Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation S2 Ep 15 Review
You know what I love about Mushoku Tensei? How it’s never afraid to shy away from serious topics. Conflict between parents and children, depression, lingering trauma, and the importance of bonds to keep us going in bleak times. Rudeus has experienced all these before, and he will again, so he knows how serious it can be when someone they know is going through the same thing. When Nanahoshi’s attempts to go home hit another roadblock and pushed her to the breaking point, Rudeus knew he had to step in and do something. No one should go through life alone, after all.
Nanahoshi Almost Loses it
Life is going well for Rudeus right now. He’s got a giant house, plenty of friends at school, is married to his best friend, and plenty of money to spend. To top it off, he gets a letter from Paul saying they’re going to find Zenith, so they’re sending his sisters to live with him. Life is going well for him. But while he’s happy as a clam, Nanahoshi is falling further and further into despair.
Nanahoshi has been working for years now to find a way to return home to Japan, wanting nothing to do with this other world. She’s poured everything into learning how magic circles work to get home. She’s worked so hard trying to get it to work, only to keep coming up short. And…she snaps from this.
Like I said, this show doesn’t pull its punches on serious issues, and it does a great job of portraying Nanahoshi’s breakdown in a realistic manner. Her destroying part of her lab was disturbing enough. Seeing her pass out from exhaustion is concerning, as is her disheveled state after waking up. What makes things straight-up nightmare fuel is when Sylphie finds a dagger on Nanahoshi’s person.
The look on Rudeus’ face says it all. He knows what Nanahoshi might do with that dagger if left alone. It’s a haunting reminder of how bad things got for him after Eris left and Sara dumped him.
Intervention time. Now!
No One Has to Do Everything Alone
Knowing how suicidal Nanahoshi is right now, Rudeus has her stay at his place while he works with his friends to figure out a solution to this roadblock. And while they don’t entirely understand what she’s trying to do beyond getting home, sometimes one doesn’t need to fully understand the finer details to come up with good ideas. Taking inspiration from their research on the doll they found, Cliff and Zanoba manage to come up with a few ideas on what to do. After that, they show them to Nanahoshi, and it seems to do the trick. She gets that fire back in her eyes. Not long afterwards, her second attempt manages to pull something over from Earth!
As exciting as this small victory is, what matters more is the message the story is trying to convey: trying to do things alone, no matter how good you are, can eventually end in failure. In addition, one shouldn’t shut themselves away from everyone, especially when they’re in pain like Nanahoshi. It’s only thanks to Rudeus going through similar experiences that he realized how bad things had gotten. If he hadn’t intervened, Nanahoshi might have killed herself.
One Crisis Averted…Another One Shows Up
Real talk, though: Nanahoshi’s breakdown can hit very close to home for some people watching this. Maybe they’ve gone through something similar, like what they do won’t amount to anything or keep failing at something. Or maybe they know someone who’s been through something like that. They’re not alone, nor should they think that they are. There are people who care about them and will help them, if they’re brave enough to reach out.
Ultimately, it looks like the lesson sticks with Nanahoshi. She still may hate the world she got pulled into, but at least she knows that she’s not alone there anymore. Crisis averted, Rudeus! And just in time for another one to pop up.
Remember the letter from Paul about Rudy’s sisters coming to live with him? The episode ends with them finally arriving, and while Aisha is overjoyed to see him…Norn still doesn’t like him. So, he’s going to have to deal with that soon. The one silver lining is that the person who escorted them there is an old friend: Ruijerd!
As great as it is to see Ruijerd again, it will also make things awkward when he notices Eris is absent. This will happen sooner or later, though. Good luck ripping that bandaid off, Rudy!
