Animation quality is a much debated sphere of the Anime world. After all, not all anime are made equal. Some are from extremely popular animation studios that are world renowned for their skills, such as Kyoto Animation or MAPPA. But oftentimes, some studios catch you off guard with how they can rival these legendary studios with their own animations, which is exactly what happened with Studio Bind following the release of Mushoku Tensei. But what happened with the second season? 

Mushoku Tensei Season 2 suffered a drop in animation that was sadly very visible to fans. Though, that could be attributed to Studio Bind outsourcing a major portion of the animation, alongside staff changes making things hectic. Anyone who has been watching the popular Isekai series can see that the smoothness of animation is just not there anymore. It’s janky, with lesser frames and much more stiffness. And when you have things like massive staff overhauls happening in between everything? Well, things can go array. 

We’ve heard of different animation studios having drops in animations between separate anime series, but it’s rarer for something as highly popular as Mushoku Tensei. Still, it can happen and it could be jarring for fans that had been looking forward to new seasons for a while. But let’s discuss the Mushoku Tensei S2 drop in animation further in F.Y.I!

Mushoku Tensei S1: A Dynamic Debut Of Great Isekai Animation?

I’m not the biggest fan of Mushoku Tensei, otherwise known as Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation. But even I can tell it was a huge deal when it came out. Mushoku Tennsei has been recognized for being one of those light novels that accelerated the Isekai boom of the 2010s, so obviously an anime adaptation was highly anticipated. 

And I have to say, it did deliver. Backed by some of the biggest names in the animation industry, Studio Bind delivered a first season of an anime that blew many mainstream seasonal favorites out of the water with its animation. It was so dynamic, with excellent fight scenes and genuinely fun transitions between scenes and backgrounds. The characters designs were better than anyone had expected, with each having a personality that was distinct with their body language alone. With Manabu Okamoto serving as Series Director, the production of Mushoku Tensei was truly top notch.

And that’s really what catapulted it into success. Mushoku Tensei S1 was extremely highly rated, spreading like wildfire amongst Isekai fans for its superior graphics and well done animation. Couple that with an engaging plot, and you have a winner for one of the most beloved Isekai anime to come out in recent years. 

Mushoku Tensei S2: A Substandard Sequel That Could’ve Been Better.

This might sound harsh but when you start off as strong as Mushoku Tensei S1 did, of course people would highly anticipate a new installation as soon as possible. Studio Bind had set themselves up to deliver the same quality of animation, if not better. However, things didn’t seem to be turning out that way.

For one thing, Manabu Okamoto was replaced by Hiroki Hirano, who was previously the assistant director on the series. Of course, that led to a directional change in production. And it wasn’t the only staff change to happen, considering most people on board were shuffled. The original character designs team was also shifted and new ones were brought on board. That’s not mentioning the supposed disputes when it came to animators who were not being credited for their work, alongside plenty of conflict within the main creators of the series. 

All of this tension is not great when you’re creating a series that was applauded for its movie-like quality of graphics. Especially when it’s your main money maker. People thought that maybe the quality of animation would be a problem for only the first few episodes, minor hiccups that the series would eventually work around. But it turned out, the entirety of Mushoku Tensei S2 suffered from a general lack of good animation, with characters’ expressions getting lost to lackluster fight scenes. 

All in all, it wasn’t a fun time to be Studio Bind. Still, Mushoku Tensei fans have remained steadfast in their loyalty, saying the series itself was good enough to be carried on story alone. They also hope that the animation studio gets their act together in time for Mushoku Tensei S3. Well, here’s hoping!