…And now we know what it feels like when Sylphy gets mad.
©RifuJinnamagonote/MFBOOKS/Mushoku Tensei II Production Committee
Although we already knew that Nanahoshi was at the magic academy since the school was first teased in previous episodes, Rudeus was not. So it’s no surprise that his first encounter with her throws him into a brutal PTSD flashback to his battle with Orsted. Honestly, it’s an excellent scene—showing both his real-world actions and the horror of that moment in his mind. And even though Rudeus has done some terrible things recently, it’s impossible not to feel sorry for him right now.
When he arrives, we learn why she asked Orsted to save his life after their brief battle—because she is also from Earth. However, unlike the reincarnated Rudeus, she was summoned directly.
When it comes to this, Nanahoshi is a mirror to Rudeus. She was in her own body and he was in her new body. She is trying to go home while he wants nothing more than to stay. She has lingering attachments while he doesn’t. She keeps her Japanese identity while he dumps him. All of this is to say that seeing her forces Rudeus to think directly about how he views this world and his place in it. Even after his meeting with Orsted and his first night with Eris, he still preferred his current life to his previous one.
However, that doesn’t make him and Nanahoshi enemies. Although Rudeus has no intention of returning to Earth himself, he is willing to help Nanahoshi do so—especially if he gets something out of the deal like the information Nanahoshi gained while traveling with Orsted.
While the episode has something unsettling about it. so much lore hits us, it’s surprising how much importance this episode has for Sylphy. She is present shortly after his PTSD flashback, taking care of him when he wakes up. However, when Nanahoshi switched to Japanese, Sylphy was completely ignored—even when she tried to interject and ask them to speak her language.
In many ways, this is Sylphy’s greatest fear. After all, as she said in this episode, she hasn’t told him who she is because she’s afraid he’s forgotten her. He holds a huge place in her heart and she wants a huge place in his heart.
However, during his conversation with Nanahoshi, she claims to be from his hometown—a blatant lie that negates Sylphy’s precious childhood with Rudeus. He then ignores her and when she tries to decipher Nanahoshi’s writings, she realizes she cannot read Japanese. It was clear that she felt extremely threatened by Nanahoshi—so was it any surprise that the masked woman said that she was the cause of the teleportation incident that caused Sylphy to lose all control and attack? And even when Sylphy explains that Nanahoshi is also a victim, it’s clear that she still hates her very much.
But what was even worse was, even after all was said and done, Rudeus still didn’t explain anything to Sylphy. He didn’t say anything about what he and Nanahoshi had said. He was so selfish that he didn’t at least notice how incredibly rude he was to her. We get a great visual shot of this, with him going faster than her and her trying to keep up — and he doesn’t even notice. Only when he said that he didn’t completely trust Nanahoshi did Sylphy regain some confidence and was able to keep up with his pace again. At this point, I’d be surprised if this week’s events weren’t the impetus for her to reveal her true identity to him soon.
Rating:
Random thoughts:
Luke’s hostile nature towards Rudeus makes a lot more sense now that we realize that he and the princess thought that Sylphy had revealed to her that Rudeus’s true identity was already there.
Who else thinks Rudeus fell down the stairs when he fainted?
→ So Nanahoshi’s summoning could be at the heart of the mass teleportation. But why was she summoned? Is disaster the goal? Was that why she was left alone for Orsted to search for? There’s a lot to think about here.
→ I think Rudeus might be a little too eager to get out of the predicament here. I wonder if the teleportation incident was caused by both of them coming—her in the body and him in the soul.
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation II is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
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