REVIEW: ‘Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation’ Season 2 Episode 11 – “To You”

With Rudeus’ (Yumi Uchiyama) discovery that Fitz is actually a woman, Princess Ariel (Reina Ueda) decides that it’s now or never if Fitz wants to reveal that she is really his childhood friend Sylphettie (Ai Kayano). In order to facilitate this reveal, Ariel hatches a plan to give the pair a moment alone to recreate an incident from their past to ensure that Rudeus remembers who Sylphettie is in Mushoku Tensei Season 2 Episode 11 “To You.”

When reviewing an episodic form of entertainment like a TV series, each entry has to be judged on its own merits and as part of the larger narrative. Due to this, there can be installments in series where the two views of a given episode can lead to vastly different feelings. And that is certainly the case with Mushoku Tensei Season 2 Episode 11.

Taken purely on its own merits, the episode tells a mostly sweet, sometimes awkward story of a young girl going through an overly elaborate scheme to get the object of her affection alone to confess her feelings for him. By getting Rudeus out into the woods alone and using magic to conjure up a rain storm, driving the pair into a nearby cave, Fitz hoped to recreate the moment from season one when her friend discovered she was a girl the first time, allowing her the opportunity to bear her soul to him.

While this plan is unnecessarily complicated and a little manipulative, it works fine for the sort of uneasy shyness the story is clearly seeking to craft around Fitz. That she chooses to recreate a moment that was not pleasant for her the first time it happened shows how much we perceive events can change over time. While this rose-colored view of past events may hold up, given his more recent actions, Fitz’s unabashed affection for her childhood friend feels far more confounding.

This is the point where Mushoku Tensei Season 2 Episode 11‘s place in the larger narrative comes in. While Fitz isn’t aware of many of the less-than-stellar things Rudeus has gotten up to over the course of his adventures, she was witness to his kidnapping, confinement, and mistreatment of two of their fellow students earlier in the season. Bear in mind, that the duo did nothing worse than break an object that belonged to them at the time. Despite seeing the aftermath of this moment firsthand, Fitz seems to have completely forgotten how badly Rudeus treated these girls.

If there was ever a red flag about a dude’s temper or lack of respect for others, I feel like this would be the one. This unpleasant side to Rudeus makes any sweetness this episode crafts sour instantly, as the viewer can only wonder how long till Fitz does something that gets her tied to a chair for a day to think about what she did.

While the impact of the episode’s moments is tainted by Rudeus’ recent actions, the animation does an excellent job of imparting Fitz’s emotions throughout the episode, no matter how concerning they may be. How the series captures her fear warring with her uncertain hope is always palpable to the viewer. Anyone who has had to wrestle with the mixed terror and desire to tell someone how they feel about them will instantly relate to Fitz’s state of mind thanks largely to the skillful visual presentation.

Mushoku Tensei Season 2 Episode 11 fails to deliver what it sets out to, not due to its own shortcomings, but rather the failings of previous episodes that inform its situation. That everyone who interacts with Rudeus seems to be willing to close their eyes to anything he does that’s bad simply because he’s “a nice guy” continues to be the show’s most damning element.

Mushoku Tensei Season 2 Episode 11 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.