How to Write a Good Bad Man - Mushoku Tensei and Chainsaw Man 

Browsing through the comments I kinda think its funny that EP only hearts or comments on stuff that agrees with his point and only does the equivalent of a "comment high five"

I think the biggest reason why Denji works so well is because he isn’t a pervert, he’s just horny. Like sure he’ll risk his life fighting a bat devil to cope a feel, but he’ll then wait for Power to wake up and ask if he can touch her chest now rather than just grouping her while she was unconscious “since she already agreed to it after all”. Knowing you still have to ask for permission for that even if a girl previously agreed to let you do that is genuinely a better understanding of consent than I’d expect from an average 16 year old boy.

Denji's sexual obsession is presented as him being a child who doesn't really understand what he wants. Rudy's sexual obsession is presented as him being an adult who understands *exactly* what he wants.

I feel like its also remiss not to mention that denji is an abused, neglected teenage boy being groomed by an older woman with authority over him and Chainsaw Man leans into that more and more as the series goes on. Himeno explicitly acknowledges after that she would have been committing a crime against Denji and its not played for exploitation, and everything about Makima's hold over Denji is ultimately manipulative and very very wrong

If a show can make people say “The erectile dysfunction arc is peak fiction” it is truly something special.

“you’re a freak who likes to watch analysis videos of shows you know nothing about” It’s only January and already I have been called a freak by a RU-vidr, it’s not even a Friday.

I think one other thing that's important in the denji comparison: Boy's a fucking victim

genuinely, I think Denji takes the typical anime pervert trope and dismantles it handily, because the first thing we see him talk about with Pochita, is spending an afternoon/evening playing video games with a girl, and then maybe they'd kiss. but then he laments that his inescapable poverty makes him undesirable. and truly, Denji feels alienated from other kids his age, who are in school, and have families, and get regularly fed and bathed. how are other kids supposed to relate to any of his experiences? Denji has spent his childhood being abused in the world of adults, and belonging nowhere. and when it comes to his pursuit of sexual gratification... normally, a person would gain that sort of physical relationship with another person after emotional intimacy is established. but for Denji, that idea is foreign. it feels unattainable to him, because no one is ever nice to him. what Denji knows, is that if he wants something, he has to work for it, or pay for it somehow. when the guy in the first episode asks him to eat a cigarette for money, he pretends to be happy to do it, because he knows he'll have enough money for dinner in the end. this is frequently how he is treated. so when it comes to Power, he intends to pay for the experience of touching her chest by getting Meowy back. and _she_ is the one who tells him that she'd consider this to be a fair barter. but neither of these two idiots has a proper set of standards by which to gauge any of this as normal. in the same way, when Makima straight up offers Denji sex... the condition is that he first has to kill the gun devil. and this is horrible for Denji's expectations. Denji is once again being set up to see sex as something transactional, and the price is now set to something VERY steep. Denji goes along with it, because he's used to being exploited in ways that feel so much worse in the moment. these days, he gets to eat well, sleep in a bed, and bathe... bare essentials that he was barred from prior to this. Denji's standards are absolutely fucked, and Makima benefits from keeping him that way. and the runoff effect, is that Denji can't believe he'd ever achieve intimacy just by being himself. there always has to be a catch, or a payment. someone's always gotta be trying to screw him over, or they probably have more to gain than he does. it's always gotta cost an arm and a leg. on the surface, it seems like he gets closer with Himeno. she decides, without any special effort on Denji's part, to be flirtatious and pursue things with him. the problem is that Himeno uses sex as a vice. she's using it, much like smoking and drinking, to soothe her stress and anxiety, which comes from caring for Aki while he's constantly in danger as a devil hunter. and she can only use sex as a vice if it is devoid of emotional attachment. that way the emotional component won't come back and cause her grief later. so, very specifically, Himeno is propositioning Denji because she doesn't care if he lives or dies. she even thinks that Denji might be crazy enough to succeed at this job, like Kishibe said good devil hunters should be. and she'd be happy to let Denji defeat the gun devil if it meant that Aki wouldn't have to. in other words... she'd think it was ideal if she could take Aki out of danger, by putting Denji there instead. and while Himeno is going through those motions based on her own criteria, Denji is still not experiencing a normal progression from liking a person, to figuring out that it's mutual, to becoming closer, to gaining intimacy. just because Denji will say aloud that he wants to touch boobs, that doesn't mean he's actually willing to violate a person's stated boundaries in order to achieve that result. in fact, Denji is the one who has to assert his own boundaries in the face of Himeno's advances, because _he_ is uncomfortable. if anything, Denji is used to the idea that he has to pay through the nose for even the barest minimum acknowledgement. and it's scary, because this makes 16 year old Denji _very_ manipulable. he barely even bats an eye when Makima says she'll hunt him down and kill him if he tries to leave public service, because that was the status quo between him and the yakuza since his dad died. Denji has horrible expectations for the world, and standards for how he should be treated. and the fact that his default is to accept poor treatment, is what makes people feel like he should be protected from that exploitation.

For anyone curious: Denudation basically means "to strip bare" in this context.

Denji’s a literal working class kid that is manipulated through the promise of being treated like a normal person in exchange for being a child soldier. His whole character progression is climbing up Mazlow’s Hierarcy of Needs and finding that his initial desires won’t make him truly happy. He’s one of the most perfect representations of teenage boys going through life and believing that all of his problems will be solved with sex and good food, only to be tormented by losing the family he slowly built up. Best boy.

Denji also like... Asks for consent? He's a 16 year old kid with much less life experience than rat boy and even then he's a much better person. He's just a bit confused due to being so deprived of genuine human connections at the start of the series. Denji is a good kid without experience Rat boy is a bad person who crosses multiple lines multiple times

Denji has a really good defining moment from chapter 2 that the anime skipped, where he finds a little girl who ran away with her own pet devil. He was ordered by Makima to kill the devil, but instead offers to help her run away, even at risk to himself. Despite how horny he is, he starts the story as someone who cares about others more than he cares about his lust for Makima, and even his own personal safety.

Also not for nothing, but after Shinji did…that, he says “I’m so fucked up” which kinda demonstrates what Anno wanted us to get out of the scene

10:00 babies are incapable of being aroused by boobs. toddlers are incapable of being aroused by panties. rudy's character and his actions don't align with how actual cognitive development works. the author isn't selling the whole, "rudy has a child's brain" aspect very well.

We love to see a 30 minute expoint video dropped directly at midnight

As a woman who also grew up with anime and its tropes, this video is very cathartic.

Rudy is literally the 'flirting vs. sexual harraament' meme.

"And speaking of DISRESPECTING WOME--" God, that sponsor transition knocked me the fuck out

I was going to write about Rudy, but realized that would turn into an essay. So instead, I’ll just note that one thing that’s always been weird to me about this discourse is that I never really see anyone talking about Roxy herself as highly problematic. Like, she spies on Rudy’s parents having sex and masturbates to them at a point in time when they’re like early 20’s and she’s in her 40’s. Not that it would be okay in any age configuration, but she’s essentially the same age as Rudy (pre+post reincarnation years) when she’s doing this. The show also seems to be implying that she has a romantic interest in Rudy and is just waiting for him to come of age. From her perspective, she met him as a small child, not a reincarnated adult. Like, let’s be real, she’s grooming him here, arguably even more so than you can (justifiably) argue that he’s grooming Sylphie, as Roxy maintains contact with him for years after he and Sylphie have been separated.

That was the most incredible lead-in to an ad read I think I've ever heard. I screamed (positive).

It also just bugs me that, considering people talk about how much he improves, that he ends up married to two of the women he decided to groom when they were kids. I kinda feel like redemption has to involve doing right by the people you've wronged and this feels like he's having his cake and eating it too

The “erotic” scenes were very much uncanny valley. Paced and written like unimportant indulgent anime schlock but also too sober and in line with the rest of the world’s intricate world-building to ignore. I got the impression that the anime expected me to enjoy those scenes- to be a person like Rudeus- without any self awareness of how insulting that is.

I really appreciate the brief aside on how protagonists don’t have to be good people, you can have a story with a vile or villainous lead where they don’t get “better” if you use their nasty traits to highlight why their story goes the way it does. It feels like outside of anime there’s a worrying trend of treating depictions of something as endorsement (see: The Coffin of Andy and LeyLey getting shit for an optional ending the game warns you is a bad idea containing a premonition of incest that one of the duo finds revolting, despite the entire game concept basically being an abusive sibling dynamic that steadily destroys them and people around them as collateral damage) But of course anime isn’t entirely immune to it given the Made in Abyss vs Kpop… fans? Haters? Nonsense where celebrities get harassed for liking a show that’s, let’s be clear, is not the worst or most exploitative handling of sensitive subject matter. Rather it feels like if something is well written enough to be capable of nuance it then gets to be known enough to face way more flak than a show that’s gross for cheap wish fulfilment.

I feel like one of the most important differences is that although Denji has his perverted desires, he never (through season 1 of the anime, i haven't read the manga) acts on them without consent. With his deal with Power, although he fulfilled his end of the bargain he assumed that her doublecross meant that the deal wasn't valid. With this he doesn't find her and pressure her to let him grope her chest because "she said she would," he's bummed about not having the opportunity because he assumed she withdrew her consent.

4,000 hours of Ck2 & 3 has taught me that Rudeus is every bit as bad as people think, yet also the least fucked up guy in the feudal apparatus

Literally thank you, I’m so glad there is at least one person who nails for what it is. it feels like you’re going crazy when all anyone ever says it’s “yea it’s fine/amazing”

Thank you honestly for talking about this. After a certain youtuber recommended this series as ”for people just getting into anime” as an example of a great isekai series most people can enjoy, I have felt like I’m taking crazy pills. I watched the scene where Rudeus sees sleeping Eris and proceeds to lower her underwear with no hesitation or shame and only regrets it after getting caught and I just couldn’t get over it. The unfeeling and callous way the series treats women and their autonomy (and frankly, intelligence) just manages to rattle me despite my rather good level of fan-service-tolerance. So again, thank you for addressing this. I just feel like these things get so easily overlooked because ”hey the rest of it is good!”

Denji's behavior comes from being a normal teenager who grew up in an abnormal environment, being exploited his entire life and taken advantage of constantly, and yet he's able to integrate in society and sees women as people, he understands early on it's not only sex he is after but rather a real connection and is wholly capable of having normal relationships with girls his age, be it platonic (Power) or romantic (Reze, Asa). He's a properly written character. Him having grown up surrounded by crime and never being taught morals could've totally been used to excuse him being a creep, but Fujimoto is more interested in exploring the complexities of grooming and abuse rather than just make cheap soft porn.

im a big fan of your editing, especially when you layer images on top of each other for like a solid minute like at 24:27

Always worth remembering that the anime had to tone down Rudy from the get-go, because in the original web-novel, he wasn't pleasuring himself to regular porn while his parents funeral was happening, it was to a picture of his extremely young niece. As someone on one of the many ANN threads about this series said: 'The issue isn't that Rudy is terrible, it's that the world is set up to indulge his worst traits.'

This video was honestly so cathartic. I felt really disgusted by some of Rudy's actions, and the fact that people either didn't seem to mind it or could just "look past it" was mind blowing to me. So to see someone explain why it's an issue better than I ever could is greatly appreciated.

You don't know vindicated I feel when I see my favorite anime youtubers say this show is a masterpiece and you put out this video pointing out all the flaws. I watched all of Season 2 and I just couldn't ignore all of the problems with Rudeus' character and it baffled me to see this show get such unending praise.

the worst defense of mushoku is "rudius gets better! It's supposed to be about redemption!" while all his degenerate actions were always treated as fun and goofy.

9:41 that's an amazing way to refer to the plot point without any spoilers

100% with you that the way Mushoku-Tensei deals with sexual content and Rudeus in particular at times holds it back. To me it's felt very case by case, some scenes (which as you mentioned present internal tension) feel very well done, others (I'm looking at you season 2 school arc, or like any of the panty stuff) feel either meaningless or played for laughs and are therefore just gross. It has been a weird experience for me coming from the books first. Some of the issues you discuss aren't nearly as much of a problem, while others are definitely still there. One legitimate difference is that writing (from a first person perspective) by its nature is going to be more internally focused than a show which would have more of an external focus. I was able to read through the novels mostly fine, but actually seeing what was happening had a lot more of an impact and made it rough to watch. It did not help that the show has Rudy's internal monologue acted by an adult male voice. I think it would have also been weird with a young voice, but definitely less icky since it's a constant reminder of his age. In addition, being in Rudy's head (and without cutting a lot of the internal monologue) gives the reader this internal tension in a lot of places where the show is missing it. We have a much closer look into his early way of thinking. It's very clear he doesn't see the people around him as real people and on top of being a man-child, self identifies as a bad person. His internal monologue for a lot of the early scenes are a combination of him trying to gamify everything around him and him saying "oh well, what do you expect from a sleezy person like me". The character development early in the series then isn't "Rudy becomes a good person", but "Rudy recognizes that people are real and that acting this way hurts the people he cares about" (a lot of the heavy lifting for this comes immediately following the worst Eris scene in season 1). It also includes "Rudy tries to shift his self-identity" especially when it comes to if he characterizes himself as the person from his last life, or the person from his new one. Add in a bit of "I need to revaluate my goals" a la post Eris running away and some of the Sarah stuff. In my opinion, the actual issue with the writing here is that a lot of his character development sometimes only applies to "people Rudy cares about". As the season 2 scenes show, he often doesn't make the jump from "I shouldn't do this to people I like" to "I shouldn't do this". This straight up contradicts the development made to see other people as real and to stop identifying himself as a bad person and it is at this point it really starts to bug me, since it feels pointless at best and played for laughs at worst. The whole man-child aspect never properly gets challenged, even if it mostly disappears by the end, and that hurts the story significantly. Yes, he is a naturally impulsive person. No that doesn't make it better. I also think some of the erectile dysfunction arc is weird, as much as I really like it. It's framed as "I need to fix this physical problem which requires an emotional solution" rather than "I need to deal with this emotional problem". It makes sense the way Rudy's mind works, but it kind of undercuts the whole lesson from Eris. Another positive change is that the shift in his personality actually feels smooth since we get to see how impulsive he is and how many of his "good" behaviors aren't motivated properly early on. The whole "defend the weak" thing with Paul, he doesn't believe himself to be a good person so he doesn't care. Saving the beast person village, he was about to let the smugglers go to avoid a difficult fight before the Holy Beast attacked (Gallus assumed Rudy was behind it). The point is, at least for me, it's a lot easier to go through all these events when I'm hearing about how Rudy feels about it rather than being forced to watch it. Fundamentally, there are still problems, but a few that you mentioned are not quite as bad. Watching the show has definitely forced me to qualify a lot of my positive feelings about the series and revisit my opinions (though I'd still call myself a fan overall).

22:25 I thought I'd add this as a novel reader. He protects sylphie from bullies because he dislikes bullies due to his past. He wants to improve Rujerd's rep because he wants to give back and (my personal interpretation here) show that he has worth so Rujerd doesn't abandon or kill him because he was still cautious of him at the time. He saves the beast kids mainly just because Rujerd would've hated him if he hadn't. The rest was spot on. spoilers for the rest. Personally, I've seen his lecherous nature as a residual element to his past as in his past life he viewed himself as unable to ever get a relationship due to his lifestyle and personality, so he secluded himself into porn and fantasies, sex was an internal thing, something that was only sought for personal pleasure and nothing more, so eventually due to this prolonged environment he could view anything as sexual, didn't matter gender or age. This is why he was unsure as to whether he was bi or gay when he was attracted to Fitz in season 2, someone would probably know their sexual identity by 50(if you wanted to include his past age). once he started seeing relationships and sex as mutual events, with both participants wanting said interaction, he only wanted adult women. this is shown with Julie actually as he never lays a hand on her throughout the series, even during an awkward situation with Julie, later in the series, goes to get an adult woman to explain and clean up the situation to Julie because he doesn't know how to handle it. he treats her as more of a surgent daughter or student. this behaviour extents to his children in the future, as he acts as a goofy dad more than any form of predator. should clarify I'm not being hostile. I'm sure people will know that but in this day and age of anime discussion, I can never be sure.

Mushoku Tensei was one of my first animes. Safe to say I took a very long break from anime after that ☺️

loved that his name is Denji Chainsawman since he has no last name yet unless you headcanon hayakawa

I absolutely agree. I always appreciated the themes that Mushoku Tensei was TRYING to tackle, but the real problem is that the series executes on those sensitive themes in the ickiest ways imaginable with the grace of a kick to the nuts. A lot of people compare Rudy to Subaru and it's not hard to see why. They're both male isekai protagonists that start the series with low self esteem that need to work on their warped view of women and craft a better life for themselves. However, Subaru executes on this idea so much better than Rudy. For one, Subaru's worst transgression was that he acted cringe. It's actually impressive the lengths Re Zero goes to in NOT presenting Subaru as horny. He's a simp because he idolizes Emilia and puts her on a pedestal, not because he wants to bang her. Now, Mushoku Tensei can present that warped horniness in an interesting, meaningful way, but it has more problems. The second and third points are both that you presented in the video, and it's tension and consequences. A character can absolutely make horrible decisions, but it makes it so much better if the character is actively battling their more moral judgement in the moment and actually faces consequences for their actions afterwards. Regarding Subaru, his cringe outburst in the capital results from him wanting to protect Emilia from discrimination, which in a vacuum is morally commendable. The issue with his outburst wasn't with where his heart was, but the issue was in how he completely ignored the social etiquette of the world he was in and in how he broke his earlier promise with Emilia. There's also a tragic irony in his later argument with Emilia, because Emilia doesn't understand why he idolizes her so much when the Emilia that Subaru idolizes was someone he met during his very first loop that never came to exist again outside of his own memories. Regarding consequences, I'm sure that's self explanatory with Re Zero. The story spends the entire second half of season 1 putting Subaru through the wringer for every character flaw he sees in himself. As a story of growth, it really feels like Subaru truly earns his redemption with Emilia at the end of the season, since he had to gruelingly introspect and chisel away at his flaws until he genuinely became a better person who genuinely regretted his past actions. Now look at Rudy. You covered the lack of tension in his decision making, but there's an equally important mismatch in Mushoku Tensei's storytelling in the lack of immediate consequences for Rudeus' actions. Rudy essentially gets a slap on the wrist at worst for his most heinous decisions and he regularly repeats said decisions. A big reason why this is the case is due to just how that type of behavior is seen culturally in the world of Mushoku Tensei. Re Zero's world almost seems custom designed to brutally punish Subaru's character flaws, and I think Mushoku Tensei could've benefitted from a similar approach. Wouldn't it be interesting if Rudy was transported to a fantasy world with a rigid, Puritanical view on intimacy? That by itself would create an interesting dynamic between the character's worst flaws and their setting, and a Puritanical society would certainly be a potential option for showing a possible and realistic medieval European society. Anyways, that's my diatribe.

you know if rudy just started remembering his memories slowly that would mean many of these scenes wouldn't be as effed up. like having his memories up to age 10 when he is in fact age 10 now ı feel like writing an isekai. end me.

From what I remember of the loght novels, Rudeus's regret over trying to take advantage of Eris is a lot more immediate and explicit. I don't have the book anymore, so I can't check that though.

With Chainsaw man it helps that Denji that he is usually in the position with less power than the women he hits on compared to Rudy which is the inverse.

I do genuinely enjoy the show and have read the light novel it is based on, but also have a hell of a time grappling with rudeus' actions and how they're portrayed. Thank you for making this in depth critique. You really hit the nail on the head with pretty much everything you brought up. I will add that reading the light novel was easier than watching the anime as far as season one is concerned, but its been some time and i'm not sure if its because it does give more depth to his actions, if its because the "incidents" don't happen as often, or just because its not as visceral as literally watching it play out.

You hit the nail on the head. Mushoku Tensei tries to have it's cake and fuck it too. It tries to pass itself off as a redemption story but a big undeniably part of the story is about a 30-year-old man grooming children. Every argument that Rudy get's better is invalidated by that fact he ends up marrying said child waifus he groomed and keeps the goddamn panty shrine all the way into adulthood. The author geniunely believes that Rudy's main character flaw is being a shut-in not a pedophile and his idea of growth has nothing to do with not being a goddamn pedophile.

If offered sex Denji would ask consent again This dude wouldnt even let you get through the sentence

being early sucks bro i cant scroll through comments to help me form my opinions and also entertain me while watching

Holy fuck I thought I was taking crazy pills, it's so cathartic to hear Explanation Point say exactly what I was thinking about this show. I love fantasy, so of course I got recommended Mushoku Tensei, but I was so put off by the first few episodes that I dropped it and never looked back, despite everybody telling me that it's a masterpiece of worldbuilding and that it gets better or whatever. I couldn't believe how many people seemed to talk it up, especially big creators. It blows my mind that Gigguk, who introduced me to one of my favorite fantasy manga (Frieren) gave Mushoku Tensei his 2022 Anime of the Year over fucking Odd Taxi. Can't believe it's been so highly regarded for so long

This video gave me a lot to think about. I have sexual trauma from childhood and I hate mushoko tensei. However I loved made in abyss, for its depiction of how awfull people abuse children, sometimes while believing they're good parents (looking at you Bondrew). And when you said that mushoko tensei was "boring" that hit like a truck. I also loved Lolita, for the same reasons as made in abyss, it shows how "good" people can be awful abusers, and still try to manipulate everyone into thinking they're not bad. And yeah, that novel was interesting as fuck. Made in abyss is fun as fuck. Mushoko Tensei pedo angle just feels gratuituos and without any reason to be in. You hit the nail in there, its not that its problematic per se, its just boring, and handled with all the care and subetly of an hydraulic hammer.

i feel so unbelievably validated and seen with this video. thank you so much for making it, you summarized exactly how i feel even though i felt like i had to be the insane one and missing something bc i couldn't see why it's being praised as the second coming and not the atrocity it is

I know people are tired of talking about this but "consent" is also a big difference between Denji and Rudy. Sure Denji literally did a heroic speech about wanting to touch a boob, but he never expressed an interest in groping someone who didn't want to be touched. Denji wouldn't even steal jam for his toast. Chainsaw Man is all about deals and exchange. So violating consent doesn't even fit than narrative. Whereas Jobless Reincarnation is fundamentally built on the foundation of a 40 year old man having a young boy's excuses to violate concent. Even just having the access to younger relationships because he has a young body is a form of consent violation. I love the show, I really do.. but honestly? it is.. inherently.. well.. kinda grapey..

So I've read the Light Novels for Mushoku Tensei, and it does cover some of the things you mentioned you would improve the series! It dives deeper into his trauma, a childhood friend, and does a bit better displaying the themes of redemption. Thaaaaaat said, Rudeus is also equally more unredeemable in the Light Novels. I enjoy the series, but I can never recommend it. One of the openers in the first light novel is that we learn exactly what was on his computer before his brother smashed it and it's somehow worse than one would assume

I honestly never get tired of your video essays. Keep it up bro.

As a psychologist, I find Rudy's characterization fascinating. I want to see how he justifies his actions as a pervert. As a viewer, though, Jesus ...... I really hope he gets better.

From a purely technical standpoint I'm a bit miffed with the body/mind discrepancy in a lot of these reincarnation isekai. Of course there's a lifetime of memories, that would be complicated, but the brain (and the mind as a concept) is a physical organ that grows and changes functions as years go by. Would such memories of a past life really determine the way you work currently, adding even more years to your brain? Or it would be as remembering a movie or a book in vivid detail, it seemed real for a second but it's not as all-consuming of your brain as it seemed the first time? And because I was miffed I wrote an "isekai" on my computer notes just for the lolz

I'm very much looking forward to a mushoku tensei abridged series like 15 years from now.

Rudeus' actions are literally the only reason I don't watch Mushoku Tensei and I likely never will. More power to the people who can stomach Rudeus' actions or just pushes ahead despite not being able to stomach his actions I personally can't.

I think people are missing the point about Rudeus “being bad on purpose”. They say he’s supposed to be unlikable but get better. The thing is, as ExPoint says, the scenes of his sexual assault are not only bad morally, they’re also bad because they’re uninteresting. You can make a character unlikable, but also engaging to watch. You shouldn’t feel like you’re forcing yourself to get through a scene. Like, let’s ignore Rudeus entirely for a moment. Think about the people who generally are supposed to be unlikable, the villains. Imagine if in Star Wars, rather than just showing off his violent side with force choking sparingly, there were numerous minute long scenes where he force chokes his soldiers in anger, and that’s all that’s happening. Sure, it shows him being evil, and you can say it makes his redemption more impactful afterwards, but it doesn’t actually make the movie better. Nothing interesting is happening. We already know he’s violent, and nothing else is happening. It’s only enjoyable if you like seeing people getting choked. The same applies to Rudeus. SO MUCH TIME is spent just watching him be a pervert and predator, while nothing interesting happens. We don’t learn anything more about him from these scenes, because it’s just showing something about him that we already know. You could cut 80% of them out, and it wouldn’t change the story.

I don’t think that Rudy gets better later. I think that the author gains a better perspective on Rudy’s actions and makes him tone down and adds depth. However, while the writing better shows the consequences of Rudy’s actions, it does not ever try to critique Rudy’s actions in the early books (or the series general attitude towards women and girls). I like Mushoku tensei, really like its world and plot. I tolerate its frustrating relationship with its main character. I don’t tolerate the fans that will view its content uncritically.

I feel so seen right now because I’ve been thinking about this for years. Every time someone adamantly defends Rudy I immediately feel like Mugatu from Zoolander screaming about how he feels like he’s taking crazy pills. I also feel the same way about Denji being a much better take on this character trait.

I dont think you could change mushoku tensei to the point where it would be palatable to the people that truly hate it and still be fundementaly the same show. Personally I like the story, I'll defend its merits, but I'll never insult anyone who can't tolerate it for the reasons you outlined. To me, the show adequately portrayed Rudy as a piece of ****-with world views shaped almost entirely by his escapist consumption of hentai and anime. And when he gets himself reincarnated, he does so in a world that doesn't punish those preconceptions, but instead one that further reinforces them. I thought that was a pretty bold choice considering it means all change needs to come from himself, rather than the new world teaching conveniently teaching him our ethics. That makes it so much harder and take so much longer for him to change himself. (too long for a lot of viewers) Honestly though, I think he never actually does change 'that' much, at least to the point I'm caught up to-and certainly not as much as ardent defenders would claim. I still wouldn't want to meet or hang out with him, knowing what he's actually like. I do think he makes for a compelling protagonist though, because for all his very blatant flaws, nobody loaths the old Rudy more than he loathes himself and he does work incredibly hard to become what he consideres 'a better person'. The fact that his idea of a better person realisticaly get influenced by this new world (for both better and worse), that his idea remains notably different to my own and that the story giving me the leeway to decide this for myself, rather than beating me over the head with it are parts I appreciated.

Oh thank God, I have a video to link instead of trying to fumble my way through arguments now.

"I watch the dub, I always watch the dub." Honestly more controversial than anything else in the video.

Thank you so much for making this. I felt like I've been losing my mind ever since season 1 of Mushoku Tensei aired. Everyone seemed to love it and people whose opinions I normally respect, like Mother's Basement, kept singing its praises, but the whole "middle aged man in a baby's body" thing always turned me off. It's so refreshing to see someone actually critique the show and move past the tired "he's meant to be flawed" excuse. It's such a shame too because the world of the show is really well done and just about every character that isn't Rudeus is very well done. I'd be plenty happy with a show all about Ruijerd. Chainsaw Man is a great counter example and I'd also throw in Re: Zero. Subaru enters his dream fantasy world and is pretty immediately forced to confront his own inadequacies. The solution to his problems is never to get stronger and overpower an opponent, he's just not capable of that. Rather he needs to build real connections with people (like an adult) and bring groups together to make best use of everyone's strengths. Also every time he tries to act like an anime perv he gets shut down hard and has to actually get to know people.

That was legitimately the funniest and most enjoyable sponsorship segment I've seen in years. Thank you.

Words cannot express how BADLY I needed this video. I feel like everyone I talk to really likes Mushoku Tensei and is always quick to brush off everything Rudeus does. I was starting to feel insane because it really felt like I was the only one who disliked the anime 😭anyways great video

Thaaankyou. I love listening to a male anime reviewer that isn't lecherous! Marvellously articulated.

As a huge fan of the show, i can confirm the sub version (The only version ive watched) makes it seem a lot more like Rudy understands hes messed up, and he confronts the fact hes messed up and occassionally falls back into his habits as he tries to be NOT messed up.

I honestly lost all hope for the story when Rudy's dad SA'd a woman in his past, and the story went on its way to make that out to not be a bad thing because the girl ended up happy he wasn't some ugly old man and made her seduce him later in life. The author just does not think these things are that serious. He knows they are wrong but thinks they don't have to be treated as that wrong. And to me that is just disgusting.

"The most morally abhorrent thing to come out of japan" Redo of healer " allow me to introduce myself"

Was very excited for the 100 girlfriends mention. 😂 In my opinion it's kind of a hidden gem of a show that needs to be talked about more.

Really refreshing to see someone else with a sane opinion on this anime. I swear the amount of arguments I've heard defending this show with the logic "Well it's a fantasy world that's trying to be like Europe, they have to be sexist!" is just making me lose my mind especially with people just parroting MB and Gigguk's videos hand waving away the criticism. Really well done, keep up the great work!

As a woman, I'm so so tired of putting up with anime bullshit. It's constant. It's in everything. I watched Tenchi Muyuo at ten getting VHS tapes from blockbuster because I thought the cover looked fun (look at all the girl characters! Will they get to do something interesting?)- my sexist anime bullshit meter is pretty high! I sat through Inuyasha and seeing the pervert monk character grope Sango. Sat through sexy no jutsu hate how it's in everything, even media directed towards women. I accept that to enjoy some anime I have to gruelingly sit through lewd shots of a 12 year old girl. I am resigned to the fact that "cute girls doing cute things" is a significant genre, and "loli sister" anime has become commonplace (god forbid there is one popular shoujo anime that doesn't appeal to men! SOUND THE ALARM!) but I just can't do Jobless Reincarnator. I don't care if "he get's better." I'm sick and tired of having to empathize with shitty protagonists who somehow need to learn that women are people too. The bar is so low. I'm sick of the narrative acting like I should feel sorry for a man who is so mentally scarred by people being mean to him in his past life that he's actively molesting and scarring children now. I love Denji. I love how Denji's lust is shaped by his lack of a stable home life, how he's built on Hollywood movies and manga and his slow realization that those depictions of women and relationships are ultimately hollow in the face of a much more depressing reality. I love how his search for security is tied to his goals, and his aimlessness. Importantly: Denji feels like a victim to toxic masculinity. The women in his life prey on him in a way that shows nuance and makes the viewer reflect on the fan service (if you can even call it that). I like the idea of an isekai dealing with embarrassing realities (like erectile dysfunction, like mental health problems) but I refuse to sit through all of...that. Now to rewatch the married a moomin video!

Hey thanks for making this, really helped me work my way through my own thoughts on Mushoku Tensei.

"might be one of the most morally abhorrent things to come out if Japan since 1937" Idk I can think of about 731 things worse.

Your fix suggestions are interesting. I really want to see that implemented one day. I mean I can already imagine how it would work here. Thanks to your visual aids. The image of the self perception rudy should pop up and say: "Dude. The ***k did you you think about just now? Man being a kid again comes with weird problems." And such a thing should prevent everything from happen except maybe the first Eris incident and the Sylphie accident, because I think that was genuinely well done as is. He actually acknowledge the errors of his ways for the right reasons and acts accordingly. And that's the only thing that prompts this in the entire anime so far.

if someone says to ignore the creepy shit, they're def understanding the show wrong I havent read the ln so if he entirely regresses, well, fuck, but it feels like theres a stark difference in how both rudeus and the show itself treat sexuality between the start of season 1 and the end of season 2 part 1. sexuality throughout the show initially is *absolutely* treated as a joke, as something not worth worrying about, even when it absolutely should be, but I dont think thats the show itself believing that. I get the strong feeling that the show's portrayal of sexuality is progressing along with rudeus's understanding of what sexuality means. when he finally finds himself engaging in sexuality, its far too soon for a horrible reason and it bites him. through season 2 the sexual jokes felt very different, unlike before it felt like there was actual weight to it all, and when things get resolved it feels like rudeus has an understanding and respect that he didnt before. again, however, this is just feelings I have, I could be wrong, he could regress, but I genuinely feel like the uncomfortable aspects are things that should be engaged with rather than ignored, because there can be good stuff in there, or bad stuff

I think that one sentence sums up my problem with Mushoku Tensei and why I can't really recommend it to anyone - watching Rudy "get better" isn't really *satisfying*. Sure watching him overcome some of his trauma is very much satisfying and even tearjerking at times, but watching him learn to stop being a real piece of doodoo to the women in his life is just...like, a relief? Less a "yay go Rudy" and more a "oh thank *Haruhi*".

I think you touched on a really interesting idea with the slight differences between the dub and sub. The dub seems to show Rudy in a far worse light, not really having him question his actions or admit when he was wrong, which definitely takes away from the idea that he is growing as a character. I watched the sub for the series, and it definitely gave me a different impression of him. Even if I don’t fully agree with a lot of the opinions in this video, I can definitely agree that Rudy in the dub doesn’t really support a lot of the arguments about him getting better

finally, my exact thoughts I agree with core ideas of your video so much, like damn

youve made sum excellent points here, and i wont refute them, instead i shall commend you for your awesome editing

Thank you so much for this video. I've been waiting to see someone articulate some of these thoughts so well. Regarding the "it's uninteresting" argument, I think another piece of media you could compare MT to that handles this kind of content way better is Oshi no Ko. In that show, Aqua undergoes so many of the same things that Rudy does here but the show actually acknowledges how it's weird and gross for Aqua to be dealing with these teenage girls despite being mentally a doctor in his mid-30s. The show never glorifies it and actually explicitly discusses the fact that his physical brain and teenage hormones alter his thoughts and perception of reality, so even though he knows intellectually that what he's doing is wrong, 1. he has that hormonal excuse and 2. he's doing it as part of his revenge plot, which comes back to the moral greyness the show explores. Everything is supported by the show's themes, so it actually works, whereas in MT, Rudy is never actually considered wrong by the narrative.

Woman here, and I'll be real, I've seen other comments say it and I'm going to agree. I'm really fucking sick of Anime Bullshit, and how much of a pass it gets. I get physially uncomfortable watching Mushoku Tensei because the constant sexual assaults on kids brings me back to memories of being sexually assaulted as one. There are better ways to tell the story the author wanted to tell, and in anime overall, there's just a neverending influx of disrespect towards women and their autonomy. It exausts me, and part of me feels that being able to enjoy Mushoku is an indication of the sorts of things men are able to overlook with their privledge when it's depicted so overtly.

My issue with Rudy as a character is that a lot of his change doesn't feel earned. At least when it comes to his sexual deviancy. Take for example, the bedroom scene in Episode 8 between him and Eris. After nearly forcing himself on her, Eris stomps on him and storms off in classic tsundere fashion, leaving Rudy with a chance to reflect on his behavior. In theory this is actually great. I was so excited to finally see Rudy have a good introspective moment that allows him to see the error in how he views and treats women and young girls. This moment is ruined immediately after when Eris comes back into the room and tells Rudy that she will have sex with him after he turns 15. Uh?? So much for that I guess. My issue with this is that Rudy doesn't actually have to change. Not really. He's still promised - and ultimately gets - what he wants and faces no major repercussions for his actions towards Eris. In many ways, it feels like the author wants to have his cake and eat it too. He wants to write a redemption story about a guy recognizing his flaws and trying to work on it, but he also wants to throw in every wish-fulfillment cliche under the same, so as to not offend and appeal to the target audience. It ultimately just feels hollow. I'm not saying Rudy is a bad character in concept. I actually think he could be a great character and there are certainly aspects of his character that are interesting. But unfortunately the execution just leaves a lot to be desired for me.

VINDICATION!!!!!! Thank you for saying what I've been thinking about this series.

Thank god this exists. Felt like I was in a twilight zone with the way anitubers were unashamedly promoting this anime, including ones I respected like Geoff.

Wait, THIS is Mushoku Tensei? My viewers were asking me to cover this one - I am now grateful I don't have to. Thanks for this one.

Holy fuck that setup with the „the wind is so strong“ text bubble into the wind tunnel was wild :o

Always good to have you back, qish you the best.

I'm glad to see that I'm not alone in this. Mushoku Tensei does have a lot going for it, but the way Rudy's actions are framed in the series always puts me off when I try to read/watch it. (I read the first LN years ago and tried the 1st episode of the anime when it first came out). I thought that I'd dislike Chainsaw Man for similar reasons but ended up digging it for the reasons you mentioned. There's also the fact that Denji is a child being manipulated by adults. You can see a hazy version of that in the Himeno scene and it shows up a LOT when Makima is around. (I'm not far enough in the series to see Makima explicitly called out as a manipulator and child predator, but you get the sense that something is wrong right at the beginning) I also am fine with Shinji from NGE, so I don't mind that character trope in general. Same goes for time travel shenanigans as someone who has watched Erased and parts of Tokyo Revengers.

"...The things that Mushoku Tensei tries to say are important. I just wish it acted like it." What a banger quote and a great way to end the video.

One of the best videos on the subject I've seen. Whenever I come across discussions of this show (and a lot of isekai in general), it sometimes feels like the fans are intentionally misunderstanding what people's problems with it are. I'm glad you were able to make your points about this particular set of problems very clear.

Fantastic video as always! ❤

I tried so, so hard to look past all the shit in Mushoku Tensei. The voice acting and animation is so good. But at the end of the day the camera and directing make it more of a pedobait show with good production than a good show with pedobait. Framing is the difference between Made In Abyss and Mushoku Tensei. Halfway through season one of MT I lost all confidence that the show could ever handle serious subject matter with the weight it needs. What a waste of talent.

are you violently walking around while ranting because whenever I turn this video on I hear steps and it's making me absolutely paranoid

There is a Manwha called The begining after the end. It's involves a Tech Fantasy King being reincarnated as a commoner kid in a sword and magic fantasy world. One thing it deals with is this 50 year old mind in the body of a child. Everyone can tell he isn't a normal kid but not why. He shuts down the teenage love story because of his past live and memories like you mentioned in the video. TBATE is a good comparision to Mushoku Tensei because it has similar family and friend dynamics but it avoids all the problems the main character in Mushoku Tensei creates.

Fantastic video! I feel like this articulated a lot of my issues with the defense crowd chanting "he gets better". My issue was never with his crimes but the way the narrative treats crimes against women and girls so inconsistently. Vile characters can be interesting when the story clearly knows how vile they are. It is frustrating to constantly see the narrative be so attentive and thoughtful about his trauma only to completely hand waved and iron over and female character's trauma as soon as it works better for the plot. For me, It really boils down to the feeling that Rudy gets to be true to his character always but his victims only get to be full fleshed characters some of the time. That works in a more light-hearted setting but not when a narrative is trying to handle something this heavy.

"He gets better" only because the girls he mollested for years finally turns 18 doesn't count.

A regulr baby would do all those things, at least according to freud

holy fuck finally someone that words my thoughts out loud 😭 there's so much to love about mushoku tensei but rudy's behaviour as a 40 year old man in a child's body disturbed me so much that as a woman i _cannot_ respect him even the slightest. i'd be horrified to be in the same _room_ as him. he knows what he's doing. being bullied or traumatised in his past life doesn't justify anything that he does. it frustrates me how he doesn't fucking learn. i wont watch season 2, because even if it gets better i dont care. the damage was done.

0:07 SHOTS FIRED! This is gonna get spicy! 1:06 Well, now I must reevaluate the tastes of Mother's Basement and Gigguk. 7:56 Another example is Sgt. Hatred from The Venture Bros. A recovering pedophile who works to get better and over his desires which made him a pariah in both the OSI and the Guild of Calamitous Intent. It's your longest video yet, and your funniest! The jokes, the visual gags, the plays-on-words, only something you find absolutely wretched can bring out your best material.