Score: A-

The mission to save Nanahoshi from a cruel death continues! Thankfully it didn’t take very long to find Kishirika and create an excuse for her to help them. From that point though, things got rather interesting. And things remained interesting right to the end since the title of the next episode…is a loaded one! This episode did a masterful job of delivering some excellent action and a bit of fun after some emotionally powerful episodes. But the reason the action lands so well here is because of what is at stake and the desperation to get Cliff to safety and the cure to Nanahoshi.

Pardon me!?

I don’t think a preview that is only the episode title has been where I’ve wanted to start talking about an episode before. But there’s no avoiding this. “Turning Point” is not something thrown out there in Mushoku Tensei lightly. Turning Point 1? That was the mass teleportation incident. Something so utterly colossal that it shaped the lives of many of the characters we’ve ever met in the show. Turning Point 2 was the absolute beatdown suffered by Orsted. An incident that very nearly killed Rudeus and is the whole reason that Eris left him to go on a journey to become stronger. And Turning Point 3 was the choice Rudeus made to go save his mother. That choice resulted in saving and meeting Roxy again, “saving” his mother, but losing his father. The latter was big because that deity told Rudeus not to do it.

So what the heck is Turning Point 4!? It leaves me increasingly worried since honestly they should be on track to not have anything happen. They got away from the Demon King, they’ve got the plant they need to cure Nanahoshi, and everything should be good. At the very least there shouldn’t be anything bad to worry about. My negative mind can only worry. The only thing that comes to mind is that the cure won’t work. The only thing for me is that I’m not sure if that would be a turning point. I don’t know what’s going to happen, I really don’t. But that title leaves me nervous.

A bit frustrating, but cute

As a whole the episode went really well! Kishirika utterly and completely came through for them! She actually had the information they needed and in fact was the reason why there was a solution at all. Despite the Dryne Syndrome basically being extinct at this point she made sure to have the Sokas Grass grown under every demon king’s castle. Sure, part of the motivation was apparently that it’s a great tea. But that gave them hope. It’s one thing to know of a cure, it’s another to be able to get their hands on it. And while it was incredibly difficult to get their hands on that cure…they did it. Short of things going terribly wrong for any number of reasons…they should be good here. Give her the damn tea and apparently stick her on a toilet for a bit.

This plant better do the job!

Getting their hands on that plant was one thing, but getting it back home was another! That fight was absolutely tricky. It’s a good reminder about where the heights of power are in this setting and where Rudeus currently stands. He has grown an incredible amount from the guy that got wrecked by Orsted. But he’s still got a long way to go. Perugius showed some insane levels of power and one-shot someone that was proving to be a major pain for the main cast to deal with. While I wouldn’t say Rudeus is out to become the most powerful person in the world, this episode was a good reminder of how easily things can get out of hand.

But I also want to give him credit. He knew the tactical move needed was electrocuting them all. And it was very human to momentarily need to brace himself before doing something that would really hurt. But he stepped up and did it for the sake of his friends. It wasn’t even just Atofe that was a problem. Her troops weren’t a joke. Well most of them weren’t all that impressive, but Moore was actually rather capable. The man responded quickly to just about everything Rudeus threw at him and that included magic disruption! Moore showed what an experienced and skilled mage can do. If you know how to counter various magics then it really does put your opponent in a pickle. If there’s anything to be gained from this encounter it’s a lesson that being adaptable is critical.

Dangerous and an utter pain!

Atofe showed how scary and difficult to manage an immortal threat can be. It’s absolutely nuts that she was sent flying and split in two by Perugius and yet no one is remotely concerned about her well-being. Putting someone like that down for good must be a serious trial! Zanoba was able to pin her down through pure raw power, but she forced that kind of response. After one exchange with Rudeus she seemingly had a good read on his magic and was able to counter the next attack he fired at her. It shows how devastating a truly great sword wielder can be. And it’s probably another good reason that Eris re-entering the story wouldn’t be a bad idea. God, I hope Eris showing up is the Turning Point and not something tragic!

But she also showed how frustrating a powerful yet stupid person can be. She was fast enough to fly ahead of them to the teleportation circle (thanks to Moore’s directions) and strong enough that they couldn’t just force their way past her. All this because she couldn’t simply say “thanks for catching Kishirika, bye now.” She had to try and force them into her service with terms that were obviously unacceptable and then flipping her lid when refused further. No question that Atofe deserved to get sent flying into the distance for that level of stupidity. In the end the only thing she got from that mess was a brutal beating!

The man certainly helped out!

Now to see where things go from here. I’m honestly not going to fully relax over Nanahoshi’s condition until we see how she’s doing. The cure should work. But maybe it will take time to fully get her back on her feet. They talked about learning how to grow it. Which presumably means they’ll need more than this. But maybe they were just considering how good an idea it would be to be able to grow it for any number of reasons…The fact that a major series turning point is coming is hugely concerning. But we’ll have to see what happens next.