oooooh I don't think we knew or remembered anything about Paul's relationship with his parents

​@@AnimeDateNightit was revealed in the Mushoku Tensei Mobile game and it was called Paul Gaiden: Runaway Arc (gaiden = spinoff). Long story short, Paul ran away from home at a young age and his mother got sick, died, and Paul regretted not being able to save her hence what he said to Rudy.

He also fell in love with Zenith since she reminded him so much of his mother. The story of his childhood tragedy helped her fall in love with him.

@@AnimeDateNight the Paul Gaiden's first arc had his early childhood. His mother Valentina (Sauros' sister) was a warm, nurturing, yet doting personality while his father Amarant as a regional lord tried (and absolutely failed) to be strict with him. After Pilemon's birth he started acting out and skipping school (except for swordsmanship classes) because lessons didn't interest him and the other students were arrogant children of various ranks of nobility. As he turned 10 he became a womanizer, having been seduced by one of the guests at the party. His antics made Amarant compensate various nobles whose betrothal plans were being messed with by Paul's shenanigans, running debts for the Notos house. Eventually he was placed under house arrest and Valentina came to console him every night. This taxed her health. He eventually offered a formal apology to his father, but didn't reform, and spent time in the slums instead, becoming a gang leader. After learning Valentina had become bedridden, he tried to find a doctor who made his rounds in the slums, but failed. By the time he got back, she was dead. Amarant and Pilemon blamed him for it. Paul's standing in the family declined, with Pilemon continually reminding him of both this and how he'll be the heir instead. At some point Amarant was going to place him under house arrest again for him visiting the slums, leading to Paul renouncing his lineage. Pilemon mocked him for being a waste of a son and how not even Valentina could have loved him in the end. Paul beat the ever-living shit out of his brother for that and fled the house. This turned into a regret for Amarant that eventually took him to his grave. He tried to get Paul to visit him one last time, but he kept sending the servants away. Eventually Elinalise persuaded him to at least listen. Paul received a letter of apology Amarant had written just before he died.

GAAAAAHHH. Hopefully adrenaline kept a lid on the pain

Yeah, and I think in the LN Paul saved Rudy from the unexpected attack of a headless neck and that was what cut/grated away his lower body, but I guess in the anime this sharp scales thing was not that obvious so theymade Rudy space out a second time.

@@eralfion5316 Yes and if I'm not mistaken Rudy drives his arm into an already decapitated head as it's still controlling the headless Hydra. It's actually pretty cool because Rudy is using his future sight eye. And all of a sudden he sees the Hydra's head up close to him. He has no idea why or why. Then a second later Paul kicks him out of the way of a headless Hydra neck that was about to kill Rudy. That's the hit that Paul takes for Rudy. Thus the kick sends Rudy flying towards the decapitated Hydra head... so the reason Rudy saw the head so close to him his future sight was because paul kicked him to save his life. Then yes Rudy shoves his arm into the eye and it blinks and removes his hand.

He didn’t space. He was overwhelmed from excessive movement in his demon eye.

more like a guilhotine

That's cool!! Hopefully Rudy took the swords then, not to be funny but Sylphy would use that if she had to. It could also be a memento from his dad 😭😭😭😭

​@@AnimeDateNight They ain't leaving that sword there, It's worth a fortune

_"Paul knew no matter what happened, he would've protected Rudy with his life, so he said it as a way of asking Rudy to put all of his fear aside and go in with all he has."_ Oooh that does make sense and it's backed by Paul's own ending. He was watching out for Rudy. He would not let Rudy die if Paul had anything to say about it

​@@AnimeDateNight Paul was looking out for everyone but mainly Rudy. He saved/protected Rudy a total of 3/4 times, the elf girl 1/2 times and the dwarf once. Paul was also always in the line of fire, he never had a break from the hydra's attention. Ironically the only time he did was when the hydra was mainly targeting Rudy.

That means so much to us 😭😭 thank you!

The Voice actor of Paul did a fantastic job in that drama cd if you ask me. Only heard about the it from a comment after watching the episode and immediately looked for it on youtube. I am kinda hoping that something similar will be in the next episode but I kinda doubt it.

but he's gonna anyway 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

_"the reason why Rudy froze is because when the hydra had one head left it started trashing all around in desperation and that overloaded his demon eye because it was so big and so close it just froze him in place trying to process all that info"_ that makes so much sense!! The same thing happened when Rudy faced Orsted, there was too much future stimuli for Rudy to process.

It’s too bad they didn’t make that clear. It would’ve been so easy to explain why he stopped in place.

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

SO MUCH. This is going to hugely impact the girls and Rudy, Sylphy is still pregnant, and now I expect the fam will move in with Rudy. I don't think anyone considered Zenith would be alive but not sentient. I also have to wonder whether or not Rudy actually "caused" Paul's death. Rudy saved the party like 2 - 3 times. Paul would have been spread thin without Rudy. And Rudy won't consider that 😭

@@AnimeDateNight He is definitely not the type to consider that. He's more the type to cherry pick the negatives and hang himself with it. We've seen him break a lot of times already to know that this is the case. Except this time, it's a way worse situation.

omg... we saw his reaction @ Eris... for all his talk about his parents not being his parents, and being more like roommates but I think he's (unknowingly) full of shit. Like, Rudy thinks he means that. Until he loses them. Rudy really cared for Zenith when he was smaller - and he was sentient then too. His adult brain was someway in that child body. He did care for her, and Lilith - it's why he stepped up so hard when they were both pregnant.

@@AnimeDateNight I know right. That's a really good observation, especially since, at its core, since season 1, Mushoku Tensei has always been about family. Rudy doesn't know it yet, but he values family way more than he thinks and this tragic situation might finally force that into his heart. It's tragic, such a late realization.

the AUDACITY

@@AnimeDateNight The sadistic bastards even skipped airing a week just to make it happen!

@@crabcrouton This has been confirmed by the studio.

the DISRESPECT

STOPPIT. Rudy's inner monologue?

@@AnimeDateNight Narration. The book kinda differentiates monologuing and narration, even when it's clearly in the character's POV. And yeah, the chapter both before and after that cutoff is absolutely heartrending. How Rudeus blames himself for Paul, and his conclusion of how there's nothing left of Zenith and that he wouldn't be able to share the burden of grief with her. He could still somewhat hobble on after Paul, but losing Zenith is what breaks him. I look forward to how they adapt Rudeus' introspection/spiralling next episode.

okay so Madison wondered about the regret part! Cos Rudy brought that book with the teleportation circles. Without that, the entire team is likely wiped out. _"The whole thing coming from paul was "Save your mom even if it kills you" and "i'll save you even if it kills me"_ 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

@@AnimeDateNight for sure... especially without the knowledge of burning talfro roots... the devouring devils in the 5th stratum would tear them apart.

Discord was so hype too and we had no idea why. Now we understand 😬😭

@@AnimeDateNight Paul would be happy to know, and it's shown in the episode that he was happy, his sacrifice resulted in saving his beloved son and wife at the end of it all. This episode has made me tear up and cry with every reaction I watch. Phenomenal episode, probably the best anime episode l've seen in years. As a LN reader I knew it was coming, but they did a superb job, and it literally made me have goosebumps with the visuals, soundtrack, and especially voice acting.

fuuuuu---!!! I (Madison) am hoping that one of Rudy's OG powdered friend may be able to help him later. Even if they can't regrow the arm, I feel like Nanahoshi could help with a prosthesis

You would have to find someone capable of casting really high level healing magic. Which is probably next to impossible even if you have the money to pay for it. Orsted could do it, as we saw in s1 ep.21. Healed him from a huge hole in his chest, while being next to fully dead. Early on, when Roxy reached King class in water magic, Paul said you can probably count all king class mages on one hand. And healing magic seems to be more difficult to reach high level in. Sylphie is better at it than Rudeus, but still not that high. And both of them are considered insanely gifted mages.

omg the PAIN edit to add: we'll share the therapy bill if you wanna do a group session lmfao

@@AnimeDateNight get ready for silent treatments, screaming, and maniacal laughter

_"Elinalise sword is enchanted with shockwave magic cannot go through"_ Ah this was not clear!

I have to say, this is a load of shit, no offense. I hope you don't have that sort of thinking if you are or will ever be a parent. People can be very different, kids included, and process things very differently from each other(Norn and Aisha are very different, for example - and Aisha is an actual genius, unlike Rudeus). It doesn't have to be a "reincarnated" person. If anything, Paul is lucky it Rudeus was like that, considering multiple really bad things Paul did - could have done serious damage to the family or even broken it apart. If it was an average child. Namely, ep.3, ep.4 - Things that could have gone horribly wrong for multiple people if not for Rudeus helping the situation or being able to handle it and understand it. Then ep. 16 is another one. (and this ep. 22) (Ep 16) Don't even get me started on that one. Paul wasn't even happy to see Rudeus and that he is safe. While having compromised his ability to even look for his family through getting drunk in a tavern a lot of the time. For Paul, Zenith>everyone else. If he saw Zenith show up, he wouldn't care what so ever if she (someone with actual experience in the world and S class adventuring experience) did impossible things to look for others. He would be over the moon instantly and figure out the rest later. (Can write 20 times this on this episode alone if I were to break down properly in regards to how Paul acted toward Rudeus, not to mention the sever gaslighting, made worse by the fact that Rudeus, is child, is a very easy target for it. Just by seeing how he looked Eris was shocked and extremely angry for a good reason.) This one too would have ended really badly if not for Geese. Who went extremely hard, dropping some facts, and was close enough with Paul to be able to do that. With A LOT of effort push him towards not being a shithead. Then the bartender came in a bit clutch. (unfortunately the gaslighting after effects were still there, but it is what it is) Paul is a very mixed bag, and when things get serious or difficult, he usually fumbles it. Even in this episode, when he saw Zenith, he didn't care about anyone else and risked the lives of everyone in the party by blindly rushing an unknown threat. Elinalise had to save him, risking her life, then Roxy had to save them as she got stuck. Lucky that Roxy and others were that capable and experienced adventurers to barely make it. He is a well written character, but he is a pretty messed up person. Who has the fortune of having many good and capable people around him to pick up the slack. As a side note, don't take what characters say as if they are fully self aware fact spitting machines. Rudeus says a lot of things(especially in the past), a lot of them are not quite true in practice. He thought the same things about Paul, see how that affects him now in practice. Among other things in the future regarding Zenith. I won't post spoilers. Though plenty should be somewhat clear, if you can see better the depth.

@@HiddenStr3ngth nah nothing I said was wrong. I never said Paul wasn't a flawed father. You and I both know Rudeus doesn't fully accept this life as his actual life yet. He doesn't accept these parents as HIS parents. He hasn't even reconciled the deaths of his earth parents yet.

ooh we forgot about the roxy bit!!

!!!!

We all have a bit of schadenfreude.

We keep hearing this and I’m like … fuck

@@AnimeDateNight Yeah. Turning Point 3 is my favorite Turning Point, mostly because it leads to this episode, but Turning Point 4 blows it out of the water in terms of immediate events, similar to how the best parts of Turning Points 1 & 2 were immediate. So basically imagine this episode, but as a Turning Point instead of the _results_ of a Turning Point. Or better yet, imagine the ED arc, but times a thousand. It’ll blow your mind with how insanely emotional it gets.

listen, there was disdain and then misery followed

lmao I wish they were fake. Hatred is strong word, I was irritated with him and didn't necessarily like him. Doesn't mean I want him dead. Anywho, we really appreciate you comin through! Fr - this was an amazing ep and it's great to share this journey!! :D

@@AnimeDateNight i enjoyed my journey, but considering how sensitive you guys are to these subjects, you'll probably be one of the few reactors dropping it next week and if not then you'll definitely avoid season 3 because thats when it really GETS DARK

You are so miserable