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Mushoku Tensei Author Addresses Criticism about Perverted Protagonist

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation author Rifujin na Magonote recently addressed criticism they have heard about the series protagonist Rudeus. Their tweets on the subject are translated as follows:

There are a lot of people who can't accept how in Mushoku Tensei, the protagonist remains a pervert even after he reincarnates. It's the same in the original work. But it's not as if he has loads of regrets about being a pervert in his previous life. That's why in the isekai he doesn't necessarily think, "I'm going to live life seriously! That also means stop being a perv!"

Tentatively speaking, in the original work, he's 100% a perv and 0% serious at the point when he is born. When he decides to "live life seriously," it settles down to 20% perv and 80% serious, but since the anime doesn't include that moment of change, the perv ratio feels bigger compared to the original work.

I also think that when he did that to Roxy's panties, he still wasn't acculturated in the other world, and he half-perceived people other than himself as something like video game characters. I kind of think that he still wasn't aware of them as other people living their own lives. His understanding of other people goes up at the end of episode 2 and in episode 3, so look forward to it!

I think that as his level of understanding goes up, he will do less criminal actions and other things that ignores other people's feelings. However, his fundamental nature as a perv won't change, so if you're one of those people who think that being a pervert in and of itself is bad, I hope you don't sweat it too much!

In other tweets, Rifujin na Magonote also addressed the need to depict the darkness in Rudeus' previous life, saying that "One of the concepts of Mushoku Tensei is that when you reincarnate into another world, you'll face many similar dilemmas from the previous world (particularly relating to human relationships), so to people who think, 'He's going to redo life when he reincarnates, right? (lol) Ouch,' I hope you also keep watching the anime."

Funimation is streaming the series in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Mexico, and Brazil. The company describes the anime:

The story follows a 34-year-old man who is killed after trying to save someone from getting hit by a car. He soon finds himself reincarnated in a magical world as Rudeus Greyrat, except that he gets his whole life reset, starting as a baby.

With all of his knowledge from his previous life, and a new heaping helping of magical ability, Rudeus quickly becomes a formidable warrior ready for adventure. Oh, and he's still a total pervert.

The anime premiered on January 10 at 24:00 (effectively, January 11 at midnight).

Rifujin na Magonote first launched the story on the "Let's Become Novelists!" website in 2012. Kadokawa published the first volume of the light novel series with illustrations by Shirotaka in April 2014. The novels ranked at #8 on the 2019 Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! tankōbon list. The novels and manga have a combined print total of 2.2 million copies in Japan as of October 2018.

Source: Rifujin na Magonote's Twitter account