Mushoku Tensei is Shonen? - Mushoku Tensei Anime Review Response

[@Tarien001]

Interesting would be discussion with people who hate on Mushoku through call. Then they could answer your questions. Unfortunately, I don't think it would be possible, because the discussion would not remain calm. I also don't think any of them would want to argue about their opinions.

[@MrWescottX]

Ikr

[@deathitself6985]

The manga just changes the whole tone of the series compared to anime and LN like it made it overly comedic to me but idk just didnt feel the same at all I think Rudeus is strong and a very rare prodigy but for a massive chunk of the series he is an absolute glass cannon

[@JoseLopez-gi9sf]

I like the Manga as much as the anime because they both skip things that I found important to the story. Both are good in their own way but nothing compared to sources. But you can't put everything in so that is understandable.

[@TBoneTony]

For those who think Mushoku Tensei is a power fantasy, they clearly don't have any experience with classic fiction. Alice in Wonderland as well as Wizard of Oz have moments when the main character/characters face despair on multiple occasions and yet they have to work hard at finding what they have got in order to overcome the challenge they are faced with regardless of what it is. If Mushoku Tensei was a Power Fantasy, then Konosuba is just a cakewalk for Kazuma and Re:Zero is a light fluffy adventure for Subaru.

[@TBoneTony]

When I talk about Book Vs Hollywood Film in regards to adaptations, I think I should bring up one of my earliest experiences with classic isekai stories before I knew what isekai was. The 1980s Anime that was adapted into the west as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I saw that cartoon early in the mornings as a kid back when I was in my early childhood, some parts were scary and messed up but I still enjoyed it because the show captivated me with the characters and I wanted to know how these characters survived to the end in their adventures. (plus the messed up parts built my resilience to the Darker parts of Animation at the time when they didn't hold back on the darker parts of humanity but still tame enough for kids TV in the 1980s) Then I saw the 1930s Hollywood adaptation of the Wizard of Oz, most consider it as a classic film but I saw parts of the Hollywood film that skipped really important parts that the 1980s Anime/Cartoon had and I can only assume it had really messed up parts in the book that were considered too dark to adapt in the 1930s Hollywood adaptation. Like the part where the flying monkeys killed both the Scarecrow and the Tinman, leaving only the Cowardly Lion as the sole survivor to save Dorthey from the Wicked Witch. At least that is what I can remember from it as I was 4 years old at the time and some parts of my memory may have been different to what was shown. So yeah, that is my own exposure to a Cartoon adaptation that was way different from the Hollywood movie adaptation and I found out later that the Cartoon delved into the first 3 or 4 books of Wizard of Oz while the Hollywood movie only adapted from the 1st Book of the series.

[@ezequielfernandez476]

Ill do comments at the same time im watching so this will have lots of edits :P You can think the manga is like a wierd spin off with characters that look and are named the same as the MT novel and anime haha jokes aside, the manga has a little place in my heart, it was what i first read and what made me do the jump into the LN, if you put them side by side ofcourse its "bad" but i think it does what its supposed to. Funny thing about Sylphy learning silent casting like Rudeus is not that she does the same thing he does but she does it even better because she can cast silent healing magic too, something that Rudeus cant do. Rudeus is the ultimate glass cannon but not even close to be the strongest cannon out there. 26:45 i cant agree with you there, the anime does an amazing job explaining to us how the characters feel without the need of chapters dedicated to them, i can agree that i would love to have them but i dont think the anime needed them to tell us how they feel. Just remember how you loved every side character in s1, before reading the novel, did you needed those extra chapters then to know how they felt?

[@ShiNijuuAKL]

"did you needed those extra chapters then to know how they felt?" absolutely. Until I read Eris POV I couldn't possibly consider Eris a good, let alone a great character. She was just an animal who got less animalistic and grew stronger, and her leaving felt almost nonsensical and just another Eris brainfart moment. The POV actually explain everything about her character and then everything makes sense. We need this to undertand that the character is ever-changing and their developments are not linear but all over the place. The sex scene in particular where she did it with a purpose (making Rudeus her family so that he doesn't leave her) but then feeling guilty and instead her leaving with a goal. The hate of the manga is overexageraeted, yes it does some weird things and changes some stuff mostly in a bad way, but the manga does adapt a lot of things the anime doesn't (for example, explaning the thing with the superds, explaining how Rudeus passed the saint-tier exam, etc), or adapt them better (like the academy arc)

[@ezequielfernandez476]

@@ShiNijuuAKL i cant really tell because i had already read the novel when the anime started so i knew where everything was going but i think the anime did a good job with every character, i at least, didnt read anyone at the time complaining about it. I can agree that the manga is not as bad as everyone thinks, like i said in my comment, if you put it face to face with the novel ofcourse youll think is trash, but by itself it does a good job, it took me to the LN and i dont jump from mangas to LN that often, so it did its job

[@ShiNijuuAKL]

@@ezequielfernandez476 "and i dont jump from mangas to LN that often, so it did its job" which is sad because a lot if not most of manga adaptations are basically an ad for the novels 😂😂

[@ezequielfernandez476]

@@ShiNijuuAKL thats why i said it did its job haha

[@copeul7214]

Been waiting for this👏

[@TBoneTony]

28:40 Cut and Paste from other Isekai series. Oh yeah, Roxy is a Cut and Paste of Megumin, I think after she goes back to see her parents in the Demon Continent she is gonna hate them so much she will cast Explosion onto them.

[@zurcarak]

I watched an anime recently in netflix called "Lookism", mostly because it reminded me of Rudy since the MC gets bullied at that same extent and instead of isekai he gets an extra body, and i think it was well made how the series doesn't portrait a 180 when the mc is on his other body, it ends up being a fighting/sing shonen but since its short i didn't mind it 😂

[@A_itsar]

6:57 it's kinda funny that his recommendation is basically almost every single isekai ever

[@deathdoor]

"Generic characters"? Hum... not that think about it... I never thought about the characters as being "generic". Yes, that's not something that I personally can't accuse Mushoku of being. Also, about Mushoku being "a power fantasy" because Rudeus is a strong magic, I don't agree. Yes, he probably was "blessed" with his huge mana pool, but aside from that he didn't received anything else by being born on that world, it's very clearly explained why Rudeus becomes so "strong", it's showed why. Because he puts effort into becoming stronger. He spent most of his infancy at home just practicing magic and a bit of sword and doing nothing else. Then he got this habit of always trying to improve his magic, this is shown after he is killed by Orsted, with him trying to learn a way to not die in a next encounter. Actually if you think about it this way, Mushoku is the "opposite" of a "power fantasy", because Rudeus is physically weak and is always afraid of died, that's why he needs to constantly put effort into improving his magic, not because he is strong, because he is weak. Don't a "power fantasy" requires the character feeling powerful, strong? How can a history be a power fantasy when the most constant emotion the character feels be powerless?

[@alexthekiddo10]

Okay, this person seriously said there's no mature characters in Yu Yu Hakusho, MHA, Black Clover, and Hunter x Hunter. That's just not right. I've read/watched these and I think it does have some mature characters in it. Like, I won't say they're like Perfect Blue or something, but it's still has some mature themes in it, and even if a series doesn't, that shouldn't be a knock on it's quality.

[@JoseLopez-gi9sf]

Yu Yu Hakusho had a mother dealing with the death of her only child. My Hero is all about how the have nots have been excluded from society. Hunter x Hunter takes 30 episodes to get into but after that it is a Rollercoaster of mature themes. Having you crying after every arch. Black Clover is silly fun for the most part but even they have deeper characters. And he calls them all basic story. What?! What shows is this guy watching. I want to see the unique things they have watched. Black Clover I will agree is basic because it copies so many other stories but it still makes it entertaining. It is Harry Potter with Soul Eater.

[@alexthekiddo10]

@@JoseLopez-gi9sf Yeah, Black Clover is basic but it's fun and I'm very invested in it. Idk about the copy other stories thing, I know people accuse it of copying Naruto, but I find a lot of those claims very surface level.

[@aeirie-ii1993]

Even one piece, the most goofiest/cartoonist shounen we have still contain mature theme in it

[@TBoneTony]

When it come to these anime reviewers who don't understand the medium, I just feel that it's their fault. The reviewer is most likely coming from a mindset that he/she/it wants to have a completed story and never bothered to look at other classic stories of their time that were adapted into film during Hollywood's 30s to 50s era. Most film adaptations of books such as Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, only adapted the first book and left it off at a point where the story felt complete without even bothering to adapt the other books. Welcome to film adaptation 101, you only have 2 to 3 hours to adapt a story and most likely the film will never have a sequel unless if it is super popular that the stories continue in further adaptations long after the original film, if any at all. With a series, there is a chance to expand on a story but still it comes with the same limitations when it comes to adapting long stories that have so much put into it, the opposite of the extreme is the Shonen Battle anime that often adapts from the Manga that is being written at the same time but the situation is that the manga needs to go ahead so the Anime doesn't catch up to it where it starts to make its own story creating plot holes further down the track. With a adaptation of a light novel, especially one that has already been completed in Japan, at least they know how long the story is planned to go and they adapt the first few volumes of the story into the anime and test the water to see if fans enjoy it. I think any anime reviewer of a light novel series needs to keep that in mind that they aren't gonna get a complete story from a single season of anime mostly because this is how the industry works. Also I feel that most anime reviewers operate like Hollywood Film reviewers, they don't fully understand that when reviewing entertainment that is adapted from a book, you can't expect to get the entire story in the film adaptation and this is so important for the film reviewer to consider when writing a review before critiquing it.

[@komocakeps527]

to be fair, this review isn't that bad when you compare it to the previous one. especially the KAREN one. oh god that KAREN.

[@BradleytheDavis]

that "Karen" is a dude btw.

[@doodlegame8704]

No no no, but you don’t understand! He doesn’t get repeatedly tortured like Subaru and doesn’t become a goody two shoes shonen protagonist that always fights for justice, so therefore he is the exact same character from start to finish. Also, he isn’t hot enough or sadistic like Gojo or Toji to be above moral judgement.

[@m1k3droid]

i love your mangodsplaining series, I've been dealing with an idiot on facebook named Nessa in the MT group who is convinced MT is the absolute worst and Rudy is evil af.

[@k3lvinbr]

i mean last season was a shonen series about the deadly battles of a young man and his erectile disfunction so it kinda makes sense to call it that

[@aissatousy338]

that does not make it a shonen, this is a hardore seinen

[@FoauhaLiayha]

​@@aissatousy338Agree, ED makes it more hardcore

[@JacoB-wp4ws]

shonen and seinen are demographic, jesus, shonen means literally boys which is for teenage boys from 13 to 17 years old and seinen is literally like in novels young adult from 18 to 40 years old, vice versa for shojo(girls), josei (lady), these are demographics not genre

[@JacoB-wp4ws]

@@FoauhaLiayha no its not these are demographic not genre

[@ShiNijuuAKL]

@@aissatousy338 I think this person is joking

[@BanMedo]

31:18 Dude paul is such a well written character. You hate him at times but also feel how helpless he is. at the end you can’t help but appreciate him and all his flaws.

[@aidan4544]

All right i have a question now im sure there's most likely a chance you've been asked this before but i want to ask if you had to recommend someone 5 chapters of mushoku tensei's LN vol. 1-12 what would they be?

[@BanMedo]

I generally try to understand when people’s tastes do not align but I honestly cannot get behind anyone saying Mushoku Tensei is a bad isekai Anime. I am an anime only but the anime by itself is really good! I understand that there are adaptation gaps but literally everything has that and if you are anime only, you barely notice it since it’s so good. The only people calling MT a power fantasy are the people who want it to be that way. The amount of times i’ve finished the episodes and just sat there thinking are hard to count. The Norn episode, the Paul/Bar episode, the Paul/Hydra, the Sara episode are some of my fave.

[@OrstedCultist]

[@atulsingh2429]

Boss!!!

[@sirtheoT]

Well said, thanks for the video. Personally i just ignore everyone who's talking from their ass, like " My dude this series comes from a Light novel what are you talking about". Anyway, will you please cover Re:Zero when it pops pleeeeease. Thanks in advance

[@gundam42d64]

Shame that a lot of people who hate the series tend to "officially" work in the anime industry or at the very least run all the "nerd" sites.

[@Edwoonie]

That first review was Garbo, they take macguffins or dues ex machines for being overpowered. Just because Rudeus survives his encounters,doesn’t mean he’s op. OF COURSE HE NEEDS TO LIVE OR THE STORY ENDS. He’s alive because his intellect (somewhat) and other people helping him

[@Tounushi]

Doing Paul's arc just to make a point.. I'm certain you'd enjoy reading Paul Gaiden.

[@buckaroobonsi555]

Mushoku Tensei is for a mature audience with the ability to think criticaly and deeply. If you think like a 12 year old or have been indoctrinated by public schools under Identity Politics, Phase 4 Femininism, Critical Theory, Marxism and the like you will not be able to empathize/sympathize and think in a disscerning manner. You will not be able to see things from a perspective outside of your own. This is a fantasticly well written story with fantstic world building, character development, pacing, story telling and animation. It is thought provoking. I think too many people judge Rudy because you hear those thoughts most would never say out loud and most writers would not share with the audience. If you ignorae those thoughts of Rudy's that only we the audience get to hear his action are not that bad.

[@ShiNijuuAKL]

wow wow bro, the convervatism is leaking 😂😂 If anything if you have been indoctrinated by private christian schools where marrying multiple women is a huge sin, where women only purpose is to take care of the home and give you children, where if a woman sleeps with multiple men she is a worhless slut, where homosexuality is seen as a sin, and where you are tought to just obey tradition then you are way less likely to empathize with this series

[@alexthekiddo10]

I actually like the manga. Think it's pretty good. I had already watched the anime up to the current season. Idk if I saw anything wrong with the manga, could anyone give me examples?

[@JoseLopez-gi9sf]

I'm pretty sure he doesn't like it because it is more comical and lewd. And Rudy is less of a pervert in the manga. So it sells better. But the manga does a better job at following the source more then the second season does of the anime. That second season skips so much of the source. It fails to be better than the manga in that way. Examples... Ghisliane never had a bath scene with Eris, Lillia never did a cute heart dance with Pax, and everyone is a bit more expressive with the faces when like Eris grandfather making faces when thinking about how cute Eris is, that is something not in the source. Personally I love how Eris looks in the manga compared to the anime.

[@lucasvanwijngaarden670]

Like the other person said, it's mostly due to the tone shift. It makes the story more of an ecchi comedy with some serious arcs. Instead of a somewhat serious story with comedic bits.

[@alexthekiddo10]

@@lucasvanwijngaarden670 I see, I did notice that there was a bit more ecchi bits in some parts. I guess I didn't mind it too much since I've already watched the anime.

[@AloofLeon]

The only I disagree on is that you said that Rudy isn't strong or OP. He very well could be if he gets more creative and unique in the ways he could use his essentially bottomless magic. There are instances where if he could have use more of his creative juices in his head, he would have created earth shattered spells and whatnot, like "Disturb" magic. He could even produce lighting magic or gravity magic to stop swordman in thier tracks if he truly put in the time in. He is just lazy with his combat abilities in some ways. He has the potential to be that OP Mage like he truly could be but it just isnt the sole life focus of his second life. Rudy would much rather use it in other ways. I think that's a better way to say it. He just doesn't care for fighting all that much because being powerful means having more attention on him, that he didn't want.

[@FoauhaLiayha]

He is a fragile human without battle aura dawg. Even laplace needs a dragon race body for make his body strong without battle aura and he can fully get benefits by his mana pool.

[@AloofLeon]

@@FoauhaLiayha I know that, I'm saying that if he used a bit more creativity and put the time in to that, along with what he could already do, though limited. He definitely could be more "powerful" but it isn't his main goal of his second life. Rudy is strong enough to defend himself, sure but there are definite things outside of swordsmanship and battle aura he could definitely improve on. In my opinion at least

[@JoseLopez-gi9sf]

I think that is because the way his personality is. Rudy is not greedy in the sense that he is vengeful or vindictive to want fight like other MC that have to get angry all the time to fight for their justice. Rudy doubts himself too much to actual try and push through that punishment. So other Overpowered MCs have this sort of leadership quality because they are willing to do anything for results whole Rudy does lead his group but only because he is smarter then everyone around him and doesn't want to die or fail. Which he still ends up doing a lot. He is too passive like his wife said he should stop being. Whole most OP MC are more aggressive.

[@ShiNijuuAKL]

@@FoauhaLiayha Demon God Laplace doesn't have a dragon race body, but yeah his Demon body is indeed strong

[@ShiNijuuAKL]

I partially agree. Saying that Rudy isn't strong is crazy, yes he has HUGE weaknesses but he is really fucking strong and always has been. As shown against Auber, if Rudeus is in a favorable position for a mage he is as strong as Emperor-tier fighters and that was without MK2 mind you. But he is definitely not OP tho, if his personality doesn't allow him to grow stronger then it is what it is. He does have the potential to maybe even become the stronger of the verse (or at least the strongest without taking into consideration the original Gods). If Rudeus trained as hard as Eris did instead of being depressed for years, he could've found ways around his weaknesses. After the war against the man-god started he has been busy so it is understandable that he doesn't have much time to fully dedicate himself into becoming OP. But I really hated that he somehow didn't understand what Oldeus meant with "magic is allmighty" 💀💀

[@eduard60]

I think you would like Hunter x Hunter (it just start childish, but there is a lot in the story)

[@nakerusa]

Hunter x Hunter is fantastic and a must watch!

[@JoseLopez-gi9sf]

That is a very interesting typic we could get more into. Seasonal anime rot. People watch so much anime season by season they start to hate or like a genre of shows. Instead of realizing why it is made this way. It used to be that an anime comes out. And good ones were contend in one season and it was an enjoyable season all the way through. The ending was satisfing and you didn't need anymore. The bad ones or great ones depending on who you ask, needed more explanation to fully enjoy either the season or the ending or both. A bad anime makes you not want to continue anything about the show. A great one makes you want to read the source to find out what you ar missing. E.i. usually the manga first. The best ones make you reach for the light novels or web novels. Mushoku Tensei is one of the best stories out there. But people are too lazy or too stuck in the season anime rot that they can't get out and actually want to seek a great story. Which isn't entirely a bad thing. I don't like SAO and people always say the source is better. But the anime didn't hook me enough to care and actually read the source. So why bother when there are better shows to watch or other shows that have better potential. Even if they end up being bad animes worse then SAO I still whether watch them because at least i know of them now as opposed to SAO. And that is probably because of the seasonal rot of trying to catch up on things.

[@jrhoden2k9]

Just to add what others have said, I think you are laying it a little thick on Rudy being weak. Compared to most mages in the world Rudeus is a rare breed. Huge mana pool, previous world knowledge to create magic combos etc. I think the best way to describe him is a glass cannon. Not to say that you don’t know this already😅

[@ShiNijuuAKL]

Andrew does exagerates how weak Rudy is a lot of times. He was even confused with the novel because sometimes Rudy is shown to be strong and sometimes weak, but he is kinda missing the point that Rudeus is shown weak against literally the strongest dudes in the world. Ghislaine estimated that 7yo Rudeus might beat her if the fight started at 100m of distance. Rudeus has always been extremely powerful even though he is not a fighter. Not being able to beat Ruijerd (without magic mind you) doesn't take anything away from Rudeus, as Ruijerd is literally a legendary warrior even if he might not be in the real of the God-tier fighters I think Andrew has a gut reaction when people say that Rudeus is OP and then he goes to the other extreme. The correct way to arguing against someone who says that Rudeus is OP is to first point out that he is just very strong but not OP (using Ruijerd's example is fine, just don't imply that this somehow makes Rudeus not strong) and point out that Rudeus has extreme weaknesses because he doesn't have battle aura, and the fact that he can't just go nuclear in most situation, in a war setting Rudeus is insane tho. Rudeus strengh is really situational. But we don't have to pretend that season 2 Rudeus wouldn't destroy most saint-level fighters unless the battle started at a hugging distance

[@jrhoden2k9]

@@ShiNijuuAKL Completely agree with your points. Especially Rudeus’ main weapon being his battle strategy

[@cherimiss7983]

Guys does nobody understand that there are different kinds of strength? Yes Rudy's magic even early on is really powerful, but Rudy himself isn't nor can he take full advantage of his powerful magic in many situations through almost the entirety of season one and beyond. In the part previously mentioned about Ghislaine's assessment of Rudy, which is similar to Paul's, they're speaking about a hypothetical Rudy with none of his hangups or weaknesses. When he actually trains with Ghislaine its pointed out that whenever the opposition is in his face he hesitates and freezes because of his past trauma. That's why Paul notes after their match that Rudy would need a party, which is what Ruijerd and Eris become for him. Look what happened to him without them in the Beast village against a north saint even with the eye of foresight, he gets injured the second he's confronted directly. On a character point I'd argue that's what makes Rudy interesting, but too many in these discussions seem focused just on his spell power while ignoring that he's a flawed troubled person. Which absolutely manifest's in his actual combat encounters for long into the series.

[@ShiNijuuAKL]

@@cherimiss7983 I think ghislaine assessment was probably correct tho, If Rudeus has enough distance he is a menace. We can clearly see it against Auber, Rudeus survived the first ambush, defeated Auber on their second ambush and overal proved himself to be a way bigger threat than Ghislaine and Eris during that whole arc. And this was Rudeus without MK2, just the gauntlet. Also, the thing of him freezing because of his trauma, I don't think that's true, he was just not a natural fighter and was just learning how to fight. Ghislaine also said that he overthink things so much that he ends up fighting illogically

[@cherimiss7983]

@@ShiNijuuAKL You talking about stuff way off in the future, at the point where he's 'mostly' learn to deal with up close battles. And yes, Ghislaine does point out his overthinking when directly confronted. But ask yourself why is his tendency to overthink to the point of hindrance mostly happen when an enemy is in his face and rarely when he's at range and serving his proper role within a party? It should be fairly obvious that its because he's panicking. While the anime doesn't tell us as clearly through his own thoughts like the LN does, it still does show that he gets panicked being directly confronted when he gets accused of stealing Ariel's underwear. Silphy wonders at first why Rudy doesn't just take out the girls by himself but then remembers how nervous he was as a kid when facing down her bullies and even herself right after the bath incident.

[@Asic229]

While mushoku tensei is far from a power fantasy, I do think that Rudeus is written to be quite a powerful character. While he may have a hard time against a single powerful swordsman, its shown in the novel that he can wipe out entire army's in one massive spell. He just might be the most powerful spellcaster besides Laplace and Orsted. What I like about Rudeus is that while he's absurdly powerful, he doesn't stand a chance against true power. Throughout the story we see him solve problems not through his own strength, but rather through his intelligence and problem solving, and through his powerful connections. In the end, Rudeus's true power lies not with with his own strength, but rather with his ability to influence people and make connections.

[@Abyss3223]

"go watch reincarnated in a meeting room" What an awful comparision to tell people to go watch.

[@mattersondoom]

Gotta be honnest i prefer the first mad karen review, than this two people that think they know what they r talking about and just give lame argumments. But yeah i think a break of mangod splaining would be nice to not over do this content 👍

[@yjpar8841]

"MT is just a power fantasy with a side of pedo. If you want a good fantasy isekai, go watch Slime". I am 99% sure that this person is trolling us.

[@77godofwar77]

Whaaat?? What's wrong with the manga

[@komocakeps527]

counterpoint Rudy IS strong. His chantless magic and how he summoned a huge water spell on his "graduation" with Roxy is all you need to say he is strong. Objectively speaking he is already on the top 90% of mages. However his drawbacks are usually from underhanded fights which he scrapes by, as you put it, eris's guard, or rujerd, or just simply being lucky against Orsted because Nanahoshi was there. just because you are the 90% doesn't mean the 10% can't beat you. is he lucky? unlucky? maybe. but please let's not forget that a lot of his fights/encounters he just cheeses them. quagmire is quite the cheese I'd argue.

[@dreamslayer5314]

I like your take. Convincing people who are turned off the show because of the MC being a pervert, yet ironically love harem anime, is an uphill battle and I applaud your efforts but think it will be fruitless.

[@bujin5455]

I see your point, but Rudeus really is OP, by so many measures. Like he beat Luke with a stone sword in a duel, without effort, and sword work is not remotely Rudeus's thing. I remember you talking about weak Luke was to loose to Rudeus, but the reality is, Luke is more capable than most sword men in that world. Not that many get to intermediate. The only reason Rudeus doesn't appear OP in the story, is because he's always dealing with people even more OP, or he's in poorly crafted matches. By the time you get to the second season, Rudeus is able to solo a dragon straggler, which would normally take multiple S class groups to deal with. But be that as it is, Rudeus's OPness isn't the cure all it is in more Isakai, and so I would definitely not call it a "power fantasy" per se, but there is a clear progression of Rudeus moving up the ranks of the most powerful beings on the planet. It just happens in a way to keep him humble.

[@ericbunker6242]

I'd say Rudy is powerful but not overpowered. He is a glass cannon without his armor. I'd peg him as just below OP. His real power is his companions. By himself he can work wonders but the efforts of those around him really get him to the heights of his power. Zanoba and Cliff (later Roxy) gave him his armor. Eris is his sword and shield against melee attacks. Sylphy and Roxy provide the love and home life that gives him drive and passion to protect and persevere. The straggler dragon was half dead anyway, but his odd mana control did give him the tools to kill it.

[@bujin5455]

@@ericbunker6242 lol, you don't have to explain the story to me. I've read everything but the last book.

[@ericbunker6242]

​@@bujin5455Well, I guess we'll just have to disagree on Rudy's overall OPness. Wasn't trying to tell you the story, just provide what I based my opinions on, in case you wanted a discussion.

[@bujin5455]

@@ericbunker6242 We could discuss it, but I know Andrew isn't too fond of spoilers, so I kept my point to the first two seasons. But anyone reading, please be advised, I'm not going to continue to. The thing is we're just going to be throwing story specifics back and forth, both thinking it proves our respective points of view. Mostly it's going to come down to a disagreement as to what OP means. When I look at a story like the Lord of the Rings, I think it's quite clear that none of the main characters are "OP." In fact in that world, I would say there are very few characters that can really be considered OP anyway, the King of the mighty Nazgul got taken down by a woman with a sword (and she wasn't a "sword king"). First and foremost, I'd say the six sided world is an OP world. Though there are plenty of regular people in it, that have nothing special about them. But it's also a world with super human sword, as well as sorcery, and the difference in scale between low level practitioners and top tier practitioners is so extreme you'd really have to use a log scale to fit everything on the chart. Add to that, you also have the so called "Seven Great Powers" which are a group of OP individuals, who stand heads and shoulders above the already OP skill trees. By the time Rudeus squares off against Orsted for the second time, he really deserves to be on this list. And even though he did receive help creating the armor (which I'm sure he could have done it on his own if he had to, as he figured out freak'n time travel after all), he was still the only person on the planet capable of wielding it. Like Rudeus is clearly in the top ten of the most powerful people on this incredibly OP planet. And it puts his life on easy mode in so many ways. Like walking into the University of Magic as a special student. His access to Princess Ariel. His utterly over the top skills are what really gives him a shoe in with basically any group or crowd he runs into, and is largely why he was able to befriend people like Cliff and Zanoba, and is largely why Eris is so attracted to him. So even this elite group of friends he relies on, is a dividend of his OPness, and we just see more of that as the story goes, when he teams up with Orsted. And how did he get all of this? Yes, there was some work involved, that's true, but it's largely because he started the whole thing out as a 30 year old consciousness, who was enamored with the fact there was magic in the world, and he saw it as one big video game, and he was into that. This gave Rudeus god tier magical power and reserves, on the level of the great Laplace, who was also a "glass cannon" and OP AF. Rudeus leveraged his god tier magic in many different OP ways through out the story. Like his stone sculpting, his work with Nanahoshi, his creating ice water for himself and his friends just as a whatever (he's like the only person on the planet who could afford to be so frivolous his abilities). And yes, even though he taught Sylphie silent casting, he's still only one of a handful of people capable of it (perhaps one of three). Okay, so now let's return to this definition of OP. In one sense we could talk about OP, where the character is utterly unchallenged by anyone in the landscape. Okay, with this one usage of the definition, Rudeus is not "OP," as there are other characters who certainly can challenge him (even though they are all God tier or higher characters). Although, there is another sense of the word, which is he's set on such a different level as not to be remotely relatable my the vast majority of the characters, Rudeus clearly fits this definition. Like the book itself decided to describe the peek of these different skills in "God like" terms (which is as OP as OP gets), and Rudeus definitely fits that classification, as he's certainly a god level magician, one who managed to sweat Orsted (who is certainly OP amongst the OP, like people are bowing to Rudeus just because he had managed to nick Orsted the first time he met him). Like the Man God F'd this guy, and so what does he do? He travels back in time and changes his own fate! Not even the great Orsted knew that was possible. Like Rudeus is truly a singularity. I love him and the books, and I think they are excellently written. But one of the things I'm impressed with is the fact Rifujin managed to create an OP character, without breaking the story. This is VERY hard to do, just ask DC about how easy it is to write Superman, they always have to come up with some artificial BS to give his adversaries a fighting chance.

[@ShiNijuuAKL]

Rudeus is very strong, definitely not OP. OP is someone like Orsted who can get surprise nuked and still have no much problems on winning the fight. For a character to be OP they have to have a decent margin of error, Rudeus' is close to none. His weaknesses are just too big, it is too circumstantial. In a war setting you can definitely say he is OP, he would destroy armies without issues.

[@Swiftbeaster]

9:13 hahah yeah yall do that lol

[@ianfiqri]

I don't know where else to ask, so I'll ask here. Are you gonna post ep9&10 of Monogatari? 🥲 I love your insights but i haven't seen you post them yet