Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Volumes 4-6 Light Novel Review

After an inexplicable cataclysm separates him from his family and friends, eleven-year-old Rudeus Greyrat must cross several dangerous continents to find his way home. Accompanying him on his journey are his cousin, the fiery-tempered Eris, plus the formidable demon warrior Ruijerd. Together they endure multiple hardships and bizarre experiences in an exotic world of magic and danger.

Mushoku Tensei is written by Rifujin na Magonote, illustrated by Shirotaka, translated by Paul Cuneo and Alyssa Orton-Niioka, and adapted by JY Yang. Audiobook read by Cliff Kirk (Oliver Wyman).

After an inexplicable cataclysm separates him from his family and friends, eleven-year-old Rudeus Greyrat must cross several dangerous continents to find his way home. Accompanying him on his journey are his cousin, the fiery-tempered Eris, plus the formidable demon warrior Ruijerd. Together they endure multiple hardships and bizarre experiences in an exotic world of magic and danger.

Mushoku Tensei is written by Rifujin na Magonote, illustrated by Shirotaka, translated by Paul Cuneo and Alyssa Orton-Niioka, and adapted by JY Yang. Audiobook read by Cliff Kirk (Oliver Wyman).

For a prepubescent boy, Rudeus Greyrat sure is competent. He's already mastered multiple forms of magic, plus he survived a year traversing the highly dangerous demon continent, becoming an adventurer along the way. I suppose it helps that he has the memories of his previous life as a 34-year-old porn- and videogame-obsessed shut-in, but only a little. Mostly, that only provides him with perspective, and even that's fallible. Since the Mass Teleportation Incident shortly after his tenth birthday, Rudeus and his slightly older cousin Eris, his pupil and current main love interest, have been taken in by taciturn and terrifyingly competent “Superd” warrior Ruijerd, who has promised to return both Rudeus and Eris to their home in the Fittoa Region of the Central Continent. These three volumes, adapted into the first anime season's second cour, detail that long journey through all manner of locales.

This is the second half of Mushoku Tensei's “boyhood” arc, and one of the parts most beloved by both novel and anime fans. It's fantasy as grand adventure, a travelogue through a world with rules and people quite unlike our own. Rudeus' limited experiences in modern Japan can only help him so much when he's accused of molesting a divine beast, or imprisoned by a perverted prince, or forced to confront the unreasonable expectations of his family, and to face his own failures.

As a first-person narrator, Rudeus' thoughts and actions remain as problematic as always. Author Magonote gives Rudeus a strong, individual voice, full of personality, but one that likely rubs many readers (myself included) the wrong way, repeatedly. He's forever commenting on female characters' bodies, detailing his grimly lustful thoughts about Eris, and even talking about his own levels of sexual excitation at inappropriate times. There is such a thing as too much information, and Rudeus often crosses that line. He's reminiscent of a drunk, socially inept uncle at a family party who won't shut up with his gross opinions, and won't stop leering at younger female relatives. As the rest of the characters are so compellingly and intricately constructed, this is completely deliberate on the author's part. Even though Rudeus' negative characterization is intentional, I'm not fully on board with it.

Thankfully, plenty of chapters dotted across these three volumes are narrated by other characters, including Eris, Rudeus' former teacher Roxy, his father Paul, and Paul's second wife and former maid Lilia. All of these give us a break from Rudeus while also widening the story's scope. For example, characters introduced in both Eris' and Roxy's stories become pivotal later on, once they enter Rudeus' orbit.

Although this is such a large world, with multiple races split across several massive continents that take months to traverse on foot or by steed, the character relationships can sometimes feel a little small. Rudeus is flung to the far side of the world back in the third volume, but somehow stumbles upon Roxy's home village, then later a former member of her party. He always seems to end up in just the right place at the right time, though perhaps this is all down to the Man-god's design, a useful plot device that explains away finicky things like coincidence and sheer luck. The Man-god appears in Rudeus' dreams and offers cryptic advice, mostly to entertain him. This kind of supernatural foreshadowing has long been used in fantasy epics to streamline plots and lampshade contrivances, so I don't think I can be too critical of Magonote for relying so heavily on divine intervention here.

As with the previous volumes, each of these three volumes limits its setting mostly to a single part of the world. Volume four follows the party's journey across the northern part of the Millis continent, where the Beast Folk live. This particular volume slows the pace right down, as Rudeus is incarcerated for a significant portion, and it's really not that interesting, especially not the lengthy digressions where Rudeus ponders on his family's seemingly genetic fixation on sexualizing animal people.

Volume five mostly concerns Rudeus' long-awaited reunion with his embittered father, broken by the loss of his family. Their initial confrontation is brutally hard to read, with both characters clearly in the wrong, but also both sympathetic to the reader. Neither has access to the other's information, and resentment and anger build to a boiling point. Their eventual reconciliation is incredibly emotional, and I'll admit it moved me to tears.

Volume six takes Eris and Rudeus much closer to their former home in the Central Continent, but brings them little more than devastation. Their encounter with the terrifying Orsted is utterly spine-chilling, and only hints at the unsettling depths the story will explore later. A final kick in the teeth leaves the volume on a profoundly melancholic note. Such meaty plot developments blow most other isekai stories out of the water. As much as I dislike Rudeus as a character, he has positive points, like his loyalty to friends and family, his attempts at self-control, and his drive to improve. It's hard to read about him suffering, even if he sometimes deserves it.

These volumes really flesh out Mushoku Tensei's expansive world, introducing a fascinating cast of varied new characters and building on already established relationships. It's an extremely compelling fantasy story, and I'm keen to keep reading it for the foreseeable future.