REVIEW: ‘Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation’ Season 2 Episode 9 – “The White Mask”

Having survived his encounters with other people’s love lives, Rudeus (Yumi Uchiyama)  settles back into his study of the mass teleportation events that scattered his family and friends across the globe. But when Master Fitz/Sylphiette (Ai Kayano) suggests a summoning expert for him to talk with, Rudeus is soon confronted with a figure from one of the most terrifying moments of either of his lives in Mushoku Tensei Season 2 Episode 9.

When Fitz suggests that Rudeus seek out the knowledge of the special student Silent Sevenstar, he wasn’t  prepared for what awaited him. When he arrives at the student’s study, he is greeted by the white, featureless mask that walked beside the Dragon God, Orsted (Kenjirô Tsuda, To Your Eternity)the day Rudeus was killed and brought back to life by the brutal diety. Upon seeing this specter from the past, Rudeus has a full-blown panic attack as he stumbles and flees from not only Silent but the terrifying memories that instantly overwhelm him.

The animation in this sequence is superbly done. As someone who has both suffered from and helped others process through panic attacks, Rudeus’ movements and emotions felt extremely familiar and real. Everything from the strain in his jaw as he desperately gasps for air to the way his hand pulls the cloth of his shirt emphasizes his fear and distress. His panic rises to such an extent that he eventually blacks out, dropping to the floor unconscious.

When Rudeus awakens, he finds himself with Fitz, still in the study of Silent. From here, Mushoku Tensei Season 2 Episode 9 becomes exposition heavy, as Rudeus learns Silent has a secret: She too is from our world.

This reveal opens a deluge of new information for both Rudeus and the viewer. Key elements, such as the fact that Silent was teleported to the new world at her original age and in her original body compared to Rudeus’ reincarnation, leave them with vastly different outlooks and situations. The biggest key difference is that Silent is desperately trying to find a way back to our world. She misses her old life and, since she kept her original body, she is the only thing in their current world that lacks mana. This situation has made a hard transition even worse for her, further pushing her to escape from her circumstances. Which is apparently what the Orsted was trying to help her with.

Since her journey to this new world was more of a teleportation than anything else, she has been researching possible ways to teleport individuals so she might return home. However, since she has no mana, she hasn’t been able to test any of her theories. But with Rudeus’ help, she can now attempt to put her conjecture into practice.

While most of this episode is simply Rudeus and Silent talking, the revelations and explanations that come from the discourse are more than enough to keep Mushoku Tensei Season 2 Episode 9 from becoming boring. The fact that Rudeus isn’t the only person from our world alone is huge, and worth the lengthy explanation.

The only real flaw arrives during the discussion between Rudeus and Silent when they revert to speaking Japanese in front of Fitz who doesn’t understand the language. When the duo returns to the local dialect, Silent references something that seems to enrage Fitz. The moment is confusing because it takes a moment for the viewer to realize just what Fitz is angry about, until realizing it’s because an earlier, clarifying statement had been made while the other two had been speaking in Japanese, so the piece of information that Silent had shared came across wrongly to Fitz. Mushoku Tensei Season 2 Episode 9 needed greater clarification in the moment to give Fitz’s anger greater impact. This lack of clarity is an even greater loss for the episode as it detracts from the excellent job that the animation does in depicting Fitz’s outrage, as the viewer can miss out on it while puzzling together what has happened.

Mushoku Tensei Season 2 Episode 9 offers a pivotal moment in Rudeus’ story. With new goals, a new ally, and a new understanding of what is possible, there’s plenty of new territory for the series to explore as it moves forward from here.

Mushoku Tensei Season 2 Episode 9 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.