Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation II

Episode 3

On one hand, we have Sara. She is head-over-heels for Rudeus after he went out alone and saved her life last episode. What she feels now is a mixture of love and hero worship. She is looking for any chance to take their relationship to the next level—even if that means getting herself drunk and throwing herself at him.

On the other hand, we have Rudeus. He is not nearly as invested in Sara as she is in him. He's still hung up on Eris. Sure, he thinks that Sara is attractive and enjoys being with her, but it is hardly comparable to the intense, years-long bond he formed with Eris. That said, in his still-raw emotional state, the idea of being with someone who likes him is enough for him to head to bed with her. The problem with this is simply that you can't put a band-aid over a gushing wound and expect everything to be okay.

The issue Rudeus is facing is that the single most traumatic event of his second life—the greatest betrayal he has ever faced—is intrinsically linked to sex in his brain. While his conscious mind may want to have a night of passion with Sara, his subconscious is keenly aware of what happened the last time he had sex. And since Rudeus has done nothing to come to terms with what happened with Eris, it's no surprise that he can't get it up (be that with Sara or the sex worker he visits later).

The thing about Rudeus is that when it comes right down to it, his instinctual reaction to pain—especially emotional pain—is to run away. While he's made a lot of steps to combat this, in moments of weakness (or inebriation), this deeply ingrained behavior takes over. His trash-talking Sara is one of those moments. He's trying to form emotional distance between him and her in his mind to make the pain of her storming out after their failed night together hurt less. He's pretending that he was never really interested in someone like her—because then there would be no reason for him to feel as terrible as he does at that moment.

When Sara witnesses this—and rightfully gets angry with his toxic behavior—she throws the knife she bought with him on the ground and storms off. Rudeus, however, knowing how badly he just messed up, attempts to run in the most dramatic way possible: putting that knife through his own throat. Luckily, Soldat is there to stop him. Having come to understand more about Rudeus than the young man does about himself, Soldat gives him another, less permanent, way to run away: join his party and leave the city—never to encounter Sara again.

And so, once again, Rudeus tries to leave his problems in the dust. While he may feel better in the short term, the fact remains: until he truly faces his problems and overcomes them, he'll never find happiness—neither in the bedroom nor in his life in general.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• The scene with Rudeus attacking Soldat has some great directing. We see Rudeus' knuckles get bloody as he punches Soldat and we, at first, assume that it is Soldat's blood. But then we see that Soldat (an S-ranked adventurer) is completely unharmed by Rudeus' meager punches. He's just letting Rudeus get out all his pent-up emotions.

• Likewise, Rudeus never meant to hurt Soldat. He was simply trying to get the much stronger Soldat to fight back—and in doing so escape his emotional pain by having it replaced with physical pain.

• Sara pretending that she was only having pity sex with Rudeus after he couldn't perform and then abandoning him naked on the floor only reinforces the connection in his mind between sex and betrayal.

• I feel like it's been a long time since we last saw Elinalise. The last time was when she was still in Roxy's party, right?

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