Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation S3 Ep 6 Review
Did you guys know that Mushoku Tensei fans have a nickname for the main girls based on their hair colors? Sylphie is the Bulbasaur for her originally green hair. Roxy is Squirtle, since she’s a blunette and specializes in water magic. And lastly, Eris is Charmander, both because of her red hair and how dangerous she can be when angry. But what about Pikachu? That would be Sara, the one that got away. Now, I’ve made my feelings about Sara pretty clear: I think she was a poor man’s substitute for Eris and a means to show us how badly the latter’s leaving hurt Rudy. I would’ve been fine if we never saw her again, but Rifujin decided to give us some closure with an entire chapter being dedicated to her reunion with Rudy. And that entire chapter just managed to get adapted into an entire episode of the anime.
Sara’s Back! *Gulp*
So the first thing that stuck out for me about this episode was how it managed to cover something that I thought the anime had chosen to skip over: the return of Suzanne, the old leader of Counter Arrow. In the light novels, it’s revealed far earlier that after Counter Arrow had disbanded, Suzanne and Timothy had moved to Sharia, married, and started their own family. And Rudeus hired her to be Lucie’s wet nurse, leading them to reunite. This actually took place much earlier in the novels while what happens in this episode takes place later. That left me genuinely convinced that the anime was going to skip over it, and thus left me pleasantly surprised.
In hindsight, though, it makes sense that the anime moved the order of events, considering how this entire episode is dedicated to Sara.
The main plot of the episode is about Rudy and Roxy helping to escort this Ranoan princess on her coming-of-age pilgrimage to some shrines. Since Ariel wants to build connections, she tags along with Luke and Sylphie, meaning most of the gang is present. But they’re not the only ones guarding the princesses. The Ranoan Princess hired this party of all-female adventurers to escort her. And guess who’s joined them since Counter Arrow split up?
I know we can technically hear what Rudy’s thinking thanks to his internal monologue, but the moment he sees Sara, I can imagine him completely freaking out.
Sylphie, you are a Saint!
So, Rudeus spends a good chunk of the job (when he’s not simping for his wives) doing his absolute best to avoid Sara. And frankly, I don’t think most guys can blame him. He thought he burned all his bridges with Sara, and so wanted to give her the space he thought she’d want. But Sylphie, who knows her husband so well (bless her heart) sees this and realizes “my man can’t keep doing this forever. He’s gotta rip the band-aid off or else someone could end up dead.” So Ariel, being the chess master she is, has Rudy and Sara go look for some fruit as an excuse for them to face each other.
As a quick aside, it’s so great to see how well Ariel knows Sylphie so well. It’s a good she’s her best friend, because I don’t think that the Greyrats could handle being on her bad side!
The next sequence is nothing short of cathartic, as it isn’t Rudy who ends up apologizing first; it’s Sara.
Sara Apologizes First
So, shortly after Sara had angrily slapped Rudy for badmouthing her and thinking he was just looking to get laid, the woman Soldat took him to came and told her everything. So Sara immediately realized that she had made a huge mistake, especially when she found out that Rudeus briefly tried to off himself. Remember that? Rudeus was so overcome by despair that he might have killed himself if Soldat hadn’t been there, and it would have been all her fault (and Eris’)! So she ran all over town trying to find him and apologize, but he was long gone by then.
Now, Rudy was not entirely blameless. He should have at least tried to explain his problems at the time. But given his mental state back then, I don’t think any of us can fault him for not thinking things through. I don’t think that I would have been thinking straight either.
At any rate, Rudy and Sara have their little heart-to-heart and apologize for how things ended. But you know what the most important part of this was? It’s them acknowledging that any romantic relationship between wouldn’t have worked out. I already knew it. I even acknowledged that Sara being too similar to Eris was going to cause problems and just make her Rudy’s rebound girl. That’s not a healthy foundation for romance, and I’m glad that they acknowledge that in-universe. Pikachu was not meant to be.
Friendship!
In the end, the job goes off without incident, and Rudy and Sara part ways, the two mutually deciding to stay in the friend zone. The most important aspect of this, though, was that it helped Rudy figure out for sure what type of woman is his type. Well, he is already married to Sylphie and Roxy, but reuniting with Sara made him realize why he fell for them, despite the Greyrat family being notoriously attracted to well-endowed women. It was because they had both saved him when he was at extremely low points in his life. Roxy helped him overcome his fear of the outside world that had kept him shut inside in his first life, and then helped him when Paul died. Sylphie became his first friend and helped him get his confidence back as a man. So, where does that leave Eris?
What’s Eris up to?
Look, Eris is going to come back into Rudy’s life. I know it; he knows it; even Sylphie knows it, and she’s never even met the redhead! The question isn’t if Eris will come back, but whether Rudy will be willing to let her back into his life. She was indirectly responsible for the ordeal that Rudy and Sara went through, and she has to answer for that.
Speaking of Eris, the end of the episode is dedicated to another part of the Mad Dog’s training arc. She, Nina, and Gino have been training for years now, and the Sword God is ready to elevate one of them to Sword King, the third highest rank a swordsman can have. Eris and Nina duel over it, and, predictably, Eris wins. The irony is that she doesn’t care about ranks like that. Such titles are meaningless when wanting to fight someone like Orsted, but it’s still impressive.
We are nearing the tail-end of Rudeus’ slice of life at Ranoa University, sadly. Which is a shame because I was hoping that the show would focus more on this part of his life. But if the show is trying to get to where I think it is before the first half of the season ends, they can’t afford to wait around. Heck, I’m not even sure they can make it to that point before time runs out! No spoilers, but let’s just say that things are going to get crazy.
