An Otaku in modern Japan has missed the funeral of his parents, having refused to leave his room for years. His siblings beat him for his sins and throw him out on the streets, leaving him destitute and with no prospects. Pondering his many failures as a person and wishing for a second chance, the man witnesses three teens about to be run down by a truck. He successfully saves them but is killed by the truck.
The man's soul reincarnates in a High Fantasy world as Rudeus Greyrat. However he has somehow kept his memories of his past life and swears that he will not waste this chance. With the help of his family and friends, plus knowledge gleamed from his past self's various hobbies, he begins a new life. Follow Rudeus and his adventures from his infantile stage to his adulthood and ultimately his death in this high fantasy story.
Spin-Offs include:
- Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious (2017-2023): A manga series about Roxy Migurdia and her adventurer days before she meets Rudeus.
- Mushoku Tensei: Even if it's a 4-koma, I'll get serious (2018-2020): A 4-Koma comedy series.
- Mushoku Tensei: Anthology Side (2019-2020): A series of anthologies.
- Mushoku Tensei ~ Game ni Natte mo Honki Dasu (2021): A turn based RPG game for mobile.
- Mushoku Tensei: Eris Sharpens Her Fangs (2022): A one-volume manga starring Eris Boreas Greyrat.
- Mushoku Tensei: Quest of Memories (2024): An upcoming RPG for consoles and Steam.
Both the light novels and the manga adaptation were licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment for English publication, as well as the Roxy Gets Serious manga spinoff. Meanwhile Eris Sharpens Her Fangs was distributed by Square Enix.
Provides examples of:
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Tropes A-H
- Achilles in His Tent: Perugius Dola is a powerful and influential figure in the world, but he rarely sets foot outside his floating castle, because he's conserving his energy waiting for the day when Laplace re-emerges.
- Action Girl: Whether in magic or martial arts, females in this verse are as deadly as the males.
- Action Survivor: Geese has the highest adventurer rank but essentially no combat skills, relying instead on his many other abilities. He also comments that in one adventuring party, there must be one person whose role is non-combat. Traveling Merchants, especially in Begaritto and Magic Continent, also fit this trope.
- Adventure-Friendly World: Monsters roam the countryside, even near major cities, labyrinths contain gems worth massive amounts of money, and schools exist to teach swordsmanship and magic. All in all it presents everything a gamer otaku reincarnated might desire to live a more interesting life.
- Adventure Guild: A world-wide version that ranks adventurers based on their strength and teamwork then distributes jobs accordingly.
- Aerith and Bob: Several characters in the fantasy world have common names like Roxy, Eris, Paul, Zenith, Lilia, and Luke. On the other hand, there's other characters with unusual names like Rudeus, Sylphiette, Ghyslaine, Ruijierd and Elinalise.
- All Men Are Perverts: The Greyrat family is known to be full of perverts. Whenever they're caught ogling and flirting, others will remark "You truly are a Greyrat." Some branches of the Greyrat noble families also have particular fetishes:
- Notos Greyrats love women with big breasts.
- Boreas Greyrats are fond of furry animals and are crazy about Beast race women. Incidentally, the sole main female member of the bloodline, Eris, also inherits this fetish, including the fact that it's specifically towards Beast women.
- Zephyros Greyrats like men, especially pretty boys.
- Always Someone Better: Rudeus is this to a lot of people. Deconstructed in that while he's an extremely powerful magician, he doesn't realise it at first because he doesn't really know the standards of this world. Also, since he's met people who can defeat him, he assumes there are others and continues to work on improving his weaknesses, such as his inability to wear Touki.
- And You Thought It Was a Game: Rudeus stages a kidnapping that gets hijacked by actual kidnappers using the gaps in security Rudeus' plan created, though they were inept enough that he still managed to get away easily. Later, he delays rescuing a group of adventurers because he wanted to pull a Big Damn Heroes — and one member dies to a monster because he misjudged how dangerous the situation actually was.
- Animal Theme Naming: Combined with Colourful Theme Naming. Although not universal, some nobles are named after animals. (Greyrat, Purplehorse, etc.).
- Anyone Can Die: Surprisingly, not all major characters have guaranteed Plot Armor.
- Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: When Lynia and Pursena were held prisoner by Rudeus in his room for destroying Zanoba's Roxy figurine, they wonder why he never made any other "attempts" on them aside from being groped.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Princess Ariel asking what will Rudy do next, now that he has cured his ED (one of his motives for joining the academy) and reunited with Sylphiette; is he planning to reunite with his family and continue the search for his mother? Rudy's answer was such a complete shock that everyone was floored: He proposes marriage to Sylphy.
- The Atoner: Ruijierd makes this his life purpose in order to restore the honor of the Superd race.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: The basic modus operandi of the aggressive Sword God School.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Saint ranked or higher magic is capable of vast devastation, rearranging the geography and depopulating entire settlements. It also requires a long period of standing still while chanting, has a prohibitively high mana cost and naturally incurs massive collateral damage. Most experienced mages use Advanced or Intermediate magic for fighting and Basic magic for everyday utility spells. Saint ranked or higher spells generally do not have any practical use outside of a war and even then you would need to contrive a situation where the magic caster does not accidentally kill off friendly troops.
- Badass and Child Duo: Although more of a trio, Ruijierd with Rudeus and Eris.
- Bait-and-Switch: Rudeus believes he may have to stand off against the godlike Perugius to protect his second son (suspected by almost everyone to be Laplace's reincarnation due to inheriting his mother's green hair). Fortunately, Perugius clarifies the baby isn't Laplace's reincarnation, and baptizes him instead.
- Balanced Harem: Rudeus' love interests and eventual wives, Roxy, Sylphy, and Eris, play equally important roles in the story and significantly impact Rudeus' development. Rudeus comes to love them all equally because the three were an emotional support to him at different points of his life.
- Be All My Sins Remembered: Even years after being reincarnated and many adventures, Rudeus is still plagued by memories of his first life and wonders whether he deserves the new life he's built.
- The Berserker: Eris is well-known for this, gaining the Appropriated Appellation of "Mad Dog".
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Rudeus attempts to invoke this when he, Eris and Rujierd come across a group of young adventurers who are cornered by a pair of monsters, having Rujierd and Eris hold back until the last second in order to make his party look better. This plan backfires a bit, as he waited just a second too long, and got to watch as one of the adventurers is bisected by one of the monsters. His entire upper body is then sent flying until it smashes into a tree.
- Eris saving Rudeus from Orsted in Vol. 15.
- Blessed with Suck:
- A small number of people are. In setting they are called Miko, people with natural powers, like Super-Strength or mind reading. Of course, super strength means Does Not Know His Own Strength can result, and telepaths tend to have difficulty communicating in traditional ways. This also leads to Cursed with Awesome, since there are people who suffer curses that have obvious super powers as well...just ones that may not be worth the benefits, in their eyes.
- Zanoba has superhuman strength but this also makes him unable to feel the most delicate sensations including human touch, this also explains his extreme interest to sculptures since to his touch there is very little difference between touching people and touching statues.
- Bookends:
- Both the breakup and reunion between Rudeus and Eris involves a letter and an encounter with the Dragon God.
- The Light Novel covers feature a recurring family portrait at a certain stage in Rudeus' life. Volume 1 has him with his childhood family, Volume 13 features him as a young man with his first child with Sylphy, and the last one features his own family with all six of his children by Sylphy, Roxy, and Eris.
- Bowdlerise: Seven Seas' localizations of the first two novels
(later releases reverted these changes):- Originally, Rudeus in his past life was thrown out while masturbating to loli porn. This was changed to a "mosaic-less adult video."
- Several references to rape in Paul and Lilia's backstory were omitted.
- The scene where Rudeus gropes Eris in her sleep and tries to steal her underwear was removed.
- Born-Again Immortality: Kirishika is reborn after her death.
- Breaking the Fellowship: The Dead End party, because Ruijierd departs believing he has completed his mission of escorting Rudeus and Eris safely back to their home, and then Eris also leaves Rudeus a short while after that.
- Brick Joke:
- Elinalize only first knew of Silent Fitts as the one who dueled against Rudeus for his entrance examination, and teases Rudy about how he made the boy cry. Rudy retorts that Fitts didn't actually cry. A later chapter (from Fitts' perspective on the aftermath of the duel) shows that he did cry, but it was for a completely different reason.
- Rudy got accused of being a Panty Thief merely a day after enrolling, and the mob was more intense than usual because it was believed that the victim was Princess Ariel. Once again, a later chapter shows the incident from Fitts' perspective; after clearing Rudy's name, he realizes (as well as the readers find out) that the panties weren't Ariel's, but rather hers (a.k.a. Sylphy's). Rudy is, for once, none the wiser, but it did cause Fitts to almost die of embarrassment.
- Rudeus decides to show Lynia and Pursena his "religion" when he has them captive in his room. This made the Beast Folk girls believe he has a fetish for the stuff, so they later decide to give Rudeus a certain present: a bag full of freshmen's undergarments. Rudeus acquiesces he may be partially at fault for the incident after all.
- By the time Ruijierd reunites with Rudy he already picked up the news that the latter got married, but he still expressed surprise because the girl wasn't Eris. When Rudeus meets up with his father, Paul actually made the same assumption. Another brick concerning the revelation was dropped later when they were exploring the labyrinth and Paul and Elinalize descended into bickering again, and she angrily blurts to him that they are now in-laws because Rudy's wife also happens to be her granddaughter, to Paul's disbelief.
- Bring My Brown Pants: A common reaction of people who meet Ruijerd or Orsted.
- Bully Hunter: Rudeus does not tolerate any kind of bullying.
- Butterfly of Doom:
- Orsted has knowledge of events from experiencing over 100 time loops, but new events or small changes may completely derail his plans.
- The Rewind Miko's attempt to save Akito by changing the past created a rift in time that led to Rudeus' reincarnation and Nanahoshi's appearance during the Mana Calamity. It's left unclear whether this will save him or not.
- Captain Obvious: Rudeus' final conversation with Hitogami has the latter in a fit of rage as to why Rudeus is so calm about no longer being able to stop him. Rudeus' answer is that he's dead. Whatever Hitogami's plans are, he can't stop him. This shuts up Hitogami.
- Caught in the Rain: While they're playing outside, Rudeus and Sylphy get caught in the rain. They go to Rudeus's house and Rudeus says they should take a bath together. When Sylphy resists, Rudeus removes the clothes by force and realizes his friend is actually a girl. Years later, Princess Ariel decides to help Sylphy make Rudeus realize she's Fitz by recreating a similar situation with a magically-generated rain to force Rudeus and Sylphy to take shelter in a cave and remove their clothes.
- Caught with Your Pants Down:
- In Rudeus' previous life, his brothers caught him masturbating to a porn video on the day of their parents' funeral. They were so disgusted that they destroyed his computer and finally threw him out of the house. Making it worse, in some versions, it was to child pornography (in the original web novel, footage of his niece bathing).
- Rudeus catches his teacher Roxy secretly masturbating to his parents having sex.
- Because he returned from conquering Lapan's Teleport Labyrinth ahead of schedule, Rudeus wanted to surprise his friends at Ranoa Academy. This results in Rudeus walking in on Zanoba masturbating.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Anyone who trains their body enough will end up developing a magical ability called Touki (some translations call it Fighting Spirit or Battle Aura). Touki increases your strength, agility, speed, and stamina. It also enables one to execute special techniques, such as the special moves of the Sword Styles.
- Cheap Gold Coins: Averted—Rudeus estimates one Asura gold coin is worth about 100,000 yen (~$925 in USD at time of publication) and is surprised his parents were able to buy him a book worth 7 gold coins.
- Chekhov's Gun: The adventurer's guide Rudy finds becomes essential for navigating the Teleportation Labyrinth.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Tristina Purplehorse, first mentioned in Future Rudeus' diary, was one of Prime Minister Darius' underaged sex slaves. Her testimony leads to the downfall of the corrupt Prime Minister along with his faction which was supporting Prince Grabell. With her older half-brother out of the way, Ariel succeeds the throne of Asura Kingdom.
- The Chessmaster:
- Hitogami gives only infrequent advice to Rudeus, but that is enough to move him along a path Hitogami has already foreseen and planned out with the end goal of Roxy dying before she can give birth. Rudeus was even unwittingly led into getting Prince Pax exiled.
- Orsted is even more skilled at this, having a long list of people to save, kill, or persuade so that their descendants will produce conditions favorable to Orsted's end-game of killing Laplace and then Hitogami.
- Orsted actually comments that Hitogami is terrible at this kind of chess. Because he's entirely reliant on his ability to see into the future, if he moves all of his available apostles at the same time the future becomes too mutable for him to accurately read.
- Chew-Out Fake-Out: Rudeus expected that his second reunion with Paul would turn sour just like the first time, especially in regards to Rudy's lighthearted school adventures getting compared to Paul and his party at their wits' end trying to save Zenith. However, Paul was just happy to see his firstborn son again, and even expresses mild joy at learning Rudy has a child on the way (meaning, Paul's going to be a grandfather). Even after he asked Rudy to give an abridged account of what happened since they last parted, Paul never got angry once, and he even snaps out of his funk and be inspired to continue the rescue effort.
- Child Mage: What Rudeus acts like to get by in his new life along with...
- Child Prodigy: There are a lot of characters in the setting, however Rudeus is not one of them (as he's already 34 years old when he's reincarnated).
- The Chooser of the One: The Holy Beast is born to seek out and accompany one who will protect the world from disaster.
- The Chosen One: Surprisingly not Rudeus but instead his daughter, Lara. Orsted notes that in previous timelines where Lara did not exist it was a different person.
- Chromatic Arrangement: Rudeus' three love interests match perfectly: The gentle green-haired Sylphette; the reserved blue-haired Roxy; and the fiery red-haired Eris.
- Combat Clairvoyance: Rudeus' demon eye allows him to see a few seconds into the future. In combat he limits it to one second, which is usually enough for him to prepare a counter for any attacks. Its usefulness is limited by his inability to perceive invisible attacks like sound and the fact that especially skilled opponents can adjust their attacks in response to his counter, confusing Rudeus with multiple images of the future.
- Combat Pragmatist: The calling card of the North God School of swordsmanship. Unlike the Sword God and Water God Schools, it's less a style of swordsmanship as it is tactical combat training.
- Contrived Coincidence:
- A sudden gust of wind kicks up just in time to keep Sylphiette from saying her full name, particularly the feminine parts. Rudeus just rolls with that, and the poor kid is too shy to correct him.
- Rudeus makes and then sells a detailed statuette of Roxy. It ends up being bought by her client.
- The ensuing chaos of both the Beast Race's mating season, and the arrival of Demon Lord Badigadi, prevented swordswoman Nina Farion from directly challenging Rudeus. If she had, then Rudy would have found out Eris' whereabouts.
- This is Rudy's reaction when he hears Hitogami talk about what would have happened if he hadn't gone to the Begaritt Continent.
- Petrification Syndrome, which is only transmissible to pregnant women, and only curable with God-tier Detoxification magic.
- Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story: To explain Silent Fitts' sudden appearance and bodyguard appointment, Ariel passes him off as the former tutor of the Boreas Greyrats (who are not present to contest the claim after the Mana Catastrophe).
- Counter-Attack: How the defensive Water God School of swordsmanship fights. They basically defend until they see an opening and then use a deadly counter to cut down the enemy. Skilled swordsmen can even counterattack against magicians using ranged attacks.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears
- In the manga, Rudeus had to blindfold Aisha with his own hands before they barge in on Pax Shirone, to make sure she doesn't see what he's doing to her mother Lilia.
- Rudeus trying to have a moment with his first wife while his sisters are present. Norn was the one covering her own eyes, but Aisha certainly wants to see it completely.
- Cowardly Lion: Although scared of a lot of people, Rudeus would be willing to fight anyone if he is forced to.
- Crotch-Grab Sex Check: During a session at the library, Fitts and Rudeus accidentally fall on top of each other, causing Rudeus's knee to touch her crotch and make him realize she's a girl.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: This happens a lot in the series:
- Basically Orsted to anyone.
- In a lesser degree, Rudeus with the MK-1.
- Cursed with Awesome:
- Although the Laplace factor allowed Rudeus to gain a near limitless amount of mana, it has also made him unable to use Touki and chantless healing spells.
- Orsted's "curse" allows him to escape from Hitogami's sight, with the price of slow mana regeneration.
- Some Miko also experience this.
- Cuteness Proximity: Paul believes his in-laws, Zenith's family, would never accept Rudeus the same way they did Norn. Zenith's sister Therese is another story, however, doting on her nephew and giving him No Sense of Personal Space the whole time they are together, to Eris' annoyance.
- Dance of Romance: Rudeus dances with Eris on her tenth birthday party, using the swordsmanship training they do every day to help Eris move at a better pace and not fall over.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Rudeus needs a considerable amount of time to adjust for the reduced size and strength of his body after his reincarnation. In the first episode alone, he nearly crushes himself by picking up a book his own size, and when practicing magic, knocks himself unconscious after casting two spells due to having a child's stamina.
- Dead Guy Junior: Rudeus and his family discussed about a placeholder name for his first child before leaving for Begaritto Continent, and wondered that if Rudeus didn't survive his mission, the child would be stuck with the name Rudeus Jr. for the rest of their life, even if it was a girl. Rudeus later reflects that he's glad his firstborn wasn't a boy as he would have named them Paul.
- "Dear John" Letter: After Rudeus and Eris lose their virginity together, Eris goes away without saying a word to Rudeus and only leaves him a letter that says: "We're not a good match right now. I'm going on a journey." Rudeus reaches the only logical conclusion that he can think of and becomes convinced that Eris doesn't want to see him ever again. It's subverted as what Eris actually meant is that she felt like a poor match for Rudeus and went to train so she will be able to protect him better in the future. However, the misunderstanding was such a shock for Rudeus that he gets ED for three years and starts a new relationship with Sylphy to recover.
- Death World: The Magic Continent is extremely dangerous outside of established settlements. Begaritto Continent comes in second.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: As expected of a medieval setting from Rudeus' modern Japanese point-of-view:
- Mistresses are fairly common among nobles (though not in Millision). Eris doesn't bat an eye at Lilia being Paul's mistress, to Rudeus' surprise. Ghyslaine reveals that Phillip Boreas Greyrat offered to make her his mistress but she turned him down.
- As an extension to the above, it is also not uncommon or considered unusual for nobles to sleep with their servants, and in fact, its implied to be an expectation of their occupation. The Boreas household keeps beast-kin servants precisely because the males in the household, Eris's father and grandfather, have a fetish for them, and Rudeus later walks in on Eris's grandfather having sex with one early in the morning. Part of the reason Lilia wasn't bothered by Paul raping her in her youth was because she figured losing her virginity to him was better than losing it to the disgusting nobles at the palace she worked at, implying that this was a regular occurrence for her. Later, Aisha, Rudeus's half-sister who works as his personal servant, constantly comes on to Rudeus and offers herself sexually to him, but it's revealed she didn't actually want to have sex with him, but because she was his maid, she already accepted him sleeping with her as a possibility simply because its an accepted formality of her station.
- The Jailbait Wait does not exist in this world. Eris' parents sent her Ready for Lovemaking to Rudeus' bed on his 10th birthday, though she backs out at the last minute. Later, they have Their First Time when she's 15 and he's 13. To Rudeus' horror, everyone is okay with his then 10-year old son Ars having sex with his adult aunt Aisha, but not the political and social consequences that follow (of which Ars is the one punished for it).
- Slavery also exists, though the negative aspects are mostly glossed over as the story emphasizes more benevolent owners such as Sauros and Zanoba. In addition, Rudeus did not consider having Zanoba buy and teach a slave to craft dolls for him until Fitts gave him the idea.
- Prime Minister Darius is disgraced and arrested for abducting an 8 year-old as his Sex Slave. However, this has less to do with the kidnapping and pedophilia than the fact the child was from a noble family.
- Despair Event Horizon:
- Happens to Nananoshi when her experiment failed.
- Rudeus' reaction to Roxy's death in the alternate timeline.
- Dirty Kid:
- Rudeus due to his reincarnation.
- As a baby, Ars seems to love breasts and will cry if picked up by a man.
- Dirty Old Man: Unsurprisingly, Rudeus in his old age. It's implied he had stolen a pair of his wife's panties despite being bedridden.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind:
- Rudy's kidnapping scheme to get Eris to defrost herself becomes a real kidnapping, and the main conspirator is the Boreas Greyrats' first butler Thomas, acting under the orders of Minister Darius.
- Hitogami's hidden trump card, whose existence was never discovered but always resulted in Orsted's defeat, is the seemingly harmless Geese.
- Doomed Hometown: One of the first turning points of the series is the Mana Catastrophe that devastated the Fedoa Region, which was home not just to Rudeus, but also to a host of his supporting cast.
- Doorstopper: With 25 volumes totaling nearly 9000 pages, this story has approximately 9 times the number of pages as the entire Lord Of The Rings trilogy combined.
- Dramatic Irony: After Fitts teased Rudy about showing him her face but backs out in the end, Rudy comments on the elven charm and then has an Imagine Spot of what an adult Sylphy looks like; at that point in the story he had no clue...
- The Dreaded:
- Ruijierd is known as "Dead End" on the Magic Continent and is quite literally the bogeyman of the magic races, as parents warn their children to behave or "Dead End" will get them. Towns will summon every guard and adventurer to drive him off if he's spotted.
- Any Demon lord can make an entire country tremble in fear.
- Any people who has achieved God rank in sword or magic can turn a person white instantly.
- Anyone from the Seven Major Powers can make you shit your pants. Orsted alone can already make people shit their pants just by looking at them. (Though this is because of his Curse of Hatred.)
- Driven to Suicide: Pax Shirone. The capital is encircled by his enemies and his allies are nowhere to be seen.
- Dungeon Bypass: After being warned not to cut loose with Earth magic due to the risk of a cave-in within the Teleportation Labyrinth, Rudeus follows this advice, at least until somehow realizing Roxy's location. He then throws caution to the wind and uses his magic to cut a beeline to her.
- The Dying Walk: Rudeus begins walking past Hitogami as his soul is reduced to mana.
- Early-Bird Cameo:
- The anime's ED credits (which first appeared in the second episode) show Sylphiette and Eris, before their debuts one and three episodes later, respectively.
- Sauros Boreas' execution halfway into the first season marks the first voiceless appearances of Princess Ariel Asura and her entourage, Luke and Fitts.
- Elemental Powers: The most common schools of magic involve manipulating the four classical elements.
- Empty Shell: The Rewind Miko whose ability allowed her to remember each of her deaths during Orsted's time loops. The mental trauma eventually reduced her to a point where her only memories were of her hundreds of deaths.
- Engineered Heroics: Rudeus devises a kidnapping scenario with Eris' family so she will appreciate him and develop an interest in what he's teaching. Later on he also purposefully delays helping a group of adventurers in the belief that showing up at the last second will increase their gratitude towards him.
- Eyepatch of Power:
- Some of the characters have these, Ghyslaine being the first introduced. This is often a sign that the character possesses a Demon Eye which is covered if the person is unable to fully control it.
- Cliff would later receive an identification eye from Kirishika. Said eye is then hidden under an eye patch.
- The fifth major power, the Death God has an eye patch that hides an magic eye that can basically stop an entire army.
- Eye Scream: Kishirika grants Rudeus his demon eye by jamming her fingers into his eye socket.
- Face Doodling: Fitts thought the Beast Princesses got off easy for disrespecting Rudeus in spite of their confinement and writes on their faces with permanent ink to rub the humiliation in. Even Rudeus felt sorry for the two, until she tells him she lied about the ink actually being permanent.
- Facial Composite Failure: Wanted posters for Kishirika depict her as a very busty adult when she's actually a flat-chested child. Understandable if the drawing was based on her previous incarnation.
- False Friend:
- Hitogami offers seemingly good advice and gradually earns Rudeus' trust, all so he can ask for one tiny favor. As it turns out he was laying the groundwork in terms of trust and environment so that one favor would kill Roxy.
- Geese seems to be his friend as well, but in fact is working for the aforementioned betrayer.
- Fanservice:
- Given that Rudeus is a Chivalrous Pervert, it's inevitable, especially given the extensive amounts of the Most Common Super Power. Roxy accidentally giving a Panty Shot is a Running Gag in the manga.
- Ghyslaine is the most explicit case of this, but Stripperific designs and some adventurers wearing Chainmail Bikini don't cut any slack.
- Fantastic Nuke: God-class magic in general, which is said to be powerful enough to reshape geography. Special mention goes to the spell Rudeus invented, which is actually named Nuclear Explosion.
- Fantastic Racism:
- The world to magical races. The Superd race in particular faces immense hate from every other race, to the point that green hair and use of spears are both looked down upon as they are hallmarks of the Superd.
- The Millis religion in particular preaches rejection and even outright genocide of the magic races, though more moderate factions have recently gained control. Some members of the racist faction extend their hatred to not only magic races but also every non-human race.
- Perugius refuses to allow any member of a magic race into his castle. While Roxy receives special permission to use its teleport system she has several restrictions, including not being allowed to speak or ever be seen by Perugius.
- Find the Cure!: The plot of Volume 15, where Nanahoshi brings the heroes to Perugius' castle, was to figure out a way to improve Zenith's condition, although the mission changed to finding a cure for Nanahoshi instead.
- For Want Of A Nail: The mouse in Rudeus' basement was carrying an incurable disease that only affected pregnant women and indirectly leads to the Bad Future.
- The Foreign Subtitle: Seven Seas Entertainment's translations are titled Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation.
- Framed for Heroism: Rudeus was tasked with setting up a Princess and Knight together, who couldn't marry because of their social standing. To fix this, with permission from the king, he kidnapped the Princess, and had the Knight come save her, while posing as an evil villain.
- A Friend in Need:
- Even though most of them can't stand Paul anymore, the Fangs of the Black Wolf get back together in order to help him find his family as well as other survivors of the Mana Catastrophe.
- When he receives an express SOS from Geese, Rudeus was torn between staying with his pregnant wife (especially after he just made a promise not to instantly disappear on her again) or going to Begaritto Continent to help the search party. But then he remembers that he now has reliable friends at Ranoa Academy, who all promise to help Sylphiette in her pregnancy as well as other matters while he's gone.
- Friend to All Children:
- Ruijierd always helps children no matter what the circumstances, be it rescuing them from kidnappers or leading two home across multiple continents.
- Surprisingly, Orsted is also quite friendly to children.
- Future Me Scares Me: Rudeus gets to read a diary from his future self. To say he was disgusted at his future self was an understatement.
- Genre Savvy: Rudeus. Comes with the territory. Although sometimes this bites him.
- Gone Horribly Right: Played for Laughs; Rudeus organized Norn's admirers into a fanclub, setting up rules to prevent them from getting out of line in their admirations. Rudy himself promptly gets kicked out for violating those same rules in the eyes of the other members.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop:
- Rudeus at one point wonders if Orsted might be utilizing this to his advantage. He is. Orsted has lived the same 200 years of history over one hundred times, giving him a nearly perfect understanding of upcoming events and how to manipulate them. The loop will only end with Hitogami's death; otherwise it resets even if Orsted dies. Nanahoshi, Rudeus, and the Mana Catastrophe are unique to the current loop.
- The Rewind Miko lives through one due to her power letting her remember each of Orsted's loops. Despite her best efforts her life is largely unchanged between the loops until Akito is summoned and killed. Her attempt to save his life triggers Rudeus' birth and the Mana Catastrophe in the next loop.
- Heinz Hybrid: Sylphy is one as her father, Rawls, is half-human, half elven and her mother has Beast race ancestry.
- Hero of Another Story:
- While the story is about Rudeus, the overarching hero of the main plot is not him.
- Aside from the main hero, Paul, Ruijierd, Cliff, and Roxy all had adventures and trials without him being present that are touched upon in brief glimpses.
- The Hero Dies: Rudy dies of old age long before the final battle with Hitogami. Hitogami tries to mock him for preparing all that time and letting key information slip at the end, but Rudy simply says that he did all he can, and the rest is left to his descendants.
- Heroic BSoD:
- Nanahoshi has an extremely violent and self destructive one upon failing her magic circle experiments. She gets better with Rudeus' help.
- Rudeus suffers a shorter one after Paul's death and only comes out of it after Roxy intervenes.
- Hidden Depths: Many. Zanoba for one knows military knowledge and how to raise troops' morale, when he is recalled back to his country to fend off foreign invasion.
- Hikikomori: Rudeus in his past life until being tossed to the street. Nanahoshi is also this according to Rudeus, stating he is all too familiar with the symptoms. Notably the two are opposite ends of the spectrum, with Rudeus exemplified every negative stereotype while Nanahoshi is an industrious worker who eats healthy foods and stays fit. She also claims that she stays away from everyone in order to avoid contracting some unknown disease.
- Honey Trap:
- The Boreas Greyrats were quite willing to let Rudeus do whatever he wanted with Eris and would have happily accepted him as a son-in-law, but doing so would result in him becoming a pawn in their power struggle with the Notus Greyrats. Eris' mother even went so far as dressing her in a nightgown and sending her to Rudeus' room with instructions to offer him her body.
- Sylphy eventually tries this a number of times under the advice of several Asuran nobles, in order to form a romantic relationship with Rudeus. They even provided him with an aphrodisiac when his flesh proved weak. While the woman was doing the seducing, the plan was set up largely due to her being too timid to actually admit her feelings or even gender.
- Hope Spot: While confronting Badigadi for the first time, Rudeus ponders if the situation will be the same with his ordeal with Orsted if he mentions Hitogami, only for the Demon Lord to shrug and say he has no idea who Rudy's talking about, to Rudeus' relief. But then Rudy mentions his aforementioned run-in with the Dragon God, and Badigadi realized Rudy actually survivednote , which makes him even more raring to face Rudeus in battle.
- Hot-Blooded: Eris' grandfather, Sauros Boreas Greyrat.
Tropes I-Q
- I Have This Friend:
- Subverted. Rudeus really was asking advice to help a friend out. He knows perfectly well what people think he means, and promptly explains the situation.
- Rudeus plays this straight when he tells Roxy a story that roughly follows his growth from a horrible person into who he is now and the lingering regrets from his past life.
- I'm Standing Right Here: Rudeus thinks this almost word-for-word after Roxy, who'd just been hired as his tutor, mutters complaints about how parents often think that their early blooming children have magical talents.
- I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: In Volume 19, Rudeus returns home from one of his missions, to find his household is having a dispute over Aisha prohibiting one of his wives from keeping a stray. Rudeus thought it was just a regular cat, but the stray was in fact Lynia.
- Immortality: Many of the characters can be applied with this trope. For Orsted, it's more like a checkpoint in which he could always return to whenever he fails or dies.
- Immune to Fate: Orsted. Its one of his key powers but comes with serious drawbacks.
- Innocent Innuendo: Sylphy catches Rudeus trying to make a move on a reluctant Roxy while at school and thinks Rudeus was trying to be intimate. She later learns that Rudeus was actually asking her to teach him Water King class magic.
- Innocently Insensitive: On the day of his entrance exam, Rudeus politely introduces himself to Fitts before the latter could get a word out, thinking it's their first meeting when clearly it's not, something Fitts calls him out for much later once Rudeus finally figures things out.
- Insecure Love Interest: Rudeus and Eris both felt they were a burden to the other. This leads to Eris leaving him to master the sword and Rudeus suffering from erectile dysfunction due to the misunderstanding and feelings of inadequacy.
- In Mysterious Ways: Hitogami can't directly influence the world, so instead he directs apostles to perform certain actions which change the future as he sees fit. Often their actions have little relation to the actual event, instead making way for a certain person to be born or a diseased rat to make its way into a household.
- Interspecies Romance: Not that rare but not too uncommon, especially in Great Forest and adventurers or mercenaries. For specific, Rudi, Roxy and Sylphy; Elinalise and her partners; Elinalise and Cliff.
- Intimate Psychotherapy: Roxy sleeps with Rudeus when both are mourning his father's death, having heard that sex helps dealing with grief.
- Kangaroo Court: Rudeus is subjected to an "inquisition" by a group of Temple Knights where the truthfulness of his answers is decided by popular vote, with unanimous agreement that everything he says is a lie.
- Killing Intent: It can be sensed by magicians, swordsmen, and warriors in general. It can also be used as a component of some special techniques. There are techniques to hide or weaponize your own, as well as manipulating that of others.
- Knight Errant: Ruijierd follows a very strict warrior's code and displays many of this trope's personality traits.
- Last of His Kind:
- Ruijierd may very well be the last of the Superd race and is the only one confirmed to have survived to the present. In volume 23 Rudeus comes across Ruijierd again in a Superd village hidden in a forest.
- Geese is the last survivor of the Nuka race after his hometown was destroyed due to Hitogami manipulating Geese. And then he, too, dies.
- Libation for the Dead: Rudeus does this at Paul's grave with a bottle of hard liquor.
- Like a God to Me: Rudeus literally worships his magic teacher Roxy as his goddess and keeps her panties as a "holy relic". Rudeus eventually added Sylphy and Eris to his personal "religion" as goddesses of love and war respectively.
- Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: Inverted. Because everyone in the Six-Sided World has mana, the difference between a high-level warrior and mage is how they apply this mana and using it for long-winded incantations is much less efficient than cutting someone's head off at faster-than-the-eye-can-see speeds, on top of sufficiently experts use of Battle Aura being able to just shrug off spells. This is reflected by how all members in the seven strongest list are melee fighters. Rudeus is the first mage in a long time to break into the short list and his chantless magic innovation is what finally ends the supremacy of sword users.
- The Loins Sleep Tonight: Rudeus suffers this for three years after Eris leaves after sleeping with him. It extends beyond intimate moments, as he's unable to get a reaction to anything, no matter how appealing. He refers to it as his "illness". Eventually cured by Sylphy and generous use of booze and an aphrodisiac.
- Long Game: Orsted's plan to kill Hitogami requires subtly manipulating the flow of history to produce the ideal conditions. It's been going on even longer than that as Orsted was set on this path long before his reincarnation.
- The Lost Lenore: In the alternate timeline, Roxy dies after contracting the nigh-incurable Magic Stone disease, together with the baby in her womb. Cliff is also killed during Rudeus' failed endeavor to save Roxy, leading Elinalise to leave and never be seen again.
- Magic Eye: Kishirika can produce and give them. Other characters also seem to have gain them through other means.
- Magic Feather: Rudeus at least believes that the aphrodisiac didn't cure his ED (having tried one several times before), but rather it was merely Sylphy alone as she promised she wouldn't leave him like Eris did.
- Magic Knight: Called a 'Magic Swordsman'. This is what Rudeus originally aspired to be but the idea eventually fell off.
- Magical Incantation: Chanting is required by most people to cast spells. Simpler spells normally take about 5 seconds while higher-level spells require 30 to 60 seconds. The God-class detoxification spell is a big book as thick as a dictionary. Some mages are skilled enough to use shortened chants, but mages who can omit chants entirely are incredibly rare.
- Marry Them All: Rudeus eventually marries Sylphy, Roxy and Eris, in said order.
- Master-Apprentice Chain: Roxy tutored Rudeus in magic, who in turn would teach both Sylphiette and Eris at different points, with the former later becoming an unofficial tutor to Princess Ariel. Eris breaks the chain on her end, but she was already part of another chain anyway, trained in physical combat by Ghyslaine who was an apprentice of the Sword God, with Eris later closing the gap by directly apprenticing under the latter as well.
- Master Swordsman: Many of them are present in the series. Senior practitioners of the sword god styles especially being known for this as sword kings. Ghyslaine currently holds such a title.
- Mayfly–December Romance:
- Rudeus is a human and marries two women of longer-lived races while a young man. Both are still in the prime of their lives when he passes away of old age.
- Cliff and Elinalise since the latter is a longer-lived elf, but the details are not explored.
- One of Orsted's closest friends in the future is the child of Ruijierd and Norn.
- Meido:
- Lilia is this to the Greyrat family. Later on her daughter Aisha is this to Rudeus.
- Eris' family had a number of beast race maids in their employ. After learning that young beast race children are often abducted due to the peculiar taste of a certain noble family, Rudeus wonders how many of the maids might have been victims.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: Rudeus meets Kirishika when a man is offering her all the food she can eat if she comes to his house. Rudeus assumes the man is a pervert planning to take advantage of her...except his offer was entirely genuine. The man didn't want his wife to realize he'd eaten at a restaurant rather than her homemade meal and figured he'd offer it to a young girl down on her luck.
- Most Common Super Power:
- A majority of female characters, both named and extra, seem to be inflicted with this. Eris was heading in this direction and achieves it by age 18.
- Averted by elves (or those descended from them); Female elves tend to be small-busted.
- Mundane Object Amazement: In volume 11, witnesses were naturally fascinated by a simple PET bottle Rudeus managed to summon from his original world.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Rudeus was a deadbeat in his previous life and died wishing he had a second chance. He gets it.
- Mystical Plague: Many of the inhabitants of the Superd village become afflicted by a mysterious plague. It turns out to be very similar to Nanahoshi's illness, being caused by the high density of magic in their soil and crops, and is cured in the same fashion.
- Naked First Impression: Geese is thrown into a prison cell at the Doldia tribe and finds a stark naked Rudeus who was also imprisoned there under false charges.
- NEET: In Rudeus' past life, he was a Japanese high school dropout who was so badly traumatized by bullying that he didn't leave his room and never did anything productive with his life until he died at his forties.
- Ninja Maid: Lilia was a guards-maid for the Asura royal concubines, being trained both as a maid and having modest skill with the sword. After being injured while foiling an assassination attempt she was unable to continue her guard duties and retired.
- No Ending: The story ends with Rudeus' death, long before the final battle with Hitogami. The author noted that there was more to the plot, but the story was about Rudeus' life and so ends with him.
- No Name Given: Rudeus' Japanese name is not revealed, even prior to his reincarnation. The one time it is spoken by his future self the word is deliberately censored.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently, there was a brawl in the girls' dormitories that caused the upper floors to get trashed. A rare case of an Invoked Trope, because it was all a scheme by Princess Ariel to get Fitts to stay the night with Rudeus. Rudy finds obvious holes in Fitts' account of the incident, guesses it's all made up on the spot, and he didn't even see the so-called mess firsthand, but decides to just roll with it.
- Not Staying for Breakfast: Rudeus wakes up the morning after to find Eris left in the night, leaving only a vaguely-phrased note. The heartbreak and resulting feelings of inadequacy leave him impotent for several years.
- Oblivious to Love:
- Despite his background with dating sims, Rudeus completely misinterprets or outright misses signs that girls are interested in him.
- Future Rudeus completely failed to realize Eris was following him due to loving him, even thinking she was working for his enemy. Only after she died did he learn the truth. The fact that she kept attacking him to prove herself as a worthy woman for him could have been the cause of the misunderstanding.
- Oh, Crap!: A lot of people seem to think that Rudeus' reputation is exaggerated. This is their reaction when they find out it isn't.
- Older Than They Look: The magical races tend to suffer from this, such as the Migurd whose adult members appear to be in their early teens. Roxy's age is actually roughly close to Rudeus' mental age. Rudeus is also this, considering he is the subject of Reincarnation.
- Ominous Message from the Future: The diary belonging to Rudeus from 50 years in the future.
- One Degree of Separation: A large number of people Rudeus meets are connected in some way to somebody he said he has or will interact with in the future:
- After being sent to the literal other side of the world, Rudeus winds up a short walk from his teacher's home village. And a conman adventurer that tried to take advantage of Rudeus' party at another city was previously a part of the same party as Roxy.
- Lilia was the guards-maid for Princess Ariel and took a Career-Ending Injury for her. When Sylphiette is teleported to Asura during the Mana Catastrophe and mentions Lilia, the princess immediately takes her in.
- While on an adventuring party with Cliff, Eris thwarted the assassination attempt of a Miko and her lone knight, who happens to be Rudeus' aunt Therese.
- Rudeus first encountered two beast people named Minitona and Tersena when he and Ruijierd rescued them from slavers. Rudeus meets their older sisters Lynia and Pursena as students attending Ranoa Magic Academy.
- Among the crowd of Beast Folk who challenge Rudeus for the right to court Lynia and Pursena was a human girl, Nina Farion, who happens to be Eris' rival at the Land of the Sword God. She wanted to challenge Rudeus as well, hoping to get one over Eris. She never gets to face him directly, silently backing out instead when she witnesses Rudeus defeating Demon Lord Badigadi, the same guy who effortlessly beat Nina and all the Beast Folk.
- Nanahoshi was one of the Japanese high-schoolers Rudeus had saved from the truck that killed him.
- One-Man Army:
- Anyone who has achieved King rank or higher in Sword or Magic.
- Any of the Seven Major Powers.
- Before Rudeus enrolled at Ranoa Academy, it was said that Lynia and Pursena had a dispute with Princess Ariel Asura. Over 20 Beast Folk were effortlessly beaten by Ariel's bodyguard Fitts.
- Origins Episode: The sidestory Mushoku Tensei - Old Dragon's Tale reveals the origins of Orsted and Laplace in detail.
- Out-of-Clothes Experience: In the anime, whenever Hitogami appears in his dreams, Rudeus is naked (although with Censor Steam) and in his old body from his previous life.
- Outdoor Bath Peeping: In the anime, Rudeus peeps at Eris when she's taking a Waterfall Shower. Ruijierd catches him and drags him away.
- Outfit-Rip Sex Check: Rudeus accidentally does this to Sylphy. He had mistaken her for a girly-looking boy because of her short hair. One day, he insists on taking a bath together and when Sylphy refuses, he forcefully takes her clothes off. He then takes a look at Sylphy's crotch and realizes his friend is a girl, leaving Sylphy in tears.
- Pants-Pulling Prank: Rudeus didn't realize Sylphy was a girl until he pulled down her underwear as a prank.
- Panty Thief: Rudeus stole a pair of Roxy's unwashed panties and forgot to return them before she left. He refers to them as the "Divine Artifact".
- Parting-Words Regret: Paul had a heated exchange with his over-controlling father that caused him to run away from home. Paul later learned that his father fell sick after their argument and passed away soon after.
- Passed in Their Sleep: At age 74, Eris died when she took a nap after training, claiming she was just a bit tired, though still healthy. Her death drove Rudeus to a three-day Heroic BSoD.
- Pillar of Light: The Mana Catastrophe. First seen when Rudeus and Eris are at caught in its expansion. Then when seen from Paul's perspective several miles away just before it spreads outward in a flash and teleports the entire region scattered across the world.
- Poke in the Third Eye: Rudeus' demon eye lets him see a few seconds into the future, which he can use to dodge and counter attacks. When he used it against Orsted he was disturbed after it showed nothing but white just before dodging an attack. He realized that was probably the eye showing death.
- Polyamory:
- Rudeus gets married to Sylphy, Roxy and Eris in that order. Much to the chagrin of any Millis believers who know the situation.
- Paul got married to Zenith first, but later takes their maid Lilia as his second wife after he gets her pregnant. Since Zenith's religion believes in monogamy, she isn't happy with ending up in a polyamorous marriage, but still thinks of Lilia as family.
- Poor Communication Kills: The vast majority of the characters are quite well fleshed out, with their own personalities, insecurities, objectives, and motivation. On top of that, there is also A LOT of intrigue happening, so this happens A LOT.
- Potty Dance: Eris does this in Chapter 7 of the manga.
- Potty Emergency: Eris has to answer nature's call in Chapter 7 of the manga. Rudeus points out the where the bathroom is, much to her embarrassment.
- Powered Armor:
- The Magic Armor Series.
- The Fighting God itself is a power armor.
- Power Levels: These exist in regards to magic spells and sword style proficiency ranks. Generally the system goes from lowest to highest: Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, Saint, King, Emperor, and God. To achieve a given rank in a school of magic, all you need to do is to cast a spell of that rank. It is similar with the three sword styles, but each one has their own rules when it comes to the top ranks. However, these ranks are simply understood as a frame of reference. Rudeus was acknowledged as having raw magic power equivalent to Emperor-class, despite his highest-ranked spell being Saint. The same goes for Eris, who was acknowledged as Saint-ranked before learning the pre-requisite technique. Additionally, the 7 World Powers being a list of the strongest individuals in the world currently.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Ruijierd to a mild degree.
Tropes R-Z
- Random Power Ranking: The Power Levels in the setting are somewhat inconsistent past a certain point:
- For the magic-users, it reflects the highest class spell they can cast rather than overall talent. Saint level and on usually has only one or two spells which are simply very difficult and dangerous to use. Rudeus was able to modify basic spells to the point that their power rivaled Emperor-level spells, but only received recognition as having a higher rank after learning the associated spell.
- For the Sword Schools, any rank above Saint is effectively a dan ranking awarded by the reigning God of each style. Achieving such status is a matter of convincing the style's God that you actually deserve it as opposed to an objective measure of mastery. The Sword God in particular is more interested in the mindset of his disciples than their skills.
- Really 700 Years Old: Demon Empress Kishirika Kishirisu is more than seven thousand years old but looks like a pre-pubescent girl.
- Really Gets Around: Rudeus' father Paul was famous for this when he was younger. Elinalise as well, although that's (partly) due to her curse. According to her, her lifestyle wouldn't have been much different without it.
- Reincarnate in Another World: The protagonist's reincarnation into another world is what sets off the plot. Played with too, in that the reader follows Rudeus from the moment he's born with all his past life memories. Orsted believes that without Rudeus' soul, the infant's magic would have been too powerful and result in it being stillborn, considering in previous loops "Rudeus Greyrat" did not exist.
- Reincarnation: The dragon-tribe developed a method of reincarnation which relies on seeding a "factor" in the general populace which will eventually result in the birth of an infant with abilities and appearance similar to the one being reincarnated. The soul of the factor's creator can then inhabit that body.
- Resignations Not Accepted: Lilia guessed (correctly) that she was likely to be assassinated after retiring due to her injuries. As such she left with little advance notice and went to work for Paul because he was located in a little-known frontier town, well away from the court.
- Retired Badass: Paul, Zenith, Lilia and any former adventurers/mercenary/soldier/palace guard in this setting.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons:
- Rudeus assumes that his outstanding magic power is due to him training his mana capacity from a young age, especially since he could replicate the same results in Sylphy. They both possess the "Laplace Factor" which makes their bodies suitable for the reincarnation of the Demon God and thus possess facets of his power. Though, according to Orsted without his training it would not be as high as it was.
- A more hilarious example during the Ranoa Academy arc is Rudeus thinking that, by finally discovering Fitts' closely-guarded secret, Ariel has cooked up schemes where he would be under Fitts' watchful eye and be assassinated on the spot if need be. Rudy was right that Ariel was behind the various setups, but she has different motives entirely.
- Right Through the Wall: Paul and Zenith have a very healthy sex life, and are so loud, everyone in the household can hear them. Rudeus quickly gets used to it. Roxy ends up using them as masturbation material while she's staying there, while as for Lilia, constantly hearing them carrying on eventually gets to her (she was also using them as masturbation material) and she ends up seducing Paul into an affair.
- Royal Brat:
- What Eris, the daughter of a nobleman, used to be when she was 9. Many of her adult tutors fled in fear after she beat them mercilessly.
- Pax Shirone developed into this when he got a taste of power and after Roxy looked down on him.
- Running Gag:
- Elinalise turning down many chances to meet Paul again.
- In the manga, Roxy getting a Panty Shot, which always causes good fortune to any in-universe witness(es). Also, because Migurdians are rare outside their village, she's a constant victim of Mistaken Age.
- Rudeus will never live down the Panty Thief incidents that he was accused of while at school, especially the first one.
- Rudeus always seems to go on a dangerous mission while one of his wives is in the middle of her pregnancy period. First time, it was the trip to Begaritto Continent, second one to help Ariel finally ascend to the Asura throne, and third to help Zanoba with the problems at Shirone Kingdom. Even when he eventually gets access to a teleport circle network via association with Perugius, Rudy thought about how he might not make it in time for the deliveries.
- The chapters in Volume 14 always end with some weird rumor about Rudeus.
- Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Most disciples of the Sword God school are illiterate as they focus on swordsmanship above anything else. Ghyslaine admits that this was a mistake as she was often tricked by merchants who took advantage of her inability to do basic arithmetic or read. Eris actually could read and write before becoming a direct disciple of the Sword God but spent so long focusing on her training she became functionally illiterate again.
- Sailor Fuku: The two boys and a girl Rudeus' past self saves at the cost of his own life are wearing this kind of uniform- the girl wears a sailor fuku, while the boys wear gyakuran. Rudeus makes note of the fact that such uniforms are "now vanishingly rare."
- Scare 'Em Straight: Rudeus used this to get Eris interested in her studies. He asked Ghyslaine to tell stories about times when her inability to read or do math led to difficulties. Eris seemed to enjoy the stories more than anything, but it still got her interested in studying.
- Screw Destiny: The goal of Hitogami, Orsted, and eventually Rudeus. The appearance of Rudeus and Nanahoshi has changed fate such that Hitogami would eventually be slain with the help of Rudeus' descendants. Hitogami wants to avert that as much as possible. Orsted eventually realizes this and tries to get Rudeus to "restore" as much of the original timeline as possible.
- Scry vs. Scry: Orsted and Hitogami due to their respective knowledge and ability to see the future are engaged in this sort of battle. Since neither can directly attack the other, they rely on intermediaries to shape the future to their advantage.
- Shameful Strip:
- In Rudeus' previous life, the traumatic event that lead to him becoming a Hikikomori was some bullies stripping him naked, crucifying him at the school's gate, and spreading his humiliating photos all across the school.
- After a big misunderstanding, Rudeus is captured and stripped naked by members of the Doldia tribe. He's then left naked inside a prison cell for several days.
- Shared Family Quirks: Every blood member of the Boreas family apparently has a huge Race Fetish for beast people. It's not elaborated on if Eris and Rudeus' children also inherit this.
- Shipper on Deck: Orsted wants to get Ruijierd and Norn together just so he could see their child again, being one of his closest friends and all.
- Shout-Out: being a former hikikomori obsessed with video games, light novels, and the like, Rudeus references them during his viewpoint chapters.
- One notable instance is in the first light novel, where he specifically calls out the good end version would have been to have both Louise and Siesta and the end of the story.
- When Eris expresses excitement about fighting Goblins, Rudeus looks very nervous and silently urges Ruijerd to follow her. Clearly he hasn't forgotten Goblin Slayer.
- Shrouded in Myth: Played for laughs with Rudeus:
- During the School Arc, he befriends some students known for their strength and tendency to cause trouble. He doesn't realize this, but in the eyes of the students he is assembling a powerful gang. Later, his group is known as "The Six Demons Council" and the rumors say that in order to challenge him they first must defeat his six powerful underlings. Rudeus is also emotionally attached to his old robe, now full of patches and rags, which reinforces his unintentional image as delinquent.
- When Ariel gathers information about him, she and her sidekick Luke have problems believing that Rudeus is really that nice despite being as powerful as the rumors say (since most powerful people are extremely full of themselves at best). Luke concludes that Rudeus is a cunning and manipulative man who controls the information about himself, only allowing good info to spread, and may be taking the credit for other people's good deeds. When they finally meet, Ariel considers him "humble to the point of being suspicious" and fears he may be plotting something evil. In fact, Rudeus' previous life as a loser makes him very polite and respectful in his fear of infuriating people. He is also very fast to apologize and often views himself as less important than he is.
- Very late in the story one student actually asks for a duel after being selected for the graduation speech instead of Cliff, since he considers this like defeating him.
- There is a volume that ends every chapter with a weird rumor about Rudeus, like being bald or having shiny eyes.
- When Rudeus meets a band of thieves he is recognized as "The most cruel and terrible magician of the magic city" and he wonders what he did to get such a title, since always tried to be nice.
- At the end of the story it is mentioned that Rudeus' wife recovered a white piece of cloth from his clothes which she hid in a hurry. People wondered if it had written some important information, but it's suggested that said piece of cloth was actually her panties.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Cliff and Elinalise are almost ridiculously lovey-dovey from the moment they start dating. This causes discomfort for Rudeus, especially due to his ED at the time Cliff gets together with Elinalise.
- Signature Move: Rudeus' favorite magic, Rock Bullet, though he is most well known for his other specialty: Quagmire.
- Sorting Algorithm of Threatening Geography: Subverted. Rudeus is reborn and raised until his early teens in the safest continent, but then gets abruptly thrown to the Demon Continent, the most dangerous and barren, at age 10.
- Spanner in the Works: The appearance of the Mana Calamity, Rudeus and Nanahoshi has severely derailed history, significantly affecting the fate of many characters.
- Start of Darkness: The death of Roxy in the alternate timeline is what lead Future!Rudeus down a very dark road indeed, culminating in the violent death of just about every named character associated with him.
- Stripperiffic: Ghyslaine wears this by choice. Invoked by Vera who wears a provocative outfit in order to draw attention to herself and away from her shell-shocked sister, Shera. Kishirika's outfit would barely be decent as a swimsuit, let alone daily wear.
- Summon Everyman Hero: Attempted by an unknown nation, which successfully summoned Akito, one of the students Rudeus saved from the truck. While willing to help, he was an ordinary and untrained boy who was killed in one blow. His death and the Rewind Miko's attempt to save his life led to Nanahoshi's accidental summoning, Rudeus' reincarnation and the Mana Calamity.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: For all their talents, most child prodigies get their asses handed to them by older, stronger and often bigger opponents who have greater experience and variety of skills. Rudeus only survives his childhood encounters either due to outside intervention or because his opponents were not seriously trying to kill him.
- Sweet on Polly Oliver: Rudeus towards Fitts, which he finds shocking due to it being the first time his body has reacted in three years.
- Switching P.O.V.: Most of the light novel is told from Rudeus' POV, but occasionally switches to other characters' perspectives.
- Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: The tricky North God Style can pierce the defenses of the Water God Style. The Water God Style's counters effectively neutralize the aggressive Sword God Style. The fierce attacks of the Sword God Style can overwhelm the North God Style before their tactics can come into play.
- Their First Time:
- Rudeus and Eris lose their virginity together at the end of Volume 6. Unfortunately, she leaves on a journey to train her swordsmanship right the next morning and only leaves a letter behind claiming she and Rudeus are "not a good match", making Rudeus come to the misunderstanding that Eris dumped him.
- Rudeus has his first time with Sylphy when she gives him a potent aphrodisiac to cure his erectile dysfunction caused by Eris leaving him after their first time.
- After Paul's death, Rudeus has his first time with Roxy.
- Theme Naming: The Undying Demon Lords (Kishirika Kishirisu, Atofe Latofe, Badi Gadi, Necros Lacros).
- There Are No Therapists: Rudeus was bullied and humiliated during his previous life and his family didn't really help him to overcome that trauma. As a result, he became a NEET. Though Japanese culture usually has a negative view when it comes to mental traumas and therapy.
- Third Eye: Superds possess a red jewel in the center of their forehead. It grants them a sixth sense for locating magic creatures and other races.
- Three-Way Sex:
- In his younger days, Paul had a threesome with Ghyslaine and Elinalise when they were all in the same party.
- Just like his father, Rudeus ends up having a threesome with his two wives, Sylphy and Roxy. Later Rudeus outdoes his father by getting into a foursome with all three of his wives, although it took him a lot of convincing to make Eris up for it because she gets too wild in bed and found it embarrassing to show that in front of the other wives.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: When one of Eris' kidnappers throws a sword at Rudeus, he immediately notices, to his horror, that throwing a sword is not a desperation move, but a legitimate technique. Rudeus likely would have been killed if not for Ghyslaine's intervention.
- Time Skip: The series goes through these often. They can range anywhere from a few weeks to years depending on the situation.
- Took a Level in Badass:
- If one character has a name and is in the middle of training, there is good chance s/he will take one or some levels of badass. Eris also separates herself from Rudeus to do this.
- Nanahoshi/Silent, from Ordinary High-School Student to top-level magic researcher and famous inventor.
- Translation Convention: Naturally, the people in the fantasy world don't speak any Earth language, they have their own languages, and it's all being rendered as Japanese/English/whatever for the audience. It's partly dependent on the viewpoint character's own understanding; when Rudeus is reborn, his new parents are heard speaking their native language untranslated because he hasn't had a chance to learn it yet. Eventually a scene happens where the convention is mostly dropped: the first peaceful meeting between Rudy and Nanahoshi at the Academy, where everyone is heard speaking the fantasy tongue with subtitles, up until she drops the bomb that she's a human from Earth just like him, and the two explicitly switch to their original language (implicitly Japanese but still translated to whatever the dub is) for the first real time in the story, leaving Fitz out of the conversation.
- Treetop Town: In their village, beastmen live in circular huts standing on platforms around giant tree trunks. Buildings are connected by suspended bridges, forming a spiral around the trunk from the ground towards the top.
- Trope Codifier: For Reincarnate in Another World stories, and for many isekai stories released in the 2010s and 2020s. Unlike, say, Sword Art Online, its parallel world, the Six-Faced World, is a real place with extensive worldbuilding and not a video game setting. It introduces many tropes endemic to the isekai genre, such as a group of female love interests for the protagonist to romance (Eris, Roxy, and Sylphiette), use of Deliberate Values Dissonance to create a grittier tone (e.g. slavery and aristocratic political intrigue), and a divine entity who serves as the hero's Mentor Archetype (Hitogami, who appears in Rudeus's dreams and turns out to be the Big Bad, consistently offering bad advice for their own selfish ends).
- True Companions: Rudeus gradually builds a rapport with the other special scholars of Ranoa Academy that he's proud to call his friends. These include Zanoba, Cliff, Beast Folk Lynia and Pursena, Demon Lord Badigadi and the reclusive Nanahoshi. Elinalize is also part of this circle even though she's only a regular student, mostly due to enrolling at the same time as Rudy and her Relationship Upgrade with Cliff, as well as "Silent" Fitts until Rudy discovers her true identity, which leads to their own Relationship Upgrade.
- Trust Password: Future Rudeus convinces Rudeus of his identity by saying their Japanese name.
- Unbuilt Trope: While not the first isekai, Mushoku Tensei massively popularized the sub-genre and gave rise to many imitators. However, where later stories often prioritize rushing to the action part of the story, this work focuses far more on extensive world-building and character relationships. Most notable is how the character's backstory is treated. Many later works heavily downplay the character's past life, especially in cases where they were socially maladjusted. Mushoku Tensei deliberately puts Rudeus's character flaws on display and examines them in-depth, as though it were deconstructing the generic isekai protagonist which didn't yet exist when the story was written.
- Underestimating Badassery: A Shirone military detachment under Zanoba's command was tasked to defend a fort against superior forces. They receive the news that two King class magicians are being sent as reinforcements and are overjoyed when one of them turns out to be Roxy. As a former Royal Court Mage, Roxy is well regarded in Shirone and the troops regard Rudy as an "extra" when he is introduced as Roxy's apprentice. The men are left speechless when Rudy subsequently casually rearranges the geography with Earth magic to create favourable terrain for Zanoba's strategies.
- Unrequited Love Switcheroo: When the series started, Rudeus was infatuated with Roxy. By the time the two meet again when Rudeus is an adult, Roxy is the one who has fallen for him. However, Rudy intends to stay faithful to his wife, so it looks like he's spurning Roxy, even though he still has lingering feelings for her. Shortly resolved by Rudeus being talked into taking Roxy as his second wife.
- Unwitting Pawn: Rudeus guesses that he'll be the pawn of Hitogami as early as volume 2. He's very much spot on.
- Villainous Underdog: Geese proves to be Rudeus' most challenging opponent, forcing him into a Battle of Wits despite his lack of combat skills.
- Void Between the Worlds: Hitogami resides in the Void World, which cannot be accessed by anyone else unless certain conditions are met.
- Walking the Earth: What Ruijierd does to restore his race's honor as well as find if any other Superd survived the war.
- We Used to Be Friends: Talhand and Elinalise used be Paul's fellow adventurers before the story begins, but now want nothing to do with him.
- Wham Episode: Anything that says "Turning Point" is going to be one.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Rudeus calls out his father for not even bothering to listen to what his own son has to say when he was told that he punched a kid when, in reality, he was throwing water balls at them to stop them from hurting another kid. He even lays into it by saying that next time something like this happens, he'd join the bullies, citing it to be the Greyrat way.
- Rujierd is absolutely livid when Rudeus tells him that the only reason he held him and Eris back when Kurt's party was surrounded by monsters was so that the party would look good by pulling a Big Damn Heroes moment. Considering he waited too long and one of Kurt’s allies was killed, even though they had plenty of time to intervene and prevent his death, it's not hard to see why.
- When Geese calls out Paul on expecting way too much on Rudeus when he's already busy trying to survive the Magic Continent while escorting Eris with him.
- Zenith and Norn slap Rudeus when he intended to marry Eris after already marrying Roxy and Sylphy.
- Before his suicide, Pax Shirone calls Roxy out for not appreciating his accomplishments in magic. Using herself and Rudy as the standard, one can agree that Roxy is lacking common judgement as teacher.
- Geese does this again, calling out Rudeus for being ungrateful when he betrayed Hitogami, who despite trying to kill Roxy had still given Rudeus a lot of help and a good life.
- Zenith and Cliff both call out Rudeus when he is unwilling to speak against his grandmother being imprisoned.
- Wife Husbandry: Subverted. Rudeus had been tempted to do this with Sylphy when they were children, and raise her up to be the perfect wife. Eventually Paul split the two up, and sent Rudeus to the Boreas house, before Sylphy could become too dependent on him. Rudy admitted that it was for the best. They still ended up marrying, despite the separation.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Played with. Rudeus is a young kid as far as the high fantasy world is concerned, however he's mentally an adult by the time he's reincarnated into a baby. And later in life Rudeus acknowledges that even with his mental age sometimes he acts more childish than his physical age.
- Wizarding School: Rudeus originally became Eris' tutor in order to pay for both his tuition as well as Sylphy's to attend Ranoa Magic University. Despite losing their backer and other circumstances, both ended up at the school anyway, with Rudy as a Scholarship Student. Notably, the university offers not only magic but also a range of mundane subjects and funding for private research.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The Mana Catastrophe and Rudeus' birth were caused by the dying wish of the Rewind Miko to save Akito after he saved her from her personal hell.
- World of Technicolor Hair: This is a staple for the demon/magical races, which are distinguished by hair color, such as the Supards, like Ruijerd, that have green hair, the Migurds, like Roxy and Lara, that have blue hair, the Dragon Tribe, like Orsted and Perugius, who have silver hair. Many characters also have unusual hair colors, such as purple, blue, pink and green, outside of these broad tendencies.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Quite a bit of this. Rudeus sometimes forgets that he's not in a game, or a visual novel.
- You Are in Command Now: The Fangs of the Black Wolf unanimously decide on Rudeus as their new leader after the death of Paul.
