As the title suggests, "Mushoku Tensei" is a story about reincarnation. The main character, Rudeus Greyrat, looks like a young boy, but inside he is a 34-year-old man with no fixed address and no job who has inherited the memories of his previous life. He tries desperately to live his life without repeating the mistakes of his previous life, but sometimes he feels like he's on the verge of giving up...and what's more, inside he's a perverted old man!? In this article, we'll introduce you to Rudeus, who may seem reliable, but is actually mentally fragile and old-manly due to his memories of his previous life.
Rudeus Before Reincarnation
First, let's look at the protagonist before he was reincarnated as Rudeus. The protagonist (nameless), a 34-year-old unemployed shut-in NEET, skipped his parents' funeral and was surfing the internet in his room as usual when his enraged brothers appeared in his room and kicked him out of the house. The protagonist, now a shut-in NEET with no fixed address and no job, was wondering what to do next when he spotted some high school students about to get into a traffic accident. Though he feels it's foolish to die saving these people who are the polar opposite of him, the protagonist saves three high school students and passes away. Incidentally, one of the people he saves will play a major role in the other world...
Rudeus, who has had the air of an old man since he was a baby
Rudeus's house has a maid, Lilia, who has looked after Rudeus since he was a baby, but she thought that the newborn Rudeus "didn't have even a trace of baby love." The reason, of course, is that she's 34 years old inside. Even when he fell off a chair and hit his head, he didn't cry like a baby, and when Lilia held him and her chest touched his face, he "smiled like a middle-aged man appraising you (according to Lilia)," so much so that Lilia felt a physiological aversion to him and avoided him. Even at the age of three, when his mother Zenith hugged him, he thought of it as "time to enjoy Zenith Mama's big breasts," and inside he had always been a middle-aged man since he was born.
Rudeus calls Roxy his master
At the age of three, Rudeus's talent for magic led him to be assigned a private magician tutor. His first impression of Roxy, his tutor, was that of a "loli magician." Upon seeing the three-year-old Rudeus, Roxy exclaimed in amazement, "There are parents who get so excited and say, 'My child is a genius!'" However, Rudeus, seeing Roxy like that, had a favorable impression of her from the start, saying, "Loli, sullen eyes, unsociable. She's just perfect." Rudeus wanted to call Roxy "master," but Roxy immediately refused, saying, "Please don't." She hated being called "master" by Rudeus, whose talent would soon surpass his own.
Formal master and disciple, and Roxy becomes a god...
For a long time, Rudeus considered Roxy his "spiritual master," despite not being allowed to call her master. However, on his fifth birthday, Roxy gave him the rod, a symbol of his discipleship, and they officially became master and disciple, and he began calling Roxy "master." After this, Roxy went on a journey and they parted ways, but Rudeus always thought of Roxy, and before he knew it, Roxy was elevated from master to god in Rudeus' mind. He called Roxy's figurine a "statue of god," and would punish anyone who broke it mercilessly, even if the person who broke it was a woman. He even displayed the panties he stole from Roxy as a child on his family altar as a "sacred object." After obtaining the mystic eyes, he even awakened to special abilities, such as being able to feel Roxy's warmth through Kishirika, who gave him the eyes.
Rudeus mistakes Silphy, who is clearly a beautiful girl, for a beautiful boy.
Whether it's because he's a 34-year-old shut-in NEET who's been away from the real world for so long, or whether it's the otaku-like theory that "someone this cute can't be a girl" that kicks in, Rudeus mistakes Silphy for a beautiful boy upon first meeting her. While she always wears shorts, her appearance and behavior are completely feminine. However, it would be a full year before Rudeus realized Silphy was a girl. In most cases like this, the person ends up discovering their true identity by seeing them changing clothes, but in Rudeus's case, he forcefully removed Silphy's panties, which was the worst possible scenario.
Rudeus Consciously Striving to Become an Insensitive Guy
After learning that Silphy was a girl, Rudeus was determined to get his first girlfriend, including in his previous life... but his behavior and expressions were so creepy that Silphy ended up avoiding him. When Rudeus was told to "just act normal" as before, he decided to become an "insensitive guy." Incidentally, Rudeus' father, Paul, once commented with a dumbfounded expression about Sylphy, "You're an idiot to mistake a cute girl like Sylphiette for a boy," suggesting he knew she was a girl from the beginning (although he may have heard about it from his parents).
Rudeus Suddenly Becomes the Older Brother of Two Little Sisters
When Rudeus was six years old, his mother, Zenith, became pregnant with their second child. Rudeus had always longed for a younger sister, hoping for one. As a result, around the same time, Rudeus became the older brother of two little sisters. You might be thinking, "Could they have given birth to twins?" But one of them is actually half-sibling... Paul had an affair with his maid, Lilia, while his wife, Zenith, was pregnant. Lilia ended up getting pregnant as well, and they gave birth at the same time. (Lilia went into labor shortly after Norn was born.) Lilia initially threatened to take responsibility and leave home, but Rudeus stopped her, and Lilia gave birth to Rudeus's little sister as part of the family.
Norn: A Free-spirited Child, Aisha: A Strict Upbringing
Although the two sisters were born at the same time and in the same house with the same father, their upbringings were quite different. Norn, born to Paul and Zenith, was loved by her parents and raised to be a lively girl similar to Zenith. Aisha, on the other hand, was the child of a mistress. Naturally, Zenith and Paul treated Norn the same, but Lilia raised Aisha strictly, hoping to one day serve Rudeus. Because of this, Aisha was concerned about being a "child of a mistress," and it seems that both her father and brother thought Norn was more important and that she only had a mother. However, after meeting Rudeus, Aisha regained her energy and became attached to him. Norn, on the other hand, was sulky when they reunited, thinking that her father had been taken away from her.
The Third Heroine, Eris, and Rudeus
Rudeus and Eris had a shocking first encounter, with Eris punching him with all her might. She is positioned as the third heroine after Roxy and Silphy, but she travels with Rudeus from the age of 7 to 13, so I think she will essentially become the main heroine in the anime. Eris is the daughter of a relative who Paul left her in to keep Rudeus and Silphy at a distance, and in exchange for her staying with him he promised to tutor them as magicians. However, Eris, whose birthday is a few months earlier than Rudeus, does not approve of being taught by someone younger than her, and punches him in the face in an attempt to chase him away. After this, Rudeus fights back and there is a small incident where he is accepted as Rudeus' tutor, but this marks the beginning of a long journey for the two of them.
Rudeus and Eris are transported to the Demon Continent
Rudeus is transported to the Demon Continent with Eris due to the Fittoa Territory Transfer Incident, where he meets Ruijerd of the Supard tribe. Ruijerd is introduced in the synopsis, so I won't go into detail here, but based on the trailer, it looks like the anime will mainly focus on the journey of Rudeus, Eris, and Ruijerd. This is Rudeus and his friends' first time on the Demon Continent, and they're unsure what to do. They rely on Ruijerd to guide them to a nearby village, where they encounter an unexpected person.
An unexpected reunion with Master Roxy?
After a brief scuffle with the gatekeeper upon entering the village, Rudeus and his friends are finally allowed into the village. There, they learn various information about the Supard tribe's past, including a route back to their former home in the Fittoa territory from the Demon Continent. After the conversation, a woman brings them tea, but Rudeus is shocked to see her face. She's the spitting image of Roxy. Her name is Rocalie. Rudeus instinctively exclaims, "Master Roxy!?" The gatekeeper then grabs Rudeus and begins furiously questioning him about Roxy. In fact, the gatekeeper, Loin, is Roxy's father, and Rocalie is Roxy's mother. The village was Master Roxy's hometown. Incidentally, unlike Roxy, Rocalie is an expressive and affable woman (though she looks like a young girl).
Rudeus' Two Money-Making Mistakes
Though he's sometimes gotten too cocky and gotten himself into trouble, Rudeus has always managed to get through it all. However, he inevitably needs a large sum of money to travel, so he has to find money. This is where Rudeus makes two major mistakes. The first is leaving an adventurer to die. When Rudeus sees an adventurer being attacked by a monster, he stops Ruijerd, who wants to help him immediately, and instead decides to save him just in time to repay his debt. However, he failed to make that critical judgment, resulting in the death of one of the adventurers... Feeling guilty for letting the adventurer die due to his own misjudgment and for making Ruijerd apologize, mistaking his actual calculations for "protecting his warrior pride," Rudeus considered this day "the worst day since coming to this world."
A further blow to the guild's violation of rules
Rudeus teamed up with a B-rank hunter who was making money through kidnapping, and engaged in "request exchange." This was a strategy in which Rudeus and his friends, who were still low-ranked adventurers, would have the B-rank hunter accept requests and complete the quests in their place, allowing them to take on higher-rank quests with better rewards. However, this violated the guild's rules regarding "buying and selling requests," and they blackmailed him, demanding money if they wanted to avoid being found out and stripped of their adventurer status. Rudeus intended to kill his enemy, flood the city with magic, and then leave the scene, but Ruijerd removed his disguise, revealed himself to be a Supard, and threatened his enemy, avoiding spreading a bad reputation and getting away with it. Rudeus regrets having to make Ruijerd cover for him in this regard as well.
Rudeus Obtains the Demon Eye
Rudeus's right eye is pierced by a girl who suddenly gives him food. At first it was a surprising scene, but this is what the Demon Emperor does when he bestows his magic eyes, and from that day on Rudeus became a magic eye holder. The magic eyes Rudeus received are called "eyes of foresight", and are like a cheat that allow him to see a little into the future. Rudeus specialized in magic and his swordsmanship was intermediate level, but with these magic eyes he can see a few seconds ahead, raising his swordsmanship to advanced level. However, when facing a battle-hardened opponent like Ruijerd, this doesn't seem to be very useful as there are several different patterns of his future actions depending on the situation.
Maybe a collaboration too? The Unexpected Relationship Between Rudeus and Subaru
"Mushoku Tensei" is scheduled to begin airing in January 2021, but another popular isekai reincarnation series, "Re:Zero," is also garnering attention. The second half of the series also began airing in January. These two works share several commonalities. Not only are they both about reincarnation in another world, but they were both serialized on the website "Let's Become a Novelist" in the same year (2012). Furthermore, they have even collaborated on manga and novels with the Mushoku Tensei comics. The two hit it off as fellow reincarnated people from Japan. Re:Zero itself has collaborated with other works, such as "Isekai Quartet," so perhaps there's a chance for an anime collaboration as a bonus...?
"Mushoku Tensei" Protagonist Rudeus Summary
So far, we've introduced the protagonist, Rudeus. What did you think? We're still only about halfway through his journey to deliver Eris. How will Rudeus face and overcome the various challenges that await him? Be sure to keep an eye on this seemingly strong-willed, yet fragile-hearted Rudeus!
