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(All episodes watched): I should have rewatched at least the final episode of the second three-month season* before watching any of this, because what with my poor memory I had little idea what was going on in 'episode 0'. Indeed, for a good while I wasn't even certain if it was part of the MT story at all. But no matter: it was fun anyhow. Sylphie is hurled to the land of Asura and winds up as a bodyguard of Princess Ariel. If I understood things correctly, Ariel is the legitimate heir to the throne even though three siblings are supposedly ahead of her. She is urged to claim what is rightfully hers. Sylphie is known as Fitz, or 'Silent Fitz' because she seldom speaks to anyone other than the Princess (she is despised by the Asuran aristocracy). Ariel's half-brother, who is first in line to the throne, is suspicious of her and tries to have her assassinated. Just how this thread will intertwine with the rest of the MT story was unclear as we switch to a different thread in episode one. I thought I'd watch a few minutes of episode one to get an idea of where things were headed, but I enjoyed it so much that I couldn't help watching the entire thing. Rudy has come to a wintry Northern land in search of one of his missing relatives and friends (his mother, I think), but is in such a state of despair that he hardly cares whether he lives or dies. How many anime characters experience any sort of major changes of mood at all? But he is impressed by the all-for-one-and-one-for-all spirit of a team of adventurers, 'Counter Arrow', and joins them. It's hard to put into words, but this episode was so deftly crafted that I was extremely intrigued; whereas I hadn't been certain where I stood during episode 0, this one skillfully revived my interest in MT. The next day I scrambled to download all available episodes of this series. This was looking to be the single anime of the Summer 2023 season that would most excite me. This show is just much 'deeper' than most isekai adventurer series. It includes stuff like another team led by a jerk who gives you trouble and fellow team members who have feelings of their own and are not necessarily 100% loyal comrades. There's a theory that people like fiction that includes complex, realistic characters because they sense that they might learn something valuable from it, and that would make sense given how much fun MT II/TV3 is. In episode two Rudeus gets to know his comrades better, and a tragic event occurs. Rudeus can be a jerk himself at times, like in episode three, which makes him more interesting and relatable than most protagonists of isekai anime. In episode four a sleazy but assertive woman, Elinalise, comes looking for Rudeus and lets him know that his mother, Zenith, is safe but very far away. He gets an offer from the Ranoa Magical Academy (which Roxy once attended) to become a 'Special Student'. He decides to accept it, after another encounter with the Man-God who suggests he use it to investigate what exactly happened when his family and friends were scattered all over the world (this might also fix Rudeus' embarassing personal problem). In episode five Rudeus and Elinalise arrive at Ranoa, where they meet Sylphie/Fitz and Princess Ariel. Apparently the dark glasses Fitz wears (and the considerable time that has passed) are enough to disguise her so that Rudeus doesn't recognize her, and she prefers to keep her true identity a secret for now (Rudeus thinks she's a man). In episode six Rudeus and Fitz get closer and Fitz raises the idea of purchasing a slave to carve the magical figures that Rudeus and his old aquaintance Prince Zanoba (also a student at Ranoa) need. They select a dwarf girl who they name Juliette. Many--indeed most--anime have such superficial plots that I hardly care what's going on, but here I am genuinely curious. I finally rewatched the final episode of the previous season and there were a good number of links which I had forgotten. The episode basically shows where everyone stood at that point (the magical disaster has already occured). It was Sylphie/Fitz who recommended that Ranoa Academy recruit Rudeus as a Special Student. She and Princess Ariel were shown already at the academy before the episode 0 which explained how they got there. Roxy uses a magical favor to devine where Rudeus and his family are. We see Elinalise as a genuine member of Roxy's adventuring party. And Rudeus himself is despondent but decides that he should at least go looking for his mother. Episode seven is mainly about a quarrel between Rudy and Zanoba and two arrogant girls, Pursena and Linia, who are members of the monarchy of some human-animal race and are fellow students. It was sort of amusing but also felt like a break in the flow of the main plot. Will these girls continue to appear? Will they somehow come to like Rudy after being humiliated by him, and become his allies? In episode eight Rudy finds himself entangled in the mating season of Linia and Pursena's race. It looks like these two girls have indeed become members of Rudy's clique. Also, Cliff Grimoire, another fellow student, has fallen in love with Elinalise of all people, and asks Rudy to introduce him. Being so thoroughly distracted, Rudy has made little or no progress towards his primary goal of explaining the magical catastrophe and fixing his own ED. Rudy gets an unpleasant surprise in episode nine: the masked woman who was present at his own killing and revival is also a student at the academy. What's more, this woman has also been transported here from Japan, though she was teleported here rather than died and was reincarnated. She claims she was the one who asked Hosted(?) to revive Rudy and his companions. He agrees to cooperate with her, since this might just explain everything and she badly needs mana to continue with the investigation. Episode ten is basically about the budding romance between Rudy and Sylphie/Fitz. When will she come clean about how they have met before? Why is she hiding it? Rudy at least realizes something important about her. I didn't get the significance of Rudy's theory that maybe Princess Ariel had disguised herself as Fitz on one occasion. Episode eleven is when Sylphie finally comes clean with Rudy. This entire season has basically been about the relationship between the two of them. Indeed, I sort of wonder why Rudy pays more attention to it that to the mind-blowing revelations from episode nine. Over the course of this season he goes from broken hearted over Eris and missing family members to (apparently) in love with Sylphie. But I guess I always found his adventures to be more fun than his love life. This season started off really exciting me and quieted down a good deal afterwards. Nevertheless, it was fun; I started re-watching MT from season one to refresh my memory. Summer 2023 was a distinctly meagre season in which I watched only four series to completion, but even if it had been a much better one I'd have watched MT II. *It's kind of confusing keeping track of the 'seasons' of Mushoku Tensei; some described this as 'S2' even though there have already been two seasons of around twelve episodes each, with a break between them. Last updated Thursday, September 28 2023. Created Thursday, August 03 2023. | ||||||||
