Mushoku Tensei III Episode 10: Zanoba Fights the Immortal Demon King Bare-Handed

Mushoku Tensei III Episode 10, "Audience with the Immortal Demon King," puts Zanoba into a bare-handed grapple against Atofe Ratofe Ryback and her honor guard, and TOHO animation's official scene-playback clip is just as fixated on that one detail as the fans are. Across the clip's 323 comments, the top reaction — 1,381 likes — simply reconfirms what everyone already suspected: Zanoba really is a monstrously strong "Saint," someone born with overwhelming physical power but no magic to speak of, because he's the only person on screen fighting with his bare hands while everyone else swings a weapon.

From there the thread splits into a running bit about Atofe's honor guard getting comically manhandled — one commenter jokes that a side character gets covered in what a follow-up note has to clarify is "just wine, not actual vomit" — and a genuine disagreement over how strong Atofe actually is. Several viewers thank the Immortal Demon King for visibly holding back against Zanoba, but at least one anime-only commenter pushes back, saying the fight made her look less intimidating than expected; a reply, careful to avoid spoiling ahead of the anime, describes the exchange as one-sided "professional wrestling" — an immortal king can afford to take every hit and never counter.

By the end, most of the thread has moved on to admiring the choreography itself, especially a moment where Zanoba appears to be shielding Atofe's face specifically so she can keep casting spells mid-grapple.

TOHO animation's official channel posted a "memorable scene" cut from Mushoku Tensei III Episode 10, "Audience with the Immortal Demon King," and this half of the clip covers Zanoba's fight against Atofe Ratofe Ryback and her honor guard. Zanoba wades in completely unarmed while everyone else on screen is swinging a weapon or casting magic, and ends up holding his own against one of the setting's supposedly unkillable demon kings with his bare hands. The channel split the encounter into multiple uploads, and this one is entirely focused on the physical grappling before the fight moves anywhere else.

That reputation for absurd durability gets backed up almost immediately — commenters point out Zanoba isn't just strong, he's built like a weapon himself, tough enough that his own body outclasses the gear everyone around him is using.

From there, the thread moved on to the fight's more comedic beats — starting with the way Zanoba's bear-hug grapple lands on Atofe, which several commenters found funnier for how differently it reads once it's actually animated instead of just described in the novels.

Zanoba wasn't the only one taking hits, either. Atofe's honor guard got dragged into the slapstick too, including a side character whose treatment in this scene the comments joked has basically become the show's running punchline, plus one gag the thread had to correct itself on.

The one real disagreement in the thread was over how strong Atofe actually is, once the fight itself was over and viewers started comparing notes. Several commenters were simply grateful the fight wasn't a real one.

By the time the clip ends, nobody in the comments is worried about Zanoba losing. They're too busy arguing about whether the immortal king he just wrestled to a standstill was even trying, and swapping theories about how much room she's actually got left to escalate if the fight keeps going in the next part of the scene.