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EP. REVIEW: Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation


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Tanteikingdomkey



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 2345
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 4:40 pm Reply with quote
can we still get the obnoxious rudy ratings for all the other episodes please?
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings



Joined: 04 Jul 2013
Posts: 1000
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 4:41 pm Reply with quote
If Rudy was "just a bit of a scoundrel" that'd be one thing, but the fact of the matter is he's just utter slime. Which wouldn't be *too* bad if we weren't just so stuck in his head nearly the entire time.

The second episode seems to imply that his (comically overblown to the point of being impossible to sympathize with him; they're really trying way too hard to make him such a victim) bullying trauma seems to be the root of some of his sexual hangups, but he's still an absolutely disgusting creep even when he gets everything he could ever possibly want in his new life, including a loving family and incredible talent that all but guarantees he'll be a very well-respected part of society. I just don't understand what about him would make anyone want to root for him or hope he "gets better".

spoiler[And I've even heard from readers of the LN that him being a scummy little perv never actually goes away and in some respects he only ever gets worse.].

And honestly, there isn't a whole lot else about these first two episodes that are particularly interesting just because most of it revolves around our dumpsterfire protagonist.
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James S.



Joined: 19 Nov 2014
Posts: 94
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 4:45 pm Reply with quote
Always good to see another convert on the view of Mushoku Tensei. All joking aside, I'm really impressed overall with how everything has been handled so far, especially with my expectations being raised due to them announcing the mobile game alongside the anime. The thought, "This has a game announced at the same time the anime airs, it must be good!" runs through my head thanks to that and I'm happy they didn't disappoint.

The best parts are the minor details. For example, the beginning of Episode 2 when Rudy's siblings (It's mentioned in the novel that he had 3 brothers which also explains a comment of his later) enter his room, the various expressions that could be seen from Rudeus' shock at them barging in, to his brother's anger at what was on his laptop, and then even right before getting hit trying to rescue the students in the path of the veering Truck-kun, you could visibly see Rudeus struggling to say something before rushing out, are all well done even without showing the eyes of any of them.

EDIT:
Tanteikingdomkey wrote:
can we still get the obnoxious rudy ratings for all the other episodes please?

Seconded. While I like Rudy as a result of following the story for a near decade and the tons of character development he goes through, he is definitely a little shit early on.
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 2858
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:24 pm Reply with quote
i like this review,a lot of viewers misunderstood episode 02 pretty bad, some called rudys bullying impossible to happen in the era of smartphones when in fact it happened before smartphones going by rudeus age and if that was too difficult to understand, that is why flip phones are explicitly shown. the other is that the intention of showing the past was to make us simpathetic to rudy, when , as the review says, it was to show us how he became a hikikomori ( again there is all the focus on not wanting to get out , which was present even in the first episode)

i remember an exchange between two acquaitances a gew months ago, he was comlaining how some feminist groups were rallying about and old romantic song that ha rapey lyrics and how they support regaeton artists, i loves the feminist answer, which paraphrasing is " what matters is not how crass they are, but the consent, the regaeton ones have consent even if they are crass, so they are ok", so regarding the spoilered comment above spoiler[yeah rudeus is still a perv for the foreseable future, but he works out the consent part of it, stealing panties is bad, having your gf voluntarily give you her panties for a rip is ok, if kinky]

overall, i am super happy by this adaptation and keeping the kinkyness is a plus as this one has one of my favorite sex scenes in fiction.

i also read that this is going to be split coeur.
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murgleis1



Joined: 08 Aug 2020
Posts: 44
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:30 pm Reply with quote
Rudy isn't supposed to be likeable anyway - Mushoku Tensei is just the story of his life and how someone can change for the better and redeem themselves despite his unfortunate starting point. It's the big kahuna of isekai stories for a reason.
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JohnHawk



Joined: 22 Apr 2015
Posts: 83
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:34 pm Reply with quote
Yo we can't ignore the fact that the first 2 minutes of ep 2 show our complete scum protag watching child porn (explicitly "mosaic-less loli porn" in the webnovel) and then they follow that up with a scene of a seemingly 12-14 year old girl masturbating while committing voyeurism

Like sure the show has a high production value and some otherwise okay writing so far but like these are aspects of the writing you can't ignore lmao this show is kind of vile in a lot of ways.

Side note how the HELL is Rudy still 3 at the start of this ep and no one comment on that either like I guess in this world it's normal to have full normal conversations with a toddler???? I thought he was 7 or 8 right up until he said he was 4 later on.
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LuzOx



Joined: 07 Sep 2017
Posts: 34
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:42 pm Reply with quote
Ok, let me first start by saying that Im really liking this show. Hell, I was surprised by this review, since when animenews hates something, doesnt matter if its good or bad, it it really hits a spot to a personal level then it will get horrible reviews no matter the quality of the product.

Now for this show, I like the aesthetic, I like the setting and the art. NOW, the thing that I really Im hating is the protagonist. I really didn't expect that this kid was a Fat hikkikomori and a scum to say the least (MF was watching uncensored l*li h, at least thats what apparently was in the LN).

I guess you could say that sometimes we as a society create scum like him, because I can at least relate with the Bullying stuff, about how I used to shut myself from social relationships, but this guy really is on another level and there are a lot of people like him that a product of certain social relationships, let me quote Danganronpa 2, about Mikan: “I'm the person I am today because of many human relationships." So yeah, sometimes society is to blame for creating scum like him.

Well, I really hope that he gets a lot, but A LOT of reality checks and becomes a decent person (At least that's one of the points that I know of this LN). Im prepared for the shitty sexual jokes, but Im sure those will eventually stop because of him becoming a better person and using this second chance for him.

But yeah, I hate him... but I really like this show. At least is not like Elaina that ruined the whole show for me, but still... god dammit rudy stop being a weirdo and start with your personal improvement hahaha
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LuzOx



Joined: 07 Sep 2017
Posts: 34
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:49 pm Reply with quote
maximilianjenus wrote:
i like this review,a lot of viewers misunderstood episode 02 pretty bad, some called rudys bullying impossible to happen in the era of smartphones when in fact it happened before smartphones going by rudeus age and if that was too difficult to understand, that is why flip phones are explicitly shown. the other is that the intention of showing the past was to make us simpathetic to rudy, when , as the review says, it was to show us how he became a hikikomori ( again there is all the focus on not wanting to get out , which was present even in the first episode)

i remember an exchange between two acquaitances a gew months ago, he was comlaining how some feminist groups were rallying about and old romantic song that ha rapey lyrics and how they support regaeton artists, i loves the feminist answer, which paraphrasing is " what matters is not how crass they are, but the consent, the regaeton ones have consent even if they are crass, so they are ok", so regarding the spoilered comment above spoiler[yeah rudeus is still a perv for the foreseable future, but he works out the consent part of it, stealing panties is bad, having your gf voluntarily give you her panties for a rip is ok, if kinky]

overall, i am super happy by this adaptation and keeping the kinkyness is a plus as this one has one of my favorite sex scenes in fiction.

i also read that this is going to be split coeur.


Huh, I remember when a famous politica feminist figure in Spain said that the Bad Bunny song perrea sola is a feminst song. Its funny, because if you analyze the lyrics, video and the women that really love reggaeton and love to express themselves with their bodies... yeah, but its one of those weird cases that will depend on who you are or on who you ask.
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AsuraTheDestructor



Joined: 24 Dec 2013
Posts: 466
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 6:22 pm Reply with quote
Gonna be interesting how the reactions to this series continue.
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doubleO7



Joined: 17 Jul 2009
Posts: 1068
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 6:25 pm Reply with quote
Oh man, Theron was so close to convincing me to set aside all the red flags I was seeing from the reviews and discussions of the first episode and give the show a fair shot. Until...
Quote:
...and getting giddy over spying on Roxy masturbating while she eavesdropped on his parents' lovemaking.

...he struck the final nail in the coffin himself. No amount of high quality production values and solid direction will make me okay with whatever I just read in this sentence.
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NeverConvex
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Joined: 08 Jun 2013
Posts: 2268
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 6:42 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Tanteikingdomkey wrote:
can we still get the obnoxious rudy ratings for all the other episodes please?

Seconded. While I like Rudy as a result of following the story for a near decade and the tons of character development he goes through, he is definitely a little shit early on.


Thirded! That would be a very nice addition.

doubleO7 wrote:
...he struck the final nail in the coffin himself. No amount of high quality production values and solid direction will make me okay with whatever I just read in this sentence.


If it's any consolation, the scene was brief and about as far from explicit as it could be, given what it was portraying. Definitely still off-putting, though.

I'm struggling to decide whether to keep up with this myself; outside of Rudy himself, the world-building seems decent so far, there's supposedly promise of well-written substantial character growth over time, and the production values are obviously sky-high. I also like that it hasn't tried to play Rudy's behavior off as sympathetic (despite the caricature of a victimization story we got in Ep. 2), although I get the impression the show sees a lot of Rudy's leering and sexual monologuing as funny for some reason.

But, anyway, damn if Rudy isn't making it difficult to find something to get attached to; it would be nice if there were some focal secondary characters that seemed worthwhile. Roxy had promise but we seem to be leaving her behind rather quickly. Production value alone can't keep me enduring Rudy for much longer.
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scowler



Joined: 30 May 2009
Posts: 92
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 7:08 pm Reply with quote
Putting the memories and thinking of an adult into the body of a child still remains speculative fiction. Despite all the isekai that have trodden this path, few of them really look at the dissonance between an adult’s thoughts and the emotions and hormonal development of a child’s body.

This show seems to be aware of that dissonance, so far. A prepubescent child won’t get sexually aroused, obviously. So the pervy thoughts of the adult mind are slowly transforming into the mischievous impulses of a toddler and younger child. The ending of episode 2, where spoiler[Rudy exults in his trophy of stolen panties from Roxy] really drives this home... that is something even the thirty-something year old hikkikomori would regard as juvenile and eye rolling.
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 2858
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 7:25 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, I remember a whole having lot of fun talking about time loopers and what is their real mental age, like, one of those gets stuck on never aging past 12 before looping even if she looped for 100 or 10,000 years depending on the source, while the other got stuck at 14 by repeating the same month and a half for 12 years.

Are we to consdier them emntalyl adults, even if they never finished their studies, developed normal romantic relationships, held a job ? rudy and captain obvious are in a similar situation (minus thee looping), with rudy not finishing highschool or getting a job.
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings



Joined: 04 Jul 2013
Posts: 1000
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 7:29 pm Reply with quote
murgleis1 wrote:
Rudy isn't supposed to be likeable anyway - Mushoku Tensei is just the story of his life and how someone can change for the better and redeem themselves despite his unfortunate starting point. It's the big kahuna of isekai stories for a reason.


You can give a main character significant faults and shortcomings while still making them someone you want to see get better.

I don't want to see Rudy get better. I want to punt him into a dumpster.

And the dialogue exchanges just aren't compelling enough (like in Oregairu) nor is there any kind of real plot hook (like in Re:Zero) to make up for it. And the supporting cast is incredibly lacking so far, in that there isn't one.
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James S.



Joined: 19 Nov 2014
Posts: 94
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 7:41 pm Reply with quote
JohnHawk wrote:
(explicitly "mosaic-less loli porn" in the webnovel)

That was the light novel. It was a lot worse in the web novel, though as a result it made the character development a lot more noticeable. Editor went ixnay on that for the light novel, thankfully, though the animators did the scene in a vague enough way that the viewer would see it differently depending on whether they read the web novel or light novel.
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