Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Today we’re continuing our look at Mushoku Tensei by reviewing the second half of the anime. Released in the fall of 2021 there was a little confusion about this half of anime. It was originally marketed as the second season when in truth, it was actually the second part of the first season. In a move that was becoming quite common for big animes, studios would release 11-12 episodes of a season calling it the first course. Studios would then take a season off and then return to finish the anime with the second half calling it the second course. It made some people angry but at the same time it did give animators a chance to catch their breath, take a break, and fix any errors they might have missed during the initial production. In the end, it all came down to what’s more important, a well-polished anime or a rushed product. I’ll choose the former over the latter any day of the week. Let’s continue.
Episodes 1-4
So the second half starts with Roxy’s party missing Rudy’s party and vice versa (as you would expect. It’s like An American Tale, just look to the left). Rudy’s party tries to hop on a boat but finds out that Ruijerd’s boat fee is very costly because he’s a Superd. While thinking up what to do, Rudy has another dream where he meets the Man-God again who tells him to buy food from a street vendor and then walk through the back alleys. The next day Rudy decides to humor the god and do what he says (I mean he’s got nothing to lose) and comes across a hungry demon. Rudy feeds the demon who reveals herself to be Kishirika the self-proclaimed emperor of the demon world (and gives off Eris vibes only on a more eccentric level). In order to repay Rudy she gives him one of her demon eyes, the Eye of Foresight which allows him to peek into the future (see things before they even happen. Scenes here: https://youtu.be/YPrquJHaXlQ and https://youtu.be/H1hkSt24j1E). After spending a week adjusting to the eye, Rudy has learned to see a few seconds into the future where he’s able to get a win against Eris (against Ruijerd, not so much). He also decides to sneak out and sell his staff in order to cover Ruijerd’s boat fee, but Ruijerd stops him from doing something stupid.
In the first 1/3 of episode 2 we focus on Roxy’s party who spend time in the city gathering intel. We see Roxy’s party is composed of a dwarf and a horny elf woman who likes orgies (Baron: Ohh~, I hope she’s open to being the meat between a Jack Bros. sandwich. Scene here: https://youtu.be/fUMviGdTzLk). After this, we focus on Rudy’s party where they run into some luck by meeting Gallus a guy Rudy saved in the first episode with his demon eye. In order to show his thanks he agrees to transport Ruijerd for them in exchange for liberating smuggled goods once they reach the Zant Port. Not much happens on the boat trip aside from Eris getting seasick and Rudy being a pervert (look, I know he’s a 30-year-old man in the body of a child, but it’s disturbing how he’s having sexual thoughts about an underage girl). Once they land in the port, Rudy goes to pick up Ruijerd where he sees the goods he has to liberate are kids and beasts. Once Ruijerd is free he kills the smugglers and frees the children who are all animal girls. Once the kids are safe, Rudy goes back to free the beast which is a dog. Once he frees the beast, he gets attacked by beastmen who accuse him of being a smuggler. It turns out this dog is a sacred animal to their tribe, and they were there to rescue the kids as well. One of the beastmen takes Rudy and the sacred beast back to their village where judgment awaits Rudy.
Rudy finds himself in the beastmen village locked up in a cage and treated badly (why he was stripped naked is a mystery). Days go by with no help coming for Rudy and a new prisoner named Geese also arrives for cheating in gambling (and he gets to keep his clothes? What the hell? Scene here: https://youtu.be/bDsDFMDUob4). Eventually, the forest catches fire from a group of bandits and Rudy uses this chance to escape with Geese. However, he turns back as he can’t watch this atrocity happening in front of him. Rudy and Geese leap into action where they put out the fires and we find out that the one leading the bandits was Gallus. His plan this whole time was to let Rudy free the slaves who would lead them back to the beastmen village. We find out that Gallus is pretty strong as he’s able to take the top fighters of beastmen with ease and Rudy isn’t righteous enough to risk his life for some children. Luckily, the sacred beast comes in to give Rudy the push he needs to fight (a swift kick in the ass would have had the same effect). Through the combined powers of Rudy, Geese, and the sacred beast they manage to kill Gallus (scene here: https://youtu.be/bWgKCgwM0as). The next day Rudy is reunited with Eris and Ruijerd, and the misunderstanding from before has been cleared up (scene here: https://youtu.be/HLmz7CiYi_M). Meanwhile, back in Roa, grandpa Greyrat gets executed for failing to respond to the mana disaster and causing chaos amongst the people (he was set up).
In episode 4 Rudy and the others are still in the beastmen village because of the rainy season where they find out that this tribe is Ghislaine’s tribe. Once Ghislaine’s name comes up her brother is shocked to find out she’s still alive (she is bad with money) and considers her a disgrace because she abandoned her duties of protecting the sacred forest and was considered a failure as she never learned how to properly speak and caused trouble around the village (scene here: https://youtu.be/VGSby5akyOo). Eris befriends Tona the niece of Ghislaine and teaches her swordsmanship (Eris is teaching someone? How the times have changed) where the two get into a real fight as Tona doesn’t want her to leave once the rain stops. However, they make up with each other just before Eris leaves (maybe she’ll come around again for the heat season down the line). They leave the village with Geese and head towards Millis the holy country.
Episodes 5-8
The group finally reaches Millis in episode 5 where they go their separate ways from Geese. Once in the city they decide to stick around and earn some money, increase the reputation of Superds, and write a letter to tell their families they’re fine. However, fate would have other plans as the next day Rudy would see a kidnapping and go to face the kidnappers where their leader is none other than Paul (scene here: https://youtu.be/VKQi3UT1C9M, man he looks terrible. It’s been a rough year and a half for him). They go off to a pub where Rudy tells him everything that’s happened, and Paul is pretty mad. Not because of everything Rudy’s been through but because he never once thought to ask for information concerning the disaster (keep in mind, at this point, Rudy has no idea that his family is missing or anything else that we the audience know). Tensions mount between the two and they get into a fistfight where Norn comes in to break it up not knowing that Rudy is her brother (or how much of a cheating bastard her father is). Paul finally tells Rudy that his mom and just about everyone else from their village have gone missing thanks to the disaster. Just like Rudy they all got teleported to different locations, but unlike him who got lucky and met a good stranger everyone else was either captured or forced into slavery. Paul and his men have been going around trying to find everyone and now Rudy looks like a jerk for supposedly having fun for a year and a half while Paul has been suffering (and this scene pissed me off. While I admit Rudy was wrong for not worrying about everyone else during his travels, Paul was wrong to be hostile toward him. Rudy seriously knew nothing about the disaster hitting other places. While Rudy is smart beyond his years, he’s still just a kid who’s not all-knowing and invincible. He can’t be expected to think of everything. Yes, he’s a 30-year-old man, but keep in mind he’s a man who spent most of his life as a shut-in, has mental issues, and has an inferiority complex about being wrong and getting called out on it. The kid was concerned about Eris and keeping her safe all while on a continent he was unfamiliar with and trusting a complete stranger who has a bad rep and could have easily killed them. While Rudy made a major mistake he should be commended for being able to survive on a dangerous continent, keep Eris safe, and get this far by his skills alone and without having to sink so low. I understand that Paul has been through a lot but so has Rudy and instead of giving your son a hard time you should instead be happy and relieved to know that he’s alive and safe). With the atmosphere so awkward you could slice it with a knife, Rudy runs away back to his room at the inn where after learning everything he feels sick and doesn’t think he can face Paul again (scene here: https://youtu.be/RjsJGCPBJZc?t=74). Eris and Ruijed return to see Rudy in his distressed state (that’s gotta be a first for them) and Eris comforts him.
At the start episode 6 we actually do get a chance to see what happened to Paul after he and Norn got separated from everyone. We see how he looked after Norn and worked tirelessly trying to reunite everyone with their families (yet, he was unable to reunite with his). You can clearly see this was taking a toll on him both physically and mentally, with the only thing keeping him from going over the edge being Norn. Returning to the present we see Paul drowning his sorrows and anger at the pub where Geese walks in and it gets revealed that he’s working with Paul and proves to be the MVP of this episode. After hearing what happened he defends Rudy telling Paul to cut the kid some slack and give him some credit (scene here: https://youtu.be/e0B0ROg4mDY. Yes! His journey wasn’t as harsh as Paul, but rest assured it was anything but sunshine and rainbows. If anything Paul should be happy his son didn’t have to endure the same hardships as him). After reflecting on what Geese said, Paul realizes he made a big mistake (damn straight. Scene here: https://youtu.be/uolk0wKQS-M) and after cleaning himself up goes to see Rudy the next day. Eris and Ruijed give them their privacy (and I like how both Rudy and Paul are silent with each other before talking. It really does capture the realism that everyone can relate to. They had a fight, things are awkward, and they don’t know where to go from here) and the two manage to work through what happened yesterday deciding to act like it never happened and restart with the two embracing each other after a long time apart (scene here: https://youtu.be/6BcHt8gTGAs). After making up Rudy and the others find out that Eris’s dad and family are missing and her hometown is gone. Eris takes this information well and after receiving a letter and money from Paul, they decide to change up their plans and start looking for Rudy’s family separately from Paul’s group to cover more ground. The next day they say their goodbyes where Norn is still wary around Rudy (scene here: https://youtu.be/pi_fxBpX3ts).
So nothing much really happens in episode 7. We mostly focus on Roxy who meets up with an old adventuring friend who encourages her to go and see her family. We find out that Roxy ran away from home at a young age because she was an outcast. Why was she an outcast you ask? Well it turns out Roxy’s people have the ability to communicate telepathically with each other (they’re like the Martins from DC). Unfortunately, Roxy was born without that power and not wanting to be a burden to her folks decided to run away (where she did alright for herself). We get a nice reunion between Roxy and her parents where she finds out about Rudy passing through (the mom approves). After finding out that Rudy is safe, Roxy and her party members decide to continue traveling the demon continent hoping to find the rest of Rudy’s family.
Episode 8 starts with Rudy meeting with Man-God again. Rudy asks where his family and everyone else are and the Man-God agrees to give him a hint on the condition that Rudy start trusting him. Rudy agrees and the Man-God tells him to head toward Shirone where he’ll find Aisha who will lead him to Lilia, but he mustn’t reveal his name to her. The next day, Rudy and the others are finally back on the Central Continent where they travel through some area heavily inspired by eastern and Eurasian cultures and eventually reach Shirone. Believing that Roxy is still in the Shirone palace, Rudy writes to her about his situation and then walks the streets where he senses someone following him. Going into an alleyway, he creates a stone wall to protect himself only to discover that the person following him was Aisha who gets captured by the city guards (well that didn’t take long). Rudy rescues her and we find out the reason why he couldn’t reveal his name to Aisha. It because she knows he’s a pervert (shouldn’t that be obvious from first glance? Scene here: https://youtu.be/M8NoaPI5qcg). She goes on to explain that Lilia is being held captive in the palace and Aisha has been trying to send a letter out to Paul for help. She of course can’t rely on Rudy because, pervert (geez it sucks to be Rudy. The first sister hates his guts and the other sister thinks he’s a pervert. Well on the plus side this verifies that they’re siblings). The next day Rudy gets summoned to the palace to meet Roxy only to fall into a trap set by Pax the seventh prince of Shirone and Roxy’s current student (who may or may not be just as big a pervert as Rudy). Pax plans to use Rudy as bait to lure back Roxy so that he can make her his sex slave (is Roxy just a magnet for perverts? I mean between Rudy, Pax, and the slutty elf she’s traveling with it’s hard to overlook). Rudy of course says his plan is rather pointless if they can’t contact her, but Pax is sure she’ll find out eventually and come running back.
Episodes 9-12 and OVA
We start episode 9 by seeing what happened to Lillia and Aisha. After getting teleported to parts unknown the two wandered the land until they reached Shirone. They tried to talk to Roxy, but by this time she was already gone and Pax took advantage of this and locked them up. Returning back to the present Rudy gets approached by Zanoba the third prince of Shirone who we find out likes to collect figurines and has taken an interest in the figurines Rudy has made (scene here: https://youtu.be/gbqtfeC8gYk, I worry about the future of this kingdom). Meanwhile, Eris, Ruijed and Aisha meet some guards who tell them where Rudy is and beg them to save their families. Pax has taken their families hostage (just how much power does that pervert have?) and Ruijed agrees to save them while Eris watches over Aisha. Back with Rudy, Zanoba bows to him as his master and tries to free Rudy but doesn’t have much luck. He decides to go for a direct approach and gets Pax. He brings Pax to Rudy and threatens to rip his head off as apparently he was born as a special child with incredible strength and even killed one of his siblings accidentally (at least I hope it was an accident) at the age of 3. After much pressure (coming down on me) Pax releases Rudy (scene here: https://youtu.be/gYgs4ahIIXg) and Ruijed returns with everyone’s families including Lilia. Lilia and Aisha set off to return to the village with Aisha figuring out that Rudy is her perverted big brother (scene here: https://youtu.be/LHtHW4mPlXo). As for Zanoba and Pax, the two get forced to leave the kingdom for their actions (why does Zanoba have to leave? What, is threatening a pervert considered a capital offense?).
Episode 10 is a huge turning point in the series (and possibly the best episode so far). As Rudy and the others are climbing and passing through a snowy mountain, they come across a man named Orsted and he is terrifying because he is the Dragon God one of the strongest warriors in the world. Once he finds out that Rudy knows about the Man-God he attacks the group. He takes down Ruijed and Eris easily and then focuses on Rudy with the goal of killing him because he is an apostle of the Man-God and Orsted wants to kill him. He puts a hole through Rudy’s chest which slowly kills him. Rudy then meets the Man-God where they chat about Orsted who has a number of curses on him (and yet he fights like a man without a care in the world). After their talk ends Rudy wakes back up in the arms of Eris where he’s still alive (God’s chosen pervert lives on) thanks to Nanahoshi, a woman who was traveling with Orsted. She said something to Orsted and then he used a healing spell to save Rudy’s life (scene here: https://youtu.be/ZmKTREu-0hU).
We start episode 11 with Rudy having a nightmare about Orsted. After waking up Rudy talks to Ruijed about the Man-God and explains that the reason the Superds have such a bad reputation is because of a curse put on their lances by Laplace. The good news is the curse has almost faded away completely over the years and Ruijed hurried up the process by shaving his head. After this, the group arrives in Rudy’s village where it’s become a wasteland (looks like the set of Fallout. (Seras): 76? (Nitsuj): Oh God, no!). We then get a sad moment as Ruijed goes his separate way from the group. He thanks Rudy for everything, calls Eris a great warrior who will one day surpass him and takes his leave. Rudy and Eris then make it back to Roa where they find Ghislaine and find out that Eris’s parents and grandpa have passed away (the parents maybe but we all know what happened to grandpa). With the main house in disarray, the new head of the house Pilemon who is a scummy guy wishes to take in Eris as his concubine which Ghislaine refuses to do. Eris asks everyone to leave her alone for the time being and Rudy finds out that Sylphie has been found but he doesn’t know where she’s at. Later that night, Eris enters Rudy’s tent and wants to sleep with him. At first he’s hesitant as he knows she’s been through a lot, but she whispers a few magic words into his ears and that gets his engines going (scene here: https://youtu.be/RHC__SCSfn8, and then they bang). The next morning Rudy finds that Eris is gone and she cut her hair. She leaves him a note saying they weren’t compatible yet and Rudy finds out she left on a journey with Ghislaine no doubt to give herself to Pilemon for the sake of her people.
In the final episode we quickly find out that Eris isn’t giving herself to Pilemon. Instead, she ran away with Ghislaine and plans to go off and train for Rudy. Eris came to realize how much she depended on Rudy and now wants to get stronger for his sake and protect him (there’s also the fact that she’s in love with him). This episode goes by incredibly fast as we see Lilia and Aisha reunite with Paul, Roxy meets Kishirika who tells her that Zenith is on the Begaritt Continent in the labyrinth city of Rapan, Ruijed continues to travel and do services that help the image of the Superds, and we get a small glimpse of the other side characters doing things to improve themselves. The only person that doesn’t seem to be doing anything is Rudy who is suffering from a broken heart (get over it, normie). We see a little more of his former life where his parents did try and reach out to him but his paranoia pushed them all away (honestly, his backstory would make a sad but interesting OVA). He does eventually get over his depression and realizes that he still has things to do and he sets off on a journey where there’s obviously something big down the line.
Some months later we got a special episode that focuses on Eris and Ruijed. The episode takes place around the same time as episode five in the second half. While Rudy was dealing with his dad, Eris does a little goblin slaying (Goblin Slayer would be proud. Slash and swing until it is done). Joining her is a mage named Cliff a self-proclaimed powerful mage who tries to win Eris’s heart but fails. While in the forest hunting for goblins they come across a girl and knight being attacked by assassins. Eris single-handedly kills the assassins and escorts the girl and knight back to city with Cliff who we find out was actually with the assassins. It turns out there’s some kind of power struggle going on between the pope and the archbishop. The pope wants to coexist with demons while the archbishop says they should kill them. Cliff appears to be in the faction that supports the pope while the Temple knights seem to be opposing his ideas and have teamed up with the archbishop.
Final Thoughts
And that was the first season of Mushoku Tensei. Wow, I have to admit I can see why everyone praises this isekai so much. This series plays the long game with its storytelling. The characters don’t go off on a journey immediately, we see them interact off each other, build a relationship with one another, and then set off on a journey where once again new elements and characters are introduced that may not have much point at the moment but down the line they will and when these elements do play a part in the story it’ll feel that much more special because we remember them when they were first introduced. While the animation isn’t always consistent it looks gorgeous from a visual perspective. All the kingdoms and the backgrounds that they use are beautiful and would honestly make great wallpaper for a computer desktop. The soundtrack is good and very immersive. I always find myself getting lost in the opening of each episode with the music. It really sets the tone and makes this world come alive. While not a whole lot of combat in this anime the combat that they showed was shot well, had good camerawork and could get pretty gruesome at some points. Where the anime really excels at is with its characters. The character of Rudy was good. His backstory is sad, but with the help of others he managed to overcome a few of the issues that plague him. He’s still haunted by his past and I like how it still plays a factor in his life because mental scars run deep and it takes a long time for them to heal. The fact that he’s still haunted by his past and keeps making mistakes makes him a relatable character we can identify. I also like how even though he’s a strong mage he’s not overpowered and there are others around him who are stronger than him and have the potential to be stronger than him. The only downside to his character is his perverted acts. I get that he’s a 34-year-old man in the body of a 12-year-old but his acts come across as creepy rather than funny. Especially when he’s making sexual advances at underage girls and keeping the panties of his teacher. I like how the female cast aren’t there just for fanservice, they actually contribute to the story. Eris is the tomboy girl who will rush in and fight people but also cares for those she loves. I like how Norn and Aisha have different perspectives of Rudy. Norn thinks he’s a terrible person while Aisha thinks he’s a good person despite his perverted nature. Ruijed was cool and served as a good mentor to Eris and guardian to Rudy as he stopped him from doing stupid stuff that he would have regretted later on. Paul’s story arc is good and realistic. He’s not a bad person but he makes some bad choices and reacts to things wrongly that put him in a bad spot. However, he’ll realize his mistakes and own up to them. Storywise, this may just be the best-told isekai I’ve ever watched. Like I said, this series plays the long game. They show great stuff and setting up even greater stuff for the future.
Final Score
The final score Musoku Tensei is a 10/10, with a must-watch stamp of approval. Do I consider this the best isekai of all time? No, but it was one of the best isekai animes I’ve seen to date and worth checking out if you’re not a big fan of isekai anime. This one gets it right and knows what it’s doing. I can’t wait for the next season. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.