Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation[a] is a Japanese light novel series by Rifujin na Magonote[b] and illustrated by Shirotaka.

Originally published on the web novel site Shōsetsuka ni Narō in November 2012, the year after it was announced the series would receive a print release under Media Factory's MF Books imprint with illustrations done by a Pixiv user named Shirotaka.

[c] A manga adaptation by Yuka Fujikawa began serialization in the June 2014 issue of Monthly Comic Flapper, while three spin-offs were also released.

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation has become a success, with its web novel making multiple appearances as the most popular work on Shōsetsuka, and eventually becoming a franchise.

An unnamed obese 34-year-old Japanese recluse NEET is evicted from his home by his four siblings following their parents' deaths and skipping the funeral service.

During his childhood, he becomes a student of demon magician Roxy Migurdia, a friend to demihuman Sylphiette, and a magic teacher to noble heiress Eris Boreas Greyrat.

Stranded practically on the other side of the world in a foreign land, Rudeus resolves to escort Eris home with aid from a befriended strong warrior named Ruijerd Superdia.

After three years of struggle—including being defeated by a mighty world-class warrior named Orsted—Rudeus successfully escorts Eris home to the remains of his shattered homeland.

Two years later, the trauma from the incident with Eris has left Rudeus suffering from erectile dysfunction, so he enrolls in Ranoa Magic University under the Man-God's advice.

Rudeus rejoins his father's quest to save his mother, ignoring the Man-God's advice, reuniting and developing a romantic relationship with Roxy during the adventure resulting in cheating on Sylphiette, and eventually taking her as his second wife.

After graduating university in 2007, Rifujin na Magonote began submitting manuscripts to publishers, but after getting no results, he quit wanting to become an author.

When dealing with his characters, the author struggles with giving them good actions in order to make them come across as attractive to the reader such as Rudeus' love interests or the ones with a notable backstory.

However, he found Lilia's death anticlimactic and decided against it; thus, he had to rewrite the story arc to make sense of her survival and lack of contact.

In order to characterize Rudeus properly, Okamoto decided to give him two voice actors: Tomokazu Sugita for his thoughts and Yumi Uchiyama for his dialogues.

[16] Producer Nobuhiro Osawa expressed doubts about whether or not the team was sure about including more side stories from the original series that helped to develop Rudeus more.

[17] Rifujin na Magonote published his work on the online web novel website, Shōsetsuka ni Narō; the first chapter was uploaded on November 22, 2012 and the last on April 3, 2015.

Two companion volumes were published by Media Factory on March 25 and November 25, 2022, respectively: Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation – Recollections (無職転生 ～異世界行ったら本気だす～ リコレクション, Mushoku Tensei ~ Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu ~ Recollection) (a compilation of 32 short stories set between the first ten volumes of the series, with a new short story exclusive to the collection and an interview with Rifujin na Magonote) and Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation – A Journey of Two Lifetimes [Special Book] (無職転生 ～異世界行ったら本気だす～ スペシャルブック, Mushoku Tensei ~ Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu ~ Special Book) (featuring series chronology, a special manga from the artists adapting the series, 40 short stories (including five new ones) and an interview with Shirotaka).

They made localization changes in their translations of the light novels, such as toning down Rudeus' perverted behavior and removing references to rape.

[34] In January 2015, Seven Seas Entertainment announced its licensing of the manga series for localization in North America under the title Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation.

[35] A second manga series illustrated by Kazusa Yoneda, titled Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu - Shitsui no Majutsushi-hen (無職転生 ～異世界行ったら本気だす～ 失意の魔術師編, lit.

"Jobless Reincarnation: Giving His Best When Transferred to Another World - The Depressed Magician Arc") began serialization on NTT Solmare's Comic Cmoa website on December 20, 2021.

[42][43] A second spin-off manga illustrated by Kaede Nogiwa, titled Mushoku Tensei: 4-koma ni Natte mo Honki Dasu (無職転生 ～4コマになっても本気だす～, lit.

[85] An audio drama adaptation, titled Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu - Ten'i Meikyū-hen (無職転生 ～異世界行ったら本気だす～ 転移迷宮編), was released by Frontier Works on April 26, 2017.

[110] Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World novelist Tappei Nagatsuki said that one of the strongest points of Mushoku Tensei was the handling of Rudeus, who is noted to suffer in a similar fashion to the main character from the visual novel Clannad.

[116][117][118] Writing about the first season, Irfan Ghani Muhammad from Universitas Kiai Haji Achmad Siddiq Jember observed that Mushoku Tensei frequently challenges Rudeus' morality from various perspectives.

[119] HITC found the anime properly followed the novel's narrative, most importantly Rudeus' coming-of-age story, which appealed to the audience.

[121] The early episodes of the second season received mixed reactions, with controversy stemming from Rudeus' more despondent portrayal and a noticeable decline in animation quality.

[126][127][128][129] One of the web novel short stories from the after-story collection Redundant Reincarnation, titled "The Moment Aisha Greyrat Stopped Being a Maid", sparked controversy among its Japanese readers.

After receiving a notice from Shōsetsuka ni Narō management that it violated their terms of service on February 24, 2016, the author announced that he had decided to remove the short story from the website and write a remake in the future.

[132][133] Later, author Rifujin na Magonote commented on LexBurner's actions as follows: "His words are only his personal opinion, and he is free to hold whatever views he likes.