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WARNING: This review contains minor/harmless spoilers.




Nowadays, most of the light novels specifically fantasy and isekai is somewhat based upon the established tropes. Be it an unlimited list of overpowered protagonists despite having little to no experience, background and creative explanation /or/ the overwhelming charisma of the protagonist--even with the terrible personality--which for some reason still attracts harem.--This show is NOT an exception, atleast based on current volumes. For an instance, there's the abundance of female characters as well as the annoying age disparity problem which is quite common in this medium - like most character presented are teen/young adults especially the top magicmasters (you want ... me to simp on them aren't you, that alone decreased the tone of this series by a ton). The premise is fine but it feels unutilized as there's a dumbfounding lack of political struggles between this cramped up nations/cities. Storytelling on itself is quite mediocre, the pacing per volume is great but the plot they're going for is surely nothing out of ordinary.

To say the least, the novel delivers the plot very well to its target audience which is the casual light novel readers. It is easily noticeable from the get go that everything is toned down a bit. The series doesn't provide revolutionary concepts which made it great for a casual read as you can close your mind and read without thinking critically. Whether it is a good or bad depends from person to person but eitherway, it definitely has a potential to be a good series. Not a masterpiece, but atleast above those trash.



STORY
The humanity lost much of their territories battling against the existence of the so-called Fiends which is running rampant with their physical and magical prowess. After years of desperation they somehow created Babel which provides a barrier from the fiends and here is where the 7 nations carryout their last stand as well as hoping to not only depend themselves but to reclaim the lands they lost - And that duty falls unto the so called magicmasters. (Attack on titan vibes lol)

The story began when Alus, a 16 year-old prodigy which reclaimed the most of humanities teritories, the forefront on the battle against fiends and the top 1 magicmaster (idk how don't ask) asks for early retirement. (Well for some reason he wanted to take it easy, yes despite the ongoing issues) The governor general found an alternative solution and put him as a student at a Magical Institute so that he can loosen it up and learn to socialize on someone his age in a condition that he will answer on military's command in times of emergency. He then studied on the institute discreetly without anyone knowing about his background and rank, up until two girls discovered it and he was forced by principal to train them as his successor.




CHARACTERS
The characters on this series are bland and generic. This is not to say that its bad but its definitely not good either. Most of them are predictable and doesn't have much of depth only acting based on their archetypes which readers are more familiar with. They have average opinion and little to no aspiration or objective as well as the rarity of deep talks and ideals. Eitherway, reading it casually is not that bad as the characters aren't that annoying. The only issue here is the slow character development which is a real turn off for most of the readers.

Other than Alus which is the rank 1/100,000 magicmaster, there are also alot of supporting character mostly female heroines (what a surprise) each of them carrying their own archetype. First is Tesfia a nobles daughter and will be Alus' student, a typical tsundere, second is Alice which is Tesfia's bestfriend and will also be his student, she's a typical gentledere (she's cute but also nothing much stands out) and Third Loki is which is also from military but wanted to be Alus' partner & for that reason followed him to the institute, she's a typical kuudere. These three archetypes works really well, proven and tested but at the same time it poses alot of problems since the MC isn't even interested in romance. On a plus side, he's not as dense as a brick wall and is aware of any romantic attacks; he find it annoying though.

The heroines and other supporting characters on itself are primarily bland and shallow, they develop steadily as the story goes but much of their goal and motivation are lacking. Their interaction and dialogues are light and straight-forward making it alot harder for readers to take the situation seriously as you can hardly feel the intent and emotion the dialogue portrays. In addition, the author keeps introducing other heroines one after another apart from the said archetypes which are actually unnecessary. Instead of deepening the present characters, it disrupts everything by consuming the screentime of the more supposedly significant characters.

On the positive side, there are actually some interesting characters - deep enough to be invested in. The MC [Alus] for an instance is still full of mystery, he is an introvert, silent, serious, no romance and gary-stu character, a typical sasuke-poi. What captured my interest is that he does have a ton of inner monologues but it doesn't goes back up to his past, which if I read the subtle premonition tells me that something absurd happened on to his past. Whether it'll be a great revelation or not, will be up to the author. Generally I thinks there's still a ton of potential, though it would be great if the story focuses more on the characterization of the existing ones rather than adding another unnecessary character.




ENJOYMENT
As for enjoyment, it is actually one of the series I have to read the day after its volume release which just goes to show how enjoyable read it is for a casual ones. The series itself was average or slightly above at best but it definitely delivers what readers are hoping for which its good storyline development and pacing. Without mentioning its depth, the overall plot isn't even half bad as it gives a SnK feeling and surprisingly doing well expanding it bit by bit while balancing the inner and outerworld issues within the people.

The other aspect that I find enjoyable is the fact that the MC [Alus] is hiding his identity (connection to military and his rank) to his classmates, in exception to heroines and principal. It gives us a situation to look forward to, and creates an interesting moment as he try to cover his identity. Though as strong weapon as it is, the author is not using it in its full potential. As he is an introverted and not even connected to most of his classmates, it is really hard to be sympathetic with nameless characters afterall. (I mean come on, atleast name one male classmate of him. Does his radar only detects female characters?) The right way to utilize it is to have deeper connection between these characters he's hiding it from. This will make it more emotional as it wouldn't be only awe but also other sorts of emotion'll be present such as disappointment or even hatred.

Lastly, there's also the interaction and development between the MC & heroines as he tries to teach them magic. It is actually quite enjoyable as they kept annoying him at first as he is a bit of a tsun-tsun himself. However as the story progresses--little by little--, he learns to be less ruthless (yeah, its on edgy side), to be more sociable, and to take care of them as they learn magic from him. In that regard they undeniably compliment each other - like a give and take. It truly reached the wholesome territory.


In summary, these are the four things that made me look forward into it so much and if you are not onboard with it, you'll might wanna pass on this one:
[1] World-building aka Outerworld/Fiend conclusion [2] MC's background mystery [3] MC's identity reveal and; [4] Wholesome interaction [non-romantic] with heroines.




OVERALL
This series is a generic and straight-forward fantasy light novel, incomparable towards higher tier storytelling series like MT or Rezero. Its not a life-changing nor a thought-provoking type of a series, it won't attack you emotionally and certainly wouldn't give you a deep storyline & characters to theorize. Nevertheless, it still delivers an interesting plot and provides points to look forward to. It wouldn't impress you but if you're familiar with light novels & its tropes, just bored in the middle of nowhere and want to pass up some time--you won't be disappointed. 6/10.

WARNING: This review contains minor/harmless spoilers.




After watching the anime adaptation, I decided to make a review of this series in order to help those newly interested novel readers. I read this light novel way back 2013 in its original WN (as well as during baka-tsuki heydays) and followed it until its conclusion. During those times I witness how this novel change and influence the creation of new possibilities for the authors to explore. The exploration of another world with modern ideals intact in order to flex our modernity, to explore the fantasy world of swords and magic with innocence, to give the loser of ... an MC a second chance, the proper introduction of character archetypes and many more. This, with the help of other series such as SAO created a hype and ripple that still evident up until now with the creation of a whole new genre called ISEKAI.

A genre that is now overly saturated and makes other people turn away upon its presence. And you may be asking, why is that? why is isekai so bad despite having a great progenitor? The answer is simple and you'll also notice it right after reading the novel: the story has so much depth, well thought pacing & world-building, it flows naturally, everything felt real despite being fantasy and lasty, it doesnt hold back diving into mature or controversial subject. Though to say the least, there are isekais that been able to properly adapt some of those points such as Re:zero that has deep characterization or Overlord that has detailed fantasy setting with mature content but like other isekais, they were also a victim of being stuck in their own premise which limits the natural progression of the story. But other than those top isekais, most of them just copied each other in other to create the most interesting or eye catching premise losing the focus on what made Mushoku tensei so good.

Which leads us to the main problem of modern isekais and its authors, the main opponent of these authors are their readers. The readers they must please as much as possible as fast as possible in order to get popular, which greatly contradict as to why Mushoku tensei is great. Its great because the author didn't hold back, the premise is plain and the pacing is slow because he doesn't feel threatened to show something. IT'S BECAUSE HE DOESN'T HAVE TO PROVE ANYTHING. In addition, the author explored the sensitive content of trash/neet oldman being able to be born as a baby which, if you don't realize, will bring alot of controversies later. These alone made alot of people turn away and due to that, it became a barrier that other shows can't explore since they are simps for their readers, they wanted to show premise as much as possible to catch the interest of the viewer which disrupts the pacing, they copied the character archetypes [such as tsundere, kuudere, cutedere etc. ] but due to bad pacing didn't have time to properly build their character. There are alot of other points but I'm cutting it up here, summing it all up, these authors limit themselves and the story because they wanted to avoid crossing those lines and ending up focusing too much on their premise forgetting the essence & joy of exploring the fantasy world as well as its build ups.


STORY
The story began when an 34-year old neet was struck by a truck while attempting to save students. He then got reincarnated as a baby named Rudeus Greyrat into another world a typical fantasy medieval setting of swords and magic. His new family consists of a mother, father and a maid. The four of them live on the small village outside the town and both of his parents are ex-adventurers.

This premise might be abit too simple in today's standards but that is mainly why it felt refreshing. The premise is simple not because the overall story/world is straightfoward, its simple because we didn't know anything yet and those things are waiting to be explored with the MC making it felt real as we feel the same sentiment as him as he delve this well written world.



CHARACTERS
This is one of strong points of this novel which sets it apart from other isekai trash. Here, every character has a well thought motive for their choices/action and hidden flaws underneath their good facade. Flaws that are so dirty and disgustingly real. The morality of these characters differ from our todays standards and it is greatly reflected from their action. These moral conflict will be repeatedly tackled as the MC has modern ideals and it will be his greatest weapon as well as his downfall. Other than flaws, the characters has depth, they didn't just get introduced for the sake of being in the spotlight, they are just happened to meet the MC and got introduced. It meant that you'll feel that these characters are moving in its world/story even without the MC, they develop as the story goes even without you noticing it.

The main character Rudeus Greyrat is a typical neet, trash and degenerate but what sets him apart is his past trauma which lead him to the way he is and having the reoccurence those trauma into the otherworld. His past limits him even after reincarnating so he has to overcome those in order to have a good life. But it is something that he can't do by himself (well if he can, he wouldn't become a neet in the first place) which is why the author use the other characters to support and develop him in order to overcome those flaws. But overcoming those is slow, annoyingly slow for some readers, which made them hate the MC greatly and having an old man in body of young child to have romantic interaction on someone as young leaves a bad taste in reader's mouth. (You can say that in a way I'm one of those, I hate what he'd done, hes a trash and degenerately pervert but I like his refreshing character. Hes trying to change & make the best of his second chance and I learned to appreciate it especially in later part of story. He's a greatly flawed character and you don't have to justify what he'd done as he's not a hero to idolize, he's just some dude who's trying his best to have a good second chance. Just follow his journey and you'll get attached to him and everyone around him before you know it.)

The supporting cast doesn't feel as less important characters because as stated earlier, they move in the background and make choices & mistakes that affect the plot. Like MC, these characters are so unpredictable and make action based on their beliefs that will make you hate them, and after realizing their motive to like them, and hating them again because of the unexpected consequences of their action. A fun rollercoaster experience indeed. In addition, they have their own selfish goals that they would have to achieve on their own or with MC's support and is significant enough to change the flow of the entire story. It makes you feel like these characters deserves their own novel.

The heroines are mainly consisted of typical archetypes we know today, the difference is how they develop as the story goes along. They develop and support the MC even without his presence, and they progress differently, some through lengthy time and some through a sudden phenomenon that forces those changes. The harshness of this world doesn't only affect the MC but also the heroines which helps their growth as a character. They make questionable decision sometimes but the author let us view their perspectives, for us to better understand the whole situation. And lastly, each of the heroines has a balanced role in the story, noone gets left behind out of the picture.



WORLD AND ITS DETAILS
This is what sets Mushoku tensei apart from other novels, the way it provides importance to its world-building. The way it details everything from small things such as magic composition, combination of elements, different fighting styles, to a larger ones such as societal classes, political/power struggles, moral issues, different regional cultures across the continent, etc. and most important of all, the Lore.

The lore of mushoku tensei is the core of the series. Its the story of the world that goes way back before even the MC reincarnated and goes beyond even after the story concluded. A story that every child in this series reads as a hero tale and the MC will play a crucial role upon its conclusion.



MUSIC
None, its a novel.



ILLUSTRATION/DESIGN
The artstyle is really good and detailed especially the cover and rendered ones. It gives a fantasy vibes from landscape, to human settlement, weapons, dress and armor designs, etc. (Just compare its cover from other novels, its just way better considering its a grandpa. Avoid looking at the cover of volume 10+ as it provides a bit of spoiler)



ENJOYMENT
Though the story tackles more mature subject unlike its counterparts, it still has alot of chill and relaxing moments. There's a ton of slice of life chapters which is generally enjoyable since these characters have depth and having them live their daily life is a fun read. The idea of getting this sol moments while traveling across the continent to visit relatives or for work is really heartwarming. It gives us as well as the characters an emotional moment to look back and be nostalgic. It knows when to slow down and when to have a fast-paced climax which makes readers crave for more chapters especially as the story goes deeper.

Moreover, and one of its best aspects is that it stays "grounded" throughout the story. That and, with the conjunction of deep characters makes for a very immersive experience. If story turns serious and the tensions are high you'll feel it (like fr fr) since it will slap you in the face with the fact that nothing is certain here. No power of friendship will save anyone. Its not trying to be dramatic, tragic and gory. It just feels natural.


ENDING/FINALE
One of the most important for me is how the shows conclude its story, now matter how good the storyline, how hype the climax, how deep the character development, it all boils on how it closes its curtains and this series' done it in a sincerely simplistic way to give us proper closure.

Which leads us to the two (2) common conclusions good endings falls into (sadly, AOT didn't have a great one), [one] is to give a satisfying ending: conclude everything they build up until this point and give a satisfying closure to the viewers. And [two] is to give an open ending: have its viewers think their own ending interpretation and make it in a way so the world/setting goes even after story ends, which opens up a possibilities of sequels and continuation. Both of this type contradicts and good on its own but Mushoku tensei integrated both in order to create an open and satisfying ending.



OVERALL
Overall, the story of mushoku tensei gives us the true essence of isekai, a second chance. Not to save the whole world and be a hero, not to simp for a girl nor to build an empire, but to have a better second life - not for others but yourself. This novel really did left the most impression in me, from the humble beginning through overwhelming climax & turning points, and its humble ending. 10/10 Masterpiece.

Mushoku tensei can be summarized as Nanahosi said.
"Rudeus did lived a good life."