Quick Summary • Best Moment • Setup • Delivery • Other Posts
Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 9 – Quick Summary
In Jobless Reincarnation II episode 9, “The White Mask,” Fitz struggled to stay on task whenever Rudy walked by. Princess Ariel could not help but notice. Will the Princess discipline Fitz? Meanwhile, Rudy continued his research into the mass teleportation event. With Fitz’s help, he makes a discovery – a terrifying discovery. What did Rudy find out? How will he recover? And what will Fitz think?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 9
“Oh, you have a cold. What, you stubbed a toe. Oh, you were dead…” Jeesh, Silent! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Rudy reacted with something other than calm acceptance when he saw the face of Silent Seven Star. Or didn’t see it, if you take my meaning! Poor guy went through some visceral flashbacks there.
The flashbacks were so bad that they knocked him unconscious. He came to with his head in Fitz’ lap. She’d better be careful – she was humming happily when he regained consciousness. He’s going to figure out who she really is if she doesn’t keep her guard up! Even Rudy can only be so dense!
Rudy was relieved it was all a dream. Until he realized where he was (Silent’s room). And the language someone behind Fitz was speaking (Japanese). He prepared to go hysterical again.
“Honestly,” Silent said (06:38). “What are you so afraid of? I saved you before, didn’t I? Oh. You were dead, so you wouldn’t remember.”
And here I was thinking Rudy has zero emotional intelligence. Silent just redefined the lower limit!
Favorite Moment from Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 9
Silent’s disclosure was more than Sylphie could bear. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Setup: The Force of a Realistic World
I thought Rudy’s reaction to seeing Silent would be my favorite moment. His reaction had me absolutely breathless. It was raw, it was desperate, and it was spot-on authentic.
But then I saw Fitz’ reaction.
Before I describe my favorite moment, please let me speak a few words of praise for Jobless Reincarnation’s world building. My favorite moment only worked because the show put in lots of episodes building a multi-layered, wildly dangerous universe. It didn’t pause to describe it to us. It showed us what the world did.
I’ve read a lot of science fiction – a lot. An unfortunate percentage describes the features of their world to me. I get it – the writer is proud of the work they invested in creating the world. But dramatically? It often falls flat. Worse, it robs me of the suspense of wondering how a thing worked, or what impact an event had.
Case in point: the mass teleportation event.
Fitz lost her parents in that event. Eris lost even more. So when we learned that the event might have been an after-effect of summoning Silent to this world, I was floored. Rudy partly expected it, but I didn’t. I guess I’ll chalk that up as a benefit of being anime-only!
She thought Rudy would be excited at the possibility of returning to Earth. Talk about not reading the room… Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Before she disclosed that to Rudy, she was speaking about their home world – in Japanese. Now, look at that from Fitz’ perspective. She’s head-over-heels in love with Rudy. Ariel gave her the green light to handle the situation, so now she’s trying to figure that out. And she had to sit there, listening to Rudy and Silent converse in a language she didn’t understand, after learning they had a shared past.
Look, I don’t care how self-confident you are. That’s gotta weigh on you. But Fitz bore it. Then Rudy asked Silent to speak in the local language so Fitz could participate.
Delivery: …Unleashed through Believable Characters
So, you’re Fitz. You’re relieved they’re finally going to speak in a way you understand, but you’re still hurting that they went on for so long. You’re uncertain of where you stand with Rudy or with Silent.
And then Silent says (17:52), “The mass teleportation was probably the backlash. So, I might have caused it.”
Did you notice what she did as she spoke? Silent put on rings. I’m guessing they were magic rings. Without mana, she could not cast spells. The rings must have given her the ability to defend herself. Maybe Orsted gave the rings to her, to protect her during their journeys? Whatever their origin, whatever their intent, they signaled something important: she knew what she said would likely cause trouble.
It did.
As Rudy calmly thought thought through the implications and admitted he was glad it wasn’t somehow his fault, Fitz’ eyes grew wide behind her dark glasses. Then she screamed (18:17), “It was you!”
The shock was so great that for several heart-beats, Fitz froze. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Her incantation-less attack would have killed Silent, had she not been ready. She used the rings to flash up a shield. Fitz’ scream was so guttural, so visceral, that it brought tears to my eyes. Ai Kayano, the voice actor, utterly sold me on Fitz’ mental anguish.
Seeing her magical attack fail, Fitz began beat the shield with her fists. “Everything I – we went through! My mom and my dad!”
Every ounce of agony she had been keeping in check flooded forth. It was one of those moments that made me forget where I was. For just that instant, I was in the room with Fitz, feeling her pain, wanting to help her in some way. That’s the product of effective world building. That’s the benefit of believable and sympathetic characters. And that’s why I love this show.
What did you think of Silent’s back story? What were your favorite moments? Feel free to let me know in the comments!
Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 9: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu Season 2 • Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Season 2 – Episode 9 discussion
- DOUBLESAMA: MUSHOKU TENSEI: JOBLESS REINCARNATION SEASON 2 EPISODE 9 REVIEW
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 0: Guardian Fitz
- Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 1: Brokenhearted Mage
- Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 2: The Forest in the Dead of Night
- Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 3: Abrupt Approach
- Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 4: Letter of Invitation
- Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 5: Ranoa University of Magic
- Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 6: I Don’t Want to Die
- Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 7: The Kidnapping and Confinement of Beast Girls
- Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 8: The Fiancé of Despair
- Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 9: The White Mask
- Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 10: These Feelings
- Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 11: To You
- Jobless Reincarnation II Episode 12: I Want to Tell You
I really like how Rudeus and Nanahoshi are almost polar opposites in their situations both back home and in the new world.
Rudy had no attachments left back home, and refused to move forward, grow and adapt, staying frozen in time mentally. He found friends, family and his reasons to live in the new one
Shizuka has no attachments in the new world and refuses to move forward, grow and adapt, staying frozen in time literally. She had friends, family and her reasons to live back in the old world.
And from meta point of view, it’s also a conflict between old styled isekai narrative where MC does not fit in the new world and has to return home after fullfilling their purpose (for example, The Vision of Escaflowne, and yes, a lot of isekai protagonists back then were girls) and newer one where MC can’t or don’t want to go back and qickly gets used to their new life (almost every isekai from the last 10 or o years).
PS: fun fact of the day: Nanahoshi’s alias is a direct translation of her name. Shizuka(Silent) Nana(Seven)hoshi(star).
Interesting points. I like how she acts as a foil character. I’m curious what role she’ll play — one blogger (sorry, I forget who) suggested that maybe the only way she could go back was for Rudy to go back, too. Talk about conflict! There’s no way he’d go back. Not willingly, anyway.
Thanks for the points about her name!
Wait, is Nanahoshi one of the teens Rudy tried to save when he died? I mean she mentioned two names, wondering if Rudy was one of them, and the situation of her summoning sounded suspiciously familiar… Were they all caught in a teleportation field, only Rudy was already dead? I’m now wondering if the mass teleportation event was: (a) an intended outcome of some spell, (b) an unintended outcome or sideffect of some spell, or (c) a natural catastrophe (like the collision of universes or something).
As for Orstet, he doesn’t strike me as a villain, really. But then all I really know is that he seems to hate the Mangod. Right now, it seems isekaid folk aren’t afraid of him. It would be such an anime thing if Orstet picked up Nanahoshi just because of that. It’s lonely at the top…
We learned a lot about Rudy’s reincarnation event — but the possibilities you discussed are still in play.
I agree with you about Orsted. He’s doing his thing, and I don’t think it’s out of malice. Like you, I’d love to know what the man-god did to tick him off.
You know, loneliness wouldn’t be a bad motivation to hang out with Nanaoshi!
One would *think* that if Silent could foresee the distinct possibility of Sylphie going rampaging mad, then she could possibly choose to phrase it better the first time around, perhaps in the same way she and Rudy phrased it the second time around, while they were trying to calm Sylphie.
I don’t remember the moment Rudy refers to, when the Man-God suggests that Orsted caused the mass teleportation. But it certainly seems coincidental for him to be the first person Silent met in this world. If he is indeed responsible, then I already have a theory as to what he could gain from it. We know that his power, with which he could destroy the world, is held back only by the curses that have been laid on him. We also know that curses can be transferred, as happened to Ruijerd and his people, when they accepted spears from someone they should not have trusted, who used those spears to transfer their own curse to all of them. So maybe Orsted just wants to use Silent and her friends as receptacles, to transfer his curses to them, and be free of them.
But that’s just spit-balling off the top of my head.
So the reason Sylphie hasn’t revealed herself to Rudy is that she is afraid he may have forgotten her. Now I’m just hoping Rudy somehow mentions her in conversation with her, and she can reveal herself, and everyone may go on their merry way.
I was a bit disappointed not to see Badi at all in this episode. And thus no explanation of what he’s doing there at the school.
I wondered the same thing about Silent. I don’t know if she’s just clueless or what. But it felt deliberate.
I like that theory about Orsted. I don’t know what to think of him, but I like how the narrative treats him. This series does “show don’t tell” to maximum effect!
It’s sad to see how far Sylphie has come, yet how insecure she is in herself. She has no idea how deep Rudy’s feelings are for her. I have a sense that the instant she reveals her identity to him, it’ll cure his ED!
Puts me in mind of the Grinch animated holiday show.
But I’ll stop there, because it occurs to me that reference might be a little too accurate! 🙂