Well, I made it through five episodes. I really think that’s pretty good – not a personal isekai record, but not bad given the infamy people warned me off with this one. The irony here is that none of those cautionary tales cut to the point of why I’m (probably) dropping Mushoku Tensei. The problem isn’t the the fact that the protagonist is an awful person or even that he’s a mixed bag – anti-hero protagonists helm some of the more interesting anime around. The problem is that in the end, this series is slave to the same tired cliches that almost all of its generally inferior classmates are. And that’s a real shame.
I was already growing pretty tired of the rotating archetype females here, and the way they’s sort of low-key objectified. Ghislaine and her ridiculous (and pointless apart from the obvious point) outfit were a step in the wrong direction, but it’s really Eris that breaks the camel’s back. She may not be any more of a trope than Roxy or Sylphiette, but she’s a much more annoying one. Any time you can look at a character and say “Kugimiya Rie should have voiced her”, the battle is pretty much lost. She’s nails on a blackboard to be and there’s no way around it.
I do ultimately see elements of a story that wants to be more than a generic amalgam of isekai cliches here, and the authoritative way Mushoku Tensei goes about its narrative gives it an appeal above most of the genre. But I don’t think the commitment is there – as I said last week, almost invariably (well – invariably in my experience) the tail wags the dog with these series. The tropes and cliches are the point, in the end – the series exists to pimp them out, they don’t exist to help it tell a story. I’ll say, too, that this week’s plot felt more misogynistic and demeaning to me than anything with Roxy and Sylph.
“Nasty” is a word I’ve used to describe this show, and not in a particularly negative way. That nastiness – Rudy’s unapologetic cynicism and self-serving cunning and the general sense of not giving a fuck – gives it a kind of dangerous appeal. But this was just traditional nasty – Eris is nasty, and the way she’s used in the story is nasty and rather ugly. I will give Mushoku Tensei another episode to dissuade me from jumping ship, but it seems a real long shot to me at this point. I’m more disappointed than I have been with the vast majority of LNs I’ve tried and dropped – the swagger and verve of this show is notable, and Sugita Tomokazu’s performance is quixotically heroic. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Proto
February 9, 2021 at 3:09 amWell, personally I saw it coming that this would be the episode that would make you drop the series. Unfortunate given that I do consider this particular episode to be the absolute low point of the series and it’s only uphill from here. Even if you stop blogging it I’d recommend coming back to it maybe after more episodes are out so you can get past this arc.
Guardian Enzo
February 9, 2021 at 7:20 amLike I said, I’ll give it one more episode but if this heroine is going to be in focus I’m not optimistic that it’ll matter.
leongsh
February 9, 2021 at 9:13 amCurious as to what your expectations of Eris would be. For a daughter of the town’s lord mayor that has been spoiled and allowed free rein to do as she pleases with the backing of the family bodyguard, Ghislaine, plus she throws her weight around and uses the introductions to establish her dominance over whoever is hired to tutor her, I would expect a nasty girl like Eris. The father has already disclosed that the earlier tutors that he has hired had been put off by her nastiness.
Nasty business and arrangements were prevalent during the medieval days in Europe. Particularly when there are families fighting for influence and power. I’m not sure what you are expecting when this series decides to go in on the seamier side of those times.
I take it for what it is trying to do in putting a more grounded approach towards isekai rather than the usual isekai storyline and environment.
LGrey
February 9, 2021 at 4:44 pmThis episode looks like adaptation from manga chapter 8.
Mushoku Tensei ‘begins’ at around manga chapter 16.
So yeah, it will be a quite a while before it gets interesting. Although I’m not sure if it would be the correct kind of interesting for your taste (you once mentioned that you are not a gamer) – it might even fall into ‘jump the shark’ in your dictionary. Like a certain youngest sister said, “Please don’t expect too much”. ^^
Guardian Enzo
February 9, 2021 at 6:57 pmNice Chiaki drop.
Jonathan Tappan
February 12, 2021 at 2:39 amI share your disappointment. I have been hoping to see some real character growth in Rudy…and not in the sense of “he finds his inner hero once he’s granted super powers” which is the typical lame isekai trope.
It’s interesting that Eris is a mirror image of Rudy’s former self: a hikkikomori sheltered by over-indulgent parents. It would have been great to see Rudy use this as a source of insight into how to help her. But what he came up with is just standard isekai hero crap.
Guardian Enzo
February 12, 2021 at 8:54 amI was also interested in reading about how much the anime apparently toned down Paul’s awfulness. Like, he full-on raped Lilia in the novels (in the past) and it was treated as no big deal.
Isekai LNs have their own reality. It’s a very strange phenomenon.