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The story
Mushoku Tensei is a popular “Naro-kei” (light-novel-site-origin isekai) anime, but criticism calling its protagonist’s personality “creepy” has repeatedly made waves before. This time, fans pushed back by arguing that “the protagonists of Slime (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime) and Frieren aren’t much better,” which snowballed into a full-blown comparison war dragging in Smartphone Taro, Haruhi, and even Detective Conan. The thread saw pointed remarks like “it’s a different kind of creepy” and the ironic jab that “the people criticizing it know the show better than anyone,” so it never settled into a simple ranking argument.
What people said
Kids aren't that bright, so it can't be helped
And yet Japan literally had the Ōoku (the shogun's harem)
but the story doesn't even have any twists and isn't interesting either lol
You seem like the type who'd like Slime
Guess Gen Z really is dumb
Are the writers just projecting onto them?
I think they're airing Smartphone Taro again right now
when it's just a lolicon anime
Well, Mushoku Tensei is a masterpiece
Totally different from Slime, which is just loved by women and kids
You gotta explain that part lol
Isn't that exactly the creepy part?
That's just, like, your opinion
The kids who used to watch Naro-kei stuff grew up into middle-aged guys, so now there are more works with middle-aged protagonists
Aren't the writers themselves middle-aged guys too?
It is a web-posting site, after all
Is it fine for "pigs" in general to act like normal people?
but I like Isekai Arigatou so I'll give that one a pass
Isn't that one basically a pseudo-yaoi manga?
That's on the creepy side too
but I don't get why people get mad over 'it's creepy'
I mean, even Haruhi had Kyon's whole 'sigh, what a drag' act, and that was creepy too
And besides, Haruhi's creepiness isn't even that kind of creepy
it's just plain, ordinary creepy that anyone would call creepy
Why does everyone want to discriminate against it?
Because they didn't reincarnate
Even outside Naro-kei
like Re: #73 said, shonen manga readers want to project onto characters too
but a lot of reincarnation stories are really just escapism for washed-up salarymen
so they lose it whenever the protagonist fails or gets criticized
If an average bottom-tier-college student went back to being an elementary schooler and started dominating everyone, that'd be Naro-kei
like, don't they actually love it?
Just because someone passionately rants about how bad the ramen was at some ramen shop
doesn't mean they liked that ramen
it's still bad either way
Are they really that knowledgeable though
There's a pretty common pattern of people fixating on fictional settings without actually knowing much
Couldn't tell you about that
but based on this presentation, it's about average
Didn't make the cut this time, try again next round
Background and Key Points of This Debate
Mushoku Tensei is a flagship title of the “Naro-kei” genre (anime adapted from novels first posted on web novel sites), and criticism of its protagonist’s personality has repeatedly flared up ever since it first aired. What split opinion in this thread was the standard for “creepiness” — some argued the yardstick differs depending on a show’s age bracket or target audience, while others countered that “it’s just a different flavor of creepy, but the core problem is the same,” and the two sides never quite connected. One part readers may misread is the exchange (posts 81–91) about “the people criticizing it being the most knowledgeable about it” — that’s just an ironic jab traded back and forth in the argument, not an actual verified claim about who knows more. Meanwhile, lines of reasoning like “it’s different because they didn’t reincarnate” or “background characters have personalities too” are a recurring, well-worn argument on 5ch for drawing the line between Naro-kei and other genres.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Sad News] Mushoku Tensei fans: “Other anime protagonists are creepier!” ← Sparks fly to other anime lol“.
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