Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon Season 2

Episode 11

We've known from the start that Menagerie of Fools were a bit... off—both as a group and individually. After all, each of them has a driving wish—one they'd give their lives to accomplish. Of course, behind each wish is a healthy helping of trauma—and said trauma tends to have altered their personalities in strange ways. Shui, for example, was poor and starving when she was a child, which has caused her to be an enormous glutton in the present. This week, the focus shifts to Heeve and his obsession with footwear.

While often treated as a joke in the story so far, this episode reveals the true horror behind Heeve's shoe fetish. Basically, as a young adventurer, he and his childhood friend were attacked by bandits. Heeve was knocked unconscious and survived. His friend, however, was killed—her legs chopped off so that the thieves could steal her boots—the boots that Heeve had gifted her.

As the bandits were masked and escaped without issue, Heeve's only clue to finding them was those boots. Thus, he became obsessed with checking out the footwear of every person he passed—determined as he was to find his friend's killers. Little by little, this laser focus left him not only able to read the history of a pair of boots just by looking, but also led to the fetish we've seen him exhibit this season.

On the most basic level, this episode is a revenge story. Heeve has found the boots and is heading out to get his vengeance. However, there is a bit of a deeper moral—one that ties back to the most pivotal event of this season: the founding members of the Menagerie of Fools joining the Demon King's forces. Both Heeve and the founding members of the Menagerie of Fools treat their wish as a deeply personal matter. They don't speak of it and want to handle it themselves. The issue is that this limits their options massively. With no one but themselves to rely on, they make desperate choices—ones that could easily end up costing them their true goal.

But here's the thing with both Heeve and the founding members of the Menagerie of Fools: they weren't alone. They had friends to rely on. But they were so concerned with keeping total control that they didn't even think to talk things through. Could Boxxo, Lammis, and Hulemy have helped the Menagerie of Fools get past the Demon Lord's forces and clear the dungeon within the time limit? Maybe, maybe not. But they never even asked—never had even the semblance of a brainstorming session. They simply went for the most extreme option and then asked our heroes to come along for the ride.

Heeve is going down the same path this episode—striking off on his own to find and murder the thieves who killed his friend. But as powerful as he is, he's still just one man—and fighting on someone else's home turf always puts you at a disadvantage. However, when confronted with what he's doing, Heeve can learn not only from his mistakes but also from the mistakes of others. And because of this, our heroes join him on his quest—overcoming illusions and traps he likely couldn't have alone.

However, in the end, the most interesting thing about this episode to me is not Heeve's backstory or even how his mistakes mirror those of the Menagerie of Fools. It's the fact that Boxxo is tagging along on this mission. While he's killed monsters and even stood by as human traitors were tortured, Boxxo is still a human from our world. Is simply standing on the sidelines, watching as his friend brutally murders dozens of men (who, admittedly, totally deserve it) something he can actually do? If so, what does this say about Boxxo—a man who once wanted nothing more than to peacefully indulge in his obsession with vending machines? We'll have to wait until next week to find out.

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Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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