The review below contains some spoilers. Tread with caution if you don’t want to get spoiled of the interactions of the characters within the series or the basic story layout.
Mushoku Tensei. Most would say the controversial anime of the season. Whether you are a fan of the series or not, one thing is for sure when it comes to Mushoku; its world building is unique and not something you see everyday in anime. Shall we analyse part by part though why I think Mushoku Tensei is a great anime with unique storytelling?
Story
Let’s start with the story first. Mushoku Tensei revolves around a boy named
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Rudeus who reincarnated to a different world after dying in his original one from a car accident when he tried to save a random trio of high school students from being hit by a truck. Nothing peculiar to this point, a typical isekai introduction, but here is the trick; Rudeus is reincarnated as a baby in his next life, starting it from scratch. Using the knowledge from his previous life and without knowing his reasons behind that reincarnation, he tries to start his life anew in order to compensate for his problematic lifestyle in his previous one by making as much earnest effort as he can in this new world to become a better human being.
Beginning the analysis from an adaptation’s viewpoint, as a web novel reader, I can say that Mushoku Tensei’s anime has done a very good job with these first 3 volumes of the novels. Going with a 3 to 4 episodes per volume pace, it manages to show the events of the WN without rushing or delaying them. As for more specific aspects of the story now, a very innovative thing that Mushoku Tensei does and is not often seen is the fact that for the voice of the protagonist (Rudeus) there are 2 voice actors. One, the voice of a young boy fitting of its age and the other an adult like voice who explains the inner thoughts of Rudeus (coming from his previous world) thus breaking one of the most difficult barriers of a novel adaptation; the depiction of the feelings of the protagonist at each given state of time. This together with the build up of the world from scratch (since as mentioned before Rudeus is a baby) helps to captivate the watcher’s interest from the starting moments of the first episode. As a matter of fact, this helps a lot to slowly create its world, learning things from the interactions of his parents or from his domestic environment, since he can’t get away from home in such an age. By no means is this a typical story treatment and it can be seen clearly now, in the end of the first season, where we barely know anything about the world.
Characters
Moving on to the characters, we can say that the first season uses a lot of its time (most to be exact) in introducing some of the main characters of the series. Rudeu’s interactions with them vary, depending mostly under the circumstances he met them. For example, at the early points of the story he saves a girl named Sylphy who is very shy making the perfect type of character for a first friend for Rudeus, a guy who didn’t have a single friend before that in his previous life. This isn’t the case with Eris though, who is a pampered girl from a royal family and Rudeu’s pupil, learning magic from him among other stuff. In its entirety, you see Rudeus changing his way of speaking and his manners depending on who is around him. What I am trying to say is that Mushoku Tensei doesn’t have patterned conversations as well as stereotypical reactions as most anime do. Moreover, the reaction of the characters are normal and the way Rudeus is manipulating the topics being discussed at hand and his actions are realistic (he fails a lot of times) and interesting. The main selling point of the characters though, which I believe is seen from this season already, is that they have proper development. One good example of this is the relationship between Eris and Rudeus that started from a painful first impression for both sides to a very good understanding of each other as time went by and certain events occurred.
Art & Voice Acting
The anime is being made by Studio Bind. Studio Bind may seem like a novice in the industry but this is far from the reality. The studio is actually a joint venture of White Fox and Egg Firm for the specific reason of making Mushoku Tensei, hinting at a long running adaptation as it is expected (Mushoku as a whole has 25 volumes). Pacing aside which was discussed above, Studio Bind does a great job at animating the series. From its full of vividness backgrounds to its great animation sequences on fight scenes, using a colour palette very fitting to its world, it has managed to depict the atmosphere and the nature of the world in great detail One unique element I never expected to see and was actually done in the anime was the change of the standard Japanese language when our protagonists went to the Demon continent. When interacting with the inhabitants there, the protagonists use a peculiar tongue that adds a lot to the immersion as we watch it. Aside from that, the voice acting is of course great as expected from the big names that are voicing the cast like Kayano Ai, Sugita, Tsuda, Daisuke and others.
Final comments and overall conclusion
Something I want to address before closing this review, which I find important since it is the main reason why Mushoku as an anime has such polarity in opinions among watchers is the topic of paedophilia that is brought up by a lot of people. First of all, it is advisable to see a work of art through its setting and not the setting you have in mind for it (e.g. 2021). Mushoku is set in a world where royal families marry their offsprings from a young age (as it was done here not so many centuries ago in the developed countries) and it has a lot of races whose lifespan is double ours if not more, making the age morals of its world much different from ours.
Leaving that aside though, it doesn’t do what lots of people accuse it for to begin with. As of the end of the 1st season, what watchers have seen is a kiss on the cheek from the 10 year old Rudeus to the 12 year old Eris as well as pervy pranks he did to some of the girls of the series, which is part of his character from the previous lifestyle he had (him being a NEET). It would be unrealistic for him to drop it off as a characteristic, as it is part of his previous self which may or may not change as he grows up to be a man in this new world.
Overall, Mushoku Tensei is a unique story that deserves to be given a chance if you are immune to some pervy behaviour and you look at it for what it really is; an adventure story full of surprises, twists, great world building and interesting character interactions.
I hope this review was helpful and thanks for the time you spent to read it.
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Mar 22, 2021
The review below contains some spoilers. Tread with caution if you don’t want to get spoiled of the interactions of the characters within the series or the basic story layout.
Mushoku Tensei. Most would say the controversial anime of the season. Whether you are a fan of the series or not, one thing is for sure when it comes to Mushoku; its world building is unique and not something you see everyday in anime. Shall we analyse part by part though why I think Mushoku Tensei is a great anime with unique storytelling? Story Let’s start with the story first. Mushoku Tensei revolves around a boy named ... |
