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The story
A thread on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” board (a live-chat/reaction board) picked up on a Vtuber’s on-stream fury while watching the anime Mushoku Tensei, specifically the scene where the protagonist Rudeus’s father, Paul, cheats on his pregnant wife, fathers a child outside the marriage, and then announces he’s taking a second wife. The thread split between posters who took issue with polygamy as a concept and those who argued the real problem was the infidelity and the child born out of wedlock — a case of talking past each other. Others pointed out that the protagonist himself later ends up in a similar situation, and that the original novel began so long ago that its values have drifted from those of today’s otaku fandom, turning the discussion into a broader debate about how the series holds up.
What people said
It's a life-spanning story in the vein of Dragon Quest V [the RPG famous for following its hero from childhood through marriage and fatherhood], so this was bound to come up eventually
If Pekora [likely Usada Pekora, the popular Hololive Vtuber] watches season 2, she's probably going to feel for Norn, who's left speechless over Rudeus's own polygamy
Yeah, she'd probably say "that's so sad" dead serious
Well, if you announce you're taking a second wife while your current wife is nine months pregnant, of course people react that way
Honestly, anyone who WOULDN'T be angry at someone suddenly demanding a second wife in that exact situation is the one with the screw loose
There are plenty of multi-heroine series out there, and even couples getting together and breaking up doesn't usually bother me much. But with Mushoten [fan shorthand for Mushoku Tensei], something deep in my soul just screamed 'gross' and I couldn't shake it
Sure, by Japanese standards, but this is an isekai fantasy world
I mean, but the protagonist is literally just an ugly, overweight middle-aged Japanese guy [reincarnated into that world]
Then how about you stop speaking Japanese?
Even Mushoku Tensei's own fans are furious at Paul, so it's fine — they're all cracking up about it together lol
Respect for knowing this isn't a show aimed at women
He does understand it's a different world and is trying to adapt. Besides, this particular scene is about his dad, not him
Funny thing is, he ends up doing something similar himself later
He's just playing by that world's rules though
The protagonist's wives all actually agreed to the arrangement up front — that's not the same as cheating, getting someone pregnant, and stumbling into polygamy afterward
Well, it's because he's an old man. It's not something a young person with a future should be watching
If anything, isn't it older guys who react worse to narou stuff? Isn't it Gen Z — who want everything handed to them fast and easy — who's actually into it?
Mushoku Tensei started 16 years ago, so naturally some of its values are out of step with today's otaku
That's simply because there are even more readers who love harem setups than those who hate them. The core readership is hikikomori NEETs [shut-in young people not in work, school, or training] anyway
Honestly both sides just look like self-styled 'otaku' to me
I think it really just comes down to the individual work, then and now. There's plenty of wild, over-the-top stuff set in modern-day Japan too — nothing's really changed
Theory: if Roxy had been his only wife, there wouldn't have been nearly this much complaining
Technically Roxy is supposed to be his one true wife — in other timelines, Sylphy and Eris each end up marrying someone else
Until recently protagonists skewed early-30s, now a lot are late-30s/40s — that's just tracking the aging readership. Give it a bit and we'll probably start seeing protagonists pushing 50
Didn't that "middle-aged guy in the countryside" anime get a pretty poor reception though?
Isn't that just because the anime adaptation itself was badly made? The manga version is apparently selling like crazy
That one's popular because of the comic adaptation, which threw in its own original material. The anime stuck to the original novel instead, so of course the people who got into it through the manga were unhappy
Background and Key Points of the Debate
Mushoku Tensei is a series whose harem elements and the protagonist’s tangled family relationships have sparked debate before, and this time the spark was the scene where his father, Paul, cheats, fathers a child outside his marriage, and then declares he’s taking a second wife. The thread split over whether the backlash was really aimed at polygamy as a concept, or at the specific acts of infidelity and having a child out of wedlock — with many posters arguing the latter was the actual issue. Some also noted that the protagonist himself later lands in a situation resembling his father’s, complicating any easy “bad father, righteous son” reading. On top of that, since the original novel began many years ago, posters pointed to a widening values gap with today’s otaku audience — all of which suggests opinion on the series is far from settled.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of a 5ch “Nandemo Jikkyo G” (a live-reaction discussion board) thread titled “[Sad News] Mushoku Tensei Gets Absolutely Raged At by a Vtuber Who Watched It lol.”
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