Re-watching this after having watched it while it was airing in late January 2021, so over 2 and a half years ago. Holy sh*t where does the time go. And yes yet again it didn't feel like I watched 2 episodes, but instead a whole movie that broke me inside (just a little, but the broken pieces are still there) by the end. Man I love Roxy's character so much; I remember dying inside a little as they parted ways, most likely not going to be seeing her for a long time. It has been a year and half for her though in teaching Rudeus, which is pretty damn long. I thought it was just a few weeks in which she stayed with them, but no, one and a half years. And in that time, she has brought Rudy up to be a SACRED-level water mage- at FOUR years old. Well yeah he is a smart baby by being an adult inside, but he was still new to this world and all so there's that. Being able to teach himself to read while he was still crawling probably helped though. Anyway yeah, Roxy demonstrates sacred-level water magic with summoning a freaking THUNDERSTORM. Ok I know sacred-level magic is pretty high already, but it's middle-of-the-pack stuff when considering the Royal, Imperial, and Divine levels still untapped. I thought you'd need DIVINE magic to summon a thunderstorm, but nope, sacred will do it just fine. Dang. Season 2 is airing right now, and I wonder what level he's at currently? He hasn't done anything CRAZY yet, so he's probably Royal, at most? Anyway, Roxy summons a lightning bolt accidentally on the nearby tree which also razes the horse. She panics, asking Rudeus what to do, in which he responds to simply use healing magic. They get the good old horse better and Roxy asks him to keep that between them. Again, man I love Roxy.
There's a few things that I had forgotten about, like Roxy mentioning the school of magic (Ranoa, was it?) that was beyond the mountains. Probably disregarded it the first time because I thought it didn't mean much, but we know now that Rudeus eventually goes to that school. Spoilers? Nah, but I'll say that the reason for him going that school is kind of spoilery- kind of? I also liked how they showed his trauma, how it was still prevalent in his mind and how he saw everyone else as staring at him and mocking him, and his fear of going outside. This is why this deserves to be and simply IS the father of isekai- because it's where the isekai aspect actually matters. All isekai airing today? Dude gets hit by truck and gets transported to new world, past life did not matter at all. Delete it from the script, it changes NOTHING. Here, it is still living rent-free in Rudeus' head. His past life influences the decisions he makes in this life, where he now gets a second chance, in a body not fat and ugly. Naturally you'd think it detestable that he chose to stay that way instead of at least trying to improve himself in his previous life. But that just goes to show how broken a character he is on the inside. He isn't strong; he's magic-strong, but he's not character-strong.... but maybe this new world will help fix that eventually. Now he has people to help him overcome his weaknesses, like Roxy who proves yet again to be just another fricken S-tier of a character on all fronts as she is the one to help Rudy finally no longer fear stepping outside.
Wont't ramble on in every episode on this rewatch, just wanted to share my appreciation for this series once again after finishing these first 2 episodes which I remember absolutely loving. That's probably mainly because of Roxy but it's a good show of course on top of that. I'm so excited to experience this all over again. And frankly, it still feels new, like I'm watching it for the first time almost. It's show that's deeper than most, one with layers, which you can peel back and enjoy time and time again. I hope to enjoy this re-watch so much enough to raise my score from an 8 to a 9. |