Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation[a] is a Japanese light novel series written by Rifujin na Magonote[b], and later illustrated by Shirotaka. The series is about a jobless, overweight, reclusive man who dies and is reincarnated in a fantasy world.[3] He keeps his memories of his previous life and is determined to enjoy his new life without regrets, under the name Rudeus Greyrat.
The series was originally published online at Shōsetsuka ni Narō in November 2012. The following year, a print release under Media Factory's MF Books imprint was announced, with illustrations by Pixiv user Shirotaka.[c] A manga adaptation by Yuka Fujikawa began to be serialized in the June 2014 issue of Monthly Comic Flapper, and three spin-offs were also released. Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the tankōbon volumes of the manga for North America along with the original light novels. An anime television series adaptation produced by Studio Bind aired between January and December 2021, and a second season aired between July 2023 and July 2024. A third season has also been announced.
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation is part of an anime genre called Isekai.[4]
An unnamed, obese 34-year-old Japanese recluse and NEET is evicted from his home by his four siblings, following their parents' deaths and his failure to attend the funeral. After some self-reflection, he concludes that his life is ultimately meaningless. He manages to do something selfless by saving a group of teenagers from a speeding truck, but dies in the process. He awakens in a baby's body and realizes he has been reincarnated into a world of swords and sorcery. Determined to make the most of this second chance, he discards his past identity to embrace a new life as Rudeus Greyrat. Due to inherited affinity and early training, Rudeus becomes highly skilled in magic. During his childhood, he studies under the demon mage Roxy Migurdia, befriends a demi-human named Sylphiette, and becomes a magic tutor to noble heiress Eris Boreas Greyrat.
Just as Rudeus begins to feel like he has found his place in this world, a major magical catastrophe destroys his nation, teleporting and stranding hundreds of thousands of people far from home‚ some into dangerous places or situations, resulting in their deaths due to murder, war, execution, monster attack, or exposure to the elements. Stranded in a foreign land with Eris, Rudeus begins the journey home with help from a warrior named Ruijerd Superdia. During their travels, Rudeus is approached by a mysterious entity called the Man-God, who offers cryptic advice with unclear motives. After three years, including a defeat by a powerful world-class warrior named Orsted, Rudeus successfully escorts Eris home to their devastated homeland. However, political tensions and a misunderstanding led to Eris's sudden departure, leaving Rudeus heartbroken.
Two years later, Rudeus, still affected by the fallout of the incident with Eris, suffers from erectile dysfunction. He enrolls in Ranoa Magic University following advice from the Man-God. There, he reunites with Sylphiette, who helps him recover. They marry shortly thereafter. Rudeus later joins his father's quest to find his missing mother, ignoring the Man-God's advice. During the journey, he develops a romantic relationship with Roxy who becomes his second wife. He is eventually warned by a dying future version of himself that the Man-God will be responsible for the deaths of those close to him. To prevent this, Rudeus attempts to kill Orsted, one of Man-God's enemies, but instead offers him his allegiance in exchange for his family's safety. After reconciling with Eris, Rudeus marries her as his third wife. The series continues episodically with a series of story arcs based around Rudeus' work with Orsted to ensure the Man-God's precise demise, as well as his daily life and growing family. After an unsuccessful attempt on his life, the Man-God abandons his plans against Rudeus and shifts focus to his descendants. Rudeus eventually dies of natural causes at the age of 74.
Production
After graduating from university in 2007, Rifujin na Magonote began submitting manuscripts to publishers. When he got no results, he decided to quit.[5] Some years later, he was reading Kanekiru Kogitsune's Re:Monster, where he learned of the web fiction website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. After reading some of the serials on the website and thinking he would not be ridiculed for his writing, he began submitting there.[5] Rifujin na Magonote wanted to depict a student who fails at school, trying to have another chance at life through this series.[6][5] The setting of the work was created by adding elements of several popular Naro-kei works to the story that he had wanted to write for a long time.[5] From that time on, so-called Isekai stories were popular, and the approach was "if I were you, I would do this," such as "if I'm going to be reincarnated, I should write about my childhood properly" or "is it possible to make use of the settings before reincarnation?" [5] During his youth, Rifujin was a fan of fighting games in arcades. He often regretted leaving his hometown, and when he began writing Mushoku Tensei, he channeled that sorrow as a driving force, aiming to overcome his past difficulties and see the story to its end.[7] Rifujin claims he was influenced by Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer and Parasyte, which focused on family and human relationships.[8]
Rifujin commented that he made Rudeus aware of his controversial personality and intended for Rudeus' actions to become more meaningful in the process. He left it to the readers to judge him. Magonote wanted the audience to pay attention so they could relate to him.[9] He got a great response in episodes 6 and 7 of the web version of the novels when Roxy took Rudeus out. This made him think, "Let's grow in this direction."[10] The message of the series is that "everybody can make mistakes."[11]
After publishing the first parts of his work, Rifujin wrote that he intended the series to last at least a hundred chapters.[12] Due to criticism of his work, Rifujin considered ending the series prematurely but was inspired to continue when it reached first place on Syosetu's daily rankings.[12][13] Originally, the story arc where Rudeus reunites with Aisha was supposed to be completely different from the published work.[14] The author intended to have Lilia die off-screen, with Aisha hiding under a different identity. However, he decided against Lilia's death and rewrote the story arc to make sense of her survival and lack of contact. Rifujin stated the story arc might be bizarre due to the changes, but expressed no regrets; he noted Lilia's survival made him reconsider Zenith's condition in the story.[14] The climax was influenced by Re:Zero. Regarding the ending of this novel, Rifujin was thinking of writing until Rudeus died, and at the same time, writing until Rudeus turned 34 because he died at the age of 34. He also said that since the prologue is about an unemployed man who is kicked out of his house, he did not want the story to end with someone being beaten up.[15][5]
Rifujin intends to create a sequel to the web novel series based on the Six-Sided Universe. On January 15, 2021, the author announced that he plans to finish the Orc Eroica web novel first. Due to health problems, its completion has been delayed.[16]
Adaptation
Director Manabu Okamoto found the novel both controversial and first-rate. This made him interested in adapting it into an anime. However, the length of the novels made it difficult. The biggest challenge was Rudeus' constant growth from a toddler to a teenager in the first story arcs, which the staff made subtle rather than use time-skips. To characterize Rudeus properly, Okamoto gave him two voice actors: Tomokazu Sugita for his thoughts and Yumi Uchiyama for his dialogues. The composer Yoshiaki Fujisawa wanted modern background themes to fit the classic fantasy world.[17]
For the second season, Hiroki Hirano replaced Okamoto as director. He said he aims to develop Rudeus again from a low point, as the first season ends with Rudeus falling into depression after losing all his allies. He hopes he and the development staff will address the character growth.[18] Producer Nobuhiro Osawa expressed doubts about whether or not the team was sure about including more side stories from the original series to help develop Rudeus more.[19]
Rifujin na Magonote published his work on the online web novel website, Shōsetsuka ni Narō; the first chapter was uploaded on November 22, 2012, and the last on April 3, 2015.[20] In November 2013, the author announced his work to be released as a light novel under Media Factory's MF Books imprint.[21] The illustrator for the light novel is a Pixiv user called Sirotaka.[22] The series was published in 26 light novel volumes from January 24, 2014, to November 25, 2022, with the seventh volume completely original.
A spin-off after-story series, Mushoku Tensei: Redundant Reincarnation (無職転生 - 蛇足編, Mushoku Tensei - Dasoku-hen, lit. "Jobless Reincarnation: Redundancy"), was published as nine short stories on Shōsetsuka ni Narō from May 19, 2015, to September 9, 2017. Media Factory will publish Redundant Reincarnation from June 23, 2023, in three volumes, with each volume containing an additional original short story.
Two companion volumes were published by Media Factory on March 25 and November 25, 2022, respectively: Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation – Recollections (無職転生 ～異世界行ったら本気だす～ リコレクション, Mushoku Tensei ~ Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu ~ Recollection) (a compilation of 32 short stories set between the first ten volumes of the series, with a new short story exclusive to the collection and an interview with Rifujin na Magonote) and Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation – A Journey of Two Lifetimes [Special Book] (無職転生 ～異世界行ったら本気だす～ スペシャルブック, Mushoku Tensei ~ Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu ~ Special Book) (featuring series chronology, a special manga from the artists adapting the series, 40 short stories (including five new ones) and an interview with Shirotaka).
Seven Seas Entertainment has licensed the light novels for publication in North America[23] and published the series from 2019 to 2024. They made localization changes in their translations of the light novels, such as toning down Rudeus' perverted behavior and removing references to rape. They later decided to "re-evaluate" their localization decisions.[24] An audiobook version of the series narrated by Cliff Kirk was released by Seven Seas Entertainment from September 26, 2023,[25][26][27] to October 31, 2024.[28] Seven Seas Entertainment also released Recollections (digitally and as an audiobook),[29][30]A Journey of Two Lifetimes and the first volume of Redundant Reincarnation in 2024.[31][32][33]
In the May 2014 issue of Monthly Comic Flapper, it was announced that the manga adaptation of Mushoku Tensei by Yuka Fujikawa would premiere in the June issue;[34][35] Though Yuka is the author of the manga series, character designs are credited to SiroTaka.[36] Media Works collected the individual chapters into tankōbon volumes; the first volume was released in October 2014.[36] In January 2015, Seven Seas Entertainment announced its licensing of the manga series for localization in North America under Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation.[37]
A second manga series illustrated by Kazusa Yoneda, titled Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu - Shitsui no Majutsushi-hen (無職転生 ～異世界行ったら本気だす～ 失意の魔術師編, lit. "Jobless Reincarnation: Giving His Best When Transferred to Another World - The Depressed Magician Arc") began serialization on NTT Solmare's Comic Cmoa website on December 20, 2021. It adapts the light novel's seventh volume.[38]
Spin-offs
A spin-off manga illustrated by Shoko Iwami, titled Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious (無職転生 ～ロキシーだって本気です～, Mushoku Tensei: Rokishī Datte Honki Desu), was serialized online in Kadokawa Shoten's ComicWalker website from December 21, 2017,[39] to July 14, 2023.[40] Twelve tankōbon volumes were published from March 22, 2018,[41] to August 23, 2023.[42] Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga in September 2018 for print and digital release,[43] and released it from April 30, 2019, to September 10, 2024.[44][45]
A second spin-off manga illustrated by Kaede Nogiwa, titled Mushoku Tensei: 4-koma ni Natte mo Honki Dasu (無職転生 ～4コマになっても本気だす～, lit. "Jobless Reincarnation: I'll Be Serious Even in 4-koma"), was serialized in ASCII Media Works' Comic Dengeki Daioh "g" magazine from October 25, 2018,[46] to August 27, 2020.[47] Three tankōbon volumes were published from October 26, 2019,[48] to December 26, 2020.[49]
A third spin-off manga illustrated by Take Higake, titled Mushoku Tensei: Eris Sharpens Her Fangs (無職転生～エリスは本気で牙を砥ぐ～, Mushoku Tensei: Eris wa Honki de Kiba o Togu, lit. "Jobless Reincarnation: Eris Gets Serious About Sharpening Her Fangs"), was serialized online on Square Enix's Gangan Online service from March 15 to October 11, 2022.[50][51] It was compiled into a single tankōbon volume, published on November 25 of the same year.[52] Square Enix's Manga Up! service published the manga in English on November 24, 2023.[53][54]
An anthology manga illustrated by various artists was published by Media Factory in three volumes: Side: Roxy on March 22, 2019,[55] and Side: Eris and Side: Sylphie on December 23, 2020.[56]
On March 15, 2019, the official website of MF Books announced that an anime adaptation of Mushoku Tensei would be produced.[57] The anime was later announced on October 18, 2019, to be a television series directed by Manabu Okamoto and animated by Studio Bind, with Kazutaka Sugiyama designing the characters and Yoshiaki Fujisawa composing the music. Egg Firm is credited for production.[58] The series was originally scheduled to premiere in 2020,[59] but was delayed until January 2021.[60] The first half aired from January 11 to March 22, 2021, on Tokyo MX, KBS, BS11, and SUN.[61][d]
After the first half of the series on March 22, 2021, a second half was announced.[62] The second half was set to premiere in July 2021 but was delayed to October 2021.[63] The second half aired from October 4 to December 20, 2021.[64][e]Toho released both parts of the first season on Blu-ray across 4 volumes, with the first volume releasing on April 21, 2021.[65] The anime's fourth Blu-ray volume was released on March 16, 2022, and included an unaired episode.[66]
The first opening theme song is "The Traveler's Song" (旅人の唄, Tabibito no Uta). The second opening theme song is "The Awakening Song" (目覚めの唄, Mezame no Uta). The third opening theme song is "The Inheritance Song" (継承の唄, Keishō no Uta). The fourth opening theme song is "The Prayer Song" (祈りの唄, Inori no Uta). The fifth opening theme song is "A Distant Child Guard Song" (遠くの子守の唄, Tōku no Komori no Uta). The first ending theme song is "Only" (オンリー, Onrī). The second ending theme song is "The Way to Go With the Wind" (風と行く道, Kaze to Iku Michi). All of the openings and endings were performed by Yuiko Ōhara.[67]
Funimation streamed the series on its website in North America, Mexico, Brazil and the British Isles, in parts of Europe, Central Asia and North Africa through Wakanim, and in Australia and New Zealand through AnimeLab.[68] The series also streamed on Hulu in the United States.[69] On February 13, 2021, Funimation announced the series would have an English dub, with the first episode premiering the next day.[70] Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll.[71] Crunchyroll released the first 11 episodes on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on December 5, 2022,[72] with the latter 12 episodes as well as the unaired episode being released by the company on March 7, 2023.[73] Crunchyroll also released the first season across two Blu-ray volumes in the United Kingdom[74][75] and two Blu-ray and DVD volumes in Australia.[76][77]
Muse Communication has licensed the series in Southeast Asia and South Asia and streamed it on their Muse Asia YouTube channel and its respective regional variants, and iQIYI, Bilibili and WeTV in Southeast Asia, Netflix in South Asia and Southeast Asia,[78]Catchplay in Indonesia and Singapore, meWATCH in Singapore, and Sushiroll in Indonesia.[79]
On March 6, 2022, it was announced that a second season had been greenlit.[80] It was directed by Hiroki Hirano, with scripts supervised by Toshiya Ono, and character designs handled by Sanae Shimada.[81] The season premiered in two parts.[82] The first part of the second season aired from July 3 to September 25, 2023. The second part aired from April 8 to July 1, 2024, with Ryōsuke Shibuya replacing Hirano as the director.[83] The opening theme song is "Spiral" by Longman, while the ending theme song is "Musubime" (ムスビメ) by Yuiko Ōhara.[84] The second season was collected into four Blu-ray volumes in Japan between October 18, 2023, and September 18, 2024.[85][86]
A third season was announced following the airing of the second season's final episode.[87]
Audio drama
An audio drama adaptation, titled Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu - Ten'i Meikyū-hen (無職転生 ～異世界行ったら本気だす～ 転移迷宮編), was released by Frontier Works on April 26, 2017.[88] The story involves Rudeus who was voiced by Hiro Shimono. The actor enjoyed the work despite being unfamiliar with the novels. He still expressed difficulties in delivering certain lines where the character yells. Rudeus' father, Paul, was voiced by Eiji Takemoto, who wanted to connect with his "son" Shimono during the recording. Shimono stated that he felt the audio drama to be quite dark, despite his beliefs that the original novel was more comical.[89]
Video games
A smartphone game developed by Aiming Co., Ltd. titled Mushoku Tensei: Game ni Natte mo Honki Dasu (無職転生 ～ゲームになっても本気だす～, lit. "Jobless Reincarnation - I'll Seriously Try Even If It's Made Into a Game") was released on Android and iOS on March 27, 2021.[90][91] The game ended service on August 31, 2022.[92] The light novel artist served as supervisor, especially in the "Paul Gaiden" scenario.[93]
The light novel has received praise from several publications. Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!, an annual light novel guidebook, ranked Mushoku Tensei as the fourth most popular manga in its 2017 edition.[97] According to Syosetu's rankings, the web novel consistently appeared as the most popular work on the website.[98] The light novels have also appeared on Oricon's charts and ranked in T-site's novel popularity polls.[99][100][101]
By August 2021, the light novel series had reached 8.5 million copies in circulation,[102] increasing to over 13 million copies by June 2023.[103][104]
The main character of the series, Rudeus, has been criticized for being overtly perverted.[105]Anime News Network found Rudeus difficult to sympathize with due to his immaturity. In addition, the novel has been criticized for its sexualization of underage characters.[106]
Real Sound [ja] expressed concern about how the narrative portrays Rudeus' previous life, noting its heavy focus on reclusive former students and their issues, and comparing it to the popular light novel series Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World. Nevertheless, Rudeus’s commitment to overcoming his flaws in his new life was recognized as helping to make him a more sympathetic main character.[107] Writer Niji Kusano, also from Real Sound, stated that the key to Mushoku Tensei's success was Rudeus's achievements in his new life, despite this being a common isekai trope.[108]
Tappei Nagatsuki, author of Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World, commented that one of the strongest aspects of Mushoku Tensei is its handling of Rudeus, whom he notes suffers similarly to the main character from the visual novel Clannad.[15]
Mindo Manihar Pasaribu, from the Institutional Repository of the University of North Sumatra, observes that Rudeus, who was once portrayed as cowardly, weak, and insecure, develops into a hard-working, strong, and fearless character who becomes more confident and compassionate.[109]
Anime
The anime adaptation received a positive response from IGN, and was one of their nominees for Best Anime of 2021. IGN wrote, "In a time where every type of isekai is being developed, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation takes a joyful and wholehearted approach to the genre."[110]Anime News Network was more mixed, with Theron Martin offering praise in his review[111], while other critics offered mixed or negative impressions.[112]
At the Anime Trending Awards, the series received eighteen nominations in total, resulting in seven wins.[113] At the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, it received four nominations, including Best Fantasy for three consecutive years.[114][115][116] Writing about the first season, Irfan Ghani Muhammad from Universitas Kiai Haji Achmad Siddiq Jember observed that Mushoku Tensei frequently challenges Rudeus' morality from various perspectives. His fear of the outside world starts changing when Roxy trains him and takes him on a journey through town, broadening his understanding of society. Ghani Muhammad also notes that Roxy undergoes a similar character arc, shaped by her differences from her people.[117]HITC found the anime properly followed the novel's narrative, most importantly Rudeus' coming-of-age story, which resonated with audiences.[118]Comic Book Resources saw the focus on Rudeus' emotions as what marks the series as a major departure from other isekai storylines.[119]
The early episodes of the second season received mixed reactions, with controversy stemming from Rudeus' more despondent portrayal and a noticeable decline in animation quality.[120][121] The positive reactions highlighted how Rudeus' character gained more depth through his solitude and attempts to connect with new characters.[122][123]
The Japanese Blu-ray releases of the anime frequently appeared on the Oricon charts.[124][125][126][127]
One of the web novel short stories from the after-story collection Redundant Reincarnation, titled "The Moment Aisha Greyrat Stopped Being a Maid", received criticism from some Japanese readers.[128] After receiving a notice from Shōsetsuka ni Narō management that it violated their terms of service on February 24, 2016, the author announced that he had decided to remove the short story from the website and write a remake in the future.[129] The author stated that the core part of the after-story would remain the same.[128]
LexBurner's controversy
On February 8, 2021, before the premiere of the fifth episode of the anime adaptation, a Chinese streaming network, Bilibili, temporarily halted the streaming of the anime on the grounds of a "technical failure." According to fan speculation, it might have been linked to the actions of the popular Chinese influencer LexBurner, who made derogatory remarks about the series and its fans, including a comment describing it as "for bottom-feeders in the social hierarchy." Following his comments, some of his followers left a large number of low ratings for the series on the media-reviewing website, Douban, to review-bomb the series with a 1-star rating; although the series concurrently enjoyed a 9.2/10 rating on Bilibili. This led to LexBurner, a prominent content creator on Bilibili, being banned from the site.[130][131] Later, author Rifujin na Magonote commented on LexBurner's actions: "His words are only his personal opinion, and he is free to hold whatever views he likes. Although I am displeased at how he has insulted other viewers, anime is not made only for successful people, so I hope that those who can enjoy it will enjoy it." He further commented: "If that is the kind of online presence he is, that's just the way it is sometimes. Even in Japan, there are plenty of people like him, although they might not have his influence. As far as I am concerned, instead of engaging with him, I think it is more important to ignore him and grow your own communities. Thank you!".[131][132]
Notes
^Japanese: 無職転生 〜異世界行ったら本気だす〜, Hepburn: Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu, lit. "Jobless Reincarnation: If (I) go to another world, (I) will make a serious effort"
^Japanese: 理不尽な孫の手, Hepburn: Rifujin na Magonote, lit. "Unreasonable Backscratcher"
^ abcdefna Magonote, Rifujin (2022). Mushoku Tensei Special Book (in Japanese). Japan: MF Books. p. 314. ISBN978-4-04-681934-5.
^Rifujin na Magonote. 蛇足編完結と感想返し [Apology and Excuse] (in Japanese). Shōsetsuka ni Narō. Archived from the original on April 15, 2024. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
