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
