English Dub Review: Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation: “A Friend”
Overview: After protecting her from some bullies, Rudeus (Ben Phillips, Madeleine Morris) makes a new friend in that of Sylph (Emily Neves) but later finds himself in hot water with his father, Paul (Jared Smith), due to a misunderstanding.
Our Take: With the arrival of “A Friend,” we’re introduced to Rudeus’s first in this new world he finds himself reincarnated into in that of the half-human and half-elf boy, Sylph. But much to Rudeus’ surprise and plight later on though, Sylph is actually a girl, but more on that later. Her appearance strongly resembles that of the deadly demon race that Roxy warned Rudeus to stay away from, the Superd. Clearly she’s one of these Superd or at least partly so, because of how closely she resembles one, aside from a gem being absent on her forehead. Despite the fact that the main character is absolutely reassured this is not the case, these are obvious anime red flags if I have ever seen any and will build up to be formally revealed later on undoubtedly. In that regard, the “surprise” feels spoiled because of how unsubtly this was communicated. In regards to Sylph’s establishment, her timid and reserved nature is endearing but also lends herself to wanting to be protected (at all costs! She’s precious!). Rudeus learning to cherish/respect his friends and do right by them makes his intentions to do so all the more relatable and ticks another lesson off the list. I also like how the series does not gloss over Rudeus’ past knowledge and life experiences and he uses that to his advantage, like his cleverness. Mushoku Tensei has an episodic feel to it based upon how self-contained each episode has been thus far in the lessons and arcs Rudeus goes through. Some people may be turned off by this aspect, and I’ll admit I was unsure how I felt about it at first. However, I’ve come to respect how well the show tells a self-contained story with a good structure well within the 23 minute time span.
By the way, all of Rudeus’s euphemisms become more clever by the day. Never have I heard more creative and unique ways to describe one’s genitals and/or to do *ahem* other things with them. When he realizes that Sylph is in fact a girl and that he mistreated her, he admits he thought she was a dude. While he was being honest and it was pretty damn funny, it shows, like his appearance would suggest, he’s still naive and has ways to go.
Although this episode is focused on Slyphs’s introduction and Rudeus’ continued development, he isn’t the only one growing. The layers are finally being peeled back as Paul becomes the last thing he wanted: his father. The fear of becoming your parents, inevitably doing so and truly understanding their perspective at the struggle they must’ve felt transcends what I had otherwise expected from the light hearted character. His progression to being more kind hearted and truly listening to Rudeus shows just like anyone else and, maybe even more so, parents make mistakes. Them and their instincts grow over time and showing the real nature of fatherhood grounds the show, it’s character and makes me look forward to more character arcs and their more true to life point of view.
Jobless Reincarnation delivers a charming episode in that of “A Friend” and continues to build upon the already strong foundation it’s built for itself.
"There are also other characters that come and go (also owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery conglomerate media company)."
Huh. Is that just referring to other characters from the show itself, or is this implying that the new season is going to have cameos from other WBD IPs