I watch too much anime. And because I regularly find myself running out of shows to watch, I often find myself browsing anime recommendation subreddits and reading “best upcoming anime” lists. As a result, I’ve recently spotted a lot of people (and even a few well-known websites) recommending an anime that I am, unfortunately, already well acquainted with:Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation.
If you’re unfamiliar withMushoku Tensei…good. Close this tab and leave things there. But if you have heard ofMushoku Tenseiand you’re tempted to watch the wildly popular anime which is often called “controversial,” I understand. After all, I too felt the call when its first season dropped in 2021.
There’s a pedophilic elephant in the room we have to address before we go much further, but I want to preface this by stating thatMushoku Tensei’swell-known problematic story elements are not the only issue here. Don’t get me wrong, the fact that the protagonist of the story is a 50-year-old groomer in the body of a teenager certainly isn’t a positive for me, but there’s another, simpler reason I cannot recommend that you waste your time onMushoku Tensei: it’s just poorly written.
Let’s get the positive stuff out of the way first, because there are reasons thatMushoku Tenseiis so widely praised: Studio Bind’s animation is incredible, the world-building is top-notch, and the character designs are, for the most part, genuinely cool. Rifujin na Magonote, the pen name of the author behindMushoku Tensei, has crafted a compelling setting with a magic system that has well-defined rules and limitations—I just wish a different writer would have filled said world with better characters and a story that actually makes sense.
For the uninitiated,Mushoku Tenseiis about a 34-year-old man who dies and gets reincarnated as a baby into a fantasy realm called the Six-Faced World. His new parents name him Rudeus Greyrat, and, as a result of him retaining both his consciousness and his memories, they immediately assume him to be a magical prodigy.
It’s a standard setup as far as isekai anime go, and although the fanbase often likes to refer to it as the “godfather” and originator of the genre, several isekai manga, such asMagic Knight Rayearth, predateMushoku Tenseiby several decades. However, being unoriginal isn’t a crime, especially where isekais are concerned, so what’s the issue?
Rudeus Greyrat is the issue. He is selfish, cringe-inducing, and spends the entirety of the story perving on girls in their teens. Yet the problem here isn’t just that he’s an immoral loser; it’s thatMushoku Tensei’sstory implies that Rudeus is on a journey of self-realization and redemption. He was a piece of shit when he died in our world, but this is his second chance, and he regularly proclaims that he wants to change and evolve into a better, more righteous version of himself.
But does he? Spoilers inbound, but no. He actually getsworseas the story progresses. The finale of the first season culminates in Rudeus and his companion Eris having sex. Really, though, considering Eris was 9 when she met Rudeus, who was mentally 41 years old but physically 7 years old, and Eris is 15 years old (making Rudeus mentally 47 years old and physically 13 years old) when the season finale occurs… let’s just call a spade a spade. They didn’t sleep together; Rudeus groomed a child.
But, again, it’s not just that this is gross and that Rudeus (or the author for that matter) doesn’t seem to perceive this as a problem; it goes against the redemption arc thatMushoku Tenseiis trying to sell. There’s nothing wrong with having a protagonist be an awful person, nor is it an issue if they never learn from their mistakes. The problem is thatMushoku Tenseinever punishes Rudeus or even addresses his greater faults, yet it still pretends that he’s becoming a better person.
In fact, season two actually attempts to make you feel sorry for Rudeus, because the 47-year-old man becomes so sad that the 15-year-old Eris leaves him that he—I shit you not—spends the entirety of the 24-episode-long season attempting to combat depression-induced erectile dysfunction. And how does he get over it? By forming a harem, which consists of a 16-year-old that Rudeus met when she was 5 and a 50-year-old who met Rudeus when he was 3. Christ, even typing this just makes me feel like I’ve been put on some kind of list.
The author of this grooming-based harem story disguised as a fantasy isekai has either refused or forgotten to give Rudeus a comeuppance for these crimes, and instead rewards him for them, so again, a “redemption arc” this is not. To that end, I’d like to formally request that people stop tricking unsuspecting anime enjoyers into watching this—not just because it’s problematic, but because it’s problematicandcrap.
If you really need a new isekai to watch, just watchReborn as a Vending Machineinstead. It’s not good, but at least the vending machine isn’t a sex criminal.
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