English Dub Review: Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation: “A Young Lady and Violence”

Overview: Rudeus (Madeleine Morris, Ben Phillips) is shipped off to Roa at the behest of his father, Paul (Jared Smith), and is tasked with the job of tutoring a young brazen girl named Eris (Lindsay Seidel).

Our Take: From the moment she arrived, Ghislaine, like the beast lady that she is, preyed upon my heart and never let go. But besides that crucial detail, she solidifies herself as a strong willed (and well-endowed), imposing woman. Her quick trigger caused by ridicule for her lack of intelligence and *ahem* experience with Paul (bravo sir) makes for charming, humorous moments with Rudeus in their initial introduction. Also, Rachel Robinson, the English voice actress behind this lovely woman, is amazing as her. She’s perfect at being strong and stoic but also furious as hell too and is able to flip between the two demeanors with ease. I especially can’t wait to see how she does with Ghislaine’s more silly moments later on as she learns magic. 

But what’s better than one tough beast lady you ask? Two, of course! The other being the creature from Hell that is “Lady” Eris. Man oh man is she one little spitfire. Truly can’t blame Rudeus for giving her a good slap. But although she may be a pain and a real challenge, she is one that Rudeus is more than up to task for as evident by the important lessons he teaches her. It’s refreshing to see how Rudeus offers her something she probably isn’t used to: discipline. Not to mention, he doesn’t hold Eris’s hand and give her solutions but challenges her to think and conduct herself better. This along with her bad attitude, in turn, makes the payoff of her learning all the more satisfying. By the end, you warm up to her due to how adorable and endearingly she shows her respect and affection in her own special way. The little firecracker is voiced by Lindsay Seidel. At first, I found her performance jarring. Mainly because she sounded so much older than that of a little girl and the veil of illusion that other older actors/actresses can portray didn’t seem to be present. However, she really won me over in the end as, just like Eris, she really found her stride and transitioned better into her juvenile nature later on, so my hats off to you, Miss Seidel. Paul’s cousin, Phillip Greyrat, also makes his debut. For now, I’m glad, at the very least, he doesn’t seem to be your generic holier-than-thou antagonist that is a common staple in anime. He seems like he genuinely cares about Eris so that’s promising. Although, it remains to be seen whether he’ll be another run-of-the-mill, rich douche or a more multi-layered character, but, for now, I remain cautiously optimistic. 

Eris isn’t the only one learning, however, as episode 5 is a double whammy of development as there’s more on the Rudeus front too. Mushoku Tensei continues to bat a thousand, as it already has and continues to do, in consistently hammering home relatable issues. Problems that, although take place in a new fantasy realm, aren’t unlike the ones we’d face in the world around us and how they don’t just cease to exist just because you wish them to. These powerful underlying messages add more gravitas and understanding to Rudeus’s journey as he deals with overconfidence and fear of death. But, and this goes without saying, this is Ghislaine’s episode! She’s the freaking queen…or lightspeed bulldozer (or both) as ploys through those two goons like Jell-O. This scene makes good on the promise that Paul makes in that there’s nobody better to instruct Rudeus as shows just how much of an utter powerhouse she truly is and is great at plenty else besides thirst trap shots (as great as she is). Also a huge shoutout to Studio Bind. They’re an animation studio created specifically for the production of Jobless Reincarnation and hot damn do they know how. Ghislaine’s primal charging to Rudeus and Eris was breathtaking from start to finish and had such an intense ferocity and speed behind it, it’s insane. Lastly, it’s quite intriguing how the people of that world are seemingly desensitized to extreme violence as evident by how unphased Ghislaine and Eris are to gruesome murder. Sex, violence, alcohol…the list goes on in regards to how they are viewed and discussed much more plainly than most are used to, harking back to older times which are clearly different than that of modern ones. It’s refreshingly honest and varies significantly from most other anime series. 

“A Young Lady and Violence” thrusts Rudeus further into adulthood with another great entry full of new characters, important lessons and amazing animation from Studio Bind.