Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu

Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu (Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation )

無職転生 ~異世界行ったら本気だす~ Light Novel January 23, 2014 – present • 15 Volumes Media Factory • MF Books mfbooks.jp/product/mushoku/ sevenseasentertainment.com/series/ mushoku-tensei-jobless-reincarnationlight-novel/ Story: Rifujin na Magonote Illustrator: Shirotaka Genre: Isekai, Adventure, Harem, Drama, Romance, Fantasy, Slice of Life Format: Softcover Price: ≈¥1,200 (tax not included)

Paul Greyrat

Zenith Greyrat Lilia

Roxy Migurdia

Sylphiette Laws

There are times when I have to hold on writing about an epic light novel until an anime adap‐tion comes out. It was this past spring when I started reading Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honka Dasu (Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation). I had been holding out on this light novel for a few years because I was preoccupied keeping up with three other light novels concurrently. When the anime premiered this past January, my interest with this title was rekindled and I finally decided to try reading the light novel.

Mushoku Tensei is about a NEET (for “not in educa‐tion, employment or training… basically unemployed persons living at home”) in his early 30s. He was hated by his entire family because he didn’t attend his parents’ funeral which led him to being forced out of the house

Rudeus Greyrat in his previous life as a NEET (r) and his reincarnation.

with only the clothes on his back. By chance, he saw some teenagers crossing the street as a truck was ap‐proaching and rushed in to save them, at the expense of getting hit himself. Moments later, his eyes opened to see a beautiful blond in front of him. He soon real‐ized that he was reincarnated as an infant.

Reincarnated as Rudeus Greyrat, baby of Paul and Zenith, he grows up “normally” but retains all the memories of his previous life. His parents and their housemaid Lilia, found it strange that it seemed like he was growing up differently from other children. He didn’t cry (much) as a baby, appeared to be thinking

The cataclysmic Metastasis Event that teleported people all over the world.

about things all the time, was quite a pervert when he started to crawl and highly intelligent for his age. It also turns out that Rudeus is quite a magical genius at an early age. Other than all these quirks after his reincar‐nation, his feelings of low self-worth and self-doubt as well as his innermost fears also remained, including his memories of being bullied to the point of being afraid to leave his house.

When Rudeus, Rudy for short, was a little older, a tutor was hired to teach him how to use magic and to help him to discover his magical potential. His tutor, Roxy Migurdia, guided him in his magical develop‐ment as well as unknowingly helping him overcome his fears from his previous life. After passing his final exam, Roxy ended her time as Rudy’s tutor to start her new job as a teacher at Renoa Magic University in the Kingdom of Renoa.

Rudy, with the help of Roxy, eventually overcame his fear of leaving home and began adventuring around his village, Buena Village. On one of his excursions, he en‐counters a group of boys bullying and harassing another child named Sylph. Rudy, with the help of magic, comes to the rescue. Afterwards, Rudy and the kid became really good friends, though one day, Rudy unexpectedly learned that his friend who he’d always thought was a boy, was actually a girl named Sylphiette.

Although Rudy was a magical prodigy, there was no way for him to progress any further in his learning by staying at Buena Village. Feeling stifled, he wanted to advance in his magic studies, so he asked his father if he could attend Renoa Magic University with Sylphie (her new nickname since finding out that she’s a girl). Denied! Paul, Rudy’s father, wanted him to learn the way of the sword. Since Rudy wasn’t having much luck with his father teaching him, Paul hired one of his old adventurer friends, Ghislaine, to help Rudy learn swordsmanship as well as get a job.

At seven years old, Rudy was sent to live with his great uncle, Lord of the Fittoa Region of the Ashura Kingdom, working for five years as a magic tutor to his arrogant and fierce cousin, Eris Boreas Greyrat. How‐ever, this peaceful existence would prove to be shortlived; soon after Rudy’s tenth birthday, a world altering event befell the Fittoa Region.

Somewhere in the plains of Fittoa, Rudy wanted to show off the magic he had learned as his final exam with Roxy to Eris and Ghislaine. Right afterward, the sky shone a blinding white that spread, enveloping the en‐tire region. This large-scale, mana calamity, known as the Metastasis Event, caused everything enveloped its light to be transported to random places around the world. Rudy and Eris were transported to the Demon Continent on the other side of the world. They met and were joined by the infamous Superd warrior, Ruijerd Superdia, who vowed to help them return home. With that, their trek back to the Central Continent commenced.

During their homeward journey, both Rudy and Eris begin to grow little by little, shaped by the hardships they faced. From the very beginning, we see Rudeus as childish, brash, and self-centered, but at the same time,

inquisitive and optimistic, albeit still rather perverted. Eris is introduced as arrogant, violent, bold, prideful and a loose cannon. Along the way, faced with the harsh re‐alities of their quest, as they learn to work together, they find a new respect for each other and slowly outgrow their childish notions of this journey. With the help of their new party member, Ruijerd, they overcome the deadly obstacles in their path as they traverse the treach‐erous Demon Continent.

The author, Rifujin na Magonote, brings the world of Mushoku Tensei to life with detailed histories and descriptions of each region our travelers journey to. With each new territory they explore, we (the reader) learn along with them what makes each location unique. He also tells the history of how this (human) world originally began as one of seven separate worlds and how the others each fell, leaving this one as the sole survivor. There’s also a historical timeline of the world that details when the other races began living in the different regions.

Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honka Dasu is a classic among the “isekai” genre. This title started out as a web novel in 2012 on a popular web novel website for budding novelists. As its popularity grew, it was ac‐quired and published as a light novel by Media Works a couple years later. There are currently 25 volumes published in Japan while only 15 volumes were translated into English and available in North America as of this writing. also has an anime adaptation which first aired at the beginning of 2021 and is currently on its second season. A manga adaptation also began publication in 2014.

As a classic light novel, this is a great read for those interested in the isekai genre as well as those who are into fantasy. I briefly gave a sim‐plified synopsis of how Rudy and Eris arrived in the Demon Continent, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. The volumes take the reader through Rudeus’ life arcs with his ups and downs, accomplishments and failures, along with all the challenges of becoming an adult.

There’s an anime adaptation currently in its second season. Although not finished, I believe that the anime covers up to volume six of the light novels. I would say it’s a good watch, but it skips over a lot of the details that’s in the light novels. In conclusion, I strongly rec‐ommend reading this title rather than watching the anime. Although watching the anime allows one to ad‐mire the visual portrayal of the characters and setting, the light novel’s story has much more depth and is the most fulfilling, entertaining way to consume this me‐dia, in my opinion. ❖ Eiji Tanaka

Ruijerd Superdia

Eris Boreas Greyrat

Paul Greyrat