Mushoku Tensei II – 15 – Message in a Plastic Bottle

In a way, Rudy’s story is over. He’s struggled and wallowed in pain and anguish and failure, but now he’s happier than he’s ever been. He has a wife and a beautiful home. He has friends and allies beyond count. The only thing missing from an otherwise ideal life is for him to be reunited with his family.

To that end, Paul sends him a letter reporting they have a solid lead on Zenith, so he’s sending Norn and Aisha to live with him. Both Rudy and Sylphy are excited for the chance to not only have a more lively home, but “practice” having kids before having their own. In turn, Paul can rest assured his daughters will be safe as he seeks his wife.

All the way on the other end of the Isekai Life Enjoyment Spectrum is Nonohashi Shizuka. She is seeking a way back to her and Rudy’s world. She is seeking it, all her thought and time is dedicated to it. After two years of research and a month of careful drawing, she believes she has created a magic circle capable of summoning.

But shortly after Rudy adds his mana to the circle, it suddenly shorts out, creating a tear through her years’ work. Shizuka quietly retreats to her desk, puts her head in her hand, and sighs with resignation. Rudy leaves her be, assuming she wants to be alone, but confident she’s strong enough to power through this failure and keep trying.

He doesn’t get halfway down the stairs when he hears her scream bloody murder, and returns to find her going all Charles Foster Kane on her room. He restrains her before she can hurt herself thrashing against the stone wall, but she then passes out, succumbing to the exhaustion borne from her labors, as well as utterly broken by the futility of said labors.

With Zanoba’s help, Rudy takes Shizuka to his house where Sylphy examines and heals her. Even after a good long rest, Shizuka stares out the window as she explains to Rudy how she’s concluded that she can never go home, because she wasn’t able to ever find a way to close the circuit on her magic circle. She is utterly lost and devoid of hope.

When Zanoba tells Rudy he looks just as pale as Shizuka, Rudy explains it’s because he just relived some bad memories: i.e. the time he too lost heart and closed himself off. The difference is, Rudy had embraced this world; Shizuka has always kept herself at a distance from this world, not wanting to get so attached she’d give up on going home.

It’s here where we see the true growth that Rudy has experienced since reuniting with and marrying Sylphy. Forget restoring his sexual vigor; those events also made him a more empathetic person. Shizuka is in deep, deep pain and despair. Rudy has experienced similar pain and despair in his past.

Rudy doesn’t want Shizuka to suffer, so he does everything in his power to help her. Fortunately, he has plenty of power, like the power of friends. He shows Cliff and Zanoba the failed magical circle, and despite neither of them having any experience with summoning, Cliff’s fresh magical perspective and Zanoba’s time with the magical doll pave a potential new road for Shizuka to travel.

They’re helping out their friend and master, yes, but they’re also mages, and there’s nothing mages love more than a puzzle to solve. It all boils down to the doll using multilayered magical circles in its operation. Cliff, Zanoba, and Rudy work to adapt this concept to a summoning circle.

When they present to her three magical circles lined up in three-dimensional space intended to work in concert, the virtually catatonic Shizuka suddenly perks up. The sparkle returns to her eyes, and the sides of her mouth turn up in a smile. This could work! she exclaims, jumping out of her chair and dancing about excitedly.

She works with Cliff, Zanoba, and Rudy to rework her summoning circle from scratch, this time exploiting the third dimension. The montage depicts Shizuka operating as one of the gang, as they work, laugh, and yell at each other. And when the 3D circle is finally complete and ready to try out, Rudy pours his mana into it, and it does not short circuit.

Instead, it summons a PET bottle from earth, a soft glass of which neither Cliff nor Zanoba know what to make, but both Rudy and Shizuka immediately identify as a resounding success. The bottle is solid and stable, and a triumphant Shizuka is ready to advance to the next phase: summoning more and more complex objects.

Nanahoshi Shizuka skidded off the road and into the ditch, but Rudy’s been in that ditch before, and wasn’t about to let her remain in there long. With his friends’ help he picked her up, dusted her off, and showed her a new road. When Shizuka tells Rudy he caused her a lot of trouble, he simply tells her to help him out someday when he needs it.

With the 3D circle a success, all that’s left is to celebrate. In his world, Rudy hated social get-togethers like the one that unfolds, with Rinia, Pursena, and Badigadi joining him, Sylphy, Elinalise, Cliff, Zanoba, and Julie in celebrating Shizuka’s big win. Shizuka even does some celebratory karaoke with a wooden spoon.

No longer content to live his perfect life, Rudy is determined to help those around him achieve happiness and fulfillment as well. He’s paying forward the kindness shown to him when he hit rock bottom. In other words, while he’s had his issues in the past, and still has a few, it’s hard to deny that Rudeus Greyrat has become a good and decent man.

As he walks home carrying Sylphy (who celebrated too much and passed out in his lap), he hears the familiar voices of two girls knocking on their door: Norn and Aisha have arrived, along with their escort whom Paul told Rudy he’d be happy to see: our boy Ruijerd Superdia. Aisha loves her big brother, but Norn is still hesitant. We’ll see if that changes once she sees how Rudy has matured since they last saw each other.

But that’s just a teaser for the next episode. I cannot overstate how powerful this episode was. Thanks in no small part due to Wakayama Shion’s powerhouse vocal performance (she also sings the ED song unique to this episode), I deeply felt Shizuka’s pain, and wanted someone to take her hand and lead her out of the darkness. Rudy did that, but he didn’t do it alone.

Mushoku Tensei II – 14 – Keeping the Tribe Strong

A triumphant new OP is leans into the show’s new normal: Rudeus and Sylphiette are no longer alone, but an adorable matched pair who will never ever be separated again. Having proposed and bought a house, the next step is to hold a feast for their friends to share in their happiness and offer their blessings.

The happy couple stroll into town to buy provisions, but first Sylphy buys Rudeus a new mage’s robe to replace his tattered one. After a day of errands they slip into the hot bath together, and when Sylphy cuddles up next to Rudy and gets him in the mood, he scoops her up and takes her to the bedroom.

To Rudy’s relief, everyone invited shows up except the vice principal and Soldat, who had scheduling conflicts. Rudy’s toast thanking everyone else is interrupted by a fashionably late Badigadi, but he manages to get it out without flubbing.

The other attendees are Cliff, Lise, Zanoba, Julie, Rinia, Pursena, Ariel, her two attendants, and Luke. Heck, even Shizuka showed up, unaware that she’d be rewarded with real potato chips like the ones back home (though she . A good time is had by all, and one by one everyone gets to offer their congratulations.

When it’s Elinalise’s turn to congratulate the couple, she finds herself suddenly overcome by emotion. Sylphy then comes out and asks if Lise is really her biological grandmother. Lise cannot deny it; she’s known who Sylphy was the moment they first met, after all.

While Lise kept it a secret out of shame, Sylphy welcomes her with open arms and zero judgment. And even though Rudy thinks this news will “disillusion” Cliff and break his crush, the opposite happens. It only makes him love Lise more, and he resolves to break her curse.

With that matter resolved, another one suddenly comes up. Before taking her leave, Ariel asks if Rudy will have a duel with Luke. She doesn’t say why, only that it would be unfortunate if he refuses. Rudy indulges them, and beats Luke in less than ten seconds.

Ariel then explains that the duel was requested from a position of pride. They love Sylphy too and have been in many deadly scraps with her by their side. They wanted to make sure they could entrust Rudy to her, because if he doesn’t treat her right, they’ll simply take her back. Ariel still plans to retake the throne or die trying, whether Sylphy is with her or not.

Rudy can’t rule out helping Ariel alongside Sylphy, as he still owes her a debt. But that’s a matter for another day. The reception was a big success, everyone they care about is happy they’ll be sharing their lives together. Of course, no one can be happier than the two of them.

Sylphy is the ideal bride for Rudy, and Rudy the ideal husband for Sylphy. She intends to grow her hair out to ensure he won’t stop loving her, but Rudy believes he has to work just as hard to keep her in love with him. The reality is neither of them have anything to worry about … at least for the time being.

Mushoku Tensei II – 13 (Part 2 E01) – Feels Like Home

Rudy’s students all notice an extra pep in his step in his first class back since being cured by Sylphy. He confides in his two male buds Zanoba and Cliff that he intends to marry the person who cured him of a certain undisclosed illness, but he’s never given thought to what that process entails in this world.

Cliff tells him that the first step to marriage is procuring a house in which to live. Cliff is old-fashioned, so even if Rudy’s wife-to-be is wealthy, he believes it’s the man’s job to provide the house. Rudy chooses a huge run-down mansion whose previous residents were killed by a mysterious evil spirit. He, Cliff, and Zanoba inspect the house, but find nothing.

While spending the night, Cliff hears sounds and wakes the others. They search the house up and down once more, and finally encounter the “spirit”, which attacks them but turns out to be an automaton: a moving doll both Rudy and Zanoba have yet to encounter in this world.

Needless to say, they’re both super pumped about the prospect of learning how it works and building one based on its design, or even improving upon it (Rudy’s thoughts include the words ‘robot maid’). Wanting to prove his worth, Zanoba exuberantly volunteers to do the research needed, and Rudy leaves it to him.

With the job of rooting evil out of his new house complete, Rudy has it fixed up and the day finally arrives when he gets to show it to an excited Sylphy. The fact he painted the roof the former green color of her hair is a lovely touch and a tribute to his love. After the tour, Slyphie laments that with her royal duties she may not be able to spend much time in the house, and as such may not be worthy to marry him.

Rudy quickly disabuses her of that notion, taking her hand and declaring that she is his and formally proposing marriage, and she promptly says yes. The night in the haunted mansion provided some dread, and Rudy’s promise not to disappear on Sylphy feels like foreshadowing, but for now spirits high and vibes have rarely been better. Next up: a hopefully drama-free wedding ceremony. Both these kids deserve a break or two.

Mushoku Tensei II – 10 – Putting Two and Two Together

A year has passed since Rudy enrolled at Ranoa. As Sylphie wallows in her cowardice for being unable to tell him who she really is, he continues to carry out his daily routine and interact with Zanoba and Julie, Rinia and Pursena, and the gregarious Badigadi. He even has a meal with his old buddy Soldat, who is briefly in town.

Despite being there a year, Rudy is no closer to finding a cure for his ED, though Nanahoshi Shizuka does at least lend him some literature on teleporting. With all the time he’s spending helping Shizuka with her experiments, he realizes he’s seen less of Fitz lately.

When he spots him seemingly alone with Luke he says Hi, but Fitz avoids him, which wounds Rudy deeply. But when he spots Fitz in the library he’s back to his friendly self. When Rudy says he was worried Fitz hated him, Fitz giggles and tells him there’s no way he’d ever hate him.

Those words and that smile are living rent-free in Rudy’s head. Considering how much Fitz is on his mind, Rudy can’t deny that he’s fallen in love with him. This in turn makes Rudy ponder if he really swings both ways, or…perhaps Fitz might not be a guy after all?

After asking the vice principal proves futile (Rudy suspects he’s under pressure from higher-ups), Rudy returns to the library, more confused and frustrated than ever. Then Fitz suddenly touches him on the shoulder, startling him and causing him to fall backwards.

Fitz instinctively reaches out to arrest his fall, but ends up on the floor, on top of Rudy with his arms around her. Feeling Fitz’s feminine hips (and lack of male anatomy down below) seals it for Rudy: Fitz might run away insisting otherwise, but now Rudy is convinced she’s a woman.

Not only that, she’s the first one to make his little guy move. But Rudy isn’t going to rush matters. He owes it to Fitz, who’s helped him innumerable times, to honor her wishes if Fitz cannot reveal her true gender in public. But he’s now closer to ever to the revelation that Fitz isn’t just a woman, but his beloved childhood friend from back home.

Mushoku Tensei II – 09 – Another Stranger in a Strange Land

Fitz is walking down the hall with Princess Ariel and Luke when she spots Rudy flirting with Pursena. Fitz stops in her tracks, stares, sighs, and then walks straight into the wall. It’s clear to both Ariel and Luke that Sylphie likes Rudy, but are surprised to learn she hasn’t told him her true identity.

Her worst fear is that she tells him and he doesn’t remember her, but Ariel gives her leave to deal with the situation as she sees fit, so there’s nothing stopping Sylphie from telling Rudy…except herself.

Just when I thought this was the direction the episode was going—with Slyphie telling Rudy who she is—it takes a hard left to something else entirely. When Rudy asks Fitz about someone who knows summoning magic, she says a special student called Silent Sevenstar is a specialist.

Rudy knows her as the person who improved the school’s menus and invented uniforms and blackboards, and thus suspected she might be someone from his world. But when he meets her, she’s wearing the same white mask worn by the woman who was with Orstead when Rudy was nearly killed.

Rudy quite naturally wigs the fuck out and even loses consciousness, coming to in Fitz’s lap. Sevenstar removes the mask and speaks Japanese as she reveals her true name: Nanahoshi Shizuka. She was the last person Rudy saw before he was killed and reincarnated in this world.

Shizuka is excited to meet someone else from her world, and has a lot of questions for Rudy, but more importantly, now she believes that since she’s met another person who was sent here, he’ll help her find a way to send them back. But while she doesn’t like this world and has people she wants to get back to, Rudy obviously doesn’t, and has no regrets.

There’s something else different about Shizuka: she wasn’t reincarnated here: she teleported into the middle of the Asura Kingdom with her body and identity intact. Furthermore, in the five years she’s been here, she hasn’t aged a day, and unlike Rudy has absolutely zero mana. While Orstead took her in, she doesn’t believe he summoned her.

Despite having different goals, they both have something the other wants: She’s willing to provide Rudy with information about the mass teleportation, if he’s willing to lend her his mana for her experiments in getting back home.

Throughout all of this, Fitz is listening but unable to understand, as they’re both speaking Japanese. But Rudy agrees in principle to their deal. Shizuka proceeds to tell him more about the mass teleportation incident, this time in the local tongue. But when she says that when she arrived five years ago, the disaster might’ve been the “backlash”, which is to say, her arrival caused it.

When Fitz hears this, he loses it and attacks Shizuka, who defends herself with the rings she’s wearing. Rudy holds her back and tells her she misunderstood: Shizuka was a victim, like them; she wasn’t trying to be teleported, nor did she want to be. Fitz apologizes, and cleans up the mess she made.

Having heard enough for now, Rudy takes his leave with Fitz, saying he’ll think about what Shizuka has said and offered. Shizuka presumes and looks forward to working with him. On their way home, Fitz walks a bit behind Rudy, catching up to his larger gait and asking if he trusts this person. Rudy says he mostly does, even though “parts” of what she said rubbed him the wrong way.

This probably isn’t the best time for Sylphie to reveal who she is, so she doesn’t, but is clearly frustrated about having the opportunity—and indeed this episode—snatched from her by a newcomer who is yet another young lady. Perhaps next week, an episode called “These Feelings,” some progress will be made.

Meanwhile, this was an extremely expository episode, but it dealt with some huge ideas, and Wakamiya Shion’s vocal performance gave Shizuka depth and gravitas. Now we know for certain there’s another Japanese person in this world, and while she’s been with Orsted this whole time, she doesn’t consider Rudy an enemy or a threat, and indeed needs his help. It’s certainly a lot to think about.