Welcome back to Waifu Wednesday, Niche Gamer’s column where we talk about characters, their appeal, and a little on their history.

Today’s Waifu Wednesday is the first heroine we get to meet in Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, Sylphiette!

Sylphiette fills quite a few roles in the series, most notably the “childhood friend” cliché. From the very first episode she makes an appearance, it’s obvious that she’ll be a love interest for Rudeus after he rescues her from bullies.

Spoilers Ahead

Of course this is an isekai and Sylphiette isn’t bullied for long. Thanks to training from Rudeus she quickly becomes an adept mage with some cheat skills of her own; and after the Teleport Incident and some time away from Rudeus she develops into more of her own character.

After being dejected and shy in her childhood, we next see Sylphiette a few years older and disguised as an androgynous bodyguard to Princess Ariel. Sylphiette and Ariel had met after the Teleport Incident.

Ariel’s reliance on Sylphiette in the early days of the incident almost mirror Sylphiette’s reliance on Rudeus. After being put into a position of responsibility, we see a much more powerful and confident girl.

Sylphiette is a refreshing change of pace from the popular tsunderes and genki characters that tend to get first dibs in harems. While Sylphiette isn’t exactly a “kuudere” character she’s a great foil to Rudeus.

While Rudeus can be loud and prone to emotional swings where he doubts himself, Sylphiette manages to be his rock and always looks up to him and believes in him.

The series is available to watch now on Crunchyroll. You can check out our review of the first season of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation here. (We recommend it!)