Mushoku Tensei II: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu

Mushoku Tensei is one of those rare modern Anime that can truly stand on it's own in every possible department. It's a shame how such a thing as an all round good Anime is almost a relic of the past.

Plot: It'd be a good idea to first watch the OVA before diving into the season.

The season proper starts exactly where it last left off, in a hovel, on a ruined landscape, in the midst of a calamity. It picks up from there and transports gradually to a new part of the world in Mushoku Tensei. The theme, if at the beginning was one of ... exploration and wonder, is now one of self-exploration and doubt, leaning finally towards some sort of clarity, one little step at a time.

Of course it will still have it's moments of sharp and quick action, but the general mood seems to be one of reflection and contemplation. As such this season is a sort of character study, as well as a study of nature(nature in the sense of a person's nature, not environment). Also, instead of rampant humour, pathos and brooding seems to be the way this season is shaped.

Characters: Apart from the main character, almost none of the characters are familiar. As such, this season deals with an entirely new set of people. The interplay between these characters is a little stiff at times, probably due to the tone shift, but it really shines through whenever heavy topics come at hand.

Especially, one scene that caught will catch the attention is when a Drunk adventurer complains about the look on Rudeus' face. It is not difficult to understand where it comes from, and the ramifications are extremely clear. It sort of sets up the emotional tug of war going on inside his mind.

Animation: In terms of animation, Mushoku Tensei has not lost a single step. It is still the show that wowed it's audience last time around, and is still capable of producing such moments that make people take notice of it. A very strong performance again in this department.

Music: Music was one of the strong points of Mushoku Tensei, and again it is proving to be just as good. The background music gives a much needed tone to the visuals, and both compliment each other really well.

The highlight of this segment was very clearly the use of the Opening theme. So much so that the openings are something of a genre by themselves.

Enjoyment: If it has not been said already a million times, Mushoku Tensei is exactly what the true potential of an Isekai looks like. There is something for almost everybody to enjoy, and it is very rare to find something of this quality.

Jobless Reincarnation has so much potential to be a great show. Unfortunately, the writers don't seem to realize that you can have a great story with AMAZING characters without sex being involved as much as it is. I'll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible for those considering giving it a watch, and I'll try my best to come up with pros to go along with the big cons. *Apologies for the long review, there's just a lot to compliment and complain/warn about. ;-;*

__PROS:__
---STORY/WORLDBUILDING - The concept is awesome. It's the first Isekai I've watched where the MC retains consciousness after complete rebirth and ... is raised from infancy. Even if it's not the first of its kind, the idea itself is still really interesting to me. The worldbuilding is stellar and the fantasy is so well implemented; the world around Rudeus feels alive and constantly changing, and the relationships between characters are often realistically fickle and/or dynamic, even if the characters themselves can sometimes be one-dimensional and incredibly dense. Exotic peoples manage their own governments in diverse lands—it's everything you want for a good world to go along with a good story. The magic and fighting especially are so satisfying to watch and learn about, and the animations for them are beautiful.
---CHARACTERS - Every one of the characters (who are at least mildly important to the story) have their own convictions and reasons to do things, even if the reasons are dull or they themselves are entirely uninteresting. Not every character needs to be completely fleshed out with his own side-story worthy of its a special episode, people! Additionally, each of those at least mildly important characters has such contrasting and unique designs to one another and the girls are beautiful and cute and adorable and the guys are rugged and masculine (for the most part). Despite being a bit predictable, the characters are constantly changing and learning and adapting. Just because they make a choice you don't like doesn't mean it's bad storytelling or the show is bad. They're realistic *because* they're sometimes irrational and do dumb things. Especially Rudeus. And another thing: others already mentioned this, but maybe Rudeus isn't meant to be liked.
---ART/MUSIC/INTRO+OUTRO - First, I want to fanboy over the art style. I fucking love it. Call me a cliche, but I like cute girls in anime. Jobless Reincarnation doesn't disappoint and does an excellent job crafting stunning characters who are pleasant to look at. The backdrops are gorgeous and the cities are beautifully drawn and designed. The trees, the water, the sky; it is so perfect. The music is fine and fits perfectly with their respective scenes. And the intros. THE. INTROS. I LOVE that you can't just skip them. They took the time to make the intro cutscenes worth something instead of being something you can just skip without any loss of context. Seriously, well done.

__CONS:__
---STORY - The first gripe is obviously the sexual deviation. In nearly every episode, the writers have to rub into the viewers' faces that in some form or another, every character either has a sexually predatory nature to them or is a victim to said sexual predators (regrettably including but not limited to underaged individuals) down the line eventually. I'm sure we all came to this realization fairly quickly in Jobless Reincarnation's story as our MC is an unwavering, shameless pervert straight from episode one. PLEASE don't touch Aisha, Norn, Eris, or Sylphie. Leave the characters who have any innocence left alone. Secondly, another big gripe is, well, episode 3 of this season. If you read other reviews, you know why it's bad, and if you haven't, you'll understand if you watch the show. It's such a waste of time and so off-putting that I nearly dropped the show. I'm completely fine with what they did with Eris at the end of the last season, but fuck.
---CHARACTERS - I know I complimented how the characters realistically sometimes make mistakes, but the way it's done is sometimes a detriment to the story and the relatability of the characters. Rudeus is relatable because he lived an awful life and suffers depression, but then you're snapped out of it because the choices he makes are so perplexing sometimes. Now I'm entirely fine with the whole E.D. thing, it's understandable, he's going through heartbreak, but FUCK. A whole fucking episode focused solely on how he's depressed? The writers really fucking fumbled the small Counter Arrow story, and especially fumbled Rudeus and Sara. Not in a shipping way, not at all. It was just so hard to watch, man. Moreover, Elinalise. She's fucking obnoxious. Stop taking every opportunity to show how much of a slut she is. Also, does the main writer have a cuckolding fetish or something? Because man, episode 4 reeked of it.
---THE OBVIOUS - Yes, season 1 was bad with the young characters and the pedophilia subtext and sexual assault, and those disgusting bath scenes in the first few episodes. I can't guarantee it's any better due to how often sex as a subject is brought up, but fortunately, it gets less intense with the wholesome characters and focuses more on the adult side of things, even if Rudeus himself is currently in a young man's body. I really hope it stays that way because season one, as good as it is, was really hard to get through at times.

__TL;DR__
The world is beautifully designed and the story itself is so... fascinating. I don't want to say it's great, but Jobless Reincarnation grabbed my attention in a way I didn't expect. Seeing the reviews on the first season made me wary but I'm glad I gave it a chance, even if it had its really lows.
I can't specifically recommend this show right now because of how hard to watch the content that's currently released is. All I can do is cross my fingers and hope it'll get better. Thanks for reading if you got all the way through!

This series is a degenerate's wet dream. The characters, mainly the MC, are about as unlikable as his narrator voice is grating on the ears. It's so disgusting to hear him whenever he's thinking and/or doing perverted shit with underage girls. Every time he speaks it just reminds me that there's a 50-year old freak behind his eyes...

I held out hope that the second season would start phasing out the degen otaku BS as his new life "overwrites" his old one, but it's just more of the same and it doesn't look like the author will let up at all. Turns out that watching a ... 50-year old air out so much of their disgusting baggage behind the mask of a kid doesn't really make for appealing plot points, who knew?

This series could've been interesting with a memory wipe and a genuine start at a new life, but as is it focuses way too much on simple depravity with few redeeming factors aside from the production quality of the animation.