Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 無職転生～異世界行ったら本気だす～

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Information

Type: Light Novel

Volumes: 26

Chapters: 330

Status: Finished

Published: Jan 23, 2014 to Nov 25, 2022

Genre: Fantasy

Themes: Isekai, Reincarnation

Serialization: None

Authors: Rifujin na Magonote (Story), Sirotaka (Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.81¹ (scored by 35,228 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #33²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #178

Members: 83,551

Favorites: 7,640

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8.81

Ranked #33Popularity #178Members 83,551

Light NovelRifujin na Magonote (Story), Sirotaka (Art)

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Volumes: /26

Chapters: /330

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Synopsis

Killed while saving a stranger from a traffic collision, a 34-year-old NEET is reincarnated into a world of magic as Rudeus Greyrat, a newborn baby. With knowledge, experience, and regrets from his previous life retained, Rudeus vows to lead a fulfilling life and not repeat his past mistakes.

Now gifted with a tremendous amount of magical power as well as the mind of a grown adult, Rudeus is seen as a genius in the making by his new parents. Soon, he finds himself studying under powerful warriors, such as his swordsman father and a mage named Roxy Migurdia—all in order to hone his apparent talents. But despite his innocent exterior, Rudeus is still a perverted otaku, who uses his wealth of knowledge to make moves on women whom he could never make in his previous life.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu is a web novel that was serialized on Shousetsuka ni Narou website from November 22, 2012 to April 3, 2015. It made repeated appearances on site's rankings as the most popular work during its serialization. Media Factory published the first volume on January 23, 2014.

The series was published in English as Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation by Seven Seas Entertainment under the Airship imprint from May 21, 2019 to March 12, 2024.

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Related Manga

Alternative version:	Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu, Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu - Shitsui no Majutsushi-hen
Spin-off:	Mushoku Tensei: Roxy datte Honki desu, Mushoku Tensei: 4-koma ni Nattemo Honki Dasu, Mushoku Tensei: Eris wa Honki de Kiba wo Togu
Side story:	Mushoku Tensei: Dasoku-hen
Adaptation:	Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu, Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu Part 2, Mushoku Tensei II: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu, Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu - Eris no Goblin Toubatsu, Mushoku Tensei II: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu - Shugo Jutsushi Fitz, Mushoku Tensei II: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu Part 2

More characters
Characters

Migurdia, Roxy

Main

Greyrat, Rudeus

Main

Greyrat, Eris Boreas

Main

Sylphiette

Main

Sara

Supporting

Orsted

Supporting

Superdia, Ruijerd

Supporting

Dedoldia, Ghislaine

Supporting

Greyrat, Zenith

Supporting

Greyrat, Paul

Supporting

Reviews

Mar 17, 2024

Mega14343

Recommended

If you want a long story short, if you saw the anime and liked it, read the novel. If you saw the anime and didn't like it, don't read this.
If you'd like a slightly more in dept review, continue reading.

This novel is the story of Rudeus Greyrat, there are other works set in this world, but this novel is complete by itself.
This is not your tipical isekai story. The story is slow-paced, and sometimes you will revisit scenes by another character's perspective. The fights are also more about the meanting/situation behind them than actual crazy powers.
Again, this isn't the general isekai story.
That said, I do ...

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Apr 11, 2024

TheScarletCutter

Mixed Feelings

For a very long time, Mushoku Tensei was one of the most exciting LN series I’ve gotten into when it came out. It has a very interesting case where it takes some very basic ideas from your typical Isekai and how it uses them in a compelling way. It creates a story that shows how you can learn from your mistakes and how your journey goes despite your mixed vision. This would make for a very good series… Or in this respect, you SHOULD have one. While I’ve been very curious every time a chapter has been released, as time goes on, this has turned ... out to be one of the most disappointing series ever. I don’t even mean that in a sense that makes it horrible but in the end, this falls under a definition of “wasted potential”. It has interesting elements, sure, but it doesn’t utilize them quite well.

Before I get into my problems, I should first explain what the plot is about. Mushoku Tensei starts with a 34-year-old fat bastard who has been kicked out of his family and wandering around the streets. Eventually, he would get killed by a truck and teleported to another world. And in that world, he is first reincarnated as a child named “Rudeus”. With this, he sets his goal on when to redeem himself after knowing what he was in the past. Now looking at this, it would make for a compelling story. A guy who got his ass kicked so many times to the point where he got reincarnated and starts everything from scratch is something I truly admire a lot. I really like how even for a power fantasy, it sets up a presentation where it shows you how you could challenge yourself. It may be hard to understand, sure, but I’d say it’s a great plot to look at.

However, that’s where my possible praise towards the series ends here. Look further at the series and you’ll notice something off. Now what Mushoku has to offer seems great. But I find that the amount of fanservice involved felt either grating or unnecessary. I must admit that Rudeus being a weirdo isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I think it’s part of his character as it adds more challenge to his problem. The problem is with how it’s handled. The series for the most part uses him as a goofy molester with little insights to place. He gets away with disgusting shit with very little consequences and that’s almost out of character. I’ll explain Rudeus later on. But I feel like Rudeus isn’t the only victim of this. Other characters that act as weirdos also tend to be gross with next to no context. Do you know the scene about the Roxy figurine? That’s my example of how the fanservice went wrong. The series tends to reallocate a lot of its story elements into what feels averagely gross.

Hell, even ignoring the juvenile fanservice entirely, the series’ very important aspects are pretty mid. It is way too plot-driven for its own good. You know how the story is about a reincarnated being setting his journey to learn from his mistakes? In this respect, that element is barely present in the series. The series doesn’t utilize much on that and instead, relies too much on drama that felt either cheap or filler. That aspect I’m talking about is admittedly present, sure, but the story tries too hard to use it by throwing in elements of surprises that aren’t even terrible but tend to keep the writing quality in check. Another problem I’d like to point out is the exposition. Mushoku takes too long to set up what contributes to the plot and even if we get there, what we want to see is rushed all thanks to the previous problems I just talked about a while ago.

Although these problems do invade the series from left to right, there is one more scene I would like to cover, and that in itself manages to save the series, even though it’s not too big or anything like that. Of course, what I’m referring to is the dance scene. It’s not your average dancing presentation where it is for style, it also adds charm to it that connects with the series’ main objective well. It truly shows the nature of Rudeus’ progression and elevates the amount of characterization he has alongside his chemistry with Eris (and too bad, the potential of both Rudy and especially Eris is thrown away later on).

The characters… Oh boy, now where do I begin with them? Let’s start with the main cast, most notably Rudeus, the key character, and the neet, Roxy, a goddess and mentor of Rudy, Eris, the goblin slayer, and Sylphiette, the childhood friend.

Starting with Rudy, he’s honestly weird. I already mentioned how he has interesting characteristics hindered by a certain gimmick. He’s supposed to be the kind of boy (or man) who sets his goals to achieve what he needs in order to refrain from what he did wrong back then with his obsession being his big obstacle and while that is interesting, in practice, him being a weirdo with little consequences for the most part gets in the way of his development. He pretty much molests girls he sees and yet, almost all of them weren’t addressed. But this doesn’t matter because, after all, it’s “part of his character” from now. Yeah, no. That’s like saying “Oh but mom, that “dildo” you call it is still a toy so it’s still kid-friendly”. It doesn’t work like that. The worst part? Rudy hasn’t changed at all. The first 10 chapters pretty much cemented his intended development. After that, he kinda remains to be the same loser he is. Not a bad character by any means, I’ll admit that he gets some development from the middle portions of the series but still, we could see better.

The female leads, however, are pretty much the worst offenders of the series. But first, let me make an exception. I like Roxy and she’s a decent character overall. Her role as a mentor is solid and her dynamics with Rudy are passable. Not the greatest but they definitely hold value. The other girls… not so much… Eris is stupid for the wrong reasons. In fact, she’s the worst character in the whole story. Her dynamics with Rudy are cliched and make no sense. On one hand, her rudeness is off the charts, and just pushes him. On the other hand, her confessions seem rather silly and rushed. And that’s ignoring how she’s been cockblocking Rudy for half of the series, Hell, Rudy would be a lot better venturing around without her. Sylphy, while not as bad as Eris, is just really boring. Yeah, she’s a big friend (or love interest, if any) of Rudeus but that’s about it. Half of the time, she’s merely a plot device to push Rudy’s character further with no unique substance within herself.

Side characters are ones I either don’t care or get annoyed at. Half of the side cast is just there to keep the story’s pacing in check. They aren’t too bad like heck, I prefer most of them over the main cast, but you know, they’re just walking mannequins with brains and feelings. The other half is what also pisses me off. Remember when I said that Rudy is a weirdo for giggles? Most, if not all of that logic applies to those bastards. Again, they are creeps with nothing else and they become big pushovers at this point. Now, of course, there’s another exception I have in mind and that would be Ruijerd. Ruijerd is interesting because of how he guides half of the main cast and how his development is connected to his backstory. Not much to say here honestly, he’s also a decent character.

I genuinely have very mixed feelings about the series but there’s one last aspect I would like to talk about and that is the batch of volume cover illustrations the light novel contains. While yes, they’re superficial and are not counted, they are the best parts of the series. The art style is very pleasing to look at. The details are excellent and the coloring is both balanced and adequate. The character designs, even for non-isekai standards, have a lot of heart to them and fit well with each character, regardless of simplicity and complexity.

And those are my opinions on Mushoku Tensei’s light novel. The real question is: is it good or bad? To me, that’s a difficult question. On one hand, it has among the most enticing build-ups a series could ever hope for all because of how it creates its intended story. But on the other hand, it’s filled with a handful of decisions and exposition that tend to limit its writing. To me, Mushoku Tensei is alright. It offers what tends to be pleasing and it actually tries. It’s just that how it tackles its plot point as well as the character writing tends to be on the mixed side. Apart from 1 and 2 characters, the cast could have been a lot more logical with their statistics and objectives. While the art covers are amazing and something I can’t forget, overall, this series… exists, and that’s how it is ‘ahem’ at least to me.

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Sep 23, 2023

Deago

Not Recommended

— PREMISE —
Mushoku Tensei, the beloved 'crème de la crème' of light novels, written by Rifujin na Magonote. The story revolves around a 34-year-old Japanese ugly fat paedophile NEET pathetic loser who was run over by a speeding truck and dies. He then embarks on a second chance in a fantastical world replete with magic and swords. You can't get more generic isekai than this.

— IMPACT —
Undoubtedly, Mushoku Tensei bears a significant influence on the trope of reincarnation into another world, emblematic of the isekai subgenre. The novel even contributes to the proliferation of the well-worn 'reincarnation via truck-kun' cliché, thereby augmenting the saturation of ...

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So about the ending [SPOILER ALERT] NiQ1 - Mar 4	10 replies	by Azuchi »» Mar 21, 9:41 AM
Poll: Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu Volume 24 Discussion (END) ( 1 2 ) -Karoshi- - Apr 4, 2015	70 replies	by Junichi_Hashiba »» Mar 20, 1:30 PM
why the LN changed volume numbers? TierraRobada - Feb 29	1 replies	by Roy2Epic »» Mar 1, 3:34 AM
"Mushoku Tensei" LN Series by Yuka Fujikawa, Rifujin na Magonote has 14.85 million copies (including Manga, Spin-offs, Digital) in circulation. deg - Feb 21	15 replies	by _gt_ohn »» Feb 29, 6:30 PM
Poll: Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu Volume 11 Discussion -Karoshi- - Aug 8, 2014	17 replies	by TierraRobada »» Feb 23, 1:32 AM

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