Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation
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Poppet
Posts: 8 |
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The visceral reaction to Rudy is, I think, proof positive of his strength as an isekai protagonist. Many protagonists succeed in a second world, but few need it as much as Rudy. The second episode pulls no punches in showing how horrid and wretched the person inside Rudy was and still is. We can see the disconnect between his outward presentation and his internal depravity, and it reeks of insincerity. The emotional highs of the episode are not when Rudy uses his life experience to manipulate the world around him, but when his "old" self grows alongside his "new" self. This happens first by regressing Rudy's old self to a child on the horse through the village and peaks when he casts the saint-level magic, recognizing that what he is doing (successfully casting the spell) goes counter to what he wants (to keep Roxy around). That childlike joy in the moment of accomplishment without calculation is the spark of sincerity, a willingness to think and feel and act the like the person he now is, not the person he was before.
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Netero
Posts: 161 |
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And because it was so obvious (at least in the West), nobody ever thought to question it until the 20th century and find out that actually it's wrong. So the "old head on young shoulders" thing isn't quite as dissonant as it might first appear. |
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PonSquared
 Posts: 246 Location: Lost in the Catskills |
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Finally, an isekai with a main character who acts exactly the way 95% of us would act of given the same set of factors. To say I as m in love with to his would be an understatement. After ReZero this is the anime I am most looking forward to each week, and this is a good tier season for anime.
Some of what Rudy does is uncomfortable but yeah, would probably do some of the same stuff myself. Though, I'd tell momma and poppa to keep it down because listening to that is just, eew. 9/10 for first two episodes. Oh, have to mention, my wife even tolerates the ecchi stuff because she likes the anime, too. Which says about because she hated ecchi anime. |
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Charou
 Posts: 123 Location: Sydney, Australia |
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I don't plan to comment regularly (I'm 1 for 1, but this might change in about ten minutes) but wanted to get a few things off my chest after some of the less forgiving impressions I've seen. I think the lavish production values aren't a fluke here, or some sort of anomaly or 'at least it's pretty' -- MOST shows with high-end effort are made so because the material deserves it. Whether that's through overwhelming popularity of the existing IP (eg SAO, AoT, Kimetsu no Yaiba) or some notion of greatness behind the scenes of a new IP (eg Akudama Drive, Deca-Dence, Granbelm), it is rare to see lousy, irredeemable material get top-shelf visual and aural treatment (look, I just don't know about GoH, okay? I LOVED the kinetic beauty of it all, the music, the ridiculously big cast, and then suddenly I realised I had no idea what was actually going on, so I just didn't watch it one week, and that was that).
I know MT is divisive, but worthy writing often is. I am entirely glad to remain ignorant as to where this is going, but will, for now, believe that White Fox would be fools to set up a studio specifically to adapt an existing series that doesn't have a strong trajectory. People talk about 'cringe' and 'edginess' in anime, especially power fantasy, and I know it when I experience it -- typically some sort of Mary-Sue style pandering to a lacklustre protagonist that just doesn't deserve it. MT so far hasn't set me off in this regard. I pray that remains the case, because good grief would it be a shame to see so bright a star fall and fizzle. Very much looking forward to your weekly coverage of this one, Theron. |
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helln00
Posts: 106 |
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because of the anime I decided to reread the first few chapters of the manga and I have to say the manga made Rudeus infinitely more likeable than his anime incarnation. he was still a pervert on the inside but it cut out the more ergrious parts and just kept it simple. He acts more like a pervert later but more in the way u expect and anime adolescent do.
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Abraham Omosun
Posts: 158 |
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If the point of that scene was to show that Roxy is not sexually immature/innocent, what was the point of Rudy commenting "I'm happy I saw that" with a smiley face?
Kimetsu no Yaiba didn't have overwhelming popularity before the anime. |
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Actar
 Posts: 1074 Location: Singapore |
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Honestly, I think that it's precisely the people who dislike the main character that should watch the series. He's unlikable, and that's the point. Everyone is worthy of redemption, nay, worthy of healing. Especially people suffering from mental and emotional trauma. The lack of empathy in the comments is shocking. No wonder mental health issues aren't being taken seriously in society.
Definitely agreed. For me, it's like having Kyon as a perverted isekai protagonist, and I'm loving every second of it.
Once again, agreed. Rather ironic when you stop and think how many of the people who are offended by these scenes view sex in the same taboo way that Rudeus does. But frankly speaking, I find it rather strange that a lot of his shenanigans are being so reviled when they're really par for the course anime clichés at this point. Last edited by Actar on Tue Jan 19, 2021 11:25 am; edited 1 time in total |
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pikabot
Posts: 168 |
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So...we're just going to blow past this, huh? Never change, Theron Martin.
You have cause and effect precisely backwards there. Kimetsu no Yaiba was a solidly mid-tier series until its lavish anime adaptation, which blew it the heck up. |
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Niyari
 Posts: 341 |
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A protagonist with flaws allows for character growth. If him being an open pervert instead of a closest one like everyone else puts you off from the series, you'll really be missing out once the story gets fleshed out
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2862 |
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ah, but the pantie stealing scene has relevance, even if minor. i will make the spoiler as minor as i can because the payback will be soon spoiler[zenith friendly keeping rudys panty stealing a secret improves their relationshp]
the roxy masturbating was well understood and yes even zenith spoiler[does it ocasionally in her room, rudys parents are that noisy] an example that was skipped for budget reasons, ridia got bullied because another kid was getting bullied and he tried to okay gero and defend the guy, so the bullies took it against him instead, this is the small bit of character growth that will show up later. about the stuff japan rudy was masturbating to, it becomes super relevant for an arc, one of the very last arcs, the one that hit the readers so hard the text of it got removed from the novel, although the events on it still happen , as another arc references to them. Last edited by maximilianjenus on Tue Jan 19, 2021 12:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Abraham Omosun
Posts: 158 |
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So because something is cliche, it should be allowed to slide and can't be pointed out or criticized, is that what you're saying? I have to say, I don't know when a 33 man being happy about seeing a teenager masturbating was considered normal/cliche, maybe I've been lucky and missed all of the shows that did that. |
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ATastySub
Past ANN Contributor
 Posts: 647 |
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Agreed. There is a lack of empathy going on, but it’s not really where you’re trying to place it. Rudy is not the sympathetic one here. People are displaying empathy by recognizing that. He’s awful to everyone in his life. This has not changed since being reincarnated. He is continuing to be the exact selfish gross person he was before, the difference is he is now gaming a system so that he’s rewarded and able to enable his behavior where previously he was punished for it. That is not the seed of a character arc. Having empathy means you consider the victims of his behavior. Both in this new life, and his previous one in which he will never make amends. To try and tie that to disregarding mental health is frankly gross and offensive. Anyone that suffers from mental health problems knows it’s not an excuse to hurt or use others. Dealing with it is a constant struggle, but at no point is the solution to have the worst of your behavior be hand waived away, much less rewarded like Rudy. And that’s not even getting into the pedophile stuff, which is it’s own worse can of worms that is also incredibly gross to attempt to claim others lack empathy for, when the reason for that disgust is borne from empathy for victims of it. As for the argument about lavish animation = good story. There have always been shows that are incredibly pretty but are sloppily written, have shitty morals, etc. Just like there are sometimes incredibly good shows with lacking animation there are sometimes turds that get polished. |
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musouka
Posts: 707 |
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This is really the core of it, to me anyway. The series paints Rudy's "failure as a person" to basically unable to socially adapt to his original world. The masturbation while his parents are being buried and general perversion are used to illustrate that, but the series seems uninterested in actually forcing Rudy to address those issues by showing him becoming closer to his new parents or learning that women aren't just fap fodder. Rather he's just been taken to a place where stealing underwear is no longer a sex crime and where people take his leering objectification of women as the mischievousness of childhood. Like, if you want to criticize shoujo series, at least the male leads in those series are typically able to come to the realization that "women have feelings" and "sexual harassment can hurt them." Nothing I've seen of this series so far makes me believe that Rudy will ever get to that level, no matter how much he, lol, "improves." |
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everydaygamer
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He's 5 and living a rather isolated life with people who will generally excuse his behaviour because of his age. You seem to want to rush things along here but the story is mostly focusing on introducing the world and how it works. How about give it more than 2 episodes before complaining about a lack of progress for his character.
Although even in 2 episodes we have seen him start to overcome some of the psychological issues that have affected him for most of his life which I'd argue is more important than correcting some perverted behavior. |
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pikabot
Posts: 168 |
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If nothing interesting can happen to him when he's five years old, then probably it's not the right move for the narrative to spend a bunch of time with him as a five year old.
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