Mushoku Tensei II: Jobless Reincarnation (Episode 22) – Parents

After entering the Sixth Stratum, they are shocked to discover that Zenith appears to be imprisoned inside a crystal. To get to her, however, they’ll need to defeat the guardian, a hydra that can absorb mana!
Mushoku Tensei II: Jobless Reincarnation (Episode 22) – Parents
What happened?
Before anyone can react, Paul is running straight at the hydra. He leapt into battle with a thought and quickly sliced off one of its heads. The others hurry to back him up, however, Roxy and Rudeus’ magic fails to hit the monster. Elinalise followed Paul and blocked one head from attacking him, however, she got injured. Roxy creates a flood of water to wash Paul and Elinalise back to them. Then, the hydra regrew its missing heads in the blink of an eye. Paul charged back in despite the calls from everyone else to wait. Geese charges after him and creates a smokescreen. Then, he drags Paul away as they return to the magic circle and escape to the Fifth Stratum.
Paul is furious that they pulled back. He’s even more irate when he sees how calm Rudeus is about the situation. They’ve finally found Zenith. Why aren’t they doing everything they can to save her? Talhand tries to calm the situation and at least gets Paul to sit down while they try to come up with a plan. Roxy tells them that the hydra is a manatite hydra. Its scales can absorb mana so it’s almost impervious to magical attacks. The only way around that was to be too close for it to absorb it in time. That would mean the mages would need to be at the same range as the melee fighters. But would that work if the hydra can regrow its heads so quickly?
Rudeus recalls something from his past life where he learnt about Hercules and how he burned the necks of the hydra after removing a head to stop them from regrowing. It might work! Since Paul is the only one who can cut through its neck, he will be the lead with Rudues backing him up. Before going back in Paul thanked everyone for their help and then told Rudeus that he must save their mother even if it means sacrificing his life. They go back to face the hydra and attack. The plan is working, but then one of the heads tries to rip off the scorched stump on one of its necks. They managed to stop it and finally got it down to one last head. However, Rudeus takes his focus off the hydra for a second, allowing it to attack. Paul charges in and knocks Rudeus aside, taking its attack himself. Rudeus ends up neck to the hydra’s head. He thrusts his hand into its eye and explodes rock spikes out from the inside.
They did it. The hydra was dead. However, Rudeus lost his left arm in the attack and despite attempting to heal it, he wasn’t able to regrow it. He climbed to his feet to see everyone standing around looking forlorn. Then, he saw what they were looking at. Paul was dead, his body ripped in two. They freed Zenith from the crystal and made the slow and painful trip back to the entrance of the labyrinth. Several days later, Zenith woke, however, her time in the crystal had obviously taken its toll on her mental state.



What did you think?
Brutal! This was an explosive and exhausting episode. I felt every moment of that fight and the repercussions are sure to live with us for some to come. Is this what Hitogami alluded to when he said that Rudeus would regret going? They lost his father to save his mother, and she may not even be the person she used to be. It’s going to be hard seeing Rudeus reconciling what happened and I can’t imagine how he’s going to tell Norn and Aisha. The fight itself was exciting and really pushed everyone to the limits of their abilities. It’s unfortunate that Rudeus’ experience cost him so dearly as he zoned out at a pivotal moment and just as they were about to win, too!
I do, however, have a bit of an issue with this episode and it calls back to my concerns about how long it’s taken them to get to this point. There’s some discussion about how long Zenith has been missing, but it alludes to the idea that she disappeared in this labyrinth six years ago. They found her. They know where she is and while she’s encased in crystal, her body doesn’t appear to be damaged. Roxy even said that she had seen people survive like that. They knew how to defeat the other Stratums of the labyrinth. Basically, they could come and go pretty much as they pleased. So, what was the hurry? I can understand Paul’s initial charge as a mix of relief that they found her and anger at seeing what had happened to her, but once they had regrouped, they didn’t need to charge in. They could have gone back, got a bigger party, come up with a solid strategy, and then returned.
What’s an extra day or two after she’s been there for six years? Now, had they been trapped on the Sixth Stratum after using the magic circle then things would have been very different. It would have made more sense for them to be forced to fight there and then. It’s a tiny detail but it makes more sense and would excuse the lack of consideration. They needed to be under pressure to act that way. It was a great episode, but it could have been even better.

Episode highlights





Series Information
English Title | Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation |
Japanese Title | Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu |
Genres | Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Isekai, Magic |
Demographic | Seinen |
Anime
Season One – Part One
Season One – Part Two
Season One – Side Story
English Title | Eris the Goblin Slayer |
Japanese Title | Eris no Goblin Toubatsu |
Released | Winter 2022 |
Animation Studios | Studio Bind |
Season Two – Prequel
English Title | Guardian Fitz |
Japanese Title | Shugo Jutsushi Fitz |
Released | Summer 2023 |
Animation Studios | Studio Bind |
Season Two – Part One
Season Two – Part Two
Season | Season Two – Part Two |
Released | Spring 2024 |
Animation Studios | Studio Bind |
Episodes | 12 |
13 | My Dream Home |
14 | Wedding Reception |
15 | Afar |
16 | Norn and Aisha |
17 | My Older Brother’s Feelings |
18 | Turning Point 3 |
19 | Desert Journey |
20 | Into the Labyrinth |
21 | Magic Circle to the Sixth Stratum |
22 | Parents |
23 | Let’s Go Home |
24 | Succession |
