This weekend a new episode of the second season of “Mushoku Tensei: Reincarnation without a Jobwhen we finally saw the “land” of it line dedoldia and Pursena Adoldia at the hands of Rudeus Greyat, the protagonist. Linia and Pursena are two delinquents who terrorized the students of the College of Magic before the arrival of Rudeus, who He decided to “teach them a lesson” by kidnapping them and, keeping them tied up, doing “little things” to them..
This experience was traumatizing enough for both of them that they finally decided to leave the path of bullying and join Rudeus’ Entourage, praising him for everything and finally calling him “leader”. However, the way Rudeus took it upon himself to correct these two bullied girls was perhaps not the best, and that was evident by the amount of negative comments that appeared in the comment forums:
- «Now that I think about it, it’s strange that Rudy, who was sexually harassed and abused in his previous life, is treated as a sympathetic explanation for all his sexual problems. However, when he intimidates and sexually abuses the cat and the dog, it’s something they “deserved” and “served as a lesson.” It is strange».
- «And not only that, but it is strange that his child predator antics (masturbating with child pornography, and in the web novel version he hidden camera recordings of his niece taking a bath) were considered shameful, abhorrent and, in general, that simply wrong. in his past life. But now that we’re in isekai land, it’s okay in the neighborhood to be a child predator, especially with family members. It is strange».
- «Oh, his obsession with Roxy is definitely unhealthy. See how complicated the Holy Relic shrine is during the series. If they didn’t put the comic trappings around it, it would be uncomfortably sectarian. For me there is a difference between “relationship” and “compassion”. I don’t agree with him either, but I understand his actions and why he feels the way he does. It often crosses the line, but lately it’s been so over the top that it’s more funny than uncomfortable.».
- «I don’t hate Rudy, but I don’t identify with him. I think his obsession with Roxy seems unhealthy and weird and his attempts to cure his ED were a bit tacky (I think you can get away with a certain level of perversion, but Rudy is kind of trying)».
- «The criticism has nothing to do with Rudeus being a bad person. They have to do with the story not to recognize that he is a bad person and to expose the terrible things he does.».
- «In fact, it is a quality considering the original target group. The series is not an educational program aimed at children or a fantasy story about good and evil. It’s a late anime adaptation of a light novel that was probably the main target audience of men looking for escapism with a power fantasy involving waifus and ecchi. They don’t want to be lectured in their entertainment. The society they want to escape from has taught it to them since kindergarten. I think it’s a bit strange to want all entertainment to be about the same morals/ethics as the audience would need continued education.».
- «It’s strange that after the controversy of the last episode, we have double the controversy in this one. For example, now instead of buying female slaves, our main character kidnaps animal girls, takes them hostage, sexually assaults them, and keeps them to the point where they starve or hide themselves, and can to all Sylphie to say: “Well, at least you didn’t do it for sexual reasons.” And all this for an easily fixable figurine that basically shows his obsessive adoration for Roxy, as well as her panties.».
- «I guess we have to think Linia and Pursena deserved it because of how arrogant and aggressive they are? Or they throw ethics or morality out the window. It certainly didn’t look like he was going to take himself seriously with the amount of humor being thrown at him or the way it was aimed. I guess on a more savory note, I didn’t know I needed the whole cuteness that Julie has in this series. Upgrade every scene he sees».
- «There is no reason to think that the author or the story agrees with Rudeus. We have no reason to think that this is what the author really thinks is right (and every reason to think that he doesn’t because he seems to be a good and honest person). He’s not sexualizing children either – he even said he doesn’t want a woman who is “boyish” and treating Julie as a student. As for not taking slavery seriously, the author even explained that he is a cultural relativist which explains his indifference, but at least he took this opportunity to free a slave girl (Julie) and raise her as an apprentice for no reason legal for her. considered as a slave».
- «I will only speak for myself, but the problem for me is not that Rudy is a bad person, but that he is becoming less likeable and less interesting. The series was always shaky in this regard, of course, but usually when it did something terrible, it countered it by doing something better, ideally something that showed it was getting better. I couldn’t explode with Sara in his face because I still sympathized with his problems, and because there were understandable consequences for his behavior. But he has crossed the line and neither the story nor any other character has challenged him for the better part of two episodes in a row. And it’s not even interesting: this banal evil (and it is, no matter what nonsense we try to hide it) is neither revealing nor dynamic. It does not fall or change. “So is Rudy, so shrug your shoulders and move on” is the feeling I get. This isn’t even a plot thread I care about in the first place. The thing is that we spend whole episodes on this nonsense … less mind-blowing than I would like, because of the tendency of the show. But if the main character is not going to get better at these things – and pattern recognition is unlikely to succeed – then it has to be more interesting. If both fail… well, I can only hope that the series does the highly unlikely and leaves our illustrious youngster stuck face down in a ditch, and transfers the lead role to a better character . It must be recognized that it is unlikely».
But what is interesting, however, is that it is the author himself Rifujin and Magonotethe mind behind the story Mushoku Tensei: Reincarnation without a Jobhe shared an update on social media revealing that he had warned the production team that this second season would contain “sensitive material”, and to prepare for possible barrages of criticism on the Internet:
- «On the first day of the meeting with the writers, I said, “There are a lot of parts that are sure to draw criticism in the second season, so we have to be prepared.” However, I’m seeing controversy in parts I honestly didn’t expect. Did this spill over into the rest of the story?».
In his message, he mentioned that during the first meeting with the writers he showed his awareness of possible criticism that could arise in the second season. It seems that he had recognized certain parts of the story that could cause controversy and was prepared to address them. What surprised the author, however, was that he noticed that, despite his initial anticipation, controversies have manifested themselves in areas he had not previously considered.
This situation raises questions about how viewers and fans are interpreting and responding to different aspects of the story. The author’s concern about whether these controversies will carry over into the rest of the plot suggests that there may be a wider impact on the overall perception of the series’ story.
However, this also makes it clear that the author is attentive to the views and opinions of the audience and is willing to offer his feedback so that fans can have more clarity on the topics of the anime adaptation of them. Sadly, it seems, as much as the author of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation had hoped, he wasn’t really willing to take on the internet’s social vigilantes.
Fountain: Yaraon!
