The more surprising part is that Princess Ariel just let her go. Now she doesn't have a free body-double to illusion herself into.
But being in an isekai harem series does. Paul has a wife and like...four mistresses at present. The setting is harem through and through.
I'm talking from an emotional pov. Roxy is above Sylphie's here. As much as I like her, she's like a consolation prize for Rudy.
And her being strong and similar to Rudy only increases her red flag: Someone like Orsted might kill her to show Rudy how futile his style is or something.
Unless the story goes for a harem end (well, Sylphie might allow it. Eris and Roxy less so.), I expect the worst for Sylphie.
Orsted hardly seems to be concerned about "his style". And silent casting has nothing to do with spell potency.
Sylphie, once she opened up, is pretty mature and level headed in her communication with Rudy. She gets embarrased, but Roxy actually gets flustered. Eris shares Rudy's battle experience with him but is also quite different to him in her demeanor. That doesn't make them worse matches, but it does mean that Sylphie's wife status feels apt, with the others aren't quite there yet. Sylphie's also the most openly dirty about sex with Rudy, which helps.
I really disliked pre-teleport Sylphie, and her holding back post-teleport was also annoying. But from this episode onwards her interactions made sense. Her transition is somewhat sudden though. We saw Eris's connection with Rudy over the Demon Continent arc quite gradually and organically. Roxy's been floundering in limbo for a bit. Sylphie just kind of stalled until she revealed herself as Sylphie, then shot right up the ranks. I suppose I'm supposed to see Rudy's time with Fitz as bonding time, and the combination of Fitz and Sylphie was supposed to be greater than the sum of its parts, but I stand by that Eris's progression still felt the best - even if Sylphie as she currently is with Rudy does feel right as first wife. It's just weird that despite all this - Roxy is the one enshrined.
The ending made it seem like Rudy's going to leave to find his mum quite soon, but I can't see him leaving the academy just yet. What even was the point of Badigadi showing back up? And beastgirls+disciples still need to be sorted out.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Eris is a Greyrat. She's absolutely used to this behavior. She's just also the type to declare that she's the "First Wife" despite how much it would or wouldn't be true. Roxy is an innocent relationship prude, remarkably enough, despite season 1 hallway behavior. She would be the hardest one to convince I'd think.
Eris is emphatically in love with Rudues. Literally scream from the mountain tops how much she loves him. She's just tragically stupid to the point of conveying the opposite of what she meant to him.
Even if the intention was to make Sylphie the most emotionally complete relationship...the pace of this season completely ruined it and made what should have been touching into a dull and rote vanilla romance that was more frustrating than it was charming.
I do agree with this.Originally Posted by Ryll
Also, talking about empathy, lol at Luke Greyrat being completely on Rudy's side after hearing his story.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
I'd find it quite surprising if Sylphie, or any of the Rudeus's important people, were destined to die. His whole family is alive after the mass teleportation incident, assuming the mom is alive as well (she's not declared dead, at least). Even the maid is alive. So, Rudeus hasn't actually lost anything, whereas others certainly have. So, I don't think this story is planning to kill any of his waifus. I suppose it could, but I doubt it.
The beginning of the show actually made a point out of polygamy being okay outside of the Milis faith. None of the wife candidates belong to that faith, and neither does Rudeus. If the story has such an early detail, it's probably going to play a role later.
Aside from the depression arc, I'm not that bothered by this season. Of course more progress would have been nice, but since the manga was as slow, I can't say I'd have been surprised. Even if I didn't much like it, the depression arc also did its job of depicting the depth of Rudeus's mental downfall, so it wasn't wasted, per se, it was just annoying.
I hate Eris.
The best part of this show was when her face got pulverized by an adult due to her arrogance.
Peace.
I enjoyed watching this.
Waited for all the episodes to release and I believe it really paid off.
Episode 10 was the only episode I found to be lacking, I'm glad that I didn't have to suffer through downtime.
Overall, the first few episodes were rather awesome, the way the depression was handled was nice. The episodes really got the mood across.
I don't even know what to compare it to I somehow felt like... watching a mix between Goblinslayer and Grimgar? I don't freaking know but it was certainly very, very far away from a normal Isekai setting. I liked it very much.
The way the other party of five was used was done very well, they didn't feel like some random characters to me, even though in essence, that's what they were. So I'd say these side characters were used rather well.
And I'll go and say that this is basically the "Pen&Paper" of Isekai to me. (or perhaps, it's more fitting to compare to the "Baldur's Gate of generic RPGs"?)
No other animated isekai made traveling the world feel so real. Rudeus doesn't just go to a town and does 5 things and travels to the next country and now he is known far and wide.
He actually works for his reputation. Traveling takes time to the point where he even thinks about waiting for a whole season, because that's just how traveling can be in these times, it takes time build up his name and the adventuring aspect feels real. There are a lot of monsters out there, like that "Tree" thing, which reminds you how many dangerous encounters you are likely to see when you travel and even the short bits about exploring some forgotten ruins from a previous war are interesting to me. Especially since in a later discussion with the other "isekai"-traveler, you find out that these ruins might host forgotten portals and magic in them.
Still impressed (even though I shouldn't be, because that stuff should just be normal) about how I like the way the world is shown and build up in this show.
I loved how they disbanded the party in Season 1 after accomplishing their goals and it feels really great to see Rudy meeting new people and friends that actually have a real and "realistic" impact in his life.
Even the character Soldat had a nice touch to him. He is a powerful swordsman, probably as strong as Paul was in his youth and it actually feels like there are characters and friends in this world that he could possibly meet again without it being some kind of ex machina moment.
Another example would be the elf-slut. Say what you want, but her showing up alone made the whole "please help me find my friend Rudeus" way more believable. It feels like the characters living in this world have their own agenda and their own goals/quests and their own way of doing things. They don't just gather around MC (just to be overshadowed by him), they show up and disappear and show up again later - or not - who knows.
Remember for example when Eris saved that young girl and the female knight from some assassins? I think it was a special in Season 1.
I still remember them and wonder what role they will play in the future of the story, especially now, since Rudeus allowed himself to enter the field of politics.
It's just "some girl" Eris rescued - but I'm sure fate will line up, no way in hell was that a random NPC encounter.
And there is the whole plotpoint about the XXX-God characters that seem to mess around with everyone as if they are the "Eternals" from Divinity Original Sin.
Last edited by KrayZ33; Wed, 10-04-2023 at 04:30 PM.
It feels like 90s isekai and fantasy. Fully realized worlds.
That's part of what always pisses me off about the moniker the series seems to get everywhere, "The Grandfather of Modern Isekai"
It was return to DECENT isekai and fantasy, not some revolutionary 2010s shift in the entire genre. It turbocharged the output of shit Shōsetsuka ni Narō series getting picked up by publishers, that's for sure.
But the good stuff has been around for a long time.
It always gave me the same vibe as Tenchi Muyo OVAs, Hyper Police, most of the classic shoujo isekai, and Slayers (the first three series, the films, and the OVAs). Just not as comedic.
Stuff like never seeing Lina's older sister, but we know she's a dragon knight, waitress, and goddamn terrifying. Her presence is felt, but independent of Lina. Ditto with Naga being referenced by her family in the main timeline of the series, but she's only in the OVAs and film which exist as prequels before Lina met Gourry.
Last edited by Ryllharu; Wed, 10-04-2023 at 05:49 PM.
Most isekai, and many fantasy, LN/manga/anime certainly fail at making other important characters have lives and goals of their own. Mostly they just have some pitiful side quest thing the MC can solve, like in an RPG, and that's it then. The side characters merely keep following the MC, never wanting to be separated even for a moment.
(btw, before I continue, I don't want to overhype this show, I really like it - yes - but it's not like I'm saying "wow, this has never been done before" - I just appreciate it that this story works and that the author might not think, me, the viewer/reader is a complete retard who only wants to self insert into some "powerful gigachad")
Exactly!
An example: Ruijerd was an amazing character, but I'll remember him as such because he didn't turn into a mere sidekick by following Rudeus around everywhere.
They had a "deal", they became friends, they each had their goals and while I'm sure that Ruijerd would've liked to travel more with them, there was a point where it would no longer help his own goals as efficiently.
In your cookie-cutter garbage Isekai or Fantasyworld (or garbage anime in general) he would've stayed and even went to school with Rudeus, I'm quite sure of that.
And even better, Ruijerd left them amd learned something himself, and it's not something he just blurted out, it's something you could actually WATCH. (THAT'S SO FREAKING RARE IN ANIME - it's always MC learning from others, almost *NEVER* anyone else learning from the encounter in any meaningfull way whatsoever)
He started out seeing everything as black & white (evil and innocent) - now he got to know other colours as well. Just to name one example.
It made the scene where "Dead End" disbanded all the more impactful.
As Ryll pointed out, it's a fully realized world and it has characters moving inside it and doing their things, even when they are not "on camera"... and that's so important because that is what truely gets you thinking about what a country/nation/character does what and "what would happen if X and Y meet" or "A and B declare war on each other".
In Mushoku, it's more on a level of conflict between characters and less about countries, but that kind of worldbuilding helps to make everything work.
Another thing that's quite great in this show/story, is that we learn the world alongside Rudeus. Sure, he knows a little bit more about the world than we (at least in the anime) because Rudeus inner monologe informs us sometimes, why X and Y happened.
But Stuff like the "floating castle" with these "angel like beings" inside them guarding Laplace's seal?
Well, Rudeus doesn't really understand, we don't understand it either, It's out there, it has some meaning, it's not "randomly" put out there, we can think about their role and how important it is and we might even get to know more later, when it's important for the main character's story to know/not know it - but it's properly established already that there is something... and it wasn't just mentioned for the "lulz". At that point, everyone could have imagined that the story will now feature that thing in a more prominent role or in more detail. So it's already much less of an asspull when it actually becomes important and when the story will mention something about "laplace and it's guardians" in the future, we know that there were these people or beings and I'm sure Rudeus will remember something - instead of someone telling him exactly what he has to do.
Right now I'm here thinking. "Okay... quite a bit of time passes, I wonder what this nation/castle is doing right now. They are surely not sitting idle doing nothing. If they weren't destroyed by the incident"
It's the same deal with his research about teleportation.
The Man-God telling him to research it is basically what most modern fantasy anime would tell MC to do, and we'd accept that.
But the way they build him up and the way the story progressed so far made that whole exchange different. Especially researching it might not even be important for Rudeus or the Man-God himself, but now Rudeus knows a thing or two about it, maybe it will come up later? Yet the Man-Gods goal might've been about meeting that other Isekai-girl and not so much about learning teleportation magic... or that tiny bit about Teleportation/Summoning being basically the same thing but reversed? "Now wait a second... what is Man-God trying to do with Rudeus?". But in the story? What happens? Well, he meets this other world-traveler who wants to go back to her world and the focus is completely shifted away from Man-God. Who knows if they are even connected or what Man-Gods deal is. Who knows if anything is even related to him. That too is not a random encounter between two episodes, this feels like something was planned 10-20 episodes ago.
It's just a way better way of setting things up.
There are very few (anime or anime-like/cgi-)shows that make me appreciate them in such a way. The last one I watched was Arcane and Edgerunners. The former more than the latter
Last edited by KrayZ33; Thu, 10-05-2023 at 10:51 AM.
13
It's back!
---
Rudeus got a spring in his step now.
I was wondering how he fixed up the house so fast, but then I remembered he's has, like, matter magic.
Last edited by DarthEnderX; Sun, 04-07-2024 at 01:18 PM.
Zanoba MVP of this episode, lol, wow. I wonder how resistent his body is to physical attacks.
Rudy and Sylphie still being a couple makes me happy. I've seen too many anime where couple break up immediately in the next episode because "reasons" and it's always dumb and frustrating. That said, I can't imagine Rudy has given up on conquering pussy, I mean he literally insinuates creating sex dolls in this episode, and then there's his purple-haired master. I wonder whether Sylphie allows his stupid dad's Greyrat-blood to run wild sometimes without breaking up with him for cheating on him. If there's any girl in the show that would be accepting of it, it's probably Sylphie. (Fake-Edit: And could Rudy PLS finally fuck the 2 cat girls? I'm getting blue balls just from watching Rudy ignore them, even though they absolutely wouldn't put up any serious resistence to him. Do it, Rudy! Elf girls are nice, but CAT GIRLS, omg!)
In terms of the overall plot, this episode was shit, though. What exactl are we here for again? Watching some guy play family in a fantasy world? Nah, we want to see him reunite his family, see him solve the Man God-Dragon God situation, become strong enough to at least defend himself against Orsted, and then we also need to figure out the whole teleportation event to begin with, including finding a way back for masked girl. Feels like we'll need 10 more seasons at this pacing.
"She's the only non-loli girl in the show, your honor!" will be my defense in court
It's pretty convenient to find an automaton doll when Rudeus and Zanoba are precisely doll enthusiast. But at least the house was abandoned and cheap for a reason, so there had to be a reason. The reason would need remain relevant for many years, couldn't be exorcised by priests, and wouldn't be subject to any inconveniences suffered by living creatures. A moving doll would fulfill those conditions.
Such a huge house, so no wonder Sylphie thought Rudeus wants to have enough children for a football team.
The doll's movement wasn't that of your typical automated doll. It actively hid to find an opportunity to strike instead of just exterminating people on sight and patrolling corridors.
It turning itself off after a while was also weird. Does it run on batteries or mana and ran out? If so, the adventurers that came before Rudy all died promptly if that's all the endurance it has. Zanoba didn't exactly break anything to disable the machine (or, they were somehow lucky enough to meet it at the end of it's battery life after all these years).
The symbol on the book - I'm going to guess it's one of the symbols we've been shown so far of the various 8 strongest beings in the world or something. I'm re-downloading the old episodes now to see if that's the case.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
The highlight of the episode for me was that masked girl VA actually used a mask or something which was actually very noticeable in the way it changed her voice and sounds.
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.