Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation

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An absolutely phenomenal fantasy series, after bingeing the anime I found myself craving more Mushoku Tensei, and I was not disappointed. The light novels are brilliantly written, and maintains a similar feel to the anime (which is to expected lol)
Turning point 4 came as a complete shock to me and really propelled the already great series into new heights. After turning point 4 the story really found its stride and the ensuing arcs were some of the best in the entire seires (anime onlines have a lot to look forward to!)
The ending was also perfect and made me tear up, that's all I'm gonna say.

So ... if you haven't already, go read Mushoku Tensei! you won't be disappointed.

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 progression. 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.

The 2010s. The era where the question of whether something should exist seemed to lose its relevance, as practically anything thrown at the wall seemed to stick.

This particular story falls into the category of "should not exist," as it lacks purpose and depth, offering little more than wish fulfillment since the idea that escaping to another world is a solution to the challenges of the present one is both simplistic and flawed.

And The decline from cinematic quality to mere H-animation in the anime & multiple directors quitting reflects that even people working on this can perceive the shallowness of the storytelling. Who else can see ... that better than the people working MONTHS on bringing this story to the animation medium and deciding to LEAVE?

This story simply epitomizes lazy writing, where minimal effort is evident, allowing for countless clones to flood the market. The absence of genuine effort means ANYONE, including the people who read this, could replicate it effortlessly, as has been seen in the abundance of similar narratives saturating the Japanese market.

Story or Plot? Non existent. His journey is as pointless as this entire series. Its all set up from start to finish to string you along until the author runs out of ideas and quietly laughs at all the suckers that bought it. This isn't a story. This is an exercise of checking out all the boxes that certain types of people would enjoy and lie that it helped them. This written exercise only offers temporary escapism for certain people and will leave them more damaged in the long run because one cannot yell the MC name and expect for life to go a certain way in the modern world. Its Flawed logic since people won't get things in life on minimal effort. Something that happens to the MC regularly: learning magic with ease, getting the girls with no effort, getting financial security throughout with minimal effort etc. This is just how a lot people think life should be going for them and after they read this they think they can get something similar. The road to self-improvement doesn't work like this. And I bet most fans praising this realized this after a while of putting it down and its whats causing the inevitable downfall of this story. So please to all the die-hard fans. Stop. This doesn't offer anything real about self-improvement. Bocchi The Rock has a coherent narrative about self improvement and that's why it became a top IP with a fraction of the time and volumes published.


Characters? Forgettable. They only exist to make the MC not seem so bad which is laughable to see people say: this is realism. Yeah. I bet you won't hang out with the characters in this dreck if you met someone similar because they would be those people who end up alone once they hit a certain age but this is why this story exists. For those type of people that think this is how realism works because the internet is filled with people talking the exact way these characters are but you wont see them talking like this in the real world. So what realism are they talking about? I do not know.

I think this story gained traction because the pandemic put the entire world in a bad mental state and part of the world still doesn't realized the general population is over that. So many people calling this peak are back to their senses and are leaving social media apps in droves realizing they've have been hijacked by those who choose to keep praising these things. Heck, companies that were racking money off clicks are closing because they're realizing how small that group of people truly are and don't speak on general taste. Yup. And for the love of god, please, MT fans stop comparing Frieren to this dreck. Yall look desperate by trying to ride Frieren's hype.

There's a reason why Frieren took the world by storm like it did and this one is being talked up solely by failing YT channels and irrelevant anime sites. Its simply what this thing and many isekai promised to be and never delivered. Its been a decade of isekais and one fantasy story with depth has more impact on the manga culture than Slime itself.


And Honestly, For those seeking substance and genuine fantasy that has been missing in the fantasy genre for what seems to be a DECADE OR MORE, "Frieren" stands as a stark contrast. Its depth and quality serve as a reminder of the shortcomings of such lazy wish-fulfillment narratives created by the isekai genre.