Reading Report: 21 June 2026
サブマリン
This week I read just about my quota of this. I expect to finish it by the end of next week. Mutou and his coworker continue to investigate the Tanaoka car incident. Last week I ended right before they had a long conversation with Wakabayashi, the young man whose reckless driving killed Tanaoka's friend, Eitarou, 10 years prior. Wakabayashi now works as an ambulance driver. His "sin" from the past has influenced him to be a better person, though he also recognises that he can't wipe the slate clean. Following that meeting we also discover another critical fact about Tanaoka's car incident. While his victim was unintended the reason for his driving in that general area that morning was premeditated. Tanaoka was attempting to hit Wakabayashi as revenge!
The rest of the reading this week was mostly Mutou and Jin'nai discussing the ethics of Tanaoka's motivation and actual actions. Would it have been worse if he actually killed Wakabayashi, or is it worse for him to fail a premeditated action and accidentally cause a death?
無職転生Ⅱ
I finished the first part of Mushoku Tensei II. The previous season ended with an encouraging plot beat that made me think this season would be focused on a "save Rudy's mum" story, but it quickly became evident that the Rudy had other things on his mind, and the first half of the season ended up being about his recovery from Elis' disappearance. Part of me felt like it was just stalling since the story had already resolved that at the end of the last season, but it wasn't a terrible execution of the same idea so I didn't mind it too much. Then, before Rudy could remember his mum again, the story became entirely focused on Rudy's newly-developed erectile dysfunction. Rudy agrees to enrol at a magic academy because he's convinced he'll find a solution for his ED there. The majority of the season is then about his re-blooming relationship with Sylphiette (going by Fitz for most of the season). I'm not really fond of magical school settings, and magical Japanese fantasy school really wasn't much better, but I liked Rudy and Sylph's relationship in the last few episodes and the season has ended on another hopeful note, so I'm optimistic that part 2 of Mushoku Tensei II will have some kind of story.