Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation II

Episode 9

While we've known that Nanahoshi is at the magic academy ever since the school was first teased episodes ago, Rudeus has not. So it's no surprise that his first encounter with her throws him headlong into a brutal PTSD flashback of his battle with Orsted. Honestly, it's an excellent scene—showing both his real-world actions and the terror of that moment in his mind. And while Rudeus has done several horrible things recently, it's impossible not to feel sorry for him in this instant.

Once he comes, we get the big reveal of why she had Orsted save his life after their short battle—because she is also from Earth. However, unlike Rudeus who was reincarnated, she was summoned directly.

When it comes down to it, Nanahoshi is a mirror to Rudeus. She's in her own body while he's in a new one. She's trying to get home while he wants nothing more than to stay. She has lingering attachments while he has none. She's kept her Japanese identity while he's thrown his away. All this is to say that seeing her forces Rudeus to think directly about how he views this world and his place in it. Even after his encounter with Orsted and his first night with Eris, he still prefers his life now to his previous one.

Yet, that doesn't make him and Nanahoshi enemies. While Rudeus has no intention to return to Earth himself, he's willing to help Nanahoshi do so—especially if he gets something out of the deal like the information Nanahoshi got while traveling with Orsted.

While the episode drops a lot of lore bombs on us it's surprising how big of a character piece this episode is for Sylphy. She's on the scene immediately after his PTSD flashback, caring for him as he wakes up. Yet, once Nanahoshi switches to Japanese, Sylphy is completely ignored—even when she tries to butt in and asks them to speak her language.

In many ways, this is Sylphy's greatest fear come to life. After all, as she states in this episode, she hasn't told him who she is yet because she's afraid that he has forgotten her. He holds a huge place in her heart and she wants to hold a huge place in his.

And yet, in his conversation with Nanahoshi, she claims to be from his hometown—a blatant lie that denies Sylphy's treasured childhood with Rudeus. Then he ignores her and when she tries to decipher Nanahoshi's writings, she finds she can't read the Japanese. It's clear she already feels incredibly threatened by Nanahoshi—so is it any surprise when the masked woman says she is the cause of the teleport incident that Sylphy loses all control and attacks? And even when it's explained to Sylphy that Nanahoshi is a victim as well, it's clear she still greatly dislikes her.

But what might be even worse is that, even after all is said and done, Rudeus explains nothing to Sylphy. He doesn't say anything about what he and Nanahoshi talked about. He's so self-absorbed that he doesn't notice how unbelievably rude he has been to her at the very least. We get a great visual shot of this, with him walking faster than her and her struggling to keep up—and him not even noticing. It's only when he says he doesn't fully trust Nanahoshi that Sylphy regains a bit of confidence and can match his pace again. At this point, I'd be surprised if this week's events weren't what gives her the push to divulge her real identity to him shortly.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Luke's adversarial nature towards Rudeus makes a lot more sense now that we realize he and the princess thought Sylphy had divulged her true identity to Rudeus already.

• Who else thought Rudeus fell down the stairs when he fainted?

• So Nanahoshi's summoning is likely at the center of the mass teleportation incident. But why was she summoned at all? Was the disaster the goal? Is that why she was left alone for Orsted to find? Lots to think about here.

• I think Rudeus might be a bit too eager to let himself off the hook here. I wonder if the teleportation incident wasn't caused by both of their arrivals—her in body and him in soul.

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation II is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.