Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation – Episode 1

Content warning: Horny baby, fanservice, pedophile protagonist

Editor’s Note: Contents of this review have been edited since its first publication to reflect upon details the reviewer missed upon first viewing, and additional information from those familiar with the source material.

What’s it about? Rudeus appears to be a precocious child to his parents Paul and Zenith, but that’s only because he’s actually a 34-year-old shut-in from Japan on the inside. Spending his early childhood under the care of former adventurers, Rudy learns he has a penchant for magic and his parents hire Roxy to tutor him at home. 

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At first glance, Jobless Reincarnation seems like it’s got potential among the gamut isekai. It comes from newly formed Studio Bind, a joint venture of White Fox and production company Egg Firm, giving it some solid foundations for Okamoto Manabu, who’s previously directed Gamers! The show looks flashy, the effects are solid and production quality are pretty good, if a little by the numbers for what a “high quality isekai anime” should feel like (well, at least Myth & Roid didn’t do the OP).

But then you get to know Rudy.

Rudy was a horny loser in his previous life. Shut in for 20 years, a virgin and totally socially inept, Rudy’s only claim to fame might be that he read thousands of books in his previous life (all of them light novels): and he makes sure to tell you he’s definitely this 30-something loser at every possible opportunity. Though thankfully not mentioned in the anime, he is also a self-admitted lolicon in the light novel, and a voyeur in the original web novel available online. The dude is absolutely gross.

The show opens with the unnamed Japanese man dying from everyone’s favorite isekai side-character Truck-kun where he laments, “I wish I could’ve at least lost my virginity.” He then awakens as a newborn baby in another world where he promptly is grossed out by affection from a man (his father kissing him) and then getting hype over being being able to suck on his mom’s boobs. 

What ensues is Rudy slowly coming to terms he is living in another world where magic is real as he narrates to no one in particular his predicament. He’s a little dry, which isn’t too bad, but what can be grating is his constant obsession with female bodies. He’ll talk about them whenever he has the opportunity to.

First thing he thinks when he sees his new magic tutor Roxy? “she looks like her bush hasn’t grown in yet,” and goes on to describe her as a perfect candidate for marriage because she is an unsociable “loli” with a scornful gaze who appears to be around a middle schooler’s age. Later the show flashes her panties to make him mess up the incantation for a spell. This dude is incorrigible, and the show intends to drive home on the fact he might look like a toddler, but he’s really just a horrible manchild on the inside.

Rudy’s horniness aside, his parents Paul and Zenith are good people. Paul is a knight protecting the local village and his mother is a former healer, now homemaker. They are former adventurers in their 30s now living with their maid in an idyllic European countryside farm. They’re also horny as fuck too and are constantly fucking. Good for them.

Am I going to keep watching this? Learning the dude is an actual sex criminal? Nah. I got better things to do with my life. Like seriously, I’m so sorry I missed the “loli” comment on my first watch through, and I’m revising my forecast to: no matter how good this show looks, it’s not worth it.