The Maturity of Mushoku Tensei

the word mature is something that means a lot of things to a lot of people for some you can chop a dude's head off on screen have all of the characters cursing like they're in the wolf of wall street or have explicit fan service that i definitely will not show in this video and to a lot of people that is what mature means something intended for an older audience something that you ordinarily wouldn't want a child watching at least not if you're a decent parent anyways but is that all being mature actually means is it really something that you can boil down to something that shallow well that line of thinking is immature in itself my dear watson because in actuality it's super easy to write something that is intended for an older audience i myself could easily include any kind of 18 plus related material in this script or in this video if i really wanted to at least if i didn't care about youtube blacklisting me anyways but if i did that it wouldn't necessarily be mature at least not mature in the way that we're going to be discussing today no it takes a different kind of maturity to approach subject matter approach tone approach relationships in a way that feels deliberate nuanced and genuine mushoku tensei jobless reincarnation is a mature series it is a story that balances so many characters relationships and climactic moments that define what i think true maturity is in storytelling if you have even a cursory knowledge of this series you might be thinking i'm a little bit insane for saying that the series with the reincarnated pervert baby that makes weird faces while staring at beautiful women is anything even remotely mature but if you look beneath the surface if you look further into this series you'll start to see so many wonderful things that make up the dna of this story and i can safely say after finishing all of season 1 that mushoku tensei is the most mature anime series i've seen in a long time now before i start building the picture of what makes this series so mature in my eyes i want to dispel a pretty consistent misconception people have about the story in mushoku tensei and while we're at it why not kill two birds with one stone and actually convey why that misconception in itself is one of the things that i think makes this series mature fanservice is nothing new in anime it's been there since the beginning it's always going to be there and it exists in multiple different forms now i actually think that fanservice has gotten quite a bit better compared to how it was in the 2000s or early 2010s but there's always going to be lowest common denominator series out there that are purely using their fan service for pandering for marketing and just really shallow purposes overall and hey if that's what they're going for more power to them more power to their shameless scam but for all the criticism mushoku tensei gets for its sexualization and its fan service i can say that i never really felt once like the sexualization of its characters was meant for the sake of me for the sake of the audience it always felt like there was a purpose behind the ecchi there was always a character being fleshed out no pun intended or a comedic gag to be had that never really felt out of place now i'm not going to sit here and say that the echi didn't help them market this series or their merchandise or that the ellie and elise gangbang was somehow critical to the overall story but to me there's a fine line between writing something for a story and writing something to pander and i think mushoku tensei's fan service is mature in the way that it's always doing something to contribute to the storyline and to its characters in fact there are a lot of sequences in this series of these really intimate sexual situations that are honestly kind of uncannily realistic to the point where i'm positive that both the writer and the anime team were trying to convey the uncomfortable side to these etchy moments as well and that kind of leads us directly into multiple plot points in the series that i consider the height of this story's maturity and it all comes down to how this series handles its relationships there's two prime examples of this that really stick out in my head and i want to start with the one that takes place the earliest in the series it's practically almost at the beginning of the story and i remember it was the first of many times in the series that i realized mushoku tensei is not what i thought it was it is not following a formula it is not resting on tropes or familiarity it's constantly challenging and subverting what you think of these characters but in a way that feels so natural and so right to the themes of the story you'll be wondering why more stories don't explore these kinds of problems as well from the very first episode you were introduced to the main character's family his mother his father and the maid that works for them and over the span of the first three episodes they really draw you into this environment this is a normal warm kind-hearted family that cares for their son no matter how much of a creep he ends up acting like and you start to form this bond of trust with them you form that familiarity that i was mentioning earlier this is a straightforward isakai series where this kid grows up in a fantasy environment and makes the most out of his life this series makes you believe that and then we get to episode 4 and everything comes crashing down it turns out the father paul grayrat is a cheating degenerate philanderer who has a history with the maid and even ended up getting her pregnant in their own home this is the first shell shock moment of the series in my opinion i mean just one episode ago we were having a heart-to-heart father-son moment with this guy and they do such a good job of really making you believe in his virtue and in his character this is a guy who most people respected and that is what makes this so goddamn brilliant at the end of the day even by the end of this season i can honestly say that i still love paul he has his character flaws yeah cheating on his wife not exactly a likable trait but there's so many facets to his character especially when you get into some of the events that happen later on in the season that you really can't just dismiss this guy as simply the cheating husband imagine you have somebody in your life that you really trust somebody that you care about somebody that you respect just somebody that you think you have a good understanding of and have placed your trust in them and then imagine one day you learn something about that person that changes your entire perception of them now there's a lot of different responses to this but i think most people in that situation would feel conflicted and they would feel betrayed and those are exactly the feelings that i think episode 4 of mushoku tensei conveys to the audience this is a complex situation and this is a complex character who grows and changes throughout the series and shows that even in spite of some horrible horrible decisions that he's made it's not something that defines you as a character paul has good sides as well he takes responsibility for his actions and his mistakes he still legitimately loves his wife he loves lilia the maid he loves his children and he does his best for every single one of them that is the reason i can look at paul's character by the end of this series and say that i legitimately like a man who cheated on his wife mishoku tensei takes these problems takes these flaws of these characters and effortlessly conveys them in a way that is mature i promise you that the majority of writers out there would not be able to make you like a character like paul the way you do by the end of this season speaking of not liking characters let's talk about the main character now i have an entire video about why i like rudy is grey rat and why that i think it's okay to like him even in spite of some of his more questionable aspects so i'm not going to regurgitate a lot of what i said in that video but one thing i do want to focus on is the main motivation for his character and just one of the main driving themes of the entire series as a whole a lot of izakay and just a lot of stories in general feel the need to be more ambitious than necessary i think they take it upon themselves to give their characters grand goals immediate hooks and fast descents into their arcs to really get the plot going and get the audience invested mushoku tensei doesn't really do that in fact it's only really by nearly halfway through season one that you actually have some form of stakes and goal for the characters and i fully realize that that might sound like a bad thing but it's actually one of my favorite parts about this first season let's say if time travel is the narrative hook of re-zero or parody is the narrative hook of konosuba then i would say the narrative hook for mushoku tensei is watching a trauma-induced neat find a new love and motivation for living it's not exactly something that would jump out to a normie reading it in a synopsis but it is just so earnest and heartfelt in this depiction of a character who absolutely loathes their past self and wants to do everything in their power to live a more fulfilling life it's endearing it's extremely relatable and i think it just takes a ton of faith not to mention maturity to release a story like that and execute it so well i mean this is one of the most gimmick written genres of anime that exists and you're releasing a story that not only doesn't have a gimmick but is hinged on guy lives in-house for the first two volumes it was very forward thinking and it's something that ironically still stands out today as being really refreshing and something that i wish more stories took from and if we're talking about things i wish more stories took from then i guess i want to kind of end this dive into maturity with maybe my favorite and most interesting display of it that i can think of that i think can be found in this series earlier in the video i mentioned there being two prime examples of relationships in this story that really stood out to me in a believable nuanced and heartfelt way this relationship begins near the beginning of the series and it spans almost the entire season until it reaches its culmination and conclusion at the very end i am of course talking about the relationship between rudius and aerys and ironically or maybe not ironically this has been one of the biggest sources of controversy throughout this entire series because of the way it doesn't shy away from its subject matter and that's something that i not only really respect but it's also handled in a way that actually kind of becomes the core of this entire season's narrative like i mentioned before the series doesn't really have any kind of big direction or goal for the first eight episodes of the series it's primarily just a bunch of slice of life drama shenanigans with rudy's and co as he lives his life the best he can in episode 5 we're introduced to the character heiress through some lighthearted kidnapping shenanigans and the next three episodes are essentially about rudeus and aerys learning more about each other to the point where they start loving and respecting each other it's a wonderful little arc just in these three episodes watching how their relationship changes in really subtle nuanced ways however everything changes in episode 8 for for multiple reasons but the biggest being a giant death laser that teleports both rudius and aerys to a completely different continent in the middle of nowhere with no means of survival this is when the series officially shifts from the laid back drama slice of life it was before and turns into something completely different this grand fantasy journey epic with the sole purpose of getting aerys back home from episode 8 all the way to the final episode that is the goal driving the entire series and of course there's detours and misadventures along the way but what i'm getting at is that this is the first time rudius has been given complete agency in the plot and fittingly it's with the stakes being someone's life that he really cares about through this journey across the continents more than the wild locations more than the dramatic encounters that happen rudeus and eris's relationship is the core of everything that's going on and just like those three episodes in aeris home they keep developing and pushing this relationship forward in really smart and understated ways however of those ways i think the strongest really comes down to aerys character and how she views herself relative to rudius throughout this entire adventure you watch airs consistently practically every single episode training either by herself or with really jared to become stronger and feel like she's contributing and holding her own in this group she's surrounded by two people who she not only looks up to but realizes probably have more power and ability than she does and not only is that really frustrating for her but it's what pushes her to continue training as hard as she does you can see this even by the start of part 2 when rudeus gets his demon eye beats heirs in a sword fight despite all of the training that she does and that leaves her really hurt and depressed because of all the work that she's trying to do to catch up nice going with your deus ex machina power rudius eventually all of those feelings of inadequacy culminate in episode 21 called turning point two the meeting and fight with the dragon god orsted that ends in catastrophic defeat and the near death of rudius greyrat this episode is really really smart and really understated with the focus it puts on aerys and her own feelings of weakness and you might not even pick up on what it's doing until you watch it in retrospect the episode begins with yet another ridiculously well animated sparring session between eris and ruijard and finally finally after half a season of training with this man rui jared finally acknowledges aerys efforts and tells her that she has proven herself as a fully fledged warrior she may not be on ruby jade's level but she's clearly progressed and grown in a way that he felt was worth recognition you can not only see the sheer level of joy and happiness this gives her protect that goddamn smile but it also gives her confidence in those places that she's always been striving towards it's a crazy feel-good scene it's so nice to see a character as pure and endearing as heirs finally be acknowledged and everything seems to be going well and then orsted destroys all of them with basically no effort at all this is the point where ayers confidence her hopes her progress her growth all of it are essentially dunked into the mud in a way that shapes the entire ending of this season and it shapes it in a way that is so emotionally impactful and so melancholic that it's still hard to think about now without getting really depressed aerys blames herself for the lost or stage she blames herself and her weakness for the fact that rudius almost died and this is what leads her to her ultimate decision in episode 22 to leave rudy's behind and grow stronger so she's worthy to stand by him in the future in episode 8 turning point 1 rudius tries to have sex with aerys and that ultimately ends in failure not because she doesn't like him but because she doesn't feel ready she makes a promise with him that in 5 years when he turns into an adult that is when she will be ready and that's when they can do it at the end of this journey after turning point two heiress has resolved herself and now she is the one pushing rudius to have sex not out of maliciousness but because she knows it's the last time that she's going to see him at least for a very long time what follows is probably the most tasteful emotionally impactful resonant sex scene that i've ever seen in an anime and it's executed in a way that feels like the culmination and payoff of watching one relationship develop over the course of an entire series it is masterfully done it is the emotional peak of the entire season and it's the moment where i truly realized what sets mushoku tensei apart from other anime in the final episode both rudius and aerys move on their separate paths rudy is finding the will to move on despite being abandoned and aerys proclaiming her love which motivates her journey to become stronger i have no doubt they will meet again i have no doubt that those feelings will always remain between them and it's by far not only my favorite part of this series but also the greatest form of maturity that can be found in mushoku tensei so far thank you guys for watching i hope you enjoyed and if you have any examples of maturity in the writing that i didn't mention that stood out to you i'd love to hear about them in the comments below join the discord in the description if you want to chat i love you all and i will see you in the next video

Channel: PhenomSage

Views: 253,620

Keywords: mushoku tensei, jobless reincarnation, the maturity of mushoku tensei, maturity in mushoku tensei, review, analysis, season 1, season 2, part 2, rudeus, eris, roxy, paul, episode, volume, phenomsage, phenom, sage, character

Id: I4QOX79k9pA

Length: 17min 31sec (1051 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 22 2022