Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume SS - Chapter Aft

Original Appearances of Collected Short Stories

“Sylphie’s Father”

“Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation” manga adaptation, Volume 1, at the end of the volume.

“The Mad Dog King Finds a Master”

“Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation” manga adaptation, Volume 2, at the end of the volume.

“Old Friends Reunited” 

“Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation” manga adaptation, Volume 3, at the end of the volume.

“Shirone’s Super Soldier” 

“Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation” manga adaptation, Volume 4, at the end of the volume.

“Old Enough” 

“Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation” manga adaptation, Volume 5, at the end of the volume.

“The Demon World’s Great Emperor’s Super Adult Love Story” 

“Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation” manga adaptation, Volume 6, at the end of the volume.

“A Special Present”

“Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation” manga adaptation, at the end of the volume.

“Rudeus’s Summer” 

Included as a bonus in MF Books’ First Publication Celebrating the Second Anniversary 

“World’s First! Amphibious Body Pillow Set (Eris).”

“Everyone’s Good and Bad Habits”

“Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation” manga adaptation, Volume 8, at the end of the volume.

“The Head-Ripping Prince’s Work is Never Done!” 

“Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation” manga adaptation, Volume 12, at the end of the volume.

“Elinalise Wants to Be There”

“Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation” manga adaptation, Volume 13, at the end of the volume.

“The Gospel of Roxy” 

“Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation” manga adaptation, Volume 15, at the end of the volume.

“Luke Notos Greyrat’s Unnecessary Item” 

“Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation” manga adaptation, Volume 16, at the end of the volume.

“Table Talk Adventure” 

“Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation” manga adaptation, Volume 17, at the end of the volume.

“Something Cliff Wants” [クリフの欲しいもの]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 9

“Rudeus Can’t Learn Silent Healing Casting” [ルーデウスは無詠唱治療魔術を習えない]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 10

“Rudeus and the Many-Storied Sand Castle” [楼閣の砂城]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 11

“Spoiling Dinner” [買い食い]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 12

“Compliments to the Genius Maid” [天才メイドは褒められた]

Drama CD Booklet “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation — Displacement Labyrinth Episode” Animate • Gamers Bonus 

“A Swordsman Only Goes Sober Once”[禁酒剣士は一度だけ]

Drama CD Booklet “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation — Displacement Labyrinth Episode” TSUTAYA Bonus [転移迷宮編]

“How the Swordsman and the Thief Use Their Money” [剣士とシーフの金遣い]

Drama CD Booklet “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation -- Displacement Labyrinth Episode” Amazon Bonus

“The Reader and the Elven Warrior” [読書家と長耳族の戦士]

Drama CD Booklet “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation — Displacement Labyrinth Episode” Tora No Ana Bonus

“The Swordsman and the Dwarf Have a Drinking Contest” [剣士と炭鉱族の飲み比べ]

Drama CD Booklet “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation — Displacement Labyrinth Episode” WonderGOO Bonus

“The Knight’s Attendant’s First Job” [騎士の侍従の最初のお仕事]

Drama CD Booklet “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation — Displacement Labyrinth Episode” First Print Bonus

“Roxy Shows Her Gratitude” [ロキシーの恩返し]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei ~Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu~” Volume 13

“Birdbrain Atofe” [アトーフェ・オン・ザ・バードヘッド]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 14

“A Nightmare” [悪夢]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 15

“Nanahoshi’s Public Apology” [ナナホシの謝罪会見]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 16

“The Imprisoned Prince” [幽閉の王子]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 17, bonus

“What if it Wasn’t a Mercenary Band I Came Up With?” [Note: I F もし思いついたのが傭兵団ではなかったら]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 18

“Flattery and Honesty” [お世辞と本音]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 19

“Norn’s Part Time Job” [アルバイト・オブ・ザ・ノルン]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 20

“The Morning of My Day Off” [休日の午前] 

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 21

“Dance Practice” [ダンスの練習]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 22

“Fitz’s Doubts” [誘惑のフィッツ]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 23

“Chef Rudeus’s Special Skewers” [シェフルーデウスの気まぐれ串焼き]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 24

“The Throne” [王の椅子]

Bonus for the Taiwanese Edition of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation,” Volume 25

“A Parting Gift” [別れ際に渡すもの]

First printed in this book.

In-Depth Interviews

This is an interview with Rifujin na Magonote-sensei, the original author of Mushoku Tensei, and Shirotaka, the illustrator. From their memories of the series’ beginning to secrets about its genesis and characters, this deep dive into Mushoku Tensei will reveal new and interesting facts about the series.

The Author

Rifujin na Magonote

Please tell us a little about what first inspired you to write the novel. 

I first became interested in the form of the novel back in grade school when I first saw Studio Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart. Around the same time, my school had a “Let’s try writing a novel” sort of assignment, which would wind up being the first fiction I’d ever written. When I moved on to junior high, I joined the computer club, but there wasn’t much in the way of activities, so I wrote some simple stories with a word processor. After that, I didn’t write anything new for a while, but I started to get serious not long after I graduated college. At that time, I entered a few award contests from different publishers, but that didn’t go too well, and I eventually gave up on going pro. 

Please tell us about what inspired you to start a series on the website “Shousetsuka ni Narou.” 

One day, I saw Kogitsune Kanekiru’s Re:Monster lined up on the shelves at a bookstore and I thought it looked interesting. While reading, I saw “This work was first posted on Shousetsuka ni Narou” written inside. That’s when I first found out about the site. When I browsed the works that were serialized there, I think my inspiration started from the admittedly pretty negative thought: “I bet no one will make fun of my work if I post it here.”

How did you think up the setting for Mushoku Tensei?

At the time, reincarnation and displacement stories were getting popular, so I thought about how I could put my own spin on it, like, “If they’re going to be reincarnated, then I better make the childhood part really solid, huh?” or “Maybe I’ll make good use of the part of the story that takes place before they get reincarnated,” or “If it was me, I’d do this.” That kind of thing. 

How did the character Rudeus first come into being? 

While I was first thinking up the setting for Mushoku Tensei, I hadn’t even decided on the protagonist’s name yet. All I had at that point was “thirty-four years old, unemployed, middle-aged.” The character was still empty. So when the time came that I needed to name the character, I reused one from a story I’d tried writing in the past. That work was actually a portal fantasy with Nanahoshi as the protagonist. There, Rudeus Greyrat was a native of the place Nanahoshi had been displaced to. He was still the viewpoint character but saw her from a native’s point of view. For better or worse, he was a pretty flat character. Then, while I was writing the story with Rudeus as a protagonist, the idea of a Man with a Past Life came to me. From there, it became “Work hard in my new world and erase the regrets from my past life.” I took the names for Zanoba, Cliff, Badigadi, and some others from a setting I’d thought up a while ago, too. 

This isn’t only the case on Shousetsuka ni Narou, but it’s ­common for webnovels to be updated on a daily or weekly basis. You updated Mushoku Tensei almost every day—wasn’t that difficult? 

It was difficult, but more importantly, it was fun. And even beyond the writing itself being fun, I got responses from the readers soon after posting. I’d often reply to them, then think, “Hmm, what should I do for the next plot twist...?” and that became something of a cycle, so eventually it wasn’t difficult at all. Though if you’re wondering if I was writing new material every single day, then that’s not quite right either. I’d write a chapter’s worth and then divide it into parts, post the first bit, and while looking at the reader comments, I’d fine-tune what I planned to post the next day. That was my style. 

What kind of writing routine did you have while the series was ongoing? 

Every day I would wake up and comment on the responses I ­received, and in the afternoon, I would reread what I wanted to post that day and fine-tune it. After all that, it’d be about four o’clock, and then I’d work on the next chapter until seven, which is the time I set for the new post. That’s about how it was. After posting, I definitely didn’t want to read the comment section! [laughs] I’d leave to go out and have fun for about two hours, and when I came home, I’d reply to the comments. That was about the cycle. As far as my daily writing quota, I aimed to write about 3,000 words a day, something like that. Looking back, I was really diligent. 

You wrote at quite a fast pace! It was only two years from the debut of chapter one to completion. 

There were times when it was really hard to write during those two years, but I made sure I never let my pen stop and just kept going. Or, should I say: When you keep on writing the same story, you get all these new ideas, like the layers of an entremets, and start wanting to write a new work. But if you start a new project, then the old one (in this case Mushoku Tensei) comes to a standstill, so I really reined myself in and held back on doing that. If I still wanted to write something different, then I’d make sure to keep it short—something I could finish writing in one or two days. 

Please share some memories from back then. 

To be honest, back when I started writing Mushoku Tensei, I didn’t have a firm idea about what “erasing regrets from a past life” meant, and I was going to write a clichéd “I’ll get reincarnated and have a blast because I’ve got overpowered abilities” story like you often see on Narou. But after I posted Chapter Four where Roxy appears, and Chapter Six where she tries to take Rudeus outside, the response was amazing. It shot up to number one in the daily rankings. After that, I decided to stick with this direction. If Roxy hadn’t appeared in the story at that time, Mushoku Tensei might have been a story where Rudeus just uses his overpowered abilities to mow down enemies, and Rudeus’s character as it stands now would never have been born. 

You close the curtain on the Mushoku Tensei story at the point where Rudeus passes away, but was this what you had planned from the start?

I had a hard time deciding on the ending, but I did basically plan for it to end with Rudeus’s death. Since he died at thirty-four in his past life, I originally thought, “I’ll write until Rudeus is thirty-four.” Only, infirmity at thirty-four isn’t realistic, so I decided that the ending should be “the bracelet will accidentally come off when he’s thirty-four and the Man-God will show him the future.” Again, I thought Rudeus’s story couldn’t just be that he wins the battle and it’s over. Since the prologue was the story of him getting kicked out of his house and dying, I didn’t want it to end with him beating someone to a pulp. And so I had his final battle be against Geese, someone who isn’t suited for battle, and decided on a direction where the ending was a destination Rudeus had been guided to by his connections to everyone he loved and cherished.

You don’t have any plans to write about Rudeus’s next battle, right? 

Even if I were to continue Rudeus’s story, I think it’d turn into something like “Man-God has recruited a new disciple, and...!” From a writer’s point of view, that would feel like doing the same thing over again, and I’d find it difficult. And from the reader’s point of view, it would also get tedious, so I’m not thinking about writing a continuation. I am satisfied with the current ending for Mushoku Tensei.

Rudeus is Mushoku Tensei’s protagonist, but when you look at it from the perspective of this being just one story from the Six-Sided World, and that there are more battles with the Man-God waiting in the future, one could also say that Rudeus is something like a supporting character. 

That’s true. I don’t remember when I decided to take this direction, but I wanted Rudeus to become someone whose name would remain etched in history—like eighty or a hundred years later, people would say, “There once was a legendary magician named Rudeus!” I actually once wrote another Six-Sided World story for a publisher’s writing award contest, and Rudeus’s name appears in that one, too. On the back of a flush toilet, to boot. A character that was warped to this world finds it and goes, “Who’s Rudeus Greyrat, anyway?” It was that kind of story. Of course, reading it now would be really embarrassing because it’s so immature, but if I get the chance someday, I’d like to take another crack at it. 

This original webnovel started serialization in November of 2012 and Volume One of the printed version went on sale in January of 2014. How did you feel when you learned that a physical print version would be published?

It was a time when a lot of works that had made the Shousetsuka ni Narou rankings kept getting publishing deals, so with Mushoku Tensei doing pretty well in the rankings, I mostly felt like, “Ah, it’s finally time.” 

What difficulties did you run into getting ready for the light novel release?

It was my first experience with traditional publishing, so I didn’t even know what would make the book better when revising the manuscript for print. It was pretty hard fumbling around with that while also trying not to drop the pace of updates for the web version. When a work is published online, you never know if you’re going to get the whole story until the very day that it’s finished, so I wasn’t in the kind of mindset where I wanted to switch to the route of purely traditional publishing. It didn’t feel right to leave my webnovel fans hanging. After all, a lot of the people who bought the print version are the same guys who’d been cheering me on since the early days of the webnovel. I didn’t want them to think, “The webnovel updates are over, aren’t they?” So I did my best to handle both of them at once. 

You wrote a lot of new short stories as bonuses for both the light novel release and manga adaptation. Was there any special approach or focus you used for these?

A lot of the time, I had to write three or four of those for individual retailer bonuses, so I divided them pretty well between Roxy, Sylphie, and Eris. And then I wanted to make it so that you could enjoy them in the context of the material for Volumes One through Ten, so I tried to make sure that their content wouldn’t intersect too much with the main storyline. 

Please give us the impressions you had when it was decided that Shirotaka-sensei would do the illustrations. 

Shirotaka-sensei creates beautiful art with a certain sense of openness, so I was a little uncertain whether it would be a good match for Mushoku Tensei, which has some sordid and sexual parts. But when I saw the first illustration of Roxy, I immediately thought, “I’m glad we went with Shirotaka-sensei.” I don’t know if Shirotaka-sensei grasped the essence of the series or what, but the illustrations for both the covers and the interiors got better and better as the volumes progressed. Shirotaka-sensei drew such nice stuff for us that every time a new volume came out, I’d think, “This illustration’s got to be the best one so far.” 

What kind of meetings did you two have regarding the character designs? 

I never had any direct communications with Shirotaka-sensei, but I wrote down things like the character’s name, gender, and “they’re kind of like this” on the character sheet. If there was an existing character that might be of use as a reference, I would attach that character to it. Stuff like that. But, you know, because it’s a novel, there were characters that I didn’t have any strong mental image for. Especially Orsted. I didn’t have a firm image of him at all. The only thing I could think up was something like “kind of like a bird of prey.” Maybe I put Shirotaka-sensei on the spot when I sent in such sparse character sheets? [laughs]

The first season of the Mushoku Tensei anime was broadcast back in 2021, but please give us the impressions you had when it was first decided that it would become an anime. 

At the time I thought, “They’re saying they’re going to make it into an anime, but maybe it’ll never get finished.” And then, when the preview went live, there was this amazing response, and everyone expected such good things from it that it was even trending on Twitter. I was so grateful. I’m such a real-time person that I don’t really watch anime, but while it was being broadcast, I was live on Twitter and there was a whole bunch of tweets from the fans. It was a totally new experience for me. 

Season 2 of the anime will air in 2023. Is there anything you’re hoping for? 

I’m actually involved in the production myself as the original author, but there are some differences between the novel and anime due to the differences inherent to both mediums. I figure I shouldn’t have too many specific expectations, but I hope it will be just as good or even better than the first season. 

Please let us hear your feelings regarding the completion of the printed version. 

Naturally, I feel a lot of emotions. As I told you before, when I first received the publication offer, I did think, “This probably won’t make it all the way to the end.” Books always have cancellation looming over them, and I kept thinking, “There wouldn’t be anyone who would go to the trouble of buying something they can just read for free on the web.” I was told that it looked like they’d be able to publish the light novel all the way to the end around the time when Volume Seven came out, but at the time, it didn’t really feel real. I am very grateful to everyone who cheered me on. 

Is there anything you’re hoping to do in the future, possibly beyond Mushoku Tensei? 

For Mushoku Tensei, I would like to finish writing the story of what happens eighty years after Rudeus’s death sometime before I die. Other than that, I’ve had this desire to go camping lately. I’ve collected a set of camping supplies and I hope to get out there when I have the chance. 

To wrap things up, please share a word for your fans. 

Thank you so very much for your patronage these past ten years!

The Illustrator

Shirokata

When did you first begin illustrating? 

I think I’ve been drawing ever since I became a sentient being. I would always draw characters I liked, and in elementary school, I liked to play by trading drawings with my classmates. I began to draw more seriously in the last year of junior high when I learned about Pixiv. There was lots of high-quality art there, and I thought, “It’d be fun if I could draw, too.” That was how I really got started. 

Please tell us the impetus that made you decide to become an illustrator.

After I learned about Pixiv, I vaguely started to think, “I want to find a way to draw for a living.” I started coloring with the paints I used in school and did things like enter a contest to illustrate light novels being held back then. I didn’t win, but I did win a few years later during a different opportunity. I slowly began to get work after that. 

Please tell us about the works, genres, and artists that have influenced your work. 

I’ve been influenced by a lot of people, but the way I draw now owes a lot to Kouhaku Kuroboshi’s Kino’s Journey. I really liked not just his cute girl characters but his wide range of alluring characters, scenery, small objects, and abstractly expressed illustrations. In terms of fantasy works, I’ve been influenced by the Final Fantasy series, the Rune Factory series, and similar. Those are the games I was crazy about when I was a child. 

Is there something you pay special attention to when creating illustrations? 

Lately, I’ve been trying to do about fifteen minutes of sketching before I start work. Even if I only do it for a short time, I get an idea about the state of my art, what’s going well and what isn’t, and so on. It feels like my hand moves along better, so I make it a daily habit. 

Please give us the impressions you had when you read Mushoku Tensei for the first time.

I started reading it with the thought, “I guess it’s a story about living an isekai life with cute girls, maybe?” and so I was really surprised when everyone got displaced to the Demon Continent. I was drawn into the allure of the work through plot twists like how Rudeus, who experiences another world’s difference in values through Ruijerd and manages to create good relationships—how he doesn’t just have a simple parent-child fight with Paul, how the state of Eris’s heart couldn’t be understood from Rudeus’s point of view, and more events that came later. The story became something more like a period drama, and there was a freshness to watching a character’s entire life unfold over the course of the story. 

What kind of direction did you receive for the illustrations? 

The covers and detailed nuances of the character designs were created during meetings, but it was very hard to decide on the cover for the first volume. It was a real struggle. After that, it was decided that a frontispiece similar to a family picture would be used, and that throughout the series, each cover should depict a single scene from the work. That was the direction we went with. 

How did you decide on the layout for the covers and other ­illustrations for each volume? 

I would have a meeting with the editor in charge and receive guidelines for the characters, situations and a general layout of what I should draw. I worked while taking special care to create a scene that wasn’t too similar to any previous volume and to capture the characters they wanted. Mushoku Tensei has a great many characters, so there were times where I had to add one that wasn’t in the scene, which was difficult. In situations like that, I would use things like movie poster designs as a reference. I’d say Volumes Fifteen and Twenty-Five are pretty clear examples of this approach. 

Please tell us of any illustrations you particularly like from among those you’ve created up to now.

The family picture-style illustrations from Volumes One, Thirteen, and Twenty-Six were difficult to draw, but I like them very much. I think they’re attractive because of the essence of Mushoku Tensei. I am floored by Rifujin na Magonote-sensei and the editor who gave me direction. They’re amazing! Aside from the original works, I also like the cover for Recollections. I was able to cram in decorations and small items that I don’t usually have enough time to include in normal illustrations because of time constraints. Unlike the covers for other volumes, I didn’t have detailed directions, and the required characters were pretty much only Rudeus, so I was able to illustrate with a different feel than before, which was a lot of fun.

Are there any elements of the way you draw that changed as you progressed from volume to volume? 

Across eight years of publication, your own tastes and drawing abilities will inevitably change, so I think the impressions you get from the first volume and the twenty-sixth volume are different. So that the readers who look at them don’t get confused, I take it to heart not to change fundamental parts of the design, but staring at my own illustrations too much kind of numbs my artistic senses, so it does bother me when I wonder how it really looks to the readers. 

Please give us the impressions you had regarding the characters you designed, or any interesting vignettes from the production period.

Rudeus

The beauty mark under his left eye is there because I wanted to put in a physical detail that the reincarnated person’s parents would immediately recognize as coming from them. This was after I imagined how a parent with a child whose soul comes from another world would feel. So, I remember putting the beauty mark in the same place as Paul’s. Rudy’s inner self and outer self as written in the story each have such a different impression that it was hard for me to get a clear image. I’ll admit I experienced a lot of indecision over this character design. 

Roxy

At first, I thought she should have a more unfashionable, wizard-style kind of robe. However, Roxy is also the first major heroine introduced, so there was a part of me that wanted her to wear a cute outfit. So I designed her with white clothes that made her blue hair stand out beautifully and a skirt length that’s neither too short nor too long.

Sylphiette

When I was reading the original work, I really thought she was a boy until her gender was revealed, so I figured it was important to make it hard for the readers to tell, too. I took giving her an androgynous look to heart. I remember putting a lot of care into how her hair curled at the ends. 

Eris

I designed her with the most upturned eyes that I could draw at the time, so that she’d look just as fierce as she seems in the text.

Rudy’s Children

I already had their parents designed, so when I designed the children, I just picked whatever features I wanted them to inherit. It was a process that I’d never used before, so it felt fresh. There are children that I’ve given some of Paul and Phillip’s features to as well—it would make me happy if you try to work out who resembles whom.

The Demon Race

Before I received the job for Mushoku Tensei, I mainly designed pretty bishoujo-type characters, so designing the demons involved continuous trial and error. The blend of Geese’s human and ­monkey characteristics, the balance of Badigadi’s muscles, the equipped ­armor and weapons for characters like Perugius—for things like that, I would buy books that looked like they might work as references and molded them piece by piece.

Characters Designed for Fujikawa Yuka-sensei

Because Nanahoshi’s sailor uniform, Marta, and the Sacred Beast appeared earlier in the manga version than in the novels, I used Fujikawa-sensei’s designs! The Sacred Beast sure is cute!

Elinalise

She is mainly an adventurer in appearance, but I feel like I did a good job of including the dress-like aspects of her portrayal. 

Fitz

In the early roughs, the shape of the sunglasses was a basic square, but after I received some feedback, they took on their current shape. I wondered about not being able to see the heroine’s eyes at all, so I remember taking care to draw them slightly translucent so that, while you couldn’t discern the eye color, you could still just barely read her expression. 

Linia, Pursena

These characters had some dynamic poses, so it was very fun to draw them. As for the design, I also like the balance they strike when they are next to each other. 

Ariel

I couldn’t decide how to differentiate her from the other beautiful characters, as she is an unrivaled beauty and a person of great charisma. So I made Ariel the only character with white eyelashes and tried to make her face give a striking impression in the illustrations.

Blessed Child of Memory

This is a rare brightly colored character for me. She was supposed to be a chubby character, so I changed the balance of her silhouette. Looking back at her design now, I think I went a little too far, but I like it because it was challenging and a rare chance to draw that kind of physicality in a more balanced way. 

Alexander

In my first roughs, I turned in a more boyish design. The character concept was, “Acts like the protagonist of a shonen manga even though he’s too old for it,” so they wanted me to make him older, and that’s how the current design came about. Making him look older lent the character an exquisite sense of cringe and the design gained more depth; I was surprised at how on point the revision directions were. 

Beginning with Rudeus, the characters of Mushoku Tensei grow older over the course of the story. Did you pay particular attention to anything regarding the way the characters age visually? 

At first, I focused on the eyes and the bridges of the nose, adjusting the contours of their faces each time, but the changes were too scant and hard to notice with just those details. Take Rudeus, for example. Depending on his age, the length of his trousers and the length of his hair at the nape differ. I designed him so you could see the changes reflected in his clothes and hair. Out of all the changes, it was hardest to draw the difference between characters in their twenties and their forties. When I drew Lilia and Zenith on the cover of Volume Thirteen, I still didn’t have enough artistic skill to show their ages, and I feel bad about that. In contrast, on the cover of Volume Twenty-Six, I blended small wrinkles in with color. I think that’s a pretty good way to show them getting older.

The Mushoku Tensei anime series started in 2021. What were the impressions you had about the anime while it was airing?

The way the images move, the cast’s voices, the music that streams through—it was all wonderful. I think that projects where a lot of people come together to make something are truly amazing. I really like the sense of world and place that you can feel through the depiction of scenery, small items, background characters, and so on. I went crazy looking forward to the opening each and every time. 

Is there anything you’re hoping to do in the future, possibly beyond Mushoku Tensei?

I would like to make a creative book where I decide on the setting and theme. And ever since seeing the Mushoku Tensei anime, I’ve been wanting to try having my own illustrations move. I also have an interest in 3D, so you could say there are a lot of things I’d like to challenge myself with. 

To wrap things up, please share a word for your fans. 

I believe it’s all thanks to the way the fans love and cheer on Rifujin na Magonote’s wonderful work that it was published all the way through to the end. 

I was completely overawed and very honored to be a part of such a beloved series. There are a lot of developments still to come with the manga and anime series, so I hope I will be able to enjoy them with everyone. Truly, congratulations on the completion! Thank you!