Mushoku Tensei III: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu

Abysmal fiction. Worst season of the show by far. Why? Well, turning established characters like Roxy and Sylphie into Rudeus’ stay at home wives who just do whatever to make him happy and put themselves second constantly is extremely misogynistic and cringe. Then you have the whole Nanahoshi plot line, of all the people in this story, no one deserves to be happy more than her, but she’s doomed to suffer from mana disease while a dude who skipped his own parent’s funeral to goon to CSAM and even when coming to another world continued to hold pedophilic tendencies is allowed to be happy with multiple wives, wealth, broken magic, etc? I guess bro. Then the whole Eris deal. So she was billed as the main event this season and we really only got a few scenes of her outside them first couple episodes and even then, most of her scenes just made her entire personality revolve around being with Rudeus. Even her reasoning for becoming a sword god is to catch up with Rudeus? Like does she have any actual personality or ambitions independent of her COUSIN btw? The redeeming qualities of this season being the incredible production values from BIND and the stuff with Perugius which was genuinely interesting and the man god stuff at the end, but clearly I’ve just outgrown this series and it offers nothing of value for me anymore.. it’s obviously aimed at a certain demographic and that’s just not me anymore. I do still kinda wanna find out what ends up happening with man god so I’ll unfortunately probably be around for subsequent seasons because the actual lore of the story is decent enough.

This is probably a really good example of why something like good conservative art can’t exist or is at least always in conflict with itself. You cannot hold regressive views on any subject without that perspective eventually running counter to the quality of your work, not just because you are spreading harmful ideas, but, more fundamentally, because things like misogyny hinder your ability for character writing and basic storytelling. This is the poison that has, over the seasons, run so deep that, whatever gender a character might be, for them to exist in a setting largely inhabited by stereotypes and fetish girls made with the sole purpose of providing a wish-fulfilment fantasy to the sexually insecure, draws into focus that they are, in fact, characters. A real human being would have opinions on this vegetative state the whole female cast of Mushoku Tensei seems to be under; even the most hardline sexist segregationist type would look at this and make an argument about how this "but proves women’s inherent inferiority". But no, this is not what happens; instead we have a cast of people who act as though this is all normal, who look at two women who, in marriage, turn so submissive that they lose all agency, and call this good, faithful, loving behaviour. Rudeus’s wives are plot devices, things that can die to introduce stakes, not characters with their own journeys. They poop out kids and smile into the camera and get head pats and give head pats and and and… that’s it. How they curb the world around them, that we as an audience are asked to pretend that this, the way they act and live together, is normal, no, that this is good, makes me cringe, no other way of putting it. The show has given up on making an argument, on trying to convince us of this relationship's validity, the morality of its protagonist, the righteousness of his quest, and so all that is left is pandering towards those who watched the show thus far and were completely fine with all they got, not asking for anything but another helping of the same. But it isn’t enough; it can’t be, because greyness isn’t mature, complicated situations aren’t smart, broken characters aren’t deep. Just because Rudeus isn’t a perfect guy doesn’t mean the show can do everything with him, no questions asked. He is a fuck up, we know that, everyone knows that, but to pretend that this excuses what the show does, that it makes it all okay, it ignores that ultimately there is a person behind this all that made these narrative choices, an author who decided to write a story about a paedophile rapist getting a harem of wives who each forgives him and loves him and gives him head pats. A narrative has to be justified, and this one is not. What happens in Mushoku Tensei, all the fucked-up shit, it does not lead anywhere, and so it is all worthless, pointless at best and abhorrent at worst. So often have I heard people excuse narrative choices under the pretence that “Rudeus is not meant to be a good guy” or “the show doesn’t endorse this or that”, but it does; the edit speaks loud enough. Go through online communities, go through episode discussion threads on this very site, and you will see the supposed “neutrality” of this show’s perspective, where all you get are a hundred comments lusting after women who are two-dimensional, both in substance and in style. So many excuse the inexcusable as grey all the while they look at that same picture and jerk it to it without another thought. To talk of ambivalence in one breath, while watching the show as confirmation, as power fantasy and wish fulfilment, then use the next to gasp for air before blowing the author’s dick, that is Mushoku Tensei’s place in current culture, though some might claim otherwise. In the end, a system’s function is its outcome; thus, equally, the value of a piece of art lies in the minds it shapes and thoughts it births, and saying this, I will add, I am not making this point to attack anyone, and still I cannot help but notice that the apparent outcome of this work of art is nothing but an affirmation of inceldom and chud culture. I liked this show, I thought it had a point, but it does not. Mushoku Tensei is not interested in introspection, in looking at its own flaws and seeing what makes them such, in finding the problems that shape its protagonist and finally sending him on a journey towards betterment. Instead, this show falls victim to what I consider to be one of our contemporary moment’s most incessant ills, where it believes that knowing of one’s flaws makes one less of a mess. Beyond all others, Mushoku Tensei echoes the idea that, if we are aware of our own brokenness, that alone will somehow undo it; that, through recognising imperfection, we are absolved of our need for change, but again, murky colours aren’t “real”, “true”, or “meaningful”. The aesthetic of the morally grey is alluring to all those who do not for themselves have a way of judging such a situation, because it tells them that their own ignorance is, in fact, no ignorance at all. “The world is complicated, and there are no easy answers”, and so we can look at our own mistakes and simply say “, This is but the way of the world”. This is wrong. Though I will not speak of blame, it would be stupid to pretend that there are no problems in Rudeus’s life, the choices he made, the relationships he clings to, and to believe that we cannot say such things, because life is all too complicated, is pure foolishness. This is a bad show, one that showcases utterly abhorrent behaviour as grey, that portrays women as objects to be collected, that makes the lives of its female characters a thing for its protagonist to fight over. For all its potential, for all its interesting narrative choices, Mushoku Tensei is incapable of realising any of them in a meaningful way, because this has long stopped to be a believable story, much less a believable world.

Mushoku Tensei is an interesting case of what narrative faithfulness even means to the general audience. It's no surprise that most anime productions are usually adaptations of a source, whether it be a manga, light novel, or even visual novels. In fact, it happens so often that you could basically call it a retelling of the original story, just in another medium that allows voice acting, visual movement, and music to be a part of it. Therefore, it would make sense for a good number of the anime community to be labeled purists, who prefer any anime adaptations to be as closely identical to the source material as they can, including the same pacing, story, and characters. In other words, the directors matter very little compared to the scale of trying to appease thousands of awaiting fans of the source. Mushoku Tensei was exactly made for that purpose. However, since the anime community is fairly larger than the manga community due to obvious advantages the anime medium has, it means there's a good number of them who are also anime-onlys, who prefer to experience the media in that preferred category. They might show interest in consuming it in its original medium, but it's no shock that they would try to consume it the anime way first. Thus, you will find a variety of opinions; the most common would probably be praise due to its lore and polish when the first season aired. The next common factor was the shocking negative opinions they have to share about Mushoku Tensei's notoriety. Why am I saying all this first? Because this is why chasing fidelity for the adaptation is not necessarily the universal option for adapting original material, especially if that material means inheriting all of the story's problematic features. While I am also saying fidelity isn't necessarily the only option, I'm defending the approach Studio Bind took. It's easy to blame the story on the author, considering he's the culprit who unmistakably wrote it that way, but I don't necessarily think that's the case. To understand that, I beg you to read on for what I'm about to tell you. The studio is responsible for adapting the whole light novel; in fact, the staff willingly volunteered to adapt it themselves, which led to the foundation of Studio Bind. As they are huge fans of the source material, they went ahead for all the willing fans who want to witness the story in another medium once again. And of course, they were even aware of the problematic character, Rudeus, and many of the story's questionable choices it would make going along. So your question should be asking: Why didn't they bother to change Rudeus? I wish he was more "accessible" or had another character to take the helm. There are two reasons I can think of. Reason No. 1: The author's choice - Unfortunately, the author really thought it was a good idea to write him this way and was unwilling to compromise some of those traits just for the sake of delivering a "rehabilitation" story. And thus, all those undesirable traits that make Rudeus who you would call disgusting, are present in all their stinking darkness. Reason No. 2: The studio's role in adapting - Every staff member who works at Studio Bind is, without a doubt, a huge fan of the source, and they want to be as faithful to Rudeus' character as they can. The director in the first season did express some doubt about trying to transition his character to the anime medium, due to how notorious his character was and the difficulty of introducing him to the anime audience who may watch it for the first time. Still, he went forward trying to be faithful, refusing to change any traits to make Rudy a bit more accessible to any new viewers who recently learned of Mushoku Tensei. Of course, this suggests that the staff should have played a more active role in editing some parts of Mushoku Tensei, suggesting that an adaptation is an editorial process to be made rather than making a complete replica of it. So in the end, I can understand why there are many who disliked Mushoku Tensei or even look at it in disgust. It's not unreasonable to think that way, especially since the staff faithfully carried over Rudeus' troubling past without any effort to compromise and even doubled down on it with this season's most sensitive episode we have to witness. Still, I don't think their choice to adapt Mushoku Tensei is a failure; it was simply a creative approach they thought was best for Mushoku Tensei. When Mushoku Tensei first aired, I knew nothing of it. I was a new fan, or what you may call an anime-only fan. It came around during my high school days when I was nearing the time of my final year exams. It was after the big anime boom commenced, when you find a crazy influx of interest in anime all of a sudden, and Mushoku Tensei rode on that success, causing a lot of people to learn about Mushoku Tensei after scrolling through a couple of anime that had aired. I respected the approach Studio Bind took; they have made some of the most likable characters (not necessarily Rudeus) I have seen in all my years of consuming anime, while delivering a sincere and passionate project to the wondrous world of Mushoku Tensei. The foreign languages, the cultures, the world designs- those details are what make Mushoku Tensei so special but so complicated to express in this review. The studio's choice to be faithful to the material also meant being faithful to its flaws and mistakes. But that's where beauty is. No media is ever perfect, and the studio clearly understood the nuances of following Rudeus' character down to a T. Perhaps that is what makes Mushoku Tensei's adaptation so interesting to me in the first place. It can preserve everything that makes it great, but it can also preserve everything that makes it difficult to love. I do believe that a studio should hold responsibility for adapting a material, since even a highly faithful adaptation is still an interpretation, no doubt. Still, I find it beautiful. Thank you for reading.

For something that I have consistently rated as a 10/10 masterpiece, Season 3 has made me rethink and revise my ratings for all of Season 2 and likely the story as a whole going forward. The story started off strong, and is likely only going to be worse from now until its conclusion. TL;DR The harem exists for the plot, not for the characters inside or outside it, and it ruins the overall story because it dulls the characters' personalities. Harems are boring, overdone, and unrealistic. This series has always been fairly grounded in *emotional* realism (note: magic fantasy world), and I have always praised its efforts. Turning Point 4 has flipped what was a slice-of-life story on its head completely. I would even go so far as to say this season has one of the best plot points in many facets of modern media. It's so incredible, that its low points are highlighted even further. The story's central focus has now become Rudeus' harem. The harem is nonsensical in comparison to the rest of the story's basis in the characters' emotional struggles. However, it is integral to the point that the characters seem to make decisions based on whether or not it would move the plot forward, with the author writing the plot around the harem rather than whether or not it would make sense for the characters. Everything they do MUST keep the harem together, even if it makes no sense for Rudeus to marry multiple women in the first place. The harem simply did not have to exist if it weren't deliberately framed that way. Mushoku Tensei is excellent across the board; but it does have holes. The longer you pull at a plot thread, the bigger those holes become.

Mushoku Tensei Season 3 Part 1 was an interesting addition to the series to say the least. Without a doubt better than season 1 but not quite sure it was better than season 2, although there's still a 2nd half to be aired so we'll see where it goes I guess. Art Style/Character Designs - 9.5 Animation - 8.5 Themes - 6 Characters - 4 Story - 6 Fantasy/World/Magic - 9 Music/OP/ED - 6 Enjoyment - 5.5 As always the art and character designs are beautiful. I've always loved the visuals for Mushoku Tensei and this season definitely didn't disappoint in that aspect. The animation was great as well, again it's always looked pretty good throughout the series in my opinion and that didn't change this season. The fantasy elements are amazing as well. The world building is great, the magic system is pretty cool and just in general it's a well put together fantasy anime. However where Mushoku Tensei starts to lose me is with the themes and characters. While thematically it's not all bad, I do enjoy how it tackles certain things to do with different races and political conflict, it really fucking sucks on the romance side of things. For starters it's a harem so that already sucks, but then on top of that it killed both Roxy and Sylphie's characters. They were at a point characters I liked, but now they just don't do anything, and considering Eris is about to be added to the harem, all I really expect is that the same thing is going to happen to her too. All their individuality gets stripped away because of their relationship with Rudeus. Also speaking of Rudeus, I probably can't say anything anyone hasn't heard before. He's the main reason why Mushoku Tensei is such a controversial anime. I absolutely hate the guy but it would be a lie to say he hasn't development or changed at all. He's certainly not the same guy he was back in season 1, however I do think he hasn't grown enough in the areas that need it the most, and it doesn't seem like that'll ever change. No matter what happens you can count on Rudeus being a degenerate and a womanizer. As for the story, it's pretty solid but it suffers from the fact it revolves around uninteresting characters most of the time. I literally couldn't give a shit about anything that happens because I have no connection to the characters. Outside of Norn, Julie, Zenith and Nanahoshi, I literally don't care for anyone in the show. I think Nanahoshi is by far the best character, her emotional moments actually feel impactful and the story revolving around her is actually interesting. She would've made for a better main character to be honest. Also a very hyped up moment of this season was Turning Point 4, but I'm not gonna lie it was kind of disappointing. Now although the initial episode is what disappointed me, I do think the diary episode was actually very good. The dark timeline portrays a much better story than the main timeline in my opinion because Rudeus doesn't just get rewarded for being a shitty person, he actually suffers and faces big problems. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like a incomplete puzzle, but not because it's missing any pieces, because there's too many pieces that just don't fit nicely. Instead of bringing everything together, those pieces are preventing it from becoming a beautiful complete picture. Overall I mostly just view Mushoku Tensei as a "what could've been" because it really has all the makings to be a top 10 anime for me outside of the characters. Season 3 Part 1 was fine enough, I'd give it a 6/10, hopefully Part 2 is more interesting.

Season 3 was pretty bland and mediocre for most of its runtime. The more I watch Mushoku Tensei, the more I understand how overrated it actually is. A lot of the season felt uneventful, with the writing struggling to make its conflicts or character moments as compelling as they should have been. The series has an interesting world and plenty of material to work with, yet so much of it ends up feeling strangely underwhelming. Thankfully, the last three episodes completely turned things around. They finally brought the tension, stakes and emotional weight that had been missing for most of the season, and they were easily the strongest part of it. In fact, those episodes did enough to genuinely save the season from being a complete disappointment. Still, it's hard to overlook how inconsistent the season feels. When Mushoku Tensei is good, it's genuinely great, but when it isn't, it can be incredibly tedious. Season 3 spent too much of its runtime being mediocre only to suddenly become excellent at the very end. It's one of the most overrated seasons I've watched, although the final stretch at least gave it the ending it needed.

I like Mushoku Tensei, but Season III disappointed me on many levels So many people hate on this because they talk about how problematic it is, or how problematic a character Rudeus is, but they always ignore the fact that this is the entire point. Redeus was never supposed to be likable and a great guy from the start, he was supposed to be deeply flawed and then as things progress he grows as a character, he seeks redemption through his actions, through trying to become a better person. But no, people love to virtue signal over this to such a performative level that it is tiring. So let's talk Mushoku Tensei, Season 1 was extremely strong, it adopted a slow life feel as it introduced the characters and world building, Eris then came in swinging and we then saw the pace step up as the time with Eris was more turbulent, then with the mass teleportant event the pace stepped up again as Rudeus and Eris made their way through the Demon Continent. It built its pace in a way that the shift in tone would not be jarring, it didn't go from sleepy slice of life straight to epic adventure, that would have been foolish... So why do we get that in season 3? I thought Season 2 made major missteps as it felt like the main focus of that season was Rudeus had ED, but now we were past that everything would be on the up. What I did not expect was that the studio would embark on some serious shenanigans that negatively affected my enjoyment of Season 3. This was advertised as the season Eris returns, they created major hype around the fact that Eris would be back in season 3, she's in the OP, she's in the ED and what do we actually get? We get two episodes at the start of the season that feel out of place that show what Eris has been up to, it is worse when you learn that these were shown in the cinema ahead of time. Eris pretty much doesn't feature in the rest of the season, it is a massive bait and switch, this long awaited return is just there to telegraph the fact that she'll be back in Part 2, even though the studio went and told us she would be back in Part 1. Now they can say that 'technically' she was back in Part 1, but those two episodes should have been an OVA, they should have been at the end of the season and the lead in for Part 2, they could have cut out what tiny content features Eris and it would have had zero effect on the events of Part 1 The other issue with having these two OVA episodes at the start is that not only do anime only viewers then expect Eris to come knocking down the door at some point, but it sets the initial tone of the season, the pace is quick, the action is high, it is Eris' training arc, so there are plenty of fights on display. And then the season heavily applies the breaks because as soon as we switch back to Rudeus the pacing slows right down, this is why I mentioned the pacing of Season 1, because here the difference in the pacing is just jarring, we switch from Eris going all out in her fight scenes, to then Rudeus happy family slow life, and then it just stays there, it just sits at that point and not much really happens, the pacing is so slow, we do eventually get some events happening around the midpoint, but things are still slow moving until it crams a whole load of events in one episode. It actually felt like they just crammed so much into one episode because they didn't have enough episodes to give all those events the space they needed, but they used up all those episodes with a whole load of nothing early on. Then the end happens which is a whole thing, we have a character talk about a series of events, and then in the next episode it shows you all those events in what is a flashback, even though we were just told about them, because it doesn't really respect your time and it makes much of the prior episode an entire waste of time, because why talk about them, if you're then going to show them in a flashback. So the pacing is just a mess This is a series I enjoy, but it comes to something when I find myself preferring the ED arc to this

Mushoku Tensei Season 4: Great start, boring middle, interesting yet confusing end. Mushoku Tensei Season 4 starts out really strong with Eris being the main focus for the first two episodes. We get to learn more about different sword styles, the Sword God, and what Eris has been doing since leaving Rudeus. This is a great start to the season because it gives the viewer a fresh perspective on the vast world of Mushoku Tensei and lets the viewer settle into the world once again. The animation looks great and the new characters are fun and have great chemistry with Eris. The middle portion of the season is where the show starts to lose me. The first few episodes are just setup and a bunch of slice-of-life moments that honestly just bored me. Episodes 3, 4, and 5 barely set up anything to move the plot forward. Episode 6 at least had a great conversation between Rudeus and Sara about Rudeus moving on from his past trauma and apologizing for misleading her. Episode 7 is more slice-of-life until episode 8 finally starts setting up some plotlines with Perugius. Episode 9 was mainly more set up with a Nanahoshi crashout with great voice acting, Kishirika returns to the plot as well near the end. Episode 10 was pretty fun with a great fight against the Demon King whose name I can't pronounce nor remember. And finally episode 11 is technically Turning Point 4 but honestly it just feels like setup for Turning Point 4 more than the turning point itself. Ok this will be the most criticized portion of my review but I want to talk about the latter half of the season; mainly episodes 12, 13, and 14. To sum up the next few paragraphs in a nutshell: I don't understand why people are saying this is some crazy revelation or insane plot twist or whatever. Rudeus gets a visit from his past self who tells him what's going to happen in the near future if he does what the Man-God says. His past self then explains that the Man-God will betray Rudeus and Roxy and Sylphie will die. He goes on to explain the mistakes he made and how current Rudeus can avoid it before future Rudeus eventually dies. The next episode (episode 13) then directly shows what past rudeus was talking about. This is what I don't understand: 1. Why are these episodes separated? 2. Why are people freaking out over all these character deaths when future Rudeus LITERALLY explains what happened to them? I'll explain my first complaint a bit more. I don't get why these episodes are separated. If both episodes 12 and 13 were combined that would make the whole sequence a lot more impactful because future Rudeus would be narrating what happens while giving all the information to Rudeus while the audience sees exactly what happened. This way, the audience isn't spoiled about what happens before the events are shown, making the whole sequence much more impactful. Now onto my second point. This sort of ties with my first point because I think both of these complaints would be fixed if the episodes were combined. This is also mainly a complaint around the audience of Mushoku Tensei and not the writing itself. The thing I don't get is why the audience is supposed to be shocked or surprised when future Rudeus directly says that certain characters will die. What's the point of telling the audience, "hey Roxy and Sylphie are going to die and they die because this happens" and then somehow people are shocked when the next episodes comes on and they're both dead. When I watched episode 13 I wasn't like, "holy crap they died I did not see this coming" I was more like, "oh, so that's how they died." To be honest I think some people actively forgot the entirely of episode 13 was just a flashforward of things that could happen and not actively happening in the current timeline (to be fair the episodes doesn't exactly help with establishing that it's a flashback but people should be smart enough to figure it out). I don't know why but episode 13 didn't blow me away as much as I heard it would but that might've been my fault for raising my expectations too high. I think I had my mind too focused on the potential future aspect of it and knew Rudeus was going to do something to change it so it didn't hit as hard for me. I didn't really enjoy this season that much. I thought a lot of it was more boring than interesting, and while the start and end had a lot of great moments it never had that "WOW" factor for me. I can see why a lot of people liked this season especially with certain aspects of Turning Point 4. I'll probably have to rewatch it now that it's complete and maybe I'll change my mind but for now it's just meh.

The first 11 episodes were boring-ass slice of life that barely kept me interested. Then, FINALLY, we get two genuinely exciting episodes with actual stakes, tension, and a genuinely interesting direction. For a moment, I thought the season was actually going somewhere. And then comes the final episode. LOL. All that buildup, all that tension, all that hype... for WHAT? Everything suddenly feels fine again, the pacing falls apart, and we're right back to the same boring-ass slice of life. No satisfying payoff, no proper resolution, just an underwhelming, open-ended conclusion. Imagine sitting through 11 episodes of boredom, finally getting invested in the last stretch, only for the finale to completely kill that momentum. 14 episodes, 2 genuinely good ones, and an ending that makes the entire buildup feel pointless. What an absolute waste of potential.

Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu Season 3 follows Rudeus Greyrat as he tries to lead a quiet life after marrying Roxy Migurdia, who turned into his second wife with the permission of Sylphiette Greyrat, his principal wife. In parallel to this, Eris Boreas Greyrat is training harder to reunite with the main character and declare her feelings for him. Many claim that this season is the best of the entire anime, but unfortunately it didn’t click for me. Do you want to know why? Keep reading this review for more info. Audiovisual: 8 This show always had stunning visuals and great character designs, however I noticed a drop in quality here: inconsistencies in some scenes; weird angles; and the way Eris was animated in the outro. Regardless, Studio Bind is still doing an incredible job directing this show so far. Going to the audio/sound aspect, we’ve returned to the ethereal voice of Yuiko Oohara, who did almost all of the songs in this anime, dropping three another marvelous intros and one outro that played in the 13th episode. But what’s even more surprising is that Mika Nakashima, famous for her song “KISS OF DEATH” (from Darling in the Franxx), did the main ending. The music was really amazing, but like I said above, the visuals weren’t really good. Characters: 4 Like I wrote on my review about the previous entry of MT, I was disappointed by how the plot messed up with Sylphiette and Roxy – they became flat characters. And to make matters worse, this season just emphasizes that issue even more and the supporting cast was pretty affected too. Anyway, separating the most important characters in items, we have: 1. Main character: Rudeus is still the same hateful and pervert protagonist, but I’m starting to think that I should get used to his bad habits and move forward, because it looks like the author was always less focused in Rudeus’ character development. Nonetheless, I’m going to reinforce that issue every entry if it’s necessary and no, I’m not saying that he didn’t developed, Rudeus suffered in some moments and he is (a little) more mature now, but being rewarded like he was made the plot feel cliché and edgy. Plus, the Greyrat is still weak and useless even when he works in team, yet he is considered one of the strongest students at Ranoa University. 2. Deuteragonists: - Sylphiette gave Rudeus his first daughter, Lucy, but she turned into an uninteresting character since she accepted Roxy as the main character’s second wife. The elf is viewed as an example of a perfect woman for many fans, but I find it pitiful. Imagine looking for the person whom you love for many years and marry with them only to discover that they love another person as much as you… So, Sylphie allowing Rudeus to marry another woman was just a clichéd plot device for a harem show. - Roxy, like Sylphie, turned into a dull character after the events in the previous entry. She, at least, had some relevance because of what happened in the last couple episodes of this cour. - Eris is the only main girl who’s not married with Rudeus. She returned after being left aside in the previous season, with 2 episodes entirely dedicated to her heavy sword training in order to be on a par with her cousin and then, reunite with him. Despite being stronger and more independent than the remaining deuteragonists, she’s still naïve and stupid – another girl who overrates Rudeus. 3. Supporting cast: - Zanoba and Cliff are two close friends of Rudeus that made a prosthetic arm to him, remembering that he had lost it in Begaritt. Both have potential to turn into great character, but they have way too less screen time. - Nanahoshi is the only well-written girl here and she resembles Subaru Natsuki in terms of suffering and mental breakdown. I always praised this girl since her real debut in the previous season and, in my opinion, Mushoku Tensei would be much better if she were a deuteragonist too, because her backstory is really sad. Obviously, it won’t happen so sudden, but hope springs eternal. - Elinalise is still a bold woman, but no longer as lecherous as Rudeus. I like how she’s developing here and I wish the main character follows her example. We also got more info about her sad backstory. 4. New characters: - Perugius Dola is the owner of an ancient fortress named as “Chaos Breaker” and one of the heroes who defeated the Demon-God Laplace. He made a brief but imposing debut in this cour, proving why he’s called the “Armored Dragon King”. A typical nice guy who doesn’t seek power or glory and resembles the Dragon-God Orsted, but unlike him, Perugius doesn’t have the curse that make people hate him. - Nina Farion made her debut at the same time Eris reappeared. Aspiring to become a Sword-God, she started off on the wrong foot by losing to the Boreas, however both eventually ended up being “frenemies” after Nina witnessed how Rudeus was popular at Ranoa University and understood why Eris always praised him. Ironically, I like her more than the Boreas because at least, she’s more normal and clever despite being a side character. - Atoferatofe Rybak is known as the “Immortal Demon Lord”, the older sister of Badigadi and the wife of Kalman I (the North-God who also defeated Laplace). A minor antagonist who appeared to intercept Rudeus and his allies, who were searching for a plant to cure Nanahoshi. She’s basically a copy of Eris but even more dumb and impulsive, so another flat character. 5. Antagonist: Hitogami is the only character that performed a perfect role, even better than Nanahoshi, who was unfairly left out here. I won’t give any spoilers for the reader’s sake, but the only think I’m going to say is that I like him, despite his questionable actions, and I root for him much more than for Rudeus. Development: 4 The way Studio Bind handled the plot progression was utterly appalling. Even with a plot-twist (Turning Point 4) this cour was underwhelming despite the hype. To begin with, the 2 first episodes focusing on Eris’ sword training were quite good, but I really think it would be better if this mini-arc had been separated as another entry (OVA or TV special), because the main episodes are about Rudeus and his wives. Unfortunately, the following episodes only went downhill as they showed more about the main character’s bad habits and the nonsense slice-of-life stuff (i.e. recurring characters like Ruijerd and Sara returning for nothing), ruining my high expectations. It only became good again when Nanahoshi had her opportunity to shine in the depressing episode 9. The Turning Point 4 begun on episode 11 and just like the previous three, I was expecting something incredible too. Nonetheless, what I just witnessed was a flood of new information coming out of the blue and questionable reasons for Rudeus adding another wife to his harem. The beloved episode 13 was also underwhelming for me because it was basically a reproduction of the previous one, but with a lot of frightening and gruesome moments. The only great aspect was Hitogami and his role as a mysterious antagonist. Worldbuilding: 7 I’ve always praised the wondrous universe of Mushoku Tensei, but this time, I’ll be harsh. Like I said on the previous topic, the great amount of informations added on the TP4 episode came out of nowhere and only made matters even worse. At least, if there were some foreshadowing, I would’ve noticed immediately and given this criterion a higher score. Again, it was just added for plot device in order to benefit Rudeus by increasing his number of wives and that’s what bothers me so much. Plus, there were less focus on the environment here than in the previous seasons (the first one has the greatest variety) and the only new things were Perugius’ sky fortress and the castle of Kishirika Kishirisu, where Atofe lives too. Enjoyment & final considerations: 4 I’m sorry for being a contrarian, but this was one of the worst parts of Mushoku Tensei for me. I don’t hate Rudeus beca…

After another season, you start to understand better where the story intends to go, and you realize that *Mushoku Tensei* is, in fact, a masterpiece. After this season, some people started saying that the story has become centered around the protagonist's harem. However, I believe that this perspective overlooks an important point: this is the first time Rudeus truly has a family that he cares about. What we're seeing isn't simply the construction of a harem, but the development of relationships and bonds that will be important for everything that comes next. *Mushoku Tensei* is one of the few series that has actually made me enjoy watching a harem, precisely because its development is extremely well executed. The story makes you care about each of the characters. Each heroine has her own personality, her own way of doing things, and a different relationship with Rudeus. They didn't meet the protagonist in the same circumstances, they didn't go through the same experiences, and consequently, they developed different bonds with him. But what really keeps me invested in the series isn't the harem, nor its incredible animation. What I enjoy the most is the way each character develops in their own way. A slower season like this one can give the impression that the story isn't progressing very much. However, for someone who knows the original material, it's much easier to see what is being built beneath the surface of these quieter moments. And I can say that, from this point onward, the story begins to delve much deeper into its lore. Many of the things that have been introduced so far start to take on new dimensions, and we'll gradually see more clearly what *Mushoku Tensei* truly represents. For me, it's precisely this gradual development that makes the series so special. It doesn't need to constantly present major events in order to move the story forward. Sometimes, it's these quieter moments, where we simply watch the characters live their lives and strengthen their bonds, that make the events that come later so much more meaningful.

I've rated the previous seasons pretty highly because Mushoku Tensei did the isekai formula exceptionally well. The world felt beautiful, the pacing was elegant, and it genuinely gave you that feeling of wanting to jump into this world yourself. But mahn… after learning more about Rudeus' past, my perspective on the character changed a lot. Apparently, in his previous life, Rudeus was watching a naked video of his own niece when he got kicked out and beaten by his family. So basically… bro was a pedophile before reincarnation.💀 And knowing that completely changes how I look at some of his actions in this world. His relationship with Roxy (technically not underaged, but man she is a tiny character) and Eris especially becomes extremely uncomfortable for me. You can argue that this is supposed to be his redemption journey, but if your character is trying to become a better person and still repeats similar patterns involving someone underage, then at some point you have to question how much redemption is actually happening. And no, I'm not buying the "but it would be legal in their world" argument. If Rudeus genuinely wanted to change, that should matter more than whatever technical justification the world gives him. The whole polygamy aspect is another thing I'm very conflicted about. If Rudeus had actually chosen to stay loyal to one person and build a healthy relationship, that would've felt like a much stronger form of redemption to me. Instead, the story basically goes in the opposite direction. And this is coming from someone who really liked this anime. The memes calling it Diddy Tensei suddenly don't feel that far-fetched. 😭 Story Ironically, this is still where Mushoku Tensei shines. The world keeps expanding, the story gets darker, and the twists continue to be genuinely interesting. The anime has gone far beyond the usual "isekai protagonist gets overpowered and saves everyone" formula. There are some really strong developments this season, and despite my problems with Rudeus, I can't deny that the story itself is good. Characters This is where I'm conflicted the most. Rudeus has definitely grown in some ways. He's more responsible, capable, and emotionally mature than the person he was at the beginning. But character development isn't automatically redemption. He has grown in certain directions while failing miserably in others, especially when it comes to the way he views and treats women. The anime also doesn't seem particularly interested in making him confront his previous life's behaviour with the level of remorse I'd expect. That's probably my biggest problem with his character. and the author gives absolutely nothing about it. And dont compare Rudeus to the GOAT Natsuki Subaru just because some Re:Zero fans apparently review-bombed this season. Subaru is someone who has changed from himself, redefining who he is. Animation Amazing as always. Mushoku Tensei continues to look fantastic, and the world itself remains one of the biggest reasons to keep watching. Recommendation This is probably the weirdest recommendation I've given because, I don't support the protagonist, but I still recommend the anime. The story is genuinely good. The world-building, twists, darker storylines and overall journey are enough to keep me invested. Would I watch the next season? Absolutely. Do I support Rudeus as a character? Absolutely not. 😭 I've basically reached the point where I'm watching Mushoku Tensei for the story, not for Rudeus.

Most anime fall into a familiar split. Some are good. Some are bad. Some make you laugh, some scare you, some just kill an evening. Mushoku Tensei is doing a different job. This show doesn’t only entertain you or move you. It actually gets into your chest. I’ll be honest: Season 3 Part 1 — and yes, a second cour is already lined up — did not clear the bar the first two seasons set. Too many episodes felt like they were idling. Filler, if we’re being blunt. Mind you, I know why it’s structured that way. Studio Bind is adapting the light novel with almost religious fidelity, and that quiet stretch isn’t an accident on the page: it’s the calm you’re supposed to live in before Turning Point 4 detonates. Even so — and I know this isn’t the popular take among novel readers — I still think an anime adaptation should obey its own pacing rules. Faithful doesn’t have to mean inert. So out of fourteen episodes, maybe five barely moved the story. And then the season still delivered the biggest swing this series has taken so far. Things got complicated. Things got ugly. Things got electric. This might be the cour with the fewest “holy shit” episodes. Those episodes are also the most intense the show has ever put on screen. I’m writing this with my hands still shaking from the last conversations between Rudeus and Hitogami. And yes — from finally getting a proper look at Eris’s ridiculous, glorious, heavy-as-sin oppai. The girl trained like a demon for years and came back looking like a war crime in a tight top. I’m not pretending I watched that stretch for the sword forms. I’m ready for the next cour.

Only a few episodes have aired but peak is back . For me Mushoku Tensei second season as a whole was lacking something and that feeling is gone with the new season . I love the humor, Action, Plot of this anime , though as a reminder it still lacks the completeness of season 1 , it's great that they've been able to comeback . The first episode shows the story of Eris and her training but still misses the point to why she left and what was her thoughts at that time but it's understandable since every line from the loght novel can't be adopted. Then with the usual characters we get to see the marriage of Elinalise and Cliff , i was't expecting this outcome from the couple and the last episode with sara actually was the cherry on top .

Why not tackle it earnestly when you had the chance? I don't usually write reviews, or even rate things. It takes a toll on me, so I generally don't bother. But after all this shallow and illusory handling of human relationships—and family matters in particular—I felt the urge to write something. I don't even really care about the perversion. This is not that kind of review. It's not the most tactful thing, but I know plenty of things in life that aren't tactful or moral at all, yet still feel genuine and interesting. I can live with or even be very contend about it if they at least attempt to handle it somewhat authentically and honestly. Much more importantly than that, this season nearly wipes away the greatest aspects of the series, especially what matters most to the series itself: its very foundation. The first season made a genuine attempt to portray a somewhat grounded and most importantly heartfelt fantasy world that existed on its own, even without Rudeus or anyone else at the center of it. It felt like a somewhat living world. This season feels like Rudeus bleeds into the entire world, with this desire to keep everything and everyone together, forcing the world to take shape around him—and tearing it apart from the inside in the process, rather than simply existing alongside it, with it. Dulling all the other major and side characters with this alongside the world around them. I've seen people like Paul—charmers, even with their alcohol-stinking breath—trying their best to keep things together in front of their children, coming home with gifts, toys or desserts after drinking or cheating or both. People who genuinely care about their families, who are good and sincere at heart, but who are also weak to certain things and slaves to others, just like any of us. Conflicted people, simply trying their best. People you would enjoy talking to. People who have interesting stories, but who you also know have done questionable, even outright horrible things. Yet they're still humane at their core. But I've never seen people like Roxy or Sylphiette. Is this really the best this series can do? Best shot? Really? Yeah, you see where I'm getting at. That's what the first season established well. It laid out all these small but meaningful interactions between family members and their individual experiences with the world around them. We were still experiencing the story of Rudeus, mainly, but without everything being so harshly filtered through Rudeus or being straight out about him. The greatest strength of this series was that it was about Rudeus living in a world, not Rudeus being the world. Zenith trying to hold the family together despite the sadness of leaving all of those adventuring behind. Paul trying to become a somewhat decent father and learning how to deal with Rudeus. Roxy's quest to find a home for herself. Eris trying to express herself and understand where she is in the world and how she fits into it. And Rudeus himself trying to make something of his second chance at life, tackling things one by one and making something out of them. They were someone. It was an interesting and genuine attempt to portray something that felt somewhat alive. This is not just a harem question. If you want to write a harem story, be my guest. I don't really care. Write one. But tackle it earnestly if you're going to position your series as something grounded and heartfelt. I don't care when just another run-of-the-mill harem anime does this. No one really expects anything particularly different or authentic from them. They are what they are. And I love them and hate them for that. But families don't operate like that. People don't exist like that. This season's greatest sin is that it's just lip gloss painted over something that should have had much more substance and nuance, while simultaneously marketing it as something desirable and worth aiming for. Really? You want to live with a wife who just approves of whatever you do and doesn't really exist alongside you, with you, on some kind of even ground? Who is Roxy? Who is Sylphiette? What do they actually think about each other? How do they feel about all of this? I want to see the world from their perspective. I want Roxy to talk about her experiences teaching magic after all these years. I want to hear about what Sylphiette thinks about the person she's protecting. I want to hear about the mundane things that still matter: something she heard, something she tried, something she's afraid of. I want them to do something rather than simply supporting Rudeus or thinking about something related to him. But sadly, they feel like no one anymore. They're just shells designed to fit Rudeus's desire to create a happy family and keep it together. They're not interacting with the world as people in their own right. They're interacting with the world through Rudeus. The first season made these people feel like they had lives beyond the protagonist, and that the world itself continued to exist beyond them, at least somewhat. This season increasingly makes it feel as though their lives only matter insofar as they relate to Rudeus. Families argue. They question themselves and each other's intentions. They give each other advice, and mostly they don't listen to it. They get angry with each other. After some time, they let things go, or they don't. I'm not saying they needed to constantly shout at each other or be miserable, but conflict between people is inevitable, and at its core, sometimes it's even a necessary part of a relationship. What matters most is how you handle that conflict. Picturing a family, or a web of relationships, without any of these things is just creating a shell of what a family is supposed to be. This isn't a family worth aspiring to. It's a childish attempt to execute something meaningful, like human relationships, without actually understanding what makes them meaningful. This season is neither a payoff nor an accumulation; it is merely a banal and illusory appearance. Don't get me wrong, it was still an enjoyable show at its core, but it left a lot to be desired. This could've been something truly memorable after the first season, rather than this shallow attempt, but, yeah... Why not tackle that honestly? Why not let these people actually exist?

A masterpiece nothing else. most of the haters didn't even watch the series they just go on Twitter and see hate and start to hate the series. This is the only anime that makes me like I'm experiencing anime for the first time again. when ever this series airs I wait for the next episode for the week. No other anime i care for this much. I highly recommend this series.. No matter what the haters say. Give it a try and get through the first few very uncomfortable episodes and this series is gold. Don't miss out on a series like this. and ignore the review bombers. Just see the likes on crunchyroll and compare with other series and you will get an idea..

Should you watch this show? Wait, you reached season 3 and you wonder that now? To not make this unnecessary long, yes, yes you should. The story is picking up from season 2 and manages to improve dramatically, by introducing new interesting characters (both friends and foes), amazing lore, big stakes and more. It starts slow with slice of life moments that makes you wonder when will things heat up again. Then it all starts... and it never stops, it just keeps going harder and harder. Especially close to the end of the season it becomes really painful to watch the suffering of the characters, but absolutely worth it. The studio poured in a lot of love in the adaptation and it shows, cheers to them. Also the world-building, something this series excels at, just gets expanded immensely but there is still a lot of mystery and things left to be explored and explained. Anyway, it was a really amazing season, probably the best of the series so far and cour 2 promises even more entertainment with a new challenge ahead and lots of action. Hope you catch up and enjoy it together with the rest of us.

This was, by far, the best season of Mushoku Tensei for me. First, I want to talk about Studio Bind. Once again, the studio did an amazing job and somehow managed to maintain the level of consistency they have had throughout the series. This season, however, the cinematography especially stood out to me. Some episodes genuinely felt like I was watching a movie. I also really enjoyed the animation during the fight. Even though this season did not have that many fights, I still found it incredibly entertaining. In my opinion, it was easily better than the previous seasons. A season does not need more fights to be better, and Mushoku Tensei demonstrated that perfectly this time. The anime adaptation of Turning Point 4 was, in one word, perfect. I can easily say that, for me, it even surpassed the novel. One of the things I appreciate most about Rudeus is how his old, deeply flawed personality starts resurfacing whenever he experiences serious trauma. Even then, he tries to correct himself and put his life back together. But after being hit by another major trauma, the personality he had been building ever since his reincarnation begins to break down and mix with parts of the person he used to be. That is exactly what makes him feel like a real human being to me. A lot of isekai protagonists are simply too perfect. They barely make serious mistakes, they always know what to do, and they often feel more like idealized characters than actual people. Rudeus is not like that. He makes mistakes. He breaks down. He can be selfish, pathetic, afraid, and deeply flawed. He feels like a person, and people are imperfect. Another small detail that really stood out to me is just how much Rudeus values his new life and his family. Whenever he comes face to face with death, he does not suddenly act cool or fearless like many generic isekai protagonists do. Instead, you see someone who is genuinely terrified of dying, terrified of losing the life he has built, and terrified of losing his family. You see a desperate human being who actually has something to lose. That vulnerability is one of the things that makes him such a great protagonist. Rudeus' realism has always been one of the strongest aspects of Mushoku Tensei for me, and this season pushed that even further. It is one of the main reasons why I consider Mushoku Tensei the best series in its genre. Finally, even though Rudeus still carries some unpleasant traits from his former self, such as his perverted tendencies and womanizing behavior, he is no longer simply the person he used to be. He is someone genuinely trying to become a good husband and father. He has learned from many of his past mistakes, he is trying to become a better person, and more than anything, he wants to make the most of the second chance he was given. I think this season showed that side of him more clearly than ever. Thanks for reading.

Just to recap my journey around this: I ended up watching the 1st season totally randomly, enjoyed it so hard I consumed the 2nd one in haze, then I NEEDED more, I've read the entire web novel and I loved it to death. So where am I now? I've been heavily anticipating this, 3rd season is making me relive the old me before reading the web novel, it felt fresh from the very start, it stood strong on its own and I still cannot get enough of it. You may not like this, you may try to justify your hate for it in many ways, but it's heavily misunderstood for the wrong reasons, this is a journey about healing from trauma, overcoming your problems, getting another shot at your life. It heavily resonates with me, I get emotional over this kind of stuff, but you don't have to be a broken piece to enjoy this. I truly believe it is hated because it's pushing boundaries, if your art isn't pushing boundaries and making yourself controversial in some way or form then your art is weak, and this art isn't weak.

Time travel has entered the chat, and it is absolute Cinema. Bear with me because I am going somewhere with this. Recently, my usually agnostic and wholesome podcast feed suggested an episode where some gangbanger had spent his entire teen and Adult life in prison, committing more crime when he got out, and now is some internet celebrity pastor tatted up head to toe yapping about his entire life story and conversion to Christianity. The most striking plot points in his x to doubt story for me, were when he followed his Pastor's advice to reconnect with, forgive, and apologize to his violently abusive and highly useless father, against all his own feelings about the matter. He was met by an admission of guilt and regret he did not expect, and his Father later converted to Christianity on faith that if this "God" could rehabilitate his son, there must be something there. He ostensibly broke some kind of cycle, but that wasn't what he was trying to do - he was just following orders from a guy who seemed to have a good read on things, the pastor who converted him, and noticed it all worked out for the better. At one point he ends up scheduled to preach at the prison he spent most of his sentence in. He says Christianity is regarded as weakness in prison because it is so hypocritical in the context of a criminal living the incarcerated lifestyle. He had a panic attack walking up to the prison and turned around and almost drove off skipping it, but after talking with his pastor overcame the panic attack and did in fact go in and preach as the hypocrite criminal-turned-Christian in front of "the homies". However, his story seemed to reach people, again to his surprise, and again he notices that the greatest resistance in his mind is always to what was better for him and others - robbing people, stabbing people, shooting at people, all that stuff had always come easy for him, but not this. The pastor that converted this guy was able to read his life story like a book in their first meeting, impressing him at a time when he had survivor's guilt over his latest fallen partner in crime. Soon-to-be-pastor had taken one side of the drug dealer's car, but it was the wrong side - his partner took the other one as a last minute changeup for no reason, and it turned out the drug dealer had a guy posted up watching the deal to make sure all was above board and that guy lit up the one side of the car but not the other. From that experience he was receptive to a conversation about the benefits of faith, and you can imagine what he'd still be up to had the divine not allegedly intervened. So my question is, when can a horrible man be forgiven or at least tolerated and for what, after paying what price? When does a complete piece of shit overcoming himself become valuable enough to the people around him and society, that it is something to root for? If Rudy's past was simple gang violence, murder, white collar crime, burglary - would the people who can't get over Rudeus being such a creep flip on Mushoku Tensei? Would it be a good story full of good characters and grand worldbuilding then? What are the conditions for a redemption arc and the story that tells it to be worth writing, worth watching? Rudy could have been a good guy in his previous life, he could have been a teenager returning from a convenience store, he could have been a violent criminal, and most things in Mushoku Tensei would then be just as good as-is and less morally offputting. I wasn't convinced they were even using this guy's disgusting past life in most previous seasons, it just existed like predator fanservice dragging on the whole fantasy enterprise. Why not just go straight fantasy? Is it the self-insert figurine sales to aged otaku holding you back? Watching this guy get rehabilitated, being reminded every scene with the Man-God and every time his gross old self narrates or he does the scrunchy-hands-and-drooling giggle, was like when I get that little piece of cilantro in my burrito that was absorbed from the prep area despite asking for no cilantro cause I have that soapy-cilantro gene. But now, I am starting to see how starting not from zero but negative sixty-seven on the scale of not a total piece of shit can bring that additional narrative weight. Constantly re-framing the next crisis as not just difficult decisions to take, but having to unlearn an entire shitty lifetime to even start trying to protect what your cheat codes bought you. Rudy can no longer get away with being an emotionally stunted bum in a magically gifted child's body benefiting from massive mana cheats and respect for his potential. He's grown, and there is not nearly as much room for grown men to be losers in this more medieval world, though there is more room for men to be total pieces of shit. The growth opportunities that an entire second childhood with a fully developed intellect and modern Japanese education afforded him were barely table stakes to keep pace with the devils of the next levels, the responsibilities and problems his wunderkinds trajectory bought and the fallout of the forces majeure along the way. What kind of advantage is one straight up wasted adult life next to the many harsh lifetimes of demons and gods, the designs of fickle fate itself, the mysteries of others' hearts and minds and how to protect them? Especially when they conflict with your own point of view, incomplete understanding, and with each other? Rudy has a very long, winding, highly unusual character arc to say nothing else about it. What was for him and indellibly for other isekais an unfair advantage, has become barely a factor in overcoming the obstacles facing Rudy at this stage in his journey despite the long periods of seeming peace he enjoys. Instead, it is repeatedly used to place him at the crux of multiple hero's journeys he must balance simultaneously, and essentially debuff him with ire from the audience and the hopeless inapplicability and counterproductivity of recalling anything of his completely bungled former life. Its greatest asset now, other than his initial mana and learning advantage, has become as 2-factor verification and to let Nanohoshi's arc hit. The fact that he still has the capacity, and the show highlighted that capacity, to fuck everything up in the worst ways possible and revert to his old self after so much has happened and been achieved, now that he has had so much to be grateful for and has so much to protect, is truly sad and very real. Similar to Summer Time Rendering, he now faces a new mountain to climb where information is incomplete, and the villains can basically out-time-travel-cheat the MCs and are definitely overpowered creating a re:Zero-at-its-best style dilemma that in no way feels as straightforward as grinding out the next checkpoint. Rudy like girls, and now that they are women they like him too. It is sickening. But he really did have a hard time learning how to express any kind of healthy romantic feelings at all, how to recover from romantic injury, and how to navigate a polycule, so now that the age gap is approaching the half your age minus 7 rule... oh wait I got the formula wrong. His degeneracy hangs like an albatross around his neck still, even as he makes massive strides as a person - but the benefit is that he literally cannot even try to do anything but act and speak with actions, at least to the audience. It's just too gross, people can't look past it, so he doesn't get a fresh start after all and that greatly affects the themes, tone, and narrative impact of the story, and allows even the recently rosy sitcom-ish picture of house Greyrat to maintain that stain and sense of dread, to make it believable and almost earned should everything go to hell again. We don't know what Orsted is really up to. We don't know what the Man-God is really up to. We don't know how the hell the polycule are going to try and fight either of them in practice. If Perugius finds out …