"WHY Would he do THIS?!" - A Weeb & Normie React - Jobless Reincarnation [S1E4] (Highlights)

[@gogogadgetrectalpunch]

Yeah there’s almost no other anime with more blurred lines and nuanced situations and characters than Mushoku Tensei. It’s absolutely perfect for deep discussions of introspection and morality. That’s just one of the reasons why it’s so amazing

[@sohamdey5124]

There is a lot of cut content about Zenith, but I'll mention the important things. 1. Rudy tells Zenith that he is lying about Paul because he is afraid that she will leave him, but she knows that he is lying and that Paul is a playboy. 2. Polygamy is a common thing in this world but Zenith is a follower of the Milis religion which doesn't allow it and allows only monogamy. So that's why she was struggling to accept Lilia and forgive them. Also before their first time together, she told him that he could do her if he promised that he would do it with only her and he accepted, but she knew that he was lying and decided to leave him id did it with another woman. But she didn't think that she would get pregnant for the first time. But surprisingly Paul decided to take responsibility and marry her. 3. They cut it from the novel but he actually was thinking about grooming her but decided not to and wanted a simple friendship with her. Also, he was thinking about how to interact with her knowing that she loves him and decides to be a dense main character until they grow up, but he also was afraid that she might give up on him if didn't consider her feelings for him for a long time so he was conflicted. So yeah Rudy cares about Sylphie so much actually. P S: When you saw Sylphie writing, Rudy was teaching her how to read and write and count.

[@Tounushi]

Paul's final spar with Rudeus actually scared the man. He took more steps than should've been necessary for an opponent on Rudeus' level. Paul gauged Rudeus as being ready to be an adventurer already.

[@neretilderem7029]

14:14 I don't even understand the question and the long conversation you guys had about it. It's spelled out crystal clear in the anime. Paul won't pay for Sylphie's tuition so Rudeus asked him to find a job to make money and he will pay for hers too. Paul found a job, but it requires Rudeus to leave for who knows how long and he wouldn't want to leave Sylpie, so he forced him without telling him (also Zenith and Lilia knew about it and agreed with him, that's why they calmly say good bye to Rudeus)

[@Tounushi]

8:35 Paul's last day in the sword hall was a whole mess. The other students had come to hate him, Lilia's mother was abusive towards him, and Lilia herself detested his antics and rampant womanizing. But Lilia's father saw Paul as having talent in the Water God Style and wanted him to marry Lilia and inherit the sword hall. When it became clear to Paul he was being forcefully railroaded, he violated Lilia on his way out as he fled into the night. And he was twelve when he did this.

[@are3287]

His physical brain and therefore mind is still that of a small child, makes more sense and also just nicer to think of it that way imo.

[@macmac6064]

and nobles are worse than him for example pax who groped roxy but people always hate the anime because of rudeus

[@Tounushi]

and he does note how his brain does have an effect on him, being able to remember things really well and learn things quickly. That's what he notices going on, so what else is happening?

[@subaquatictoaster]

Paul found Rudy a job. He has to leave for said job. Paul sent Rudy off without having time to say goodbye to Sylphie because they had become intensely co-dependant; and like Paul said, if he talked to Rudy about it beforehand, he would have talked his way out of it.

[@Tounushi]

For more context on just bad Paul messed up with the cheating incident, Zenith belongs to a major religion where one of the chief tenets is strict monogamy and she'd made it a condition for Paul to agree to a relationship. Not that she believed he'd stick to it, but some seven years of the relationship lasting did give her reluctance to break it as she'd originally planned at such an eventuality. So not only did Paul do a bad in general, he broke his promise specifically made to Zenith. If she weren't of that faith, then things wouldn't have reached a crisis point and Lilia would've become Paul's second wife anyway. As to why he cheated, their culture has a taboo against having sex with pregnant women, thinking it'd harm the baby. So Paul folded about a month or two into Zenith's pregnancy, his longest dry spell since Zenith was expecting Rudeus.

[@are3287]

Why would he do this... let's say, he "would"

[@Filimaua13]

Enjoying the reactions so far! This is a really good show even with its controversies. I hope you guys can watch Re:Zero afterwards if you haven't already. Its thematically similar with the heavy focus on the protagonist's personal growth. Both authors of MT and Re:Zero are good friends and are heavily inspired from each others works.

[@SylverQrow]

In society we have alot of people who say, hes or she is very mature for their age and their talking bout like 7-10 year old. Sometimes it gives those kids an inflated ego. Seeming like one is mature doesn’t equate to maturity.

[@CamoraGhoul]

Also idk if I count "leaving the door open" as entirely her fault. The bar should never be lowered to Paul's level lol xD

[@TheAnimeClub159]

Well she left it open so he would see; they're both at fault for sure.

[@are3287]

@@TheAnimeClub159 Didnt take a lot of effor on her part though lol

[@popers1328]

​@@are3287Both of them did it. It takes two to tango. Neither were forced. They are both equally 50/50 responsible.

[@macmac6064]

Comment is 9 days ago but the video is 3 days ago 🤨

[@TheAnimeClub159]

@@macmac6064 Haha, members get access to videos 2 weeks ahead of time, so you'll see stuff like this happen if they comment before the public release!

[@thomasboyles9773]

The novel actually delves even deeper into Paul's perspective on Rudy/Sylphie than what the next episode will clarify for the viewer before he sends him off with Ghislaine. It also contains a perspective from Sylphie's dad. My understanding of reincarnation religions seems to judge people as BEING the new person. Rudy being weird with his memory intact adds a moral dilemma that has seemingly made parts of the story less palatable to western audiences who instinctually recognize him as being now 41. If a seven year old said outloud I want to grow up and marry her, no controversy. But we get Rudy's internal monologue of the seediest thoughts he has in relation to that thought a seven year old might blurt out. Internal monologue is often darker than what we say outloud or put into the world.

[@uihirasawa843]

I've seen people bring up the whole thing about how societies that believe reincarnation view it as being a new person, but having actually read all the novels, I'd have to say that this doesn't apply to this story for spoiler reasons: because reincarnation mechanics in the story are explicitly talked about, and pretty much stated that the actual Rudeus was (probably) stillborn because he was born with too much mana for a human infant, and who we know as Rudeus is actually a completely different soul who got stuck in his body, and remnants of the original soul are still there, as suggested by Kishirika asking if Rudeus was originally supposed to have a twin but the other one died while in the womb. So no, the novels outright say his soul was brought to this other world, and it also wouldn't make sense thematically for him to be a new person from reincarnating when he's dealing with the weaknesses of his past self.

[@thomasboyles9773]

@uihirasawa843 What does that have to do with how religions with reincarnation would perceive his new life differently than people in western cultures at the root of the questions?

[@brianhsieh17th]

@@uihirasawa843 That is the difference, they are suppose to live their new life as a new person, even if they have memory from past life. Actually past memories just make it harder to live their new life, which traditionally the focus of the drama.

[@CamoraGhoul]

This show does opening better than any anime out there and I'll spill anyone's 7/11 slushie that says different. I wish other shows used that 1:30 to expand the world and lore like MT

[@uihirasawa843]

Have you watched Aria the Animation before?

[@igrico6356]

In the religion that Paul's from they allow more the one wife.................. also the reason he split them apart is because slyphy was completely dependent on rudy and he wanted her to grow as a person

[@macmac6064]

Paul doesnt have religion, his wife zenith is a follower of millis that hates polygamy but incest is ok

[@joby-wankenobinolan3428]

Because Paul sent Rudy away, Rudy is not act on his thoughts of grooming Sylphy. Whether Rudy would have acted on those thoughts at all is also unclear because he definitely cares about Sylphy and people have dark thoughts all the time but don't act on them. I'm willing to give Rudy the benefit of the doubt and say those are intrusive thoughts he wasn't going to act on.

[@sankro]

This is not an excuse for Paul but a bit of context: In this world when someone gets pregnant its seen as bad to have sex, so with both Lilia and Paul being pent up that can definitely lead to some bad decision making. Though I'm pretty sure Paul, being the scum he is, was making some advances towards Lilia before that. Also you brought up the reasons for Paul not letting Rudy go to school with Sylphie, like the money problem and sword training problem. Another thing was that Paul picked up on the whole grooming scenario Rudy was fantasizing about and wanted to put an end to that by seperating them for a while.

[@macmac6064]

Spoiler Paul couldve married every girl in his adventure group but zenith is a follower of millis and the reason why elinalise had a grudge on him

[@megamert2848]

As for why Paul did it, essentially mainly I would say Paul is a pervert/scumbag that is why. Although maybe a small thing that they state later which explains why it might be more acceptable even though paul did it completely wrong is that there is some traditions where there are people with multiple wives/husbands.