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Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 6 Review – Quick Summary
In Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 6, “A Day Off in Roa,” Rudeus’ situation had improved dramatically after he helped Ghislaine save Eris. But if Rudy had hoped for a peaceful stint tutoring Eris, he was in for a rude awakening. He finally got to meet Eris’ mother Hilda, and Hilda didn’t think much of Rudy at all. Even worse, Eris had inherited her temper and delicate touch from her grandfather Sauros, who even Philip feared. What will Sauros think of Rudy? Will he even allow Rudy to stay in the manor? And if he does, given Eris’ extreme temper, is that a good thing for Rudy?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 6
I was with Rudy on this one. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
I can see where Eris gets her temper. Her grandfather is quite an imposing fellow, isn’t he? Fortunately for Rudy, Sauros had been impressed by how Rudy had saved Eris from the kidnappers, so he said Rudy could stay in the manor.
Maybe that gave Rudy a boost in confidence, because when Sauros asked Rudy to teach magic to Eris, Rudy said that Eris should ask for herself. In a booming voice that had to shake Rudy’s bones, Sauros demanded to know what Rudy meant. He said that he was concerned that Eris might grow up to be too proud to ask for what she really needed.
That impressed Sauros, so he called Eris down. And by “called”, I mean he took in a deep breath and yelled his granddaughter’s name in a voice so loud that the house shook. Eris bounded downstairs. She wasn’t happy when Sauros ordered her to ask Rudy to teach her, but even Eris’ boundless temper was no match for her grandfather. So, clutching her hair to make twin-tails, she said (04:04), “P-please teach Eris magic, meow.”
You’d think that would qualify for my favorite quote, wouldn’t you? But no, the best was yet to come. Rudy was absolutely stunned. What would possess Eris to think that was a polite way of asking for something?
The head butler delivered my favorite quote as the answer. He said (04:23), “The masters are fond of beast people. That pose is an imitation of drooping ears.”
Wow. Just. Wow. I felt as stunned as Rudy looked.
Best in Show Moment for Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 6
Ghislaine’s clenched fist says it all. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Setup: The Joy of Teaching is Timeless
Lots of interesting world-building in this episode. I want to know more about Perugius and the Armored Dragon King. But I guess if it’s important enough, we’ll see bits of it dramatized later.
When I graduated high school, I hand intended to become a Catholic school high school teacher. In college, I went through the prerequisites except one, and I forget what that one was. Linguistics, maybe? It’s been awhile. The point is, I loved teaching. Then I learned what a starting teacher’s salary was. I couldn’t raise a family on that! I don’t know how teachers do it! So I ended up working for an insurance company and learned Lotus 1-2-3 and dBASE III.
Regardless of where I ended up, I still miss teaching. I remember teaching a Sunday school class of six graders. Very smart kids. I’d been teacher for a few months when a little girl who never talked or tried to answer a question put her hand up. I didn’t know it at the time, but she had some learning challenges, and other teachers said she’d never tried to answer anything before. For whatever reason, she decided she could trust me enough to try. Her answer was right, and her embarrassed smile is something I remember to this day even thought it was over 35 years ago. It’s still one of my prized memories.
Seeing a student ecstatic about something they’d just learned is just about the most awesome thing on the planet. Any planet — even the one in this show! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Rudy, that lucky little bastard, got to bask in the glow of a similar moment, and he’s not even 10 years old.
Delivery: Math for Badasses
Rudy had a hard time engaging Eris in math. He worked with Ghislaine to incorporate math into her adventurer stories, and that kind of worked. But even that wore off.
But did you notice who Rudy did have some luck with? Ghislaine herself! Apparently, the story she made up to convince math was important wasn’t a fiction. Ghislaine really saw the value in knowing math for commerce and logistics.
When the three of them visited Roa, they stopped in the market. Rudy tried to use tool pricing to show Eris how important math could be. He gave her a word problem: Let’s say she found a merchant to sell a hammer for five large coppers. Now, assume she found another merchant that sold a similar hammer for four large coppers. The problem to solve? If she haggled the price down to three large coppers and sold it for four, how many large coppers would she make?
While Eris panicked and threw up way too many fingers, Ghislaine started with the right number and counted down. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
In the shot, you could see Eris go into panic mode. She couldn’t even figure it out using her fingers! But just beside her, Ghislaine put up four fingers and counted off three. That left her with one. When Rudy announced the answer, Eris wasn’t even close. But Ghislaine clenched her fist and said (16:34), “I did it.”
That is so cool I almost couldn’t stand it. I have no idea what social prejudices kept Ghislaine from learning basic math. But she’s learning now, and even to someone with her sword skills, you could see that solving a simple math problem was still something she felt proud of.
Gotta say: This show’s giving me a higher number of quality moments than I expected or hoped for.
What did you think of Eris and Rudy’s sword training? What was your Best in show moment? Let me know in the comments!
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 6: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu – Episode 6 discussion
- RABUJOI: Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation – 06 – Calculating Change
- Random Curiosity: Mushoku Tensei – 06
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 1: Jobless Reincarnation
- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 2: Master
- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 3: A Friend
- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 4: Emergency Family Meeting
- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 5: A Young Lady and Violence
- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 6: A Day Off in Roa
- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 7: What Lies Beyond Effort
- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 8: Turning Point 1
- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 9: A Chance Encounter
- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 10: The Value of a Life and the First Job
- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Episode 11: Children and Warriors
“I don’t see that either. I mean, it’s not impossible, but it’d be equally plausible to me if that element of his personality contributed to why people picked him to be bullied. That’s not conclusive either.”
It’s a shame that the anime and manga omitted the details of his past life bullying. The novel clearly tells readers that the elements of his personality which caused the bullying were in fact kindness and justice. His past self before the bullying was a kind boy with a strong sense of justice. He saw a weak classmate being bullied so he stepped in and told the bullies to stop. But, it only caused them to change their target to him. And, the level of bullying he received was even far more severe as we saw in anime episode 2. He lost faith on justice and humanity after that and his personality was slowly but surely turning rotten.
The novel even retells the event in the scene where Rudy sees Sylph being bullied through his inner conflict. He recalled what he got in his past life for trying to help and was about to leave without helping. Then, he remembered what he learned from Paul and Roxy, and realized that the current him is not that weak boy. He even became afraid of making the teacher who helped him overcoming his fear of leaving home disappointed. So, he turned back to help the bullied kid.
Okay just for fun. What plausible reason would drive a 30 year old that is reincarnated and at the age of 7 to want to take off a 9 year old child’s underwear? A child he actually knows and is expecting to spend the next 5 years with. What would be the best possible case scenario for the “author’s intent”? And no I’m not talking about using his past as a prop to excuse him, if anything that should make it worse. I remember he was jerking off when we first saw him and we didn’t even get to see the computer screen, the yakuza or authorities that were evicting him were disgusted by the sight.
Obviously, as an anime-only viewer, I didn’t know they’d omitted it. I think you’re right — it would have made things more clear.
As it is, I remember that even after he’d been drive out of his home, even as he wandered aimlessly and homeless, he saw that the truck was going to hit those people, and he tried to help them.
Honestly, I really liked the scene where he drove the bullies away from Sylphie. That was another step in the right direction.
” He even became afraid of making the teacher who helped him overcoming his fear of leaving home disappointed. So, he turned back to help the bullied kid.”
I missed that detail when I watched it. Roxy made quite the positive impression on him.
The great thing about fiction is that it can explore the effects of terrible psychological trauma in a harmless fictional environment. At the same time, that environment can be a lens to understand our world a bit better.
There’s another theme playing out here, and it’s one that I talked about in my C3 review. Fear in Cube was a cute anime girl, so the idea of quickly forgiving her for her past of hideous murder and torture came naturally. At least, I saw no discussion of it at the time. In effect, the author humanized something terrible to show how it could be redeemed.
This show took a more courageous approach. It started with a psychologically crippled overweight young man with reprehensible habits. Can someone like that redeem themselves? Can Rudy overcome his past and his own shattered morality?
That’s an interesting story.
I loved Rudy until he tried to take the underwear off a 9 year old. I will ask again. What is the best case scenario for this character to do such a thing?
I have found out the hard way that I have gotten very good in one on one teaching but I just hate lecturing or giving a presentation. So people who can do both I consider awesome.
I’ll say this: Mushoku Tensei has very good animation. I don’t however like the contrived writing in it in that all of Rudeus’s love interests have been conveniently placed in compromised positions for him to see them in such a state, first with Roxy pleasuring herself in the hallway when she could have done that in her room given how the walls of houses back then were very thin, and then with him stripping Sylphiette because he somehow couldn’t tell she was a girl even though it was obvious, and now with Eris being asleep on a bunch of hay for him to sexually assault. And yes, Rudeus did intend to sexually assault her. He did say, “Wake up, or I’ll attack you”, for a reason before he promptly molested her. It was such a scumbag move. No matter how bad Eris is being as a student, nothing justifies sexually assaulting her just because she’s asleep and defenseless. Someone being asleep does not justify you violating her. Looks like Rudeus didn’t take his father’s advice to heart in Episode 3 when Paul was talking about how important consent is. I know Paul raped Lillia in the past, but at least he knows how important consent is in the present day. Rudeus either not paying attention to what his father said or not caring enough to remember what he said shows that Paul’s words fell on deaf ears.
I think a big problem is that Rudeus might see girls as videogame trophies to be won over. This was hinted at when he indicated last episode that money isn’t worth as much as ‘dere’ from a girl. This possibly sheds some light on his remarks in episode 4 about grooming Sylphiette to become his ideal woman when looked at from this lens. It might also explain how he just casually sexually assaulted Eris without any hesitation whatsoever with him testing to see if she was awake before proceeding to do it. He believes that if he isn’t going to get caught that he might as well do it because that’s what he’s entitled to.
“I think a big problem is that Rudeus might see girls as videogame trophies to be won over. ”
Given the emotional trauma Rudy survived and the impact it had on his maturation, I think there’s little doubt that’s how he sees women.
But now, in this world, he already has three examples of more healthy relationship with women. He’s had Roxy as teacher, and she had such an impact on him that the figurine he mad of her was fully dressed. He’s become friends with Sylphie, and he’s learned that this words and actions can hurt her. I remember how sorry he felt, even if his expression was a bit insensitive!
And now with Eris, he’s experiencing a relationship with a young woman who won’t cry if he hurts her. She’ll pound him within an inch of his life. Eris attaches consequence to actions.
that should give Rudy something to think about!
Come on, that’s no excuse what so ever.
Maybe I wasn’t as clear as I should have been.
I’ve never tried to excuse anything Rudy’s done.
I see this as a work of fiction, with a protagonist who has more room to improve than most.
I suppose I could go on and on about how terrible he is, but I’m not sure that would be interesting or helpful. Again, this is a work of fiction, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the character improves. Or not — anti-heroes are a legitimate component of fiction as well.
Though if he doesn’t improve, I hope that Sylvie has continued practicing her magic so she can adjust his attitude.
Think about it this way, this character is the one we are suppose to ROOT FOR, the hero. I was loving this show despite some scenes that were just not necessary and added nothing to the plot. The protagonist has lived his previous life absorbing works of fiction that treat women as trophies. The show straight up acknowledges that works of fiction can influence a person’s outlook of the world only to then become another piece of problematic fiction. There is no consequences for what he did. He should have been fired from his job. If you hired a kid to tutor your child and they tried to “attack them” them as they slept, would you laugh it off? I wouldn’t, I would go nuclear on that child so he never did that to another child.
Rudy is the protagonist. I am rooting for him to be better at the end of the story than he is now — or suffer the consequences. That’s my western expectation for this kind of story.
I can’t agree these things don’t add to the plot. On the contrary: His tendencies are in no small way attributable to the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his fellow students. Given how they treated him, the symptoms we’re seeing are not atypical.
Further, they serve as a character starting point. He’s already showing improvements: Being able to leave the fenced confines of his home; teaching Sylphie to explore her magical capabilities until she was nearly his equal; and protecting Lilia from being cast out are only a few of the signs. The end of episode 7 is probably the best example.
No consequences… Hmmmm. Eris beat him nearly to death. I know that Dawnstorm doesn’t consider that a consequence, but I do.
“If you hired a kid to tutor your child and they tried to “attack them” them as they slept, would you laugh it off?”
Is that a serious question?
I see Jobless Reincarnation as a work of fiction. One of the things it’s exploring is the effects of untreated sexual abuse on the main character. Seeing what that character does, how the characters around him react, and seeing the long-term consequences are part of the story.
If this were real life, I would immediately place the child in a safe location and inform law enforcement.
But I must have misinterpreted your question. There’s no relationship to my analyzing and reacting to a work of fiction and how I would react to a specific provocation in real life.
I mean, fiction isn’t real.
Fiction is not real, you never had to say that. I would only be repeating myself, you clearly don’t get that the inappropriate sexual content is not a bug it’s a feature. I realized that at episode 6. He’s not going to get better, this is a power fantasy that does not respect women and girls. A lot of anime that do things like this do not age well.
I think we’re not communicating, so I’ll make one more observation. Please do feel free to add more commentary if you think it’s warranted.
My observation is this. You took exception to me pointing out fiction is not real. But saying “fiction is not real” and “pedophilia is morally reprehensible” are, in terms of expressing fact, equivalent.
I want to get that out of the way for the sake of clarity.
My suspicion is that this boils down to you being convinced you know the writer’s intentions with the narrative. I have no objection or concerns about that. However, I don’t agree with your conclusion because I see evidence to the contrary.
Clearly situations like this are so common in the anime you consume that it’s not offensive. I know there are worse things, it’s still not okay. I don’t think it takes a detective to understand the “intentions”. There is no narrative that makes sense where he had to take her panties off if he was a moral protagonist that he usually was, it was so horrible to see because I loved the show up to that point despite it’s problems. He could simply watched over her, or woke her up, or took a nap with her all far better choices. I feel like it will get worse. I don’t know what happens in the manga but it seems to be setting up a harem situation where he has no loyalty to any one of his female partners. I was hoping he’d earn the money for Sylph and go to school and have a healthy relationship, that’s gone out the window now. Wonder Egg Priority is a far better story about dealing with bullying and healing, in fact episode 4 deals with an old man molesting a younger girl insisting she wants it.
Update: I ruined the ending for myself and it does get worse.
Vague yet Spoilery summary you have been warned:
He uses being sad as an excuse to cheat on every waifu. Like imagine you had a fight with your husbando or waifu, and because they are upset they blow off steam by cheating on you and because they are such a good person that make it official with multiple partners and you have to deal with being in a group relationship because they couldn’t handle the ups and downs of life.
Wait, another show with sexual assault glossed over? Never mind, I’m out.
Well, I wouldn’t say glossed over. It’s a core element of Rudy’s personality, and it’s a direct result of emotional/sexual trauma he experienced.
And in terms of plot/character progression, Eris was probably the perfect intended victim. She wouldn’t just ignore it like Roxy did; she wouldn’t just accept it like Sylphie might.
No, Eris pounded Rudy within an inch of his life.
It was a good less for the little broken child.
On the other hand, I understand some people find the character exploration a little unsavory. I don’t get it myself; story is story, character is character. Exploring this kind of thing in fiction is about the only safe place to explore it.
Still, please do exercise caution!
****On the other hand, I understand some people find the character exploration a little unsavory. I don’t get it myself; story is story, character is character. Exploring this kind of thing in fiction is about the only safe place to explore it.****
Well, you see character exploration here, but all I see is cliché. For example:
*****No, Eris pounded Rudy within an inch of his life.*****
That’s not a meaningful consequence. After the immediate scene, it’s never brought up again. It’s a flare of temper, but doesn’t impact trust at all. And to boot, in every show with ecchi elements ever this sort of violent outburst is treated as a “price of permission”. Not straightforwardly, there’s a gambit-like: “I’m trash” associated with it if the character is a pervert, and a “she’s protecting her purity” element to it if it’s an accident.
****…and it’s a direct result of emotional/sexual trauma he experienced.****
I don’t see that either. I mean, it’s not impossible, but it’d be equally plausible to me if that element of his personality contributed to why people picked him to be bullied. That’s not conclusive either.
Basically, the show I’m watching admits that Rudy’s actions are scummy, but then lets him get away with this sort of thing time and again, preventing any learning experience. “Glossing over” seems quite an accurate description. The one thing that the show might be preparing, and which might prove me wrong, that I’m seeing right now, is that Rudy’s body is too young, and he’ll get his comeuppance when he hits puberty and people start interpreting him accordingly. That’s not that plausible, though, in a show where a saleseman tries to sell him an aphrodisiac, and considering how the Greyrat’s maid’s suspicions played out in the end.
I expect that Rudy’s scumminess is the show’s scumminess. The show can prove me wrong, but at this point it’ll have to work pretty hard. I’m far less optimistic now than I was after episode one.
I’m seeing seeing moments in this show that suggest there’s something different going on here.
Moments like Ghislaine experiencing a moment of pride at working a math problem; or Rudy’s reaction on seeing healing magic for the first time. Those are the kinds of moments I look for, and they’re not common. Yet, this show’s given me 3 major such moments in 6 episodes.
That’s a pretty good batting average.
Yeah, the show’s good with such moments.
They undercut everything by making him a terrible pervert. He just tried taking off a 9 year old’ underwear, then says he can’t accept a book gift because it wouldn’t be right. The show is all over the place unless the message is, respect everything but women and girls. I was could forgive the other scenes because I liked the show, but trying to sexually assault a young girl in her sleep was too far. He should have been fired from his job for that.
I’m not sure what you mean by undercut.
Giving a fictional character significant room to improve is a narrative choice. Can you talk a little more about what you mean by under cutting?
As we saw on numerous occasions (like at the end of episode 7), Rudy’s hardly alone in having a morality that’s not consistent with current USA legal guidelines. Again, I’m not justifying or defending anything. I’m thinking through how fictional characters interacts within a fictional world whose rules and norms we’re still learning.
Room to improve? There is no price to pay, he got punched, he wasn’t shamed for what he did, he got away with it. If any teacher tried to take advantage of their student and simply failed to complete their assault and was punched for it but didn’t face any real consequences what is there to stop them from doing it again? I can see this character had 0 growth and will continue to have the same characteristics. It is a story component to make it “spicy” for guys who think there is nothing wrong with what the hero is doing.
“It is a story component to make it “spicy” for guys who think there is nothing wrong with what the hero is doing.”
I haven’t spoken to the author, so I can’t say whether your statement is factual or not.
However, I will say that the interviews I have read make it seem highly improbable this is the case.
For fiction to explore a topic, it has to present the topic. At least, based on my study of fiction that’s the case.
Well when you take into account it’s a 30 year old reincarnated with his same memories and personality, and he comes across a sleeping 9 year old and tries to take her underwear off, that’s pedophilia with extra steps. He wasn’t creeping on an older lady, he was creeping on a prepubescent child.
I haven’t seen past 6, I was extremely disgusted with what he did. Look at situations from the perspective of the victim, not the perpetrator and you understand that’s not a harmless joke, that’s an ideology I’ve seen many male anime characters have, they insist that if the girl is asleep she’s asking for it.
I completely agree, I had to drop it after episode 6, especially when you realize he’s got the mind of a 30 something adult in a 7 year old’s body, taking the underwear off of a 9 year old. I loved the show but could never recommend it up to this point now I’m out.
OK, I really need to check out his show. And seeing that I’m frozen into my home, I should have little enough difficulty doing so. But teaching, huh? I’ve taught high school, junior high, and elementary–and walked away from each position. Just not my calling, sorry to say. But I hope you get to fulfill that dream someday. Good luck!
Thanks! But now you got me thinking…
How much of what I perceive as a desire to teach is just nostalgia? Maybe it’s best if I keep it in the past, untainted by new experiences?
I doubt I’ll get the chance to find out otherwise.
But thanks for the thought!
I know several people who have turned to teaching as a second career following retirement. And if you’ve always dreamed of teaching, that could be your big opportunity. Having tried it–and failed, twice–as a primary career, I have no inclination to return. Given your previous statements, however, you might actually want to plan for giving it a real go as you eventually approach retirement. Something to think about. . .
I hadn’t even considered that.
And I feel rather silly for it.
I’ll give that some thought. Thanks for the suggestion!