Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation returns with a second season on July 2. At Anime Expo 2023, the premiere episode was made available to attendees. Chief producer Nobuhiro Osawa from Egg Firm talked about what to look forward to and some insights with Anime Trending.
Anime Trending: Fitz’s identity is a core part of the upcoming story that we’re going to see in the second season. In the novels it’s a bit easy to be obscure but with anime you have to work with visuals and fans will easily catch on to that character’s identity. Were there any planned changes to the adaptation to obscure Fitz’s identity?
Nobuhiro Osawa: You’re absolutely right 100%, it’s very difficult to do that in a visual medium. We took a strategy, and I don’t know if it’s okay to tell you this, it might be giving too much information, but in season 2 we actually created an episode 0. So before episode 1 actually even starts we have episode 0 and we made the conscious decision to reveal the identity of Fitz in that episode, so that took that complication away.
AT: Are there plans to incorporate elements from the side stories from the corresponding chapters of the light novel in the upcoming anime season?
O: With our staff we have made sure that everyone has these side stories in their head, but the focus is on Rudeus and his progress and his growth, so we haven’t decided whether we’re going to take some of those side stories and adapt them as anime or not yet.
AT: The upcoming arc mostly takes place in one location while in season 1 we got to explore all of these different worlds and see the world building, and had an emphasis on visiting all of these different places. Will the upcoming season address this in any way?
O: This is very interesting, you’re right. Rudeus is reborn into the next life as a baby, and a natural part of your progression as a human being is to go through school, so we included that process. That process represents the growth of a human being.
In Rudeus’ case it’s not just school, it’s magic school, and it’s not going to just take place in one place either. At some point he may graduate, and there are the other stories and ancillary plots from the other characters that you also have to bring into focus from time to time.
It’s not like it’s just taking place in one place, so in that sense it’s not going to be boring and I’d like viewers to also focus on those other elements as well. They’re interesting as a part of this process of Rudy’s life.
AT: The upcoming arc tone shifts from this high adventure where Rudy is growing in season 1 while season 2 will have a bit more of school romance and slice of life elements. How do you think the audience will react to this kind of shift?
O: If everyone can watch the video we’re going to unveil today, which is some of an episode of season 2, I think people will be pleasantly surprised. It’s not that there isn’t going to be any fantasy or that there’s not going to be any action, so I think we can wipe away people’s unfortunate expectations that it’s going to be a little bit more boring than season 1 if they just watch the video today.
AT: Studio Bind was founded to nurture this anime adaptation of Mushoku Tensei and has allowed for an abundance of design material and put a lot of extra love into this series. How is your work on Mushoku Tensei compared to other series with a more typical animation production pipeline?
O: Toshiya Otomo-san, who is the other founder, was originally working at Eight Bit and his level of experience is incredible. We were depending on his skill to some extent to adapt and create this anime, but at the same time it’s not just one person, you need a team. We didn’t have the staff that we needed, that was a challenge.
Even when we got the staff, you’re really starting over from zero when you have a new team and a new staff. It’s like we didn’t even know right from left. Maybe that’s going too far, but we were definitely groping in the dark, feeling our way forward as we did this.
When we were able to achieve finishing season 1 and getting through season 2 it was this enormous sense of relief because we did it, we were able to get through season 2. I guess you could say in that sense yes, we do have some very unique skills and it’s a very unique situation specifically because we had to start from absolute scratch with season 1.
AT: It’s noted that you’re a huge fan of this series. Do you remember the moment that you fell in love with the original work and could you share a little bit about your passion for this series?
O: I don’t know how specific to get with this, but Rudeus has this crudeness to him. He’s very crude, he has this uncouth humanity to him, this unpolished part of him. Of course he has his family and his friends that are surrounding him, those relationships are important to him, but it’s not just the people he meets and the relationships that he starts, it’s also the separation from those people.
That story is very interesting to me. I think this was in episode 16 or 17, when he fights with his dad, and when I read it in the original novel I was fascinated with this. It’s not really smart content, it’s a little bit brutish, it’s a little bit raw and crude, and that to me was fascinating. I loved that and it drew me to it.
Translator: David Higbee
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Season 2 is streaming on Crunchyroll beginning July 2.
