For some reason I just felt like writing down my thoughts on this absolute dumpster fire of a season because I'm honestly still pissed at how much it sucks so here I go. SPOILERS (obviously) but who cares, don't even start watching this show it's not worth it.
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Let me start off by saying I genuinely loved Mushoku Tensei up until this season. Yes it had issues and yes it was really weird at times, but I loved the characters, the world building, magic system, animation etc. so much that I was able to look past all those issues. Even season 2 part 1 was quite enjoyable to me, even though quite a few people didn't like it. Part 2 on the other hand is where I genuinely lost all hope in the series in a matter of ~2 episodes because they ruined every single character I liked, which I genuinely did not think was possible.
#How?
Well let me start off with what I actually enjoyed about this season because honestly there isn't much. The arc started off quite slow with Rudy and Sylphie settling into their new life and I honestly thought that the character dynamic between them was quite enjoyable, though I was mainly looking forward to some action and adventuring again as Part 1 was already quite laid back and focused on character development a lot. (Keep in mind it's been a couple of months since I've watched the season so forgive me for maybe getting some details wrong.) About half way through Part 2, which took longer than I expected but oh well, things finally started happening and Rudy was contacted because apparently his mother may or may not actually be alive and he was asked to come with and go save her. Of course he would go, right?
Well the thing is his wife, Sylphie, is pregnant and the journey apparently takes an entire year, not to mention a whole party of experienced adventurers is already going regardless of whether or not he's coming. So what does the supposedly reformed, respected gentleman and soon to be father do? He leaves his pregnant wife for what he thinks is going to be a whole year (it later turns out it won't take as long but he would've went regardless) to save his potentially alive or probably already dead mother who he never really had that much of a connection to anyway and hasn't seen in almost a decade? Yea that seems like a completely logical decision and not a cheap way to drive the plot into a direction that, as I previously mentioned, is going to ruin every single character I like because the author thought trying to appeal to everyone was somehow a good idea. (More on this in a bit)
Now this is honestly not as big of a deal as I made it out to be here, but you might start to understand my frustration soon (or not in which case it's fine but at least hear me out). Fast forward a few episodes of decent action which still doesn't match the first season's level of quality and they do actually find his mother. Rudy, his dad and a couple other people fight a Hydra to free her, his dad dies (for no reason other than to traumatize Rudy again and because the author most likely didn't know what to do with him after his little arc back in Season 1) and it turns out his mother is in a vegetative state and doesn't even recognize him anymore. Well that sure paid off didn't it? Well no, but at least now the author can finally get to his Harem wish-fulfilment arc.. Wait what? So after everything that happened, Rudy making possibly one of the worst and most out-of-character decisions in the entire story (so far) and his dad which happened to be one of my favorite characters dying, the author manages to use those events to ruin yet another character, Roxy, by making her take advantage of Rudy when he is at his absolute lowest, having sex with him and then getting Elinalise (A LITERAL ELF WHORE) TO GASLIGHT RUDY INTO THINKING EVERYTHING IS FINE AND THAT HE SHOULD ACTUALLY BRING ROXY BACK HOME TO HIS PREGNANT WIFE AND SUGGEST THAT THEY SHOULD ALL BE TOGETHER WHEN RUDY HIMSELF SAID HE WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO SYLPHIE IN THE PREVIOUS ARC!!! AND THEN SYLPHIE IS FINE WITH IT! She doesn't even mind because guess what? She turns out to be nothing but a plot device and fantasy fulfilment for the author and supposedly has to be fine with everything that Rudy does because she is just such a perfect wife am I right?
Once again, let me get this straight: Rudy
- leaves pregnant wife to save potentially (most likely) dead mom for what he thinks will be a whole year even though a rescue party is already going regardless
- cheats on his wife with a character who previously was like a teacher to him, not only making Rudy look like an absolute piece of shit but her as well
- gets gaslit by a whore into thinking they did nothing wrong because "akchually polygamy is pretty common in this world" (not even remotely the same as cheating on someone behind their back and telling them afterwards lol, but ok I guess)
- asks his wife to agree to it and she accepts because her not going along with everything Rudy does wouldn't fit the author's wish-fulfilment fantasies
That's 5 characters ruined, technically 4 and 1 died for bullshit reasons, in 2 episodes. For a story about a man who was given a second chance at life in another world and trying to become a better person, the author really did his best to make Rudy the most miserable and despicable husband in the entire story and (at least to me) undoing all of his character development up until that point.
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My problem isn't even the fact that these things happened, but how the story treats the characters afterwards and pretends like nobody did anything wrong because, well they're the main characters right? If you want me to sympathize with a character you can't just make them do scummy things, then tell me "well actually it's fine in this fictional world that I came up with" and expect me to go along with it. ESPECIALLY not in a story that mainly focuses on the protagonist learning from his past mistakes, becoming a better person etc.
So yea, as good as it was until it all turned to shit, I genuinely think you should stop watching while you can or even better, don't start at all...
#2.5/10