Mushoku Tensei II: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu

After his relationship with Eris Boreas Greyrat reaches new heights, Rudeus Greyrat is ecstatic. Unfortunately, his joy is short-lived, as Eris suddenly abandons him to embark on her own journey. Believing that Eris has lost all interest in him, a heartbroken and depressed Rudeus sets forth to the Northern Territories. With his sole goal being to locate his mother on the vast continent, Rudeus wonders if persisting through daily life is worth the pain, falling into a robotic routine as he endlessly ruminates on his lost love.

However, the dangers of the North soon prove that one cannot survive with a dulled mind. While on a quest with the party Counter Arrow, with whom he recently became acquainted, Rudeus has a brush with death—an experience that forces him to finally snap out of his despair. With his newfound teammates, Rudeus rediscovers the pleasure of daily adventuring and moves forward with his original goal of living his second lease on life to the fullest.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Greyrat, Rudeus Main

Uchiyama, Yumi Japanese

Sylphiette Main

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Nanahoshi, Shizuka Supporting

Wakayama, Shion Japanese

Dragonroad, Elinalise Supporting

Tanaka, Rie Japanese

Sara Supporting

Shiraishi, Haruka Japanese

Shirone, Zanoba Supporting

Tsuruoka, Satoshi Japanese

Hitogami Supporting

Kujira Japanese

Heckler, Soldat Supporting

Toriumi, Kousuke Japanese

Grimoire, Cliff Supporting

Oosaka, Ryouta Japanese

Asura, Ariel Anemoi Supporting

Ueda, Reina Japanese

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Yamanaka, Takahiro Producer

Oosuga, Shouji Producer

Yurugi, Sou Producer

Reviews

Sep 24, 2023

TheRealist68

Recommended

Imagine this scenario. You get home after a long day of work and doordash some orange chicken from your local Chinese restaurant. When you receive your food, you realize that your little to-go container doesn’t have orange chicken in it; hell, it doesn’t even have Chinese food in it. You stare down 3 tacos, chips and queso, and a fucking canned horchata from a Mexican restaurant you’ve never heard of. You have more questions than answers, especially since both restaurants can’t do anything about it and Doordash is offering you an insulting 6.90 in credit off of your 25-dollar meal as a pittance. With no ... other options, you eat that meal, and it’s damn good, about as good as that orange chicken you were supposed to have. You’re able to go to sleep that night in a fairly positive mood, although you still kind of yearn for that orange chicken. Just like in Mushoku Tensei season 2, sometimes, you don’t get what you want, but somehow, you wind up more than satisfied with the result.

For those walking into Mushoku Tensei season 2 expecting a continuation of the adventure story from season 1, you're about to open up your damn tacos because this season almost completely hinges on character development. You see, Rudy is depressed now; I would be too if my girlfriend of 5 years ghosted me right after we had sex for the first time. But this isn’t your typical anime depression where the main character talks to a guy that helps him get over whatever is afflicting him in one episode, no, no, no, this shit lasts for most of the season. The extent of his depression fluctuates; he bottoms out with his suicide attempt in episode 3 and he “peaks” in episode 12, but between those periods, there is seldom a moment where he just constantly improves. The essential theme behind it is that two good things can not happen in a row. Every high this man gets is immediately contrasted with a low: he’ll be depressed, then he’ll get some good news that is immediately followed by disappointment to shut down any feelings of joy that he might’ve had.

The decision to give Rudy erectile dysfunction is so symbolic that it would make your high school english teacher fucking swoon. Giving a perpetually horny character the inability to be horny while contrasting his erectile dysfunction with his mental dysfunction is just *chef's kiss* absolutely genius storytelling. His erectile dysfunction also serves as the last bastion of his depression in the latter parts of the story, and when it is cured via a 7 episode “will they, won't they” romance with perennial childhood friend Sylphy, it winds up hitting way harder than it has any business doing. Actually, referring to the romance as “will they, won’t they” misrepresents it a tad; the ball was always in Sylphy’s court as she could’ve revealed herself to Rudeus at any time, so it’s really a “will she, won’t she” romance if you will. The constant edging that comes with this part of the story can come off as drawn out to some audiences, but for me, Sylphy’s character development and intrapersonal conflicts throughout the season made that never happen.

This season helps maintain the continuity of Mushoku Tensei using odd amounts of realism or attention to detail to excel in ways other anime do not. The beginning segments with Sara and Counter Arrow were oddly realistic in the way they showed the cautious social improvements a depressed person attempts to make; this realism got turned up to 11 when they showed a sudden downward spiral with plenty of self-destruction. Most anime don’t use depression as a catalyst for character development; if they do, the depression is short-lived and resolved linearly. As stated above, neither of these happen in Mushoku Tensei season 2. The conversation with Nanahoshi is a glorified 20-minute info dump: an info dump that I was on the edge of my seat to consume. I generally dislike info dumps of this magnitude, but the sheer impact of the information being dumped and the extracurriculars with Sylphy during the conversation kept it interesting. Or hell, even the way they characterize side characters. There are 12 characters either introduced or re-established and expanded on this season, and none of them feel like a waste of time that won’t be utilized as the series goes on; characters like Sara have fulfilled their duty to the plot and won’t appear for much later feel like their arcs are completed: they don’t need extra development to make them feel like quality. Side characters that received incomplete characterization, such as Zanoba and Cliff, were set up to be reused in the latter parts of the story. On paper, this seems like a fairly simple decision to make that clears a pretty low bar of establishing your side characters to a great extent before you make them do important things in the plot, but you’d be surprised. Many anime skip this simple step that honestly gives out pure brownie points to viewers who consume the entire series.
Time to address the elephants in the room.

The second season of the Mushoku Tensei is arguably more polarizing than the first season. No, no, no, I’m not referring to polarization between the people that think Mushoku Tensei is fucking disgusting and the people who ignore those possibility disgusting elements to enjoy a nuanced narrative, I’m referring to polarization between people that liked the first season of Mushoku Tensei but can’t decide if the second season is amazing or dogshit. From the recommended tag, the 10/10 rating, or just the content of this review, you probably can ascertain my position on the matter, so I’m going to make an effort to defend it.

“The animation is worse and they clearly didn’t put in enough effort/ the production quality sucks!!”

Congratulations. You have officially downgraded from a Ferrari to a Ferrari that has driven 4 miles outside of the dealership. The animation is slightly worse in some spots and slightly less detailed than before in others. It’s not that noticeable, and I could only see it being jarring to viewers watching side by side with content from the first season. This is simply a consequence of Mushoku Tensei season 2’s existence. Season 1 was in production for 3 years; season 2 only had a year and a half. For a season that is mostly conversation, it makes sense that in half the time, the animation would be worse. The combat scenes of this season, although few and far between, are still detailed to the same extent as the first season, so I have a reasonable level of trust that the second cour will be better in this regard. Still, this isn't that big of a deal and it shouldn’t heavily impact your enjoyment of the series, if at all.

“ The adaptation sucks because this quote from volume 7, page 46, paragraph 4, sentence 3 wasn’t said by Rudeus in episode 3!!”

This goes beyond Mushoku Tensei. In general, people need to realize that completely faithful adaptations are so rare because most series just don’t have time for that shit. If everything from volumes 7-9 was fully adapted, this season would’ve been 15-16 episodes long. Cuts have to be made and as long as they don’t comprise the story or pacing of the series, I have no problem with them.

“Why is Rudeus regressing/why did he relapse back into depression? He needs to get over it!!”

Aw yes, how dare the anime character you're trying to self-project upon have characteristics of a real person. You see, real people often don’t improve linearly. They regress, they fail, they self-destruct. This happens to a greater extent if that person has mental health issues, which, surprise surprise, Rudeus does. I honestly don’t understand how the realism of a character can be a negative point for a viewer.

“Where is my op with the cool backgrounds behind it? *Sigh* Another issue courtesy of lazy production!!”

First of all, the op works like that for the first 5 episodes, fuck you. Second of all, Ranoa is one place, and the content that played in the background for these ops mainly showcased the new environment in which the characters found themselves. With no new environments, upwards of 11 minutes of background content for the same city would’ve been repetitive, so the decision to make a traditional op is logical. It probably will be back for the second cour anyway.

“The Ranoa arc is boring sol garbage that had me disinterested from the jump!!”

Honestly, I can’t really argue with that one, and this is where I’m going to conclude. Although the beginning of the season is standard, if not a little dampened Mushoku Tensei, Ranoa is a glorified sol arc. There’s little action, a whole lot of conversation, and the majority of the arc hinges on Rudy and Sylphy’s relationship. If you don’t have the patience to sit through “will they, won’t they” romances, if you hate slice of life, or if the only reason you enjoyed the first season was the action, you’ll probably dislike this season. Coming in blind to this season, I expected something similar to the first season, the end result wasn’t that, but I still enjoyed it to a great extent. Historically speaking, the first cour of Mushoku Tensei seasons serves as a setup for the season cour to excel. Let’s hope that’s the same with this season.


Thank You for Reading

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Sep 24, 2023

nashyyyyyyy

Mixed Feelings

This very well might be the most controversial anime of the last few years. I want to make one thing clear though. Mushoku Tensei is an anime and Light Novel, NOT a political statement. Are the controversial aspects of MT cause for concern and gaping holes in the consistency of the show? Depends on how you look at it. But it isn't fair to the series if it is judged based on today's standards as it is clearly in some medieval/fantasy world.

Mushoku Tensei season two can be separated into two arcs essentially, the post-Eris adventuring arc and then the Ronoa school of magic arc. ... The first arc is standard Mushoku Tensei, business as usual. Rudy, being the stud that he is, goes adventuring solo, finds a group of people, and does his thing. Obviously, I don't want to spoil things but then he finds himself at a school. Here, the style changes, there is less action and an increased emphasis on humor, more than what was typically present in episodes past. There is also a large romance element at play as well. Towards the end of the season, there are some major plot developments that keep viewers guessing. Sound, animation, and voice acting are all TOP NOTCH, I need not say anything further, the production team absolutely killed it yet again.

Now on to my criticisms, first off is the story. I know that Mushoku Tensei is an adventuring story but there is no real tension in the series, there really isn't any end goal. This is a major issue because it just saps a lot of the tension and excitement from the series. I guess it is fun to watch Rudy and his friends/lovers run about and have fun but there is no goal for Rudy, which is made evidently clear at one point later in this season. We get almost nothing about Hitogami and Orsted in this season which is yet another bummer. Rudy is also stupid overpowered so we know he's probably not going to die as he is eons more powerful than anybody and everybody on campus.

The main purpose and moral that Mushoku Tensei is trying to push is that Rudeus, having been reincarnated into this world, has turned over a new leaf and actually wants to work to improve himself unlike in his previous life as a shut-in. Here's where the controversies of MT finally become a cause for concern. Rudy is SUPPOSEDLY trying to fix himself but almost everything he does is contradictory to that very goal whether that is worshipping literal panties or groping random girl's breasts, it just hurts to see no sign of improvement in a character that I try to support and defend. In the first cour or two, yeah, I can understand some lapses in judgment but in season two we don't get any of those inner character shifts where he strives to become better. Moments like Paul's reunion and Rudy's bond with Eris were very beautiful parts of the first and second cour but it seems like most of these moments are just gone in season two. Remember how I said that Rudy has no end goal? Let me tie that back here because, in season two, the world just feels like Rudy's playground. The inspiring story of the shut-in on his way to start fresh in another world is paused so that he can let his degenerate fantasies of old run free with his newfound power in his new world. That sentence alone encapsulates what goes wrong with Mushoku Tensei season two. If you love Mushoku Tensei, you'll most likely love this. If you were skeptical about the first and/or second cour. You might want to steer clear of season two. Final Score: 7/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 24, 2023

Antithesis

Not Recommended

Everything this anime was praised for in the first season--high production values, cinematic direction, extensive worldbuilding and engaging turning points--is now nonexistent as it hones in on all the things that made this a nauseatingly unpalatable work from the very beginning. The only thing that remains this season is what Mushoku Tensei has always been at its core: An unsophisticated and unprofessional generic power fantasy isekai with fetishistic eroticism as its defining characteristic.

Mushoku Tensei wants to have its cake and eat it by being a pensive fantasy epic about redemption with immersive worldbuilding whilst incorporating trashy seasonal ecchi power fantasy elements operating on hentai ... logic into its narrative. Instead, the former narrative style gets engulfed by the latter because the author can’t help himself and the end result is a sum lesser than the parts that reads like a degenerate fanfiction masquerading as a coming-of-age story. This disconnect plagued the first season and jeopardized any prospect of Mushoku Tensei being a serious story, but the second season thoroughly exposes this tonal and thematic mess as the failed assimilation of the two antithetical storytelling approaches that it is; this season only serving to expand the MC’s forced harem. To some, the insufferably grating MC is part of what makes this isekai special. In actuality, the series shows no signs of meta-commentary about this character chasing underage girls as a 21st-century first-world Japanese male inside a medieval fantasy world. The show instead fully embraces it and I suppose its only half-hearted attempt at self-awareness is always playing it off as laughs with the overreliance on vulgar humour. As with any joke, it stops being funny the nth time it's used. Rudeus is continuously shown to still have the mental age and awareness of a 34-year-old contemporary otaku through various forms of dialogue and his interactions with Man-God even depict him in his past-life state to reinforce that fact, yet the story does nothing meaningful about it in order to justify the very concept in which it's founded upon and lets him fully pursue his perversion. Moreover, it’s awfully convenient how the worldbuilding of this extremely derivative medieval fantasy setting is fine-tuned to the MC’s tastes (whilst pretending it’s vice-versa), such as the low age of consent, society’s liberal attitudes towards it, physically ageless lolis for him to obsess over (e.g. Roxy), etc. Getting killed by a truck was the best thing to happen to him because not only can he and does he finally act on his pent-up perversions with no repercussions, but he also immediately jumps from the rock-bottom of the social hierarchy to high-value with no effort and self-improvement whilst being a natural prodigy for everyone to revolve around. Rudeus is such a skilled badass that even while depressed, the leader of an S-ranked Adventurer party mistakes his low energy as him hiding his power level due to looking down on his peers and thus develops an inferiority-complex towards him. This is totally not a wish-fulfilment series. It's a shame Soldat's character among many others has to be brought down like this in order to inauthentically raise the MC up. Redemption story this is not, and in line with the insipid conventions of modern isekai, au contraire is the normalization of escapism and the promotion of docility.

Straight off the bat, this arc is about the MC’s erectile dysfunction. The 34-year-old psyche inside a healthy teenage body is now impotent from the shame and trauma of his underage cousin leaving him after bedding her last season. There is no shame in the act of bedding his underage cousin itself and using that instead as an opportunity for the MC to grow, of course; which was instead celebrated due to everything I have already established about the type of series this is. The new ED premise is farcical on multiple layers. It’s the start of a new story despite the one thus far being left unfinished, and the plot immediately degenerates into aimless, feeble meandering with lethargic pacing that reads more like the author’s escapist hentai fanfiction than ever before. It takes an inoperative veer from Rudeus having to escape an alien continent and reuniting his family into him breezing through a magic academy in laxity (as if one extremely derivative setting for this series wasn’t enough) and hoping he’ll somehow cure his impotence there. There is no defined act structure nor genuine narrative drive and momentum, and it feels like a tedious detour from the initial story. More importantly, however, is that this entire premise is made all the more laughable by the fact that it’s based on the dopey contrivance of Eris’ unrealistically stupidly written letter and irrational decision to abandon Rudeus. The author struggles to write believable character flaws. Thus, the story here is not only nonsensical, unengaging, moves at glacial speed and is tonally dissonant from pre-established plot-points, but its very foundation is contrived and it should never exist. In fact, the erectile dysfunction arc is so bad and borders on filler that the manga skipped it entirely and reduced it to supplemental content. And the worst part about all this is the resolution through familiarity - operating on the aforementioned hentai logic that in any other story would read as a cop-out if this entire arc wasn’t just an excuse to add a collectable to the expansive harem.

As I said, this season only serves to expand Rudeus' forced harem because that is the type of series Mushoku Tensei ultimately is - a generic power fantasy harem of which the fantastical elements merely orbit. Otherwise, the narrative wouldn’t be so unfocused and riddled with inconsequential subplots. The author should’ve simply played to his strengths of writing a fantasy epic (as flawed as it already was) instead of trying to write character-driven introspectives, since he can’t write believable characters and character dynamics. Dialogues are extremely corny and all the characters seem to have IQs on the left end of the bell curve in order for the plot to progress based on unintelligent character decisions, accidental happenings, poor character drama as well as plot conveniences as if the causality of this world flows to the tune of Rudeus. A good example of this is the embarrassing feud between Rudeus and Sara, but there isn’t a more egregious one than the entire “will-they-won’t-they” plotline between Rudeus and Sylphiette which is excruciatingly self-aggrandized into seven episodes of non-happenings between an apparently dunce MC who (still) lacks any social cues and a love interest who apparently only now is discovering the basics of life; dragged on so the finale can serve as a “reward” for the viewer because this anime knows exactly the people it caters to. The main cast is just exaggerated isomorphs of trite and vapid anime archetypes whilst most of the rest of the cast are one-notes who will typically be used for comedy relief that stops being funny the second or third time the joke is made--such as Elinalise, who's entire character revolves around sex and represents everything vulgar about the series. One might've thought Eris was the most annoying female in the series for her muscle-brained tsundere demeanour, but turns out Sylphiette and Elinalise are even worse. Seems as though every season there’s only one respectable, dynamic character in the narrative. Last season this was Ruijierd and this time it seems to be Ariel, though it's too bad she's unable to carry like the former.

TL;DR: Inconsistent and mediocre production values, bad compositing, no directional finesse, dreadful and bloated storyboards, lethargic pacing, repulsive thematics, drenched in plot contrivances, good character designs with annoyingly awful character-writing and even worse character drama, extremely derivative world, infantile humour, and atrocious dialogue.

Mushoku Tensei takes a subgenre of anime culture that’s always been tawdry, packages it in a fantasy epic, and the package starts leaking and creasing to the inside contents. Any sophistication that the show suggested it might have in the first season is thrown out the window, and production values can't save it this time. If you want an immersive and cinematic fantasy epic, watch Wit's Attack on Titan or Ufotable's Fate/Zero. If you seek an introspective coming-of-age anime with themes of the importance of bonds/family/kinship, there are a plethora of titles in this medium across genres that do that better. Unfortunately, Mushoku Tensei fails to fulfil the niche of being a hybrid competently; which is a shame because Rifujin is not unable to write a good narrative and Mushoku Tensei had potential to be something good.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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