After The 7 princes and the millennial labyrinth released in May, Doki-Doki editions offered in June the manga Mushoku Tensei! With the release of the first two volumes less than a month apart, we take the time to look back on this series whose third volume is scheduled for September!
Mushoku Tensei
Original title : 無職転生 ~異世界行ったら本気だす~ – Mushoku Tensei – Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu
Alternative title: Mushoku Tensei: New Life, New Chance
Author : Rifujin na Magonote (script) FUJIKAWA Yuka (art)
Genre: magic, adventure
French publisher : Doki-Doki
Japanese publisher : Media Factory
Release date : 07/06/2017
Number of volumes : 6 volumes in Japan, 2 in France
Status : Current series
Price : 7,50 €
Synopsis :
For this anonymous loser, the 34 years of his existence have been a total failure. When he's hit by a crazy truck, he expects to end up six feet underground… But here he is again a baby! Now called Rudeus Greyrat, he has reincarnated in a world of swords and spells, where he will learn to master the delicate art of magic, for which he seems to have a special gift. Because this new life, Rudeus is determined not to waste it! And this child who will grow up before our eyes is still far from suspecting the dangers he will soon encounter!
Big launch for Doki-Doki editions with Mushoku Tensei, a new Isekai (plunged into another world) which succeeds in the same theme to The Rising of the shield Hero ! A real phenomenon, Isekai type works abound in Japan, which justifies their multiplication in France: No Game no life, Konosuba, Grimgar, Knight's & Magic and many others… But how to stand out within this mass?
Mushoku Tensei focuses on a thirty-year-old neet (a person without a social or professional life and outside the school system), who lives on the hook of his family. Following an accident, he dies and is reincarnated as a newborn in a world that is not his own. Aware of the failure of his previous life and consumed by remorse, our hero decides to take his life in hand and not to waste this chance offered to him. In the skin of the young Rudeus Greyrat, our unknown must now evolve in a universe of swashbuckling but also magic!
Adapted from a light-novel published by Media Factory, the manga is a succession of anecdotal stories where we will follow our protégé in his everyday life. From learning magic to training in sword fighting with his father, everything goes there. These stories serve to highlight how he manages to take advantage of his previous life to improve his current and unexpected living conditions. These passages often find their problems or solutions in his life as a neet, which makes the hero endearing to the reader. Indeed, the latter puts himself better in the shoes of our character and understands his fears or his choices. But Rudeus also uses his experience to take advantage of "his new envelope" for more devious purposes… For example, we see him exploiting his mother's love to be cuddled in her arms more than reason, in order to savor her opulent breast. In short, the scenario of Rifujin na Magonote highlights above all the human side of our hero, an imperfect being who has known his shortcomings and who tries to learn from his failures to live a better life, without being pure. For her part, Yuka Fujikawa, who is responsible for the layout and drawing, is doing well. The major protagonists are carefully drawn, their expressions are transparent to the reader, who can immediately understand their feelings without even the dialogue of bubbles. On the fanservice side, the scenes are well inseminated in the narrative in a way, quite spaced and with a good coherence with respect to the events that surround them. But by quibbling, we can note that the scenery is underused in the image of the title as a whole, which puts a much larger part in the characters at the expense of the heroic-fantasy universe of the work.
Mushoku Tensei's human relationships differ greatly from other Isekai. Our hero is a toddler (the story really begins when Rudeus is three years old) and until the end of the second volume, he makes very few friends, conversely to the other stories on the same theme. His past as a neet weighs on him and encourages him to stay in the family cocoon, for fear of the outside world. However, his behavior and experience in flirting games pushes him to try to be well seen by women. A winning bet for Rudeus who, although as tall as three apples, wins the sympathy of all the women he meets, while they see in him only a particularly intelligent kid, but harmless sentimentally speaking.
The first volume of Mushoku Tensei focuses on Rudeus' magical learning, initiation, first private lessons and fulfillment in this discipline. The second volume changes tone, as the student becomes a master and is put to the test. He also extends his knowledge of the world in which he evolves by visiting several cities, while in the first volume, he confined himself to his small village.
Mushoku Tensei is off to a good start. Although the theme begins to be discussed a lot in France, he manages to pull out of the game thanks to the particular character of his hero, who seems to flee the shortcomings of his old life. The author fully exploits this state of affairs and allows our young hero to arouse the sympathy of the female characters of his work as much as the readers of the title.
If my opinion made you want to discover the title, you will find an excerpt from the first volume here proposed by Doki-Doki!
