In my first review for this season, I made a point of stating that Mushoku Tensei isn’t the story of Rudeus becoming a hero—or even a better person. Rather, it’s the story of Rudeus finding personal happiness. However, this does not mean that Rudeus never does heroic things or never grows as a person. In fact, as we see in this episode, part of his path to happiness is becoming better than he was.

Rudeus has long been attempting to escape the mindset of his first life—the experiences and personal choices that turned him into the socially isolated degenerate he was. But such a massive change is not as simple as flipping a switch. In fact, it’s taken him an entire second lifetime to get to where he is now—and he still has a literal shrine with a pair of his wife’s panties from a decade ago and his other wife’s blood from losing her virginity.

And speaking of the shrine, it’s important to note that Rudeus knows it’s wrong to have it—or Aisha wouldn’t have been able to blackmail him with it last episode. He knows even his wives would see it as perverted or even downright disgusting. It could end his marriages. Yet, even after Aisha discovers it, he doesn’t do away with it. He can’t give it up. In a very real way, this episode is about Rudeus realizing why this is—what the shrine truly represents that he couldn’t put into words before.

In this episode, Rudeus comes to understand that there is one thing required for him to fall in love with someone truly: they have to have “saved him” after an emotional tragedy. For Roxy, it was giving him the confidence to leave his shut-in life behind him—to experience the world in a way he failed to do in his first life—not to mention being there for him after Paul’s death. For Sylphie, it was curing him of his impotence—giving part of herself to give him the security he would need to open up his heart and be vulnerable again.

Rudeus is able to realize this about himself after being forced to revisit his rebound relationship with Sara (and its disastrous ending) now that a few years have passed. He can admit in hindsight that, while he was attracted to Sara, he never really loved her. He was just looking for some way to move on from Eris. While it was never anything intentional, he can now see it as a scummy deed and truly wants to apologize for it.

Even Sara herself can see Rudeus’ growth as a person for what it is. He can look back, reflect on his actions and emotions, and understand why things unfolded as they did. And because of this, he can now make new, better choices that would have otherwise been impossible.

And here at the end of this episode, he makes his first one. While it’s his instinct to promise that he will never fall for a woman besides Sylphie and Roxy (a promise he already broke to Sylphie once), he realizes that there is still a woman out there who holds the same place in his heart as his two wives: Eris. Rather than lie to himself and both of them, he admits it. And through telling the truth, he gains acceptance—because now knowing the qualities needed for him to love someone, the two can see that any other woman would have had to save him emotionally when they were not able to. That doesn’t mean they are giving him carte blanche to sleep with anyone he wants, but they are willing to meet any woman who has won his heart and potentially allow the relationship.

And as for Eris, well, she’s taken some solid steps toward her goal, having mastered the balance she found back in episode 2. I have a feeling it won’t be too long now until she re-enters the story proper.

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

Film will also screen in Japan with Japanese dub on September 25

Crunchyroll confirmed on Monday that the WEBTOON-based Korean-animated film Your Letter will join its Crunchyroll Anime Nights theatrical screening program. The film will screen in Korean with English subtitles in the U.S. and Canada for one night on August 17. Tickets went on sale on Monday.

The film will also screen in Japan with a Japanese dub under the title En no Tegami on September 25. Talent Nako Yabuki and voice actor Kenshō Ono star in the Japanese-language version, and CoMix Wave Films, the distributor, released the film’s main Japanese trailer ahead of its theatrical debut.

The film opened in Korea on October 1. Yong-Hwan Kim directed the film. The film won three prizes — including the Jury Award for Feature Film, Best Music, and Best Technical Achievement — at the Bucheon International Animation Festival.

The story of the webtoon reads:

Sori is a special young girl – kind, caring and principled well beyond her years. Unfortunately, these are NOT the personality traits generally celebrated in middle school – especially Sori’s, where she’s bullied mercilessly for defending the defenseless until she herself becomes a target. To escape, she transfers to a new school where the same old problems begin to play out all over again – that is until a mysterious trail of letters leads Sori on a magical scavenger hunt through the hidden world that exists right below the surface of her new middle school. The mail trail is the work an anonymous guardian angel, whose mission seems to be to provide a soft landing for Sori at her new school. But who is this person? And why did he choose her? With each letter, secrets are revealed and bonds are formed – as Sori learns about friendship, flora, fauna and finding the good in people in this strange new environment.

The English version of the Your Letter webtoon is available on WEBTOON. Hyeon A Cho drew the series, which ended in 2019. Your Letter earned a near-perfect 9.98 rating during its webtoon run.

Ize Press released the series in a single-volume print edition in July 2024. The series is nominated for a Harvey Award this year.

Source: Crunchyroll (Kyle Cardine)

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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. Yen Press, BookWalker Global, and J-Novel Club are subsidiaries of KWE.

I suppose we were due for a Valentine’s Day episode at some point, and since it would have been easy for the show to spend it flipping between all three couples, it was a surprise that so much of it gets spent on Yamada and Nishi. Sure, the end of last week’s episode more or less asserted that Nishi is ready to start seriously considering being Yamada’s girlfriend, but with how content this show is to take its time with the side couples, I wouldn’t have put it past it to either revel in their status quo a little longer or simply pull focus towards one of the other pairings. Although I wouldn’t have been too upset with either outcome, I’ll happily take some actual progress, as it turns what could have been a much simpler episode into a nice little milestone.

While Yamada and Nishi’s time together this week finally results in a proper love confession, the process of actually getting there still requires an ever-increasing comedy of errors between them. For one thing, Yamada ends up getting a little too caught up in the idea of proper timing, and even though he knows he’s got plenty of opportunities to go for it, he ends up either trying a bit too hard to set the mood or is simply too happy being around her to bring it up. On the opposite end, while Nishi might have fully come to terms with how she feels about Yamada, that doesn’t mean she knows he feels the same, and even though she’s pretty sure he wants to confess to her, part of her still fears he only sees her as a friend. Those tensions end up lingering into their next not-date, and even though they spend most of it having a good time, Yamada also spends just as much of it overthinking how to ask Nishi out. In the end, it’s actually Nishi who ends up confessing first. While it’s funny to see her blurt it out after all that build-up on Yamada’s end, it’s not nearly as hilarious as his reaction since having his “strategy” derailed so thoroughly practically causes Yamada to short-circuit. That little reversal of expectations did make it a little frustrating seeing Yamada take long enough to respond that Nishi nearly assumes he’s not interested, but our boy does pull it together long enough to admit he likes her back. There was a brief moment where having Yamada’s attempt to ask her to be his girlfriend be interrupted by a passing truck made me think this would get dragged out for another episode, but turning that into a punchline to further emphasize how pointless this need for perfect timing was works as well. I’m happy to finally see these two be an item.

With our second couple now officially hooked up, I would have been content if that was all we got this time around, but it was still nice to get some proper Valentine’s Day gags thrown into the mix. Watching Azuma give Taira a tiny piece of gum instead of chocolate was perhaps a little depressing, but that feels like the right energy for those two, and Taira’s reaction was absolutely priceless, so even if part of me would like to see those two act a little more romantically, I can’t say their comedic chemistry isn’t perfect. This whole Valentine’s Day theme also lets us see Yamada and Nishi function as an actual couple, and considering the dissonance in their trains of thought between Yamada getting worried about her seeing him with obligatory chocolate from other girls versus her internally freaking out over nearly forgetting to hand him the one she made, it serves as a good indication that their new relationship won’t make them any less funny. It is a bit of a shame that Miyu and Tani get the short end of the stick as their screentime doesn’t amount to any jokes beyond Tani being weirded out by how bad Miyu’s cookies look, but since their relationship is otherwise as healthy as ever, they can certainly afford to take a bit of backseat this time. Now that we’ve got two couples firmly locked down, only Taira and Azuma remain, which still feels like the most daunting of the bunch considering we’re most of the way through this show without them even fully acknowledging having feelings for each other. Still, even if that last one is likely to remain a slow burn for the foreseeable future, it’s still good to see steady progress made elsewhere. With over half the season left to go, there should still be enough time for all of these pairings to work themselves out.

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You and I Are Polar Opposites Season 2 is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.