Oh boy, I have a feeling today’s installment of The Bad Rap is gonna ruffle some feathers! But y’all already know we need to talk about this OP perv. So, let’s get into it. Today, we are talking about Rudy Greyrat from Mushoku Tensei, also known as Jobless Reincarnation!

Rudeus (Rudy) Greyrat is the reincarnation of a withdrawn, chronically online man in his 30s in modern-day Japan. We don’t learn much about his original life except for the fact that he was a shut-in who experienced severe bullying, to the point of causing PTSD as a child in his second life as Rudy. After his family disowned him, he suffered homelessness and finally succumbed to his injuries following being hit by a truck after saving a group of high school students.

Rudy was born with extraordinary powers and spent his childhood training hard to master these abilities. And while this is a great plot in and of itself, it can’t be denied that the early years of Rudy’s life isn’t without some… well, rather uncomfortable situations.

Something worth mentioning at this point for those who haven’t watched this anime yet is that the OG incarnation often voices young Rudy’s consciousness, meaning that he is fully aware of what is happening and what he is doing, even as an infant. From wearing his family’s servant/step-mother(?)’s underwear on his head to contemplating sleeping with his cousin when they are both CHILDREN, this dude starts life as a creep and a half in an OP pint-sized body.

Look, I know he gets a major glow-up when it comes to character development. I know the animation is fantastic, and the storyline progress is awesome. But the creepiness and downright rape-y scenes really turned me off to the point that I ended up DNF-ing the series. I get fan service and such, but a lot of this mess happens when he is a kid, and regardless of how badass an anime is, I just ain’t for it. For those of you who pushed through the weirdness, I absolutely commend your dedication, but whew. I’m still low-key concerned over the scene where Eris’s father offered his daughter to Rudy for the night, who, might I remind you again, IS RUDY’S BLOOD COUSIN.

So, that being said, does Rudeus deserve his bad rap? Um… yes. Absolutely, yes. A grown man given a second chance at life with incredible powers but gropes and fantasizes about sleeping with just about every female he encounters? Has in-depth internal dialogue about wanting to watch his parents have intercourse as a child and even uses his power to create figurines in questionable poses? And that’s not even the worst of it.

Regardless of how much I hate how much the anime lingers on the uncomfortable bits, it can’t be denied how incredible the animation is. One day, I hope to jump back in and try to complete it, but it’ll definitely be a test of my patience to get to the true storyline that I’ve been assured is well worth the discomfort.

Well, what do you think? Does Rudy deserve his bad rap? Were you able to make it past the ick to get to the superb storyline? Let me know what you think below, and be sure to share this article on your socials to keep the discussion going!