Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (Light Novel) Vol. 1

無職転生: 異世界行ったら本気だす [Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu] #1

by Rifujin na Magonote

At long last, the original light novels for the fan-favorite isekai hit!

An unemployed otaku has just reached the lowest point in his life. He wants nothing more than the ability to start over, but just as he thinks it may be possible…he gets hit by a truck and dies! Shockingly, he finds himself reborn into an infant’s body in a strange new world of swords and magic.

His identity now is Rudeus Greyrat, yet he still retains the memories of his previous life. Reborn into a new family, Rudeus makes use of his past experiences to forge ahead in this fantasy world as a true prodigy—gifted with maturity beyond his years and a natural born talent for magic. With swords instead of chopsticks and spell books instead of the Internet, can Rudeus redeem himself in this wondrous yet dangerous land?

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Manga, Fiction, Magic, Japanese Literature, Audiobook

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 2014

Reviews

[Tamara · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is probably the most influential isekai novel since it is actually considered as ''The God Father of Modern Isekai'' by a lot of people because it popularized the reincarnation sub-genre of isekai while establishing a number of common isekai tropes...THAT I FUCKING HATE MORE THAN ANYTHING... Hence the reason why I just can't bring myself giving it A high praise or a higher rating.

FIRST, LETS TALK ABOUT POSITIVES;

The story revolves around on a 34-year old NEET who meets his death through a speeding truck and then finds himself reborn as Rudeus Greyrat in a world of sword and sorcery. Seeing this as an opportunity to assume his new identity, Rudeus embarkes on a coming-of-age journey which proved to be more satisfying than what he ever experienced in his past life. This is THE isekai, a slow-burn story with literally a lifetime of character development. Protagonist ages through the story and the story follows him from birth to death quite literally and even though it comes way too late, happens not enough amount, there IS character development.

Unlike The Beginning After the End, the MC isn’t overpowered here. Sure, the main character, Rudeus, has all the elemental magic and is a talented mage, but we find Rudeus struggling in more situations than he prevails. Another awesome things is seeing the way Rudeus working for his powers, unlike most isekai heroes. He reads books, practices his spell casting, and works on his sword-fighting technique. It’s not like he was reborn as a god. There are plenty of times he is too weak to win a fight. He's also a imperfect main character; lots of characters here are imperfect actually to the point it kinda makes you hate them, kinda makes them great because a few of them have great redemption arcs.


NOW, HERE COMES THE RANT AND REASONS FOR THE ONE STAR RATING;

The story is one of the ''first'' modern isekai and it shows. It's why it sounds so generic and has a neet/deadbeat MC who is a overtly perverted, every flavor of waifu, sword and magic world etc. Yes, the story is very good, but it's also very overrated. This isn't the end-all-be-all isekai. It's your harem, ecchi, fantasy on medium difficulty. There's a story there. It's pretty good, and the rest is a "how I'd change my life for the better if I could have a do-over" power fantasy. A lot of times it felt like the story seemed to stay too stale for its own good at times, and the author uses shock factor techniques to spike interest. Such as Paul's death and Zenith's state in the later arcs. Although, those were great moments in the overall story, it is easy to see that those things were added mechanically to give drama to the overall plot.

I think that people are hyping this up way too much. I'd maybe put this on par with a lot of other isekai but it's nowhere close to Re: zero. Starting life in another world: 1 -which actually started before this one. It's kinda funny when you think about it, how Re-Zero appeared first yet it feels like a deconstruction of the isekai cliches and a reponse against previously published isekai works, when in actually Re-Zero started before a lot of other isekai and before many of the cliches in the genre fully established and-

...EHM. BACK TO THE POINT....

The story has a lot of unnecessary sexualization, misogynistic comments and content and sometimes the pedophile main character spoils all the enjoyment. If you actually read into the sexual comments that interrupt the story every a few pages (or if you're watching the anime; every two minutes) they aren’t just random. They’re really sexist and offensive. I feel like Mushoku Tensei uses sex and female submission as an allegory for masculinity and power and I fucking hate the way its done. Female characters either fulfill their misogynistic role of being oversexualized and then magically disappear or they stay but downgrade into oversexualized pet rocks who have no other contributions to the overall plot.

For example; we have an emotional moment where our "hero" thanks to his teacher, Roxy, for everything she did for him only to see him next sniffing her panties in the next scene. Or how about when we learn Rudeus's father raped the maid, then we see him cheating on his wife and punching his child? Rudeus then goes on to say that even though his dad is an asshole, he still thinks he’s pretty cool. Why? Because he’s slept with so many women!



WHAT. THE. FUCK.

He also convinces his mother to forgive his father for cheating on her. Then supriiiiseeee suprise The MC himself becomes the same kind of cheating scum later on.

Sure, the said ''cool father'' has a redempation arc that happens later in the story but he and the main chracter were BOTH still assholes and I HAD TO ENDURE THESE SHIT CHARACTERS A LOT.

Should I give you more examples? Like; not really big spoilers but;
✅ how our main character Masturbates on his parents funeral day
✅ or oh look my Mom got abducted? Let me forget about her, live my life chilling with my girls. Who cares if something might have happed my mom like getting raped all day?

UGH (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

It seems there are a lot of people who say that Mushoku Tensei’s sexual comments are just a part of its “mature themes” because it İs “realistic”.

HAHAHAHAHA.

NO.

There are so many things wrong about this statement.

The story constantly uses sexual comments as jokes and as a way to show respect for men who have slept with other girls and maybe it's cool for you, maybe I'm a girl and this is why I hate this stuff but umm, this is the same thing as a middle schooler braging to everyone about how many girls have given him head, you know that right? Is this how the ''mature content'' supposed to be?

ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

NOT FOR ME.

Overall, even though they had redemptation arcs, male characters are unlikeable as most of them are portrayed as perverts or cheaters and female characters seem to mostly exist for fanservice and to fall for the MC. I also cant take the romance seriously because how weird all the pairings are.

All the stuff I can say about the harem and polygamy here might either make you hate the story or love it. I dont want to fill this review with rapid cursing so I'm gonna stop myself. All I can say is I am just so disappointed with the manga and anime industry for not considering the female fans and viewers in this kind of stories. I know that Anime and manga in japan caters to a male perspective, hence the reason why I've been reading Korean ones instead of manga recently, but is it so fucking hard to write male characters who arent perverted creeps that treat women as sexual objects in these stories? Thats all I'm asking mangakas. Thats all I'm asking.

What is funny to me is how Author of Musho sells his story for specific peeps as he claims is for those who are not sucessful and low on society but then procceds to show one of the worsts kind of MC that exist and gets angry when its story is bashed for it.

Like, what were you expecting buddy?

I cant believe the author itself believes that the bottom-feeders of society are like that (when in truth only a small fraction is like that.

There might be some people thinking this review is just another case of applying modern day morals and standards to a fantasy novel and argue how bad it is but excuse me, I am fine with flawed characters, I just dont like trashy ones.

[atmatos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixed feelings are mixed.

It's fun, addicting, and crack like.

I can deal with the H aspect of it, cause well it's flowing like a dating game...or what I think a dating game would be like if I had ever played one. It's definitely flowing like a harem, or reverse harem manga/anime.

I don't know.

I am torn.

It has some good points.

It just has a really bad point.

So mixed feelings are mixed.

I am going to try book two, cause I do like the main story line.

The story is just sitting on a very fine line.

Depending on which way it falls...

We'll see.

[Pablo García · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation by Rifujin Magonote
I do not recommend this light novel/web novel, both the author and its main character Rudeus Grayrat are modest, underachievers, wimps, cowards. #FAIL
Jobless reincarnation light novel is about a guy that reincarnates (from a shut in neet in his early 30's) into a family Grayrat, but never is able to overcome his cowardice, perverted, low intelligence/low education, lack of values, under achiever attitude. Rudeus is faced with very many challenges, his family and friends gone missing, his first student (a cousin of his) leaving him after losing his (he is 13 years old and mentally in his early 40's) virginity to her (she is 15 years old) (this misunderstanding, promotes in him, by him, sexual impotence for 3 years). During those 3-4 years instead of searching for his missing Dad, Mom, Sister, half-sister and half-mom, he decides to try to discover a cure for his sexual impotence (lacks all logic and priorities). Rudeus is the cause of his father's death, never finds a solution for his mother's mental recovery/sickness, treats his half-sister/half-mother as maids for life. Rudeus uses the excuse of his father's death (because he was responsible) to get involved intimately with his magic teacher (cheats on his first wife and daughter) then promotes his own polygamy marrying his teacher and making her his second wife. Rudeus never really defeats anyone powerful (except maybe wyvern(s)), loses and runs away from (human god, dragon god, death god, 3 sword kings, 2 sword gods), Rudeus is jailed naked in the Beastman kingdom forest because he was accused of trying to have sexual relations with the Beastman protector god. Rudeus is the biggest bully in the University and he never goes to class. As an old man, finds a device to be able to come back from the future, after he loses and screws up his wives, his family and his life. It's a really depressing story, it shows how the author has very little knowledge, ethical values, or imagination. It's sad that is was made into an anime because the main character is a failure whose only positive trait is that he has an overwhelming capacity to use magic. What scares me the most, is the talk on the web that it should be considered the "BEST" of 2021. With an obvious lack of positive values, positive role models, this series should not be considered even "good".

[Akshat Verma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Heyy !!! Look A depressed pedophile changes his life which means he is not just depressed anymore but still a pedophile!!!!!
Some would say there are many nuances in the story such as :
The Father being a rapist and the MC says he respects him because he is Strong.
MC grooming a girl!
MC grooming another girl!!
MC having pedo thoughts about his sister.
MC having pedo thoughts about his other sister.
MC eventually ending up with both the girls he groomed/assaulted.
Such a nuanced Manhwa!!

[Jon Ureña · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars in general, five for an isekai.

These days I don’t read much, and when I do I prefer to read manga. If I delve into novels, it’s usually light novels that also have a manga counterpart, but for which the manga is the inferior product. And my favorite genre these days has become isekai, an extraordinarily popular genre in Japan that is entirely absent from the West, at least to the extent that you’d lump those individual stories into a category. Isekais are all about people getting transported somehow (more often than not by getting run over by a truck) from dreary old Earth into a fantasy world (more often than not a fantasy version of Europe from back in the Age of Enlightenment, around the time Europeans started dealing with Japan in a systematic manner), where the protagonists will have opportunities that their previous lives didn’t offer. Leaving aside the reasons why this genre is so popular in Japan, and why the fantasy worlds the different protagonists are sent to are so similar, which would be interesting discussions by themselves, it’s obvious that I’ve become so engrossed by stories of this genre recently because I don’t like my life and I can’t do much of anything, so it would be nice if truck-kun would pay me a visit so I could disappear into some other better place. And of the isekai series I’ve been following recently none has enthralled me as much as “Mushoku Tensei”. The anime started airing in this season, and is currently on its ninth episode. It has become so popular that it even surpassed the last season of “Attack on Titan”; quite an achievement given that AoT is a masterpiece.

I haven’t done much research on how “Mushoku Tensei” came to be, but it’s generally considered the grandfather of the modern trend of isekai, to the extent that staples like “Konosuba”, “Re:Zero”, “Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken”, “Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?”, “Youjo Senki” and many, many more would likely not exist if it weren’t for “Mushoku Tensei”. It seems that MT started out as a free web novel, the most humble way a series can start out in Japan. If they become successful they tend to get adapted into light novels published professionally, then they might get a manga series and eventually an anime series, which is the pinnacle of success, given that somehow the Japanese tend to botch all their live action movies. “Mushoku Tensei”, despite being a fantastic story so far, might have gotten its anime series way later than the stories it inspired because it’s, on paper, a very risky series: we follow a hikikomori who has lived as a recluse for around twenty years, after a series of traumatic experiences in school, and who died shortly after he got evicted from his parents’ place by his furious siblings, who caught him masturbating to loli hentai (animated child porn). That’s our protagonist. In the fantasy world he gets transported to he’s born again to a nice family in their early to mid twenties. The protagonist retains his memories and intelligence from his previous life, so he’s a thirty something years old guy stuck in a baby’s body. He quickly shows himself to be a relentless pervert who can’t wait to fondle and suck on his new mother’s breasts (the mother is a very attractive blonde). He also sniffs the maid’s panties (who is freaked out by the protagonist and believes him to be possessed by a demon), and disturbs his scumbag father, as the protagonist shows himself to be far more cunning and level-headed than the adult. Later on, the protagonist is also clearly attracted to both his lovely, teen-looking teacher Roxy, as well as to his best friend Sylphiette, a bullied girl that gets unhealthily attached to the protagonist. The guy can’t wait to groom this vulnerable girl into his ideal girlfriend.

The protagonist's perversion is painted as his fatal flaw, probably the boldest choice I’ve experienced in fiction recently. In the West the main characters’ fatal flaws are usually something relatively mild and sanitized, such as trauma for a dead relative, or having been wronged somehow. The protagonist of “Mushoku Tensei” got bullied hard in his previous life: he said something relatively minor to the wrong person in school, and that ended up becoming an onslaught of bullying that caused stuff such as getting chained naked to a fence while people laughed at his chubby body and his small dick. The bullying didn’t end at school, because they harassed him at his parents’ place as well. While that undeserved trauma can make many in the audience sympathetic for him, his compulsions and the way they corrupt the people around him (mostly the underage female characters) are harder to deal with.

Part of the fun of following the anime adaptation has been watching the YouTube reactors deal in their way with the most risky aspects of this series. Some go in denial, saying that because the protagonist is currently in a child’s body, the narratorial voice (which is that of an adult) doesn’t reflect his actual mental age. Some deny his sexual attraction to the children, even though in the web novel is explicitly stated in the first few pages that when he got evicted he was jerking off to loli hentai. Other reactors just hope that he’s going to grow out of assaulting the children he’s dealing with (the guy has fondled the budding breasts, one of those times as she was sleeping, of a female relative of his, who is only two years older than his kid self). Some reactors proclaim they are going to stop following the series unless the protagonist stops sexually assaulting minors. Personally I don’t give a shit, but then again I preferred “Berserk” back when it was all about demons raping and eating people.

Both the light novel version (at least the first volume I’m reviewing) and the anime adaptation of this series are endearing. This series has a special charm to it which is very hard to achieve: its characters feel real, as if they have real needs and flaws usually absent in most stories. The protagonist’s shortcomings are part of it, but we also have his new parents: Zenith, the mother, is a naïve, hopeful, loving mage who gave up on adventuring when she got pregnant, and Paul, the father, is a well-meaning, womanizing scumbag who despite his best intentions he’s usually controlled by his libido. The family’s maid is a cautious, introverted former sword fighter who had to give up her position due to an injury and some political persecution. Sylphiette, the protagonist’s best friend, is a shy, skittish half-elf who might be part demon, and who gets bullied by her shady heritage but that under the care of the protagonist (when he’s not hoping to get into her child panties) blooms into cheerful, talented magic user. Right at the end of this volume we also meet fan favorite Ghislaine, a scarred, eye patch-wearing, very muscled, scantily clad half-beast. Although she’s a terrifyingly dangerous sword fighter, she’s kind, endearingly dumb and mostly emotionally retarded. The protagonist cares the most for Roxy, his magic teacher, an itinerant demon girl (her kind of demon just lives longer than usual, has purple hair and can speak telepathically with others of her kind). Roxy is guarded and cold to hide her low self-esteem and how isolated she feels among humans, but she’s eager to help others grow. Apart from teaching the protagonist magic, she helps him overcome his trauma-related agoraphobia. By the end of the second episode of the anime adaptation, when the girl leaves to continue travelling the world and learning new stuff, you will miss her along with the protagonist, although in the protagonist’s case, at least he has her stolen panties to remember her by.

As an isekai, this story works so well because we learn most things through the protagonist’s eyes as he tests the limits of his new world. We spent most of the first volume in his new parents’ home, which is located near a small village. We get to know his young parents as they learn how to deal with their first child. We hear them banging every night along with the protagonist. We discover the different races of this world (which are for the most part very similar to humans) as the protagonist comes across them, and we learn the historical issues between the different peoples as either he’s told about them or he experiences them. The protagonist, who by this point of this story is physically a child, is dealt with as one by people who are living their own lives. A particularly bold example of this happens one night when he’s hearing his parents banging in a room nearby, and the protagonist, still awake, goes out into the hallway only to come across his teacher Roxy, who is sitting on the floor by his parents’ room. The young-looking teacher is masturbating as she listens to the young couple having sex as loudly as if nobody lived in half a mile around. Although she realizes she’s been caught, she doesn’t believe that the protagonist understands what he’s seeing, so when the guy leaves, she never addresses it. By the end of this volume the protagonist is sent to a big city quite far away, where he’ll work as a teacher for a violent, bratty noble child who is a sort of distant relative of his. In there he will have to deal with a new set of flawed (seriously flawed in some cases) characters.

I first tried to read the web novel, the original and most raw version of this series, but maybe partly due to the translation I had access to, it needed some serious editing. Thankfully the light novel adaptation is fantastic, so that’s what I’ll follow from now on. When you get into Japanese series and their different versions, it quickly becomes clear that if you want the boldest, riskiest version of the story you need to get as close to the web novel as possible, and this is simultaneously very notorious as well as atypical in the case of “Mushoku Tensei”. For example, in the original web novel the protagonist is evicted from his parents’ home, where he lived as a hikikomori, while he was masturbating to loli hentai. In the manga version, however, they sanitize it into merely playing a videogame. In the original version, Roxy is caught masturbating while listening to the protagonist’s new parents having sex, but in the manga she’s simply aroused. We learn that Paul, the protagonist’s father, actually took the maid’s virginity back when they were learning to become sword fighters; the guy sexually assaulted her as she was sleeping. That fact is absent from the manga as well. Usually the aspects of a story that would bother publishers, as those executive types care more for reaching the widest audience possible, get wiped out the further a Japanese series goes up the levels of adaptations, but very atypically, the anime adaptation of this series is virtually as raw as the original web novel, and even more so in some scenes. Not only this would be risky as hell for any studio, but the studio that is producing “Mushoku Tensei” was formed from artists from other companies specifically to produce MT, wanting to make it into a long-running series. It was a huge gamble that has paid off, not only because of the quality of the story but because of the huge talent of the people involved in bringing the anime to life.

The anime improves the light novel in how it hides most of the internal life of characters other than the protagonist. In the light novel we get some chapters from Paul's (the father) perspective, as well as Zenith's (the mother). Although they illuminate their motivations, I always feel it's stronger if we don't stray from the main character's perspective. It's more immersive that way. However, even in the anime we do get some parts from the maid's perspective, which makes more sense as she's a very introverted, guarded character who doesn't share those insights.

In any case, I love this series so far (the last released episode of the anime must be approaching the end of the second volume of the light novels), and I can’t wait to find out everything this story has to offer.

Just because, here are some scenes from the anime adaptation that would fall in this volume.

-A thirty four years old baby
-Roxy teaching some magic
-Roxy diddling her button
-Paul's womanizing ways almost destroy his family
-Paul being weird about girls and Rudy getting cut off before he clarifies his plans about how to raise Sylphiette
-Ghislaine listens to someone else's very private letter

[Roberto Testino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is a "Must Read book".
Is well written with a lot of details to help you get immerse in the story and the world of Rudeus.
realistic character development not just the MC but also the other characters, it is a slow change resulting of the different realizations that each character reach as they grow up and not just a twist of personality caused by a major event. Great twists in the story. Well is not finish that's is the only bad point and that the MC is a pervert. I pretty much read every chapter publish so a can assure you the quality doesn't drop.

That's all; i just gonna let that the work speak for itself you just read the first volume my friend and you'll see

[AB · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first light novel I have read so far. It was very simple and easy read. It had great pacing too.
The story was fine. It obviously had very lewd elements to it and it was sometimes a bit too much but so far it's fine. I don't mind it. I am gonna pick up the next book and I hope I will like it better. If it keeps at a 3 star, too lewd, middle of the road place, I'd probably have to stop reading this series because light novels are expensive!

[ChandraShekhar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no hopes for the book and it surprised me.
The story is rich with history and magic as one would expect from a Fantasy but they are woven intriguingly.
The main character is a mid-30s pervert who'd been kicked out of his home by his siblings. In an attempt to not feel regret later, decided to save a trio of teenagers from getting hit by a speeding truck, manages to save one but dies instead and reincarnates in another world of magic and monsters with his previous life's memories and experiences intact (not the best sort of experience one would want). He tries to navigate his life at the early age of 2 years to give himself an upper hand in this world as apparently he was a victim of bullying in his past life. He shows immense affinity to magic and teaches himself to learn the new language and read books and try out new spells, which gets noticed by his parents and earns him tutoring at home. His perversion often slips through the daily navigation of his life. I hated those moments but he actively tries to make himself better and yet lets his perverted past self makes some questionable decisions for him. Since there are 25 volumes i hope he tries to make himself a better person and let his past self behind.
I might be an optimistic person who likes to see people grow and give them a second chance as this protagonist got one.
Some of the other reviewers missed this point the novel was trying to make.
That being said, this series is not for everyone and only those who had no problems with 'men leering at women' kind of setting for a novel can be able to brush that aside ( this is set in a medieval type fantasy land after all ).

[Lazybee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical translation litrpg novel. Writing purely based on harem and otaku life style. And what's with sexualising everything.

[fernando · Rating 1 out of 5]

2.5 estrellas
edit 18 de junio de 2023: 1 estrella, no voy a leer los otros

muy mid pero espero que los otros mejoren 👍🏼

18 de septiembre del 2022 ; 14:40

[Artavazdah · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost caught up

[Tyler · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is truly the grandfather of all isekai and yes I mean that in the worst way possible. This LN series is the source for everything bad the genre has devolved into. Started out as an okay series with cringe perverted elements and devolved into a full on polygamist harem wish-fullfilment with no real plot lol. In otaku culture we are so used to characters that aren't fleshed out that when you take a literal cringe incel as a main character and flesh them out as a creepy incel and pedophile, then anime fan get excited for the character depth 🤣. Rudeus doesn't really grow out of this at all despite what emotionally infantile reviewers here will say. Just because he says a bunch of times that he's growing from something doesn't mean he has. Dude is as perverted in cringe in the later volumes as he is in the earlier ones.

But seriously, my honest opinion is that this series is a casualty of "Second Act" syndrome. This is similar to "Second Book" syndrome for most traditional novels except since light novels are always written as long running series where authors can extend an Arc out as long as needlessly possible, we see these symptoms over several volumes spanning one Act or Arc instead of 1-2 books in a traditional trilogy. Basically what happens is a series starts with a great premise where you can tell some effort was atleast put in to flesh out the story. Then after that first Act/Arc ends, the series falls off a cliff and starts wandering aimlessly and doesn't maintain the momentum it had before. For most light novels this is typically around Volume 7 of a series right when you'll see a major arc come to a close and the authors dedicate ENTIRE FUCKING VOLUMES just to world build or set up something for another volume later (which is also lackluster). This has been the case with Overlord, Shield Hero, Reincarnated as A Slime, and now this series as well. Right around or after Volume 7 is where the series nosedives. Once you start noticing an entire volume just flew by with zero plot development or any semblance of a narrative at all, that typically where you'll see reviewers start saying "wasn't much conflict, pretty much all set up for the next volume". This is pretty much a good time to DNF a series. FYI this is inexcusably lazy writing. There should never be a volume you pay for in a series that isn't atleast written as a basic story. An entire volume dedicated to setting up something later pretty much just means that what happens later should've been in that volume your reading. Stop letting authors scam you and then letting it go by claiming "it was a volume meant for world building". World building should ALWAYS be in the context of a narrative or else it's just a useless textbook lol.

For this series, you can pretty much tell the author wrote everything he intended to write by Volume 7. Then winged mostly everything into barely a story for a few volumes after and then just gave into his perverted instincts and decided he'd just scrap any semblance of a real story and just use the rest of the volumes to live out a self insert wish fulfillment 🤣.

Grandfather of Isekai indeed.

[Thomas GlinGlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Conflicted between giving it 2 stars or simply 1 star.

There are some enjoyable parts of this. The writing flows very nicely and it's very fast and easy to read. Also, overall, the story is engaging, and you want to know what happens next.

Now to the negatives: the "pervert" side of the main character is just horrible. I get that you can want to give voice to the intrusive thoughts that sometimes come naturally to a sexual being, but...man, here the protagonist is just a horrendous person and absolutely morally reprehensible. I don't know what to say. It's just deplorable.

Continuing the list of deplorables, the "father" of Rudeus is even worse, as not only thinking highly immoral stuff, he also has committed highly morally reprehensible actions, summed up very euphemistically as "skirt chasing". As well as having "locker room talk" with his 5 year old son. It's just weird, and I was shaking my head while reading this.

There is the morally repulsive element of these weird sexist tropes, but also, it just makes no sense with the story. What adult in their right mind talks about sex to a 5 year old? And what 5 year old, having been reincarnated as a baby and living many years a healthy life in the countryside while learning magic still think about the world as an erotic video game? I mean, the guy was an adult before, but what hormones are pumping in the body of a 5 year old for these thoughts to come so often? It makes no sense to me and was just obviously an insert of the mindset of the author, which is just disturbing.

It's mind-boggling how the character, upon being resurrected, can think "I'll turn my life around, take my studies seriously, make something out of myself, not be a disappointment like in my previous life." But somehow, this just doesn't apply to his view of women, sex and relationships. And even years of living in a baby's body doesn't reset his mindset on this for some reason. This whole thing really destroys the book for me.

I hope maybe the character grows from this immature mindset and that it's just to show how the character grows afterwards, but I somehow doubt it highly.

I will give the second book a try if I'm bored but have very little hopes it gets better.

[Muhammad Kharismawan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finish it in a flash. We'll, it was a light novel, but even so the whole ride seems so long and engaging, likes the reader really are starting life over just like Rudy. For 1st volume only readers that feels a bit skeptical about the series lighthearted start, as Mushoku Tensei will dig much deeper and can be quite mature when it counts as well.
The heaps of volumes after that are filled with many topics of survival, romance, school life, respect, politics, family, and friendship strongly pull the reader through the vast world of Mushoku Tensei.

[Sadie Cahill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked it.

So this guy, a NEET get to regret living his pointless life and got hit by a truck after driven home.

Then he is reincarnated in a fantasy like world as a baby containing memories of his past life.

This volume lasts until he was sent for school. And in the middle he...

Became a prodigy at magic. Had a bishounen friend.

And continued to live his life unlike his previous.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

great writing ruined by an otherwise normalized behavior that's honestly out of date with society. only people who are desensitized to the culture of otakus can get through the parts that will make most immediately stop reading. 4/5 for general writing, 1/5 if you include the parts that shouldn't be in there.

[Jakub · Rating 2 out of 5]

3/10

Naprosto upřímně nechápu, jak může být Mušoku tensei v tolika ohledech zajímavou a osvěžující knihou na poli tzv. isekai literatury a zároveň být tak odpudivě slizkou fantazií nějakého upoceného společenského vyvrhela. To, že se jedná o self-insert eskapistickou literaturu, není žádným tajemstvím, člověk s tím do toho tak trochu jde. Tohle bylo ale v každém ohledu horší, než jsem původně čekal, a to to vypadalo tak nadějně.

Základní premisa příběhu je totiž hrozně super. Sledovat život hrdiny ve fantasy světě od narození až po stáří je totiž v mnoha ohledech zajímavé. V ostatních příbězích se tak nedozvídáme věci, jako jak náš hrdina vyrůstal, jak navazoval vztah se svým okolím a jak postupně objevoval svoje schopnosti. Celé to má ale jeden velký háček. Jelikož se jedná o isekai novelu, není našemu protagonistovi 5/6 let, ale vlastně nějakých 40, protože si zachoval své vědomí z minulého světa. Tím pádem už od začátku ke všemu přistupuje kriticky a hned se stane neskutečně dobrým ve všem, na co sáhne. Ok, přes to bych se ještě přenesl.

Přes co se ale přenést už moc nedokážu, je to, jak nesekutečně slizky a sexisticky se protagonista chová ke všem ženským postavám. Chápu, že se jedná o fantasy svět, který má být založený na středověkém životě, takže chlípné chlapy a glorifikaci zahýbání bych ještě pochopil. Na druhou stranu u obdivování budování harému a zlehčování ne tak úplně dobrovolného pohlavního styku mi už vystřelovalo obočí, ale pořád jsem byl ochotný nad tím jakž takž přivřít oko. Tohle se dřív zas tak moc neřešilo, takže dokážu pochopit, odkud autor vycházel. Přes co jsem se ale přenést nedokázal, bylo, jak slizky se hlavní postava vyjadřovala o své učitelce magie, které je 14(!) let, kamarádce, které je 6(!!!) let, a dokonce i své vlastní matce?!

Upřímně nevím, jestli hlavní postava má být prostě neskutečné hovado odtrhnuté od reality, co na nic jiného nemyslí, a my máme sledovat jeho osobnostní proměnu, nebo je autor jenom frustrovaný nadržený nerd, který si formou literatury plní své pochybné choutky. Minimálně v téhle první knize nebylo po tom prvním ani stopy, jenom hodně velice pochybného „humoru“ a objektifikace žen společně s oplzlostí, za kterou by se ani hospodští posedové nestyděli. Pevně doufám, že je to jenom autorův pokus o to dát hlavní postavě nějaké vady, aby nebyla úplně perfektní. Prosím.

Sérii se pokusím číst dál, jelikož jsem na ni slyšel hodně chvály, co se výstavby světa týče. Doufám tedy, že se tahle sexistická stránka vyřeší a nebude alespoň tak markantní jako doteď. Bez ní by se totiž jednalo o opravdu svěží isekai dílo se zajímavým světem, postavami a příběhem. Snad nebudu zklamaný tak, jako jsem byl z tohohle prvního dílu.

[Lafi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series takes some investment to really appreciate the setting and characters. The author really sells the idea that Rudy is a terrible person. In the first few books especially, you will notice writing that is perverse, uncomfortable, and downright heinous. The way this author sexualizes children is grotesque, and nauseating to listen to. Rudy divulges himself in any perverse thought that comes to mind. with the context that he is a 30 something year old man. Granted, he is a curious growing boy in this new world. But we can't hang on too tightly to that excuse.

It does not happen a lot, but it happens enough that it should not be ignored. I actually cannot recommend this series to friends because of how jarring some of these scenes I'm describing are. If you come across one, just +30 seconds a few times until you are clear.


ASIDE from that. This series is quite a good read, I really do love the setting and storytelling. And the Characters grow and change so much during the many years the story takes place over. Many books in, I am very proud and excited for our boy Rudy.

[May Efrati · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was reading this by having part of it read aloud to me by my boyfriend, who asked me to read this book, and part of it I read aloud to him.
I was immensely skeptical about starting this series because it’s something of an amalgamation of tropes and genres that I greatly dislike usually.
I was pleasantly surprised by the writing style, it was quite fun and amusing, but I ended up lowering the score considering that I still find the tropes of the genres (Isekai, Harem, etc) irritating to say the least.
Willing to give this series a chance for improvement because I trust my partner when he says that the plot and characters greatly improve, especially considering that the writing style was fun enough to read!

[Mary Fitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I was reading this book without the greater context of the anime, I'd be pretty 'wtf?' about it. Not to mention the fact that it's my first light novel so I'm not sure what is typical in terms of writing style here. However, given it's my current favorite anime and I have a ton of context around character development and long-term plot, I was able to roll my eyes at a lot of the contents.

My main issue with the book was the lack of characterization. It felt very 'tell don't show' in many areas and some of the humor fell a bit flat. Many of the characters felt fairly flat, too. That said, I love this story, and I tore through it in a matter of a few hours. I look forward to continuing to read the story and re-experience the adventures that are ahead.

[Kane Chocobo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 or 7/10
The thing is, I love the anime dearly but reading this after consumig the story was a little bit of a slog. That said, the LN is great with more detailed writing and just scenes that are cut from the adaptation. Personally being caught up to date with said anime, I will not be reading any futher volumes of the LN. I think if someone who is going in blind, this would be wonderfully funny and quite an easy read. Maybe cause I don't read fantasy novels but the worldbuilding was the most boring part of the book, just felt like author was telling us information we would use in the 13th volume or something. Probably great for people who want to read 13 volumes.

[Param · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking pride in something you are good at is often a double edged sword, it can either help you gain confidence in your abilities or the superiority complex might bring you crashing down to taste dirt. I think everyone can relate to this at some extent, but someone like Rudeus who was hit hard by the reality acted upon it once he saw similar patterns recurring during his second chance at life. Even a little difference in your mindset can change a lot of things and we see Rudeus growing exponentially as he applied these learnings. It's fun to read Rudy's monologues which are filled with wisdom from previous life and the humour. The side characters are a lot fun too especially Paul and Roxy, can't wait to see more from them. (So far it doesn't go with the dungeon route I'll be enjoying Mushoku ig)

[Sandys Ramadhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

walau sudah menonton versi animenya, membaca versi light novel ternyata tidak kalah menarik, bahkan detail² tertentu yg terlewat dari animenya bisa kita tahu dari sudut pandang karakter² lain, apa ya? bisa dibilang ini adalaha suplemen tambahan yg bagus bagi yg sudah menonton animenya. saya sangat merekomendasikan kepada pembaca light novel berlatar isekai untuk mengoleksinya.

[Basililouis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think its brilliant paced and written and is the perfect first book to establish the rest of the series. only downside rudeus can be a terrible person at times and I know that he never changes in the way id like which is a bummer

[Strix · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thankfully it was short and extremely easy to read otherwise I would have dropped this fast. Not recommended.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If one likes a manga or an anime, if it is adapted from a light novel. I suggest reading it, the extra details leave no mysteries and closes all plotholes.

[Jose Galvan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Love · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first volume covers the first six years in this reincarnation story. I appreciate how the author takes things slow, it's clear that the main character will at some point go to a magic high school, but at the end of volume one we aren't even halfway there yet.

[Agustín Fest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me está costando trabajo el personaje principal, definitivamente es más encantador en el anime. Pero creo que hay sugerencias interesantes de lo que está por venir. Menos entretenido que otras light novels.