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| Photo courtesy of MAL |
After 23 weeks (not inclusive of the wait between the two cours), Mushoku Tensei Season 1 has come to an end and I have been completely in awe of this masterpiece week after week after week. I love the series so much, I absolutely need to talk about it. If you have no idea what Mushoku is, it is based off the light novel of the same name and the plot starts when the protagonist dies and is reincarnated into a world of fantasy, swords and magic and is basically given a second chance at life as Rudeus (Rudy) Greyrat.
The World:
Studio Bind did a near perfect job with drawing the sceneries, let's get that straight. It might not have the same polish as Makoto Shinkai's sceneries in his films such as Your Name and Weathering With You, but Studio Bind definitely brought the series to life with the sceneries. Every scene kept my eyes glued to it because they were always so beautiful. Even the scenes showing the aftermath of a disaster was so beautifully drawn (if you could call it that), it made you feel the impact without saying anything.
But more than anything, I am constantly blown away by the original author's world-building skills. Starting from episode 1, he already shows us that this fantasy world is rich of history and lore. They have their own folklores and myths, their own places that clearly have a story to tell, and the list goes on. Every detail that he shows us is not for naught, they each have a part to play in the overarching story and they have their histories. All of these histories and lore just come together to give you this feeling as if this world actually exists. Not to mention, this guy came up with his own language for the demon continent and Studio Bind followed through by breathing life into this language. The effort that was put into this was insane.
The Characters:
They are so well-written, like every one of them. As far as isekais go (or most anime in general), you would never see that many well-written characters. Authors usually slap one trait on their characters and that would be their entire personality. But not with Mushoku. You can just tell that the author gave so much thought into how they should be like and as someone who has done a little bit of fiction, I can assure you that it ain't easy. But what I love most about these characters is the fact that each and every one of them are extremely flawed. They don't make the "right" choices every time, and this leads to some of the best plot points. In particular, the episode where Paul (Rudy's dad) fights with Rudy. That episode had me tearing up.
The best written character so far is without a doubt Rudy. He was written to be a scum at the start, he had pedophilic tendencies, he was a pervert through and through, and he was selfish. But in just 23 episodes, they showed him going through so much character development through the most devastating plots. By the end of the season, you could feel that this Rudy was an entirely different person altogether. This was someone who had managed to fight his traumas of his past life, who accepted that he was the one who rejected help and not that the world abandoned him, and was able to do good.
Character development has honestly become such a rare thing in anime now. Every protagonist is perfect from episode 1 and are overpowered, without the need for a training arc and all that. Mushoku embraces character development so well, not just in personalities, but in their abilities too. Rudy had to train really hard for his magic and even then, he isn't even the strongest there is. He's still getting his butt kicked, and he's still witnessing tragedies. This is a boy that can't save the world and I am all for it.
The Plot:
Mushoku Tensei may be the grandfather of isekais that started all of the isekai tropes that we see today, but every single plot point defies your expectations and not once are generic. Because of how complex all the characters are, the decisions they make are not ones you'd expect. You can tell that the characters don't make the wrong decisions for the sake of plot (which oftentimes lead to frustrations from us viewers), but because it is in their personalities. Once again, this is only possible because of how well-written the characters are.
What I also appreciate about Mushoku is that the author isn't afraid to take his plot through some dark twists. I don't mean dark like edgy (i.e. Goblin Slayer), but dark like too realistic. One of the major plots of the season is the teleportation incident, where the citizens of an entire city were teleported randomly to different parts of the world. Rudy was teleported to the demon continent where he fought his way back home. It was so heart wrenching to watch when he found the other survivors of the incident. Some were drugged for human trafficking, some were drowning in depression because their families had died or because they did not know if they were dead or alive, and of course Paul's alcoholism from losing his entire family and being unable to find them.
It is a breath of fresh air watching Mushoku Tensei because of this. A lot of anime these days are copy pastes of each other, jam packed with generic and predictable tropes where you can self-insert yourself as the protagonist all the while knowing no characters will really ever die. This is a show that keeps you on the edge of your seat, and fully immerses you in its world.
The Animation:
While I knew that Studio Bind was set up just to animate Mushoku Tensei, I really did not know what to expect from them since with every isekai anime these days, they run the risk of simply looking generic. But from the get go, they surpassed every anime I'd watched before. They somehow picked the best looking art style to match the story of Mushoku. From the magic to the fight scenes, they never ceased to amaze me. You can just tell that they put in so much love into animating this series. I know there have been better fight scenes in other anime, such as the Fate series, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen, but Studio Bind is definitely a strong contender.
The Sounds:
Studio Bind killed it with their soundtracks, let's get that straight. The OP flows into the scenes seamlessly and it's not a pop or rock song like every other show. It's a song that seemingly fits with the fantasy setting. They don't ever use music that sounds out of place, instead they all sound natural and assists in immersing you into this world. While they are no David Productions with their insane sound effects in Fire Force, Studio Bind still does an excellent job with the sound effects. From the casting of magic, to the sounds of tearing off a piece of bread, all of the sounds are just simply satisfying and never jarring.
Conclusion:
I truly cannot praise the series enough and I am so thankful that Studio Bind ignored the stupidity on Twitter when some vocal folks were trying to get the series cancelled because of Rudy's pedophilic behaviour and that they couldn't self insert themselves into Rudy, or because Rudy's personality hit too close to home for them that they felt offended. Knowing that Studio Bind will animate this series from start to finish is also such a relief to hear as a fan because most light novel series only get one or two seasons and that is it. I'm already looking forward to the next season, and it is not an exaggeration to say that Mushoku Tensei IS the anime of the decade and maybe even of all time.
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