Mushoku Tensei_ Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu (TV 1)

Title:Mushoku Tensei_ Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu (TV 1)
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (TV 1)
無職転生 ~異世界行ったら本気だす (TV 1)
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , ,
Notables: KAKUMA Ai
KAYANO Ai
KOHARA Konomi
UCHIYAMA Yumi
A 34-year old 'jobless, reclusive bum' ventures out onto the streets only to be hit by a truck (a very common cause of death in Japan nowadays, apparently). He finds himself reincarnated as an infant in a sword-and-sorcery alternate reality--but somehow retains his memories of his previous life. His mother is a witch and his father a knight. His new name is Rudeus ('Rudy') and seeing as he has been endowed with a good deal of magical ability he resolves to make something of himself in this world to compensate for his ignominious previous life.

11 episodes


see also: Mushoku Tensei - Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu (TV 2) and Mushoku Tensei II - Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu (TV 3).
Episode Details 
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OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent Stretch [series:4252#628]
(All episodes watched):

This show was fun. Typically, in his new life Rudy happens to have a lot of potential as a magician--no Isekai series would go far if that precondition were not met. But there are unusual touches, like him being reborn as a baby, and not understanding the language that his parents speak (I didn't quite get how he suddenly became able to do so--magic, maybe?). Another blessing that is bestowed upon him is that whatever issues he had that kept him a recluse for twenty years seem to have vanished. But for the most part this story makes sense and we get to know our protagonist who seems a likable if imperfect character. Having the mind of a grown man, he finds his mother to be pretty hot. Rudy quickly gets to work learning how to handle magic, and seems like a prodigy to his parents. They hire a female magician, Roxy Migurdia, to tutor him. Thankfully, computerized screens don't just pop up out of thin air here for characters to keep track of their points and whatnot. The whole premise still seemed pretty fresh and fun after an episode, whereas many premises are little more than a quick joke which are not followed up on. The title suggests that Rudy regrets his previous life and is determined to make people respect him. I wonder how he will do that.

Episode two includes ugly memories of the bullying and humiliation Rudy underwent in his past life. It felt pretty sad; this guy was not just lazy, he was emotionally fucked-up and needed professional help but wasn't getting it. In his new life he retains a fear of strangers as a result, but quickly shakes it off, which is quite unrealistic. I think it was a major mistake to casually portray him as a pervert, presumably to draw a few more viewers from the lowest tier, since that undermines whatever sympathy the viewer might have felt for him (at an ANN forum, a person who had read the manga said he hadn't been nearly as degenerate there). When Roxy departs after teaching Rudy everything she knows, it felt like he had matured and healed a good deal, and we learn his death at the hands of a truck was an act of self-sacrifice. So, we are getting mixed signals; is Rudy a good guy or not? He probably is.

In episode three Rudy makes a new friend, Sylph, who is a half-elf. The episode is partly about standing up to bullying, even if you get little or no thanks from anyone, and partly about a predictable incident where Rudy discovers that Sylph's sex is not what he had assumed. In other words, more mixed signals. On a side note, I think this was the first time in prime time anime that I (briefly) saw a penis. I don't really have any idea where this is going, but it is more sophisticated than the all too common shows that clearly have nothing but the porn to attract viewers. Things get awkward in episode four when it becomes known that Paul, Rudy's father, has been having an affair. Rudy engineers a sort of compromise to keep the family from breaking up. Again, sexuality is employed, but on a more complex level than the usual 'Oops, I tripped and fell with my hand on your boobs' stuff. Paul ships Rudy off to the city of Roa to serve as a tutor, partly to finance his magical education and partly as punishment for what he did during the affair. He will be teaching a rather obnoxious privledged girl (where have I seen that before?) named Elis and no doubt before long they will find themselves in a suggestive situation. The more I learn, the more it seems that the makers of this anime did indeed take considerable liberties with the manga to spice it up, and the general opinion seems to be that the end result was that it was cheapened somewhat. Oh well.

For the most part, I really didn't see the 'jobless reincarnation' theme here. The implication is that the story of this guy's new life will be different from that of a conventional, hard-working person, but other than occasional painful memories anybody could have lived this life. He basically starts fresh (and of course he was really an admirable person who sacrificed his life for someone else's sake), so there's little if anything to set his new life apart. Hasn't he set an ambitious and self-confident goal of earning enough to attend a magic academy? That's not something a downtrodden bum would do. The message seems to be that if you are listless and unmotivated, all you need is to be reincarnated in an alternate reality and have formidable magical abilities. This is all a disappointment to me; it means that this show won't be as novel and original as it had first seemed. I'd much rather have had a protagonist who is struggling with all too real problems than one who is basically a pervert. I wonder at times why the jobless reincarnation suffix was included at all.

Okay, here it is, in episode nine. Rudy briefly reverts to his Japanese NEET persona in a dreamlike near-death experience in which he encounters someone who claims to be a God. This was a fairly surprising and almost mind-blowing turn. Rudy feels he has been screwed and this God person is just getting a laugh at his expense, but ultimately he is told that his new life will resume. This wasn't really the result of any choice that Rudy made, it's more a matter of him just being informed that this is the way things are going to be (and here's a little advice). I kind of wonder why it was necessary for such a mind-blowing scene to be included when in the end things proceed pretty much as they would have even if it had been omitted. Will we ever encounter this God again? But at least a new arc has definitely taken off, as Rudy and Elis find themselves far from home and among the feared and hated Superd race, who fortunately seem to have gotten a bad rap.

Mushoku- had seemed like a relatively unusual isekai series, what with Rudy's childhood, making friends, learning magic, etc, rather than doing video game-like things like joining a adventurer's guild. But he and Elis do just that in episode ten. I hope the makers hadn't run out of fresh ideas at this point. Nevertheless, Rudy uses a clever trick to advance through the stultifying rank system. Also, their guide/escort acts something more like the notorious Superd of legend. Episode 11 (I wasn't aware that this would be the final episode of the season) was pretty good, with Rudy making a deadly mistake and learning a genuine lesson from it. The season ended on a high mark, with possibly the most interesting arc so far underway. It was not made clear when (or if) the series would resume. Despite all my problems with it, Mushoku- remained a enjoyable show. After all, it wouldn't have had nearly as many problems if it had been more simplistic, but it wouldn't have been nearly as enjoyable either.

Last updated Monday, March 29 2021. Created Sunday, January 17 2021.

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