Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation II

Episodes 16-17

These two episodes form a single complete story—not to mention one that's both emotionally complex and serves to develop both Norn and Rudeus in interesting ways. With Paul heading into danger in search of his wife, he has sent his two young daughters to live with Rudeus. There's just one problem: the two girls see their big brother in drastically different ways.

To Aisha, Rudeus is the brother who rescued her and her mother from a life of bondage and reunited her with her father. She desperately wants to be seen as worthy in his eyes—especially as she's all too aware she is actually his half-sister and the product of an affair. This has caused her to constantly judge herself against Norn—determined to outdo her sister in all areas. After all, if her father and brother love Norn as she is, Aisha, being so much better than Norn will get the love she longs for as well.

However, to Norn, Rudeus is the young man who suddenly showed up and beat the crap out of the one person in the world that she knows truly loves her: her father. Rudeus, in her eyes, is a violent thug and she's being forced to live with him—and without the protection of her father or Ruijerd. To make things worse, her sister is both talented and driven—determined to not only be better than Norn at all things but to make sure everyone knows that fact as well. This leaves Norn feeling alone and in constant danger while at the same time grappling with an inferiority complex.

Living in the dorms is her way of escaping that situation (even if Rudeus quickly agreeing to it makes her feel unwanted). After all, without Rudeus and Aisha around, she should be safe from both her main problems. Of course, that might be true if her brother was anyone other than Rudeus. Other than perhaps Ariel, he is the most well-known person in school. Instead of getting a fresh start, she finds herself seen as “Rudeus' sister” and is constantly compared to him as such. Not only does this inflame her inferiority complex but also directly attacks how she perceives the world—not to mention that she hates the idea everyone sees Rudeus as an admirable person completely unlike the violent kid she remembers. Unsurprisingly, all this leads to panic attacks and a complete emotional breakdown—with Norn refusing to leave her room.

This leads us to Rudeus' side of the story. Hearing that Norn has become a shut-in like he once was, he immediately falls into the trap that so many of us do: believing that his personal experiences are the norm for others. In his mind, what happened to him must now be happening to Norn—and now with his new life and powers, he'll be damned if he lets that happen. So he forces his way into her classroom (in the middle of class) and intimidates the students and teacher into confessing their “crimes” against his sister.

The problem here is that to Rudeus, this isn't about Norn—not really. It's about himself. He is trying to protect his past self from the pain he experienced. Norn is just a proxy in all this. So it's all the more shocking when he realizes that he is the catalyst for what Norn is going through. Everyone was simply trying to connect to Norn using the one thing they knew about her—i.e., her brother. It's only when they all take a step back that they figure out she might not like being compared to her brother all the time.

In the end, Rudeus realizes that Norn is not him. While he understands the pain that causes a person to want to shut themselves away from the world, he has no idea what's going on with her specifically. Hell, they're strangers. He was seeing her as “his sister” or as “his past self”—not as “Norn.”

His telling her that he wants to get to know her—the real her—is a life-changing event for Norn. She can accept that she doesn't know him either—that maybe she did just meet him at one of the lowest points in his life. Instead of running away from the things she fears, maybe it's time to confront them head-on—to discover that maybe things aren't as they seem at first glance.

As for Rudeus, he is left knowing that he was there for Norn when he truly needed to be. He doesn't understand why or how she was able to overcome the feelings that caused her to shut herself away from the world—to do something he wasn't able to in his past life—but he's happy with the results. And more than that, he's finally able to feel gratitude for those who tried to support him in his past life—even if he rudely dismissed them at the time.

Make no mistake, despite his quirks and perversions, Rudeus is healing and growing. He may never end up becoming a hero but he just might end up being a decent guy to those around him.

Episode 4 Rating:

Episode 5 Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Ruijerd is the MVP of this episode for just frankly telling Rudeus that his interpretation of Eris' parting letter is BS.

• Well that whole meeting between Ruijerd and Badigadi sure was ominous.

• Aisha has a whole other bag of trauma that needs to be unpacked at some point.

• Poor Linia and Pursena. They were trying to do something good for Rudeus. And, to be fair, it's partially his fault for showing them his shrine.

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation II is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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