Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (2021)
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Director: Manabu Okamoto
Studio: Studio Bind
Starring: Tomokazu Sugita, Yumi Uchiyama, Konomi Kohara
Episodes: 23
Synopsis:
A shut-in dies in a traffic accident and is reborn as a magical prodigy in another world.
Impressions:
Just looking at the synopsis, you may not be too impressed. "I've seen this story a hundred times," you say, yawning in the doldrums of isekai overload. Well, this series actually codified a lot of the tropes of the isekai subgenre. It's just that the anime adaptation is a bit of a Johnny-come-lately. Despite being the daddy of a lot of isekai, it actually has more depth than the overwhelming majority of its misbegotten offspring. The character work is first-rate, but it's not without controversy. I had the misfortune of learning about the original web novel and it greatly tarnished my experience, to the point I nearly dropped the series. I stuck with it due to its strengths, struggling vainly to tell myself the anime was born of the tamer reiterations of the story. I'm making a separate blog post to talk about my (and many other people's) issues with Rudy. I will say, though, that given the kind of character his original incarnation was, casting Tomokazu Sugita was the perfect choice. Even though he's often a perverted little dirtbag, Rudy is quite the compelling and well-realized character and most of the rest of the cast are quite good as well. The worldbuilding is solid and the production values are excellent. If it weren't for the nagging points about Rudy's character, I would easily recommend it for your collection, but as some viewers are going to either violently reject him or at least feel very conflicted about the whole thing, I'm going to settle on recommending it for a watch at least. (And if you don't know about the web novel, don't look it up.)
Rating:
Watch It