into two courses and aired in 2023 and 2024. The season had a lot to live up to with the way the first season ended. What new trials will Rudy face now that he’s alone? What happened to his mom and Sylphie? Where did Eris go? Let’s find out. This is Mushoku Tensei S2.
Opening and Ending Theme
We get two openings for this season. The first opening “spiral” by LONGMAN. A very powerful and symbolic opening that does a good job framing the story of Rudy, what he’s been through, and what he will go through. Honestly, it’s pretty shocking to see this anime have an actual opening. The second opening is “On the Frontline” by hitorie. This one is more upbeat and honestly reminds me of FMA. There’s this sense of happiness in the song and Rudy’s desire to protect that happiness and those he cares about. Between the two I think my favorite is On the Frontline. More upbeat, better message visuals to go along with the song.
Once again we get two songs for the ending. The first is “Musubime” by Yuiko Ohara. This song is just beautiful to listen to. The melody, Yuiko’s voice, the animation, this is peak and brings the song to life. The second ending “Mamoritai Mono” by Yuiko Oohara as well. Another beautiful song that sounds like a mom singing her child a lullaby to put them to sleep. It’s a tough choice but my favorite would have to be the second ending.
Special and Episodes 1-4
The season starts with a special episode focusing on Sylphie. After getting teleported she found herself falling from the sky where she lands in royal palace of Asura. While falling from the sky her hair mysteriously turned white (well there goes her defining look) and she’s saved by Ariel the second princess from a boar monster that snuck into the garden (scene here: https://youtu.be/I051hH8SkA4?si=ueGby479R5ODVqnQ). When she regains consciousness Ariel calmly tells her what happened to her village (it went boom) and takes her in, in order to protect her. Sylphie dawns a new name, Fitz, in order to keep herself safe and becomes a retainer to Ariel along with Luke who happens to be a distant cousin of Rudy. There’s not much that goes on in this episode. We see Ariel is in a battle for the throne against her brother (gotta love sibling rivalry) who sends an assassin after her. Sylphie protects her from the assassin and the decision is made for her to leave the palace and study abroad for her own safety. Ariel tries to relieve Sylphie of her duty, but Sylphie decides to stay by her side and go with her because they’re friends.
The season officially starts with Rudy in the northlands hoping to find Zenith while also dealing with his heartbreak from Eris (dude, get over it. She’s still in love with you). He reaches a kingdom and tries to take on quests by himself to earn some money but going solo is dangerous. Luckily, an adventurer named Suzanne who feels sorry for Rudy invites him to join her party and he begrudging accepts where one party member named Sara doesn’t like his attitude or accepts him. The next day they head out on their quest which is to defeat a bunch of monster bears (https://youtu.be/kONmDCla6Nc). At first it seems like they have things under control, but get surrounded and it becomes a fight for survival. At first, Rudy welcomes the sweet release of death (good God man, stop acting like Shinji. Get over yourself and get in the goddamn robot). After seeing everyone struggle so much, Rudy comes out of his funk and saves everyone (scene here: https://youtu.be/Hp15zFNq1qY?si=sgZ4G8TuKfQnuRut, finally). They all make it back to town safely and celebrate with Rudy refocused on what he has to do and is done moping around (scene here: https://youtu.be/eGxf_1n8kaY?si=lNvtvUSfCv6u9kNw, thank you).
In episode 2 Rudy continues to be an adventurer hoping to spread his name and get his mom’s attention. He’s also been working out and getting buff. There’s not a whole lot that happens in this episode. We see Rudy continue to party up with Suzanne’s party and Eris is still on his mind. Near the episode’s end Rudy braves a blizzard and rescues Sara who got separated from the others. This rescue does seem to move Rudy in the right path and one step closer to him getting over Eris (scene here: https://youtu.be/CUaqI7cltdI?si=RQn4iD1AIQXrBxfG).
Episode 3 sees Rudy continue to partner up with Suzanne’s party spreading his name and Sara starts to develop feelings for him (he did save her after all). Finally, Sara invites herself to Rudy’s room to offer her virginity and that’s when it happened (the Amish couldn’t raise the barn). It’s every man’s worst nightmare when it’s time to perform as Rudy couldn’t get his soldier ready for battle and Sara takes her leave disappointed not in Rudy but herself (scene here: https://youtu.be/Gmm0rg35jcw?si=y-0XNXKsmsZ7McX2). She doesn’t think Rudy finds her attracted and Rudy in turn thinks that when he did it with Eris he sucked and she was just indulging him. As Rudy drowns his sorrows in booze, another adventurer named Soldat shows up who sees through his fake smile and Rudy attacks him. His punches don’t do much damage and Soldat apologizes for messing with him. The two have a drink where Rudy talks about his problems and depression about Eris, so he takes Rudy to the red light district in the hopes of curing his problem. According to the ladies, he’s afraid of women (given his history that makes sense). He’s afraid they’re going to hate him and abandon him just like Eris. They drink the night away where Soldat tries to tell Rudy not to rush things but in his drunken state, he starts to blurt out stupid shit that gets overheard by Sara (this man is just hitting an all-time low). Sara slaps him and takes her leave with Suzanne also disappointed (scene here: https://youtu.be/eQ022ayN5yg?si=WgHuY0ILD5OuaDrl, friendship ruined). This leaves Rudy in a broken state where he doesn’t know what to do (for the first time ever he developed bonds with others and he fucked it up. The pain he feels is unbearable) and even tries to kill himself (really? Stop being melodramatic). Soldat stops him and invites him to join his team as they’re getting set to conquer a major a dungeon and he accepts.
Episode 4 starts off on an epic note. Rudy is partnering up with Soldat’s party and he manages to take down a red dragon all by himself (scene here: https://youtu.be/qtosxYhCj6Q?si=XZIzrjVQk0DcipdX). Soldat wants Rudy to join the party full time but he says no as he still wants to search for Zenith. When he’s not adventuring he’s training, bulking up, and praying Roxy’s panties (did I forget mention he has a shrine and everything? That boy’s got issues. Like Helga from Hey Arnold issues). One day he gets approached by Elinalise the horny elf who’s been traveling with Roxy who’s been looking for him. After flirting with him a bit (scene here: https://youtu.be/muDSNoFpNoA?si=L8hB00QqN1-XeM5l) she tells him that Zenith is in Rapa the labyrinth city near the center of the Begratt Continent. It’ll take a year or so for Rudy to get there on foot, but Elinalise says Paul and Roxy are already on their way to rescue Zenith so there’s no rush for Rudy to get there. A week passes and Rudy continues his training while Elinalise indulges in her favorite pastime of having sex with every man around (this woman is easier to get into than an art school). Actually, we find out that there’s a curse on her body. Unless she has sex with men on a regular basis she’ll die (can’t help but feel that even without the curse she’d still ride them like a village bicycle). While Rudy would love to get in on some of that action his ED is still active (https://youtu.be/iUWnnz3-m7A). After what happened last episode Rudy would rather be alone than face another betrayal but that doesn’t stop him from feeling frustrated. Sometime later, Rudy receives a letter from the Ranoa University, a famous mage academy in the world. They’ve heard of Rudy’s skills, how he trained under Roxy, and would like to invite him to join the university as a special student to hone his skills. He won’t have to attend classes or pay tuition, he’ll have access to their libraries and will be free to conduct his own research. At first, he decides to reject the offer and focus on finding Zenith but when the Man-God tells him that going there will cure him of his ED he decides to go with Elinalise accompany him (because the bookworms could use a break from all that studying).
Episodes 5-8
Rudy and Elinalise make it to Ranoa University where he gets into a duel with Sylphie still disguised as Fitz so he doesn’t recognize her (how? I have no idea. How could you forget your childhood friend?). Rudy easily wins and gets accepted into the university (scene here: https://youtu.be/ar38uMdl46E?si=z7ercVSiYi4x5YPz). He goes to homeroom where we see Zanoba is also attending (scene here: https://youtu.be/7sAu6qlFmjs?si=HRyG46z_ioLg7mfX) along with a beastman named Linia who comes from the sacred forest, Pursena another beastman, and Cliff that boy who tried to hit on Eris in the OVA (and failed). Sylphie is also in the class but she’s exempt from attending homeroom which is the only requirement of special students. He also meets Luke who is the bodyguard of Ariel and is Rudy’s cousin. Rudy spends most of his time studying mass teleportation on his first day and then when he’s walking back to his dorm he catches a pair of panties that belongs to Ariel. He gets surrounded by girls and accused of being a thief but Sylphie comes in to save him and even when the two are alone she still doesn’t reveal her identity to him as she’s afraid he’s forgotten all about him and doesn’t know what she’ll do if it’s true (a pretty dumb reason considering that Rudy says earlier in the episode that he’s still looking for her. Scene here: https://youtu.be/O6DxGC14gR4?si=qBt-O9iS6ZqaTqMP).
Rudy’s school life continues in episode 6 as he settles in quite nicely. He continues to study teleportation magic and talk with Sylphie also helping in his research and making him question his sexual preference (although I do like how he’s not against it). The episode mostly focuses on Zanoba who begs Rudy to teach him how to make figures. Rudy caves in and starts to teach him but unfortunately, he lacks the mana to do it. Rudy tries to get him to do it manually, but he’s lacks the delicate hands for the job. They decide to go with plan B, buy him a slave, particularly a dwarf. On their next day off they go to the slave market with Sylphie and buy a dwarf girl they name Juliette. In a rather serious scene we see Rudy talk to her where he can see she’s loss her will to live and is even prepared to kill her if she asks. However, Juliette speaks and says she doesn’t want to die (scene here: https://youtu.be/mEggJaP4gho?si=Gm5KTUFzxHD9AqTn, notice how she said she didn’t want to live. She just doesn’t want to die. She is still looking for purpose in her life).
Nothing much happens in episode 7. Rudy finds out that Linia and Pursena broke his Roxy figurine and now seeks revenge. He knocks the two out (scene here: https://youtu.be/9toJ3LljzvY?si=_lW0pXkPJeVAfVVp) and ties them up in his room (wow, so many red flags were raised on that moment alone) where he can’t think of a good punishment for them that will make him happy and not have the girls come after them for revenge. He seeks the wisdom of Sylphie who draws on their faces and they have to keep the marker on for one whole day. This satisfies Rudy, the girls apologize, and they take their leave.
Episode 8 focuses Cliff who has fallen in love with Elinalise (https://youtu.be/O1PK4qYzNkI?si=H6LG8TCK8ATqh9Yh&t=12). Cliff that is the campus bicycle. It’s a good ride but everyone uses it and I’m sure you’re going to catch something if you ride it). He goes to Rudy hoping he can introduce him to her but he’s hesitant to do it (Corbin: I say go ahead. It’ll be a good time for him and a great laugh for us later). While the two don’t seem to get along Rudy bares no grudge against him and doesn’t want to crush his innocence with that man-devourer. After Sylphie convinces him to help out Cliff, he introduces him and gives them their privacy. Rudy thinks Elinalise will turn him down but to his shock (as well as mine) they become a couple (scene here: https://youtu.be/QBzhhpLdR4Q?si=T69__2vIEKrigtAc, well on the bright side this means he won’t be after Eris anymore). In the second half the fall season is here and the demihumans are in heat (strange time to go into heat. I always thought it was late winter or early spring) and fighting each other for the ones they love. Linia and Pursena are obviously desired partners for the males, so the two have locked themselves in their rooms to avoid fights and leaving Rudy to the wolves. Since Rudy is their boss that means he’s the leader of the pack and as pack leader that means he has to fight to preserve his mates. Demihumans come to fight him and Rudy locks himself in the library to avoid them. When he decides to go out and face them, he sees that they’ve all been knocked out by Badigadi the demon king and Kishirika’s fiancé (I do like his design. He’s like what would happen if Asura and Akuma fused together). Rudy talks to him about the Man-God and Dragon God where he doesn’t know much about them and proposes a different format to their battle. He wants Rudy to hit him with his best shot. If he can wound him he wins. Badigadi says Rudy has a vast supply of mana within him than anyone in the world. Once he knows how to use it he’ll be unstoppable. Rudy hits him with his best shot where he nearly kills Badigadi and is declared the winner (scene here: https://youtu.be/eGmlGtwXw6M?si=2UZMt5PFIDZ_OaRC). At the end of the episode Badigadi enrolls in the school, becoming a special student, and winding up in Rudy’s class.
Episodes 9-12
In episode 9 Fitz introduces Rudy to an expert on summoning magic. Rudy goes to meet them where we see the expert is Nanahoshi the same person who was with Orsted (oh shit). Naturally, Rudy has a panic attack and knocks himself out (you coward). He wakes up in the lap of Fitz and then talks to Nanahoshi who reveals herself to be Shizuka who we find out is the same girl Rudy saved at the start of the anime (scene here: https://youtu.be/gX2bCU5CW_k?si=7FeUDbE5-2401Fbw). Unlike Rudy who was reincarnated in this world, Shizuka was teleported to this world 5 years ago and has been trying to find a way back while also looking for her friends that got sent here as well. Shizuka also doesn’t have mana and can’t age. Despite the two having different goals, they make a deal where Rudy will help her in her mana experiments and she’ll supply him with information. Shizuka believes that she might have been responsible for the mass teleportation, as it was around the time she was summoned (not a bad theory. I can see transporting someone from another world requiring a large amount of mana and things going wrong causing the mass teleportation). Sylphie lunges at her after hearing this and Rudy calms her down saying she’s a victim just like them (scene here: https://youtu.be/s7jccSoVc7E?si=h0CxtKi_rVWX_pBP). They talk a little more before Rudy and Sylphie take their leave.
About a year has passed in episode 10 since Rudy came to the academy. He’s now 16 and is still no closer to curing his impotence or figuring out the mass teleportation incident. Nothing much happens in the episode. The days go by and Rudy goes about his days normally. At the end of the episode, he starts to question his feelings for Fitz and realizes that he’s in love with him (obviously, we’ve known about that since season 1). Rudy worries a little about this as he never thought of himself as being attracted to men, but that all changes when Fitz falls on him and he discovers that he’s a girl (still haven’t figured out that that’s Slyphie). Rudy does feel his rod rising meaning he’s one step closer to healing himself.
At the start of episode 11 Luke confronts Rudy about Fitz (Luke: Oh crap. Now I gotta kill another member of the family. This is why they don’t invite me to reunions). Rudy tells Luke that he has no intention of exposing Fitz and won’t oppose Ariel. Speaking of Ariel, we see her confront Sylphie on the issue and tells her to stop playing around (scene here: https://youtu.be/Hf-nE7PlUB4?si=EZ4Kj9MJCNM0LdfR. Damn girl, TMI). Ariel isn’t against Rudy joining their cause as she sees him as a valuable asset and thought that if she waited patiently Slyphie would reveal her secret to him (boy, was she was wrong). However, with nearly a year going by she’s tired of waiting (same here. If you won’t tell him she will and I’ll lose respect for you). The three work out a plan for Fitz to reveal her true identity with Ariel saying that if she gets cold feet and backs out she’ll use her royal decree to forbid Fitz from interacting with Rudy ever again (then she’ll really be broken). They put their plan into action by having Fitz ask Rudy to go on a mission with her. Once out in the woods, Fitz creates rain forcing the two to take cover in a cave (phase 1 complete). Once inside the cave she makes Rudy undress her and finally take off her visors where he finally recognizes who she is (oh good, he didn’t screw that part up). Slyphie embraces Rudy saying she loves him and wants to be with him now and forever (scene here: https://youtu.be/GY6xB-u7yk8?si=lZCf6EcFk-942JEw).
In the final episode we start with Rudy confessing his love for Slyphie and just when they’re about to consummate their feelings for each other Rudy’s ED acts up again (https://youtu.be/WWaLxFIVX1s?si=7oOXgJNkZqOcsmCR). Unlike last time, where there’s disappointment all around, the two move on from it and instead just catch-up with one another. When they return, Luke gives Slyphie an aphrodisiac potion to use on Rudy to cure his impotence. That night, they both drink the aphrodisiac (Rudy guzzles that thing down like a boss) and after a few minutes it takes effect and Rudy attacks. The next morning, Rudy sees the blood on the sheets but Slyphie is nowhere to be seen. Just when Rudy thinks Slyphie left him like Eris, Slyphie returns and he cries. After this Rudy goes to meet Ariel and Luke where he says he will support Ariel in her political war (good man). He also says he’s going to marry Slyphie.
And that was the first half of season 2. Not one of the most liked stories in the series but things get better in part 2. I swear it. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
