Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation S2 Ep 17 Review
Remember what I said at the end of my last review for Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation? I wasn’t joking-this episode left me on the verge of tears. Even though I knew from reading the light novels and manga that Norn would shut herself in her room, and why, I still wasn’t prepared for the feels. This might be one of the best episodes in the entire series, and as you’ll see for yourself, there’s a good reason why.
Rudy is scary when He’s Mad. No, really!
After hearing how Norn has shut herself in her dorm room, saying Rudy is mad is an understatement. The look of pure wrath on his face is enough to scare the teachers as he marches for her classroom. Linia and Pursena are afraid of him. The anger he’s feeling here is leagues above what the Beast Duo experienced when he found out they smashed his Roxy figurine. And while that incident was played with humorous intent in mind, the show takes this moment dead serious. Having shut himself off from everyone in his first life, the idea that something happened to make Norn do the same is enough to drive him berserk.
I will be blunt: as much as I love seeing Rudeus better himself, in this moment, I was afraid of him. If he ever went off the deep end, Few people in the world could be capable of stopping him.
The anger does not last long, though. After “asking” her class and teacher, the horrible realty sets in for him. Norn was never bullied by anyone; it’s worse. They wouldn’t stop comparing her to her brother.
Rudy Doesn’t Know How to Help Norn
If it were as simple as someone threatening her, Rudeus could handle things with little effort. But once he hears that he’s the reason Norn has shut down, Rudeus doesn’t know what to do. In his first life, his older brother tried to get through to him, but he was too stubborn to listen. Now, circumstances have put him in his brothers position, and beyond going to her room to visit her, he doesn’t know what to do. You can practically feel the frustration pouring out of him as he tries to get her to do…something. Anything.
And this is where the story does the best thing it could hope to do: it gives us Norn’s perspective.
Norn Has a Lot of Complicated Feelings about Her Older Brother
For so long, Norn has had no idea what to think of Rudeus. When she first met him, she saw him hitting their father, not understanding why. It didn’t matter if Paul told her afterwards that he started things. When you’re a little kid and you see someone hurting your parents, you tend to think of them as a bad person. No amount of explaining from the adults can change that.
Then, when Norn came to live with him, she saw him drunk and carrying a woman she didn’t remember, looking so happy. Meanwhile, their dad was running himself ragged trying to find their Mom. That only made her opinion of him even worse.
Then, when she asked to live in the dorms, Norn expected Rudeus to get angry at her. But when he agreed, she thought he saw her as in his way.
And then came her start at Ranoa U, when everyone learned she was Rudeus’ sister. No one, be they students or teachers, saw her as Norn Greyrat. All they saw when they looked at her was the sister of the strongest person at school. Everywhere she went, all she could hear was her brother’s name, and it started to make her physically ill.
This Episode Almost Left Me in Tears
Sweet mercy, Norn deserves all the hugs in the world.
I knew going into this that Norn had a serious inferiority complex, but even after reading the light novels and manga, I still wasn’t prepared for the tearjerker we got. Norn has no clue what to think of her brother. At first, she was afraid of him, and then she thought he didn’t care about her. Then people wouldn’t stop comparing her to them. She wants to reach out to him, but, like Rudeus, she doesn’t know what to do.
I don’t remember who made the first move in the novels. But, even so, I’m glad that it was Rudeus that did so. Even though he doesn’t know what to do or how to help his sister, he still tries to reach out to her. He may never tell anyone why, but he knows what it’s like to shut yourself off from the world. And he never wants his family to go through the same experience.
I don’t really know how to transcribe the thoughts and feelings in my head as I saw the sibling’s reconciliation. Some things are just too…complex to form into words. But, seeing Rudy sit down and hold his sister as she cried her eyes out…I could feel myself starting to cry.
This is Only the Beginning…
After that day, Rudeus and Norn are finally able to be brother and sister. Norn managed to work her feelings out all on her own, something that her brother can’t help but be amazed at. He even admits that if he had been half as strong as her in his first life, maybe things wouldn’t have turned out the way they did.
I will never understand why people don’t like the time Mushoku Tensei spends at Ranoa University. It’s not as exciting as Rudy’s trip around the world, but the drama and emotional moments are incredible. And it’s moments like this that are some of the best in the entire series. In fact, I think this might be the best episode of the season to date.
And for those who want to see more of the action we got in season one…be careful what you wish for, everyone.
