The source is great but the animation isn't doing it justice. The content that pops up in this episode could've been easily crammed into half episode; really, it was mostly to introduce the type of person Haga is, and to get Nikola following him.

Fuck. This season ending was well made. It's clear that they tried their hardest to make it bittersweet, and they got it.

Rudeus lost a father, but got a daughter; he lost an arm, but he has Roxy to support him. Norn might have bawled and created drama, but she's learning how to defend herself. Zenith is disabled, but she has Lilia to back her up. There's a "but" for every down that they got.

That scene with the grave was specially beautiful IMO. I feel like drinking booze with your parents is special, for both sides - they're acknowledging that you're an adult without losing that parent-child link. (Fuck, now I feel the urge to buy a bottle of liqueur and drink with my mum.)

I feel like this is something that Mushoku Tensei does amazingly well, in comparison with a lot of series made for masculine demographics: the main character is powerful, but not invincible. He has to sacrifice things to get other things. And it plays really well with the theme, that it's worth to go further and chase what you want, that you won't get things without effort.

I'll provide some LN spoilers simply because I can't help but talk about this. I'm excited for season three, after all.

Keep in mind that the series are only similar when it comes to the protag hating the goddess, but past that they're really different. Like, Makoto is by no means as sly and deceitful as Touka, while Seras (the deuteragonist elf in the PV) is there for the drama (unlike Tomoe and Mio).

Still, I think that it's worth checking out.

Rudeus did a lot, by not doing the shit that people trying to help depressed people do, that only digs the knife deeper into the wound. He didn't try to lecture Norn, or that stupid "LotSa PpL HaD iT WoRsE LOL LMAO" +> "stop being a crybaby".

Comparing her case with Nanahoshi, it's like water and oil, isn't it? Nanahoshi was having a meltdown out of frustration and hopelessness, her mindset is completely different from JP!Rudeus and Norn.

Fuck. I really love this series.

Rudeus being close enough to hear Bananahoshi's meltdown literally saved her - I'm fairly certain that she'd use the dagger, she might be psychologically strong but she is no superwoman. And she's smart enough for her own good, I don't think that she'd be able to fool herself with "the grapes were sour anyway".

It's kind of funny how Zanoba, of all people, had the answer for how to solve the circuit. Because of his hobby, instigated by Rudeus on a whim.

I could go some extra length to say everything wrong with this text, and a bit more, but I'll TL;DR. The text fails to take into account that

1. different audiences forge different associations with the tropes contained within a work;
2. people from "random" countries (such as the author, or me) are not the target audience of those Japanese works.
3. there are a thousand themes to explore within fantasy. Social commentary is only one of them, and by no means obligatory.
4. every theme that you insert into a work dilutes the value of the other themes within it.

Once you do take those things into account, most of the text crumbles.

...fuck!!!! Be right back, I didn't notice this until you said it, but now I'm raging. [Thank you for pointing it out!]

EDIT: done. As dumb as this might sound like, I simply cropped a screenshot of the episode as I was watching it, from a streaming service.

Fireworks from gunpowder, uh. The main task when it comes to the Michel was to fix his mindset. And it's great that Kyle managed to capitalise on that to get the alliance. No mention of guns, but I think that it's implied.

Odds are that the novel (or the manga?) series goes on, so they had to settle for a simple ending, with Arnold putting the ring on Rishe's hand and promising to travel with her.

Overall I enjoyed the series.

I'm glad that it's getting a second season. The series was overall fun, but the ending got me unsatisfied.

The parts of the plan in the secret room and in the woods sounded decently planned out, but the one with Ivy was awful. Sure, I said that Meela would eventually switch sides, but what if she didn't? It's like entering a lion's den with no weapons hoping that you can strangulate it, but you're no Hercules.

I wasn't expecting it either. Now I'm mildly excited - I'm not a fan of SoL but the manga series stands out for me, it's really good.

Don't worry too much about the names. Characters dropping like flies is a given, due to the premise - even if the MC doesn't kill them, it's that kind of a world, fish eating smaller fish and MC being the blue whale saying "I'll eat only the krill" on a whim.