Mushoku Tensei Is Losing Popularity

As we have previously mentioned, GEM Partners is a service in Japan that conducts weekly surveys to find out which are the most watched series week after week through streaming platforms. While many believe that this is the "most official ranking in Japan", in reality it is simply a survey similar to those done by sites such as Anime Trending or Anime Corner.

Still, GEM Partners' listings are more than interesting to analyze, especially since they refer exclusively to the Japanese market. Recently, the site released the analysis of the most viewed in the fourth week of May-2024, placing "Kimetsu no Yaiba" in the first position, followed by "Detective Conan" and "Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken".

If you're interested in the rest of the positions, from fourth to tenth place are listed: "Kaiju No. 8", "Boku no Hero Academia", "ONE PIECE", "Dungeon Meshi (Delicious in Dungeon)", the movie "Godzilla: Minus One", "KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!", and "Kishibe Rohan wa Ugokanai".

However, what caught the attention of the comment forums is the fact that the second season of "Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation" is nowhere to be found on the listing. In fact, even if we extend the list to the twentieth position, the popular anime still doesn't appear. The only place where this series appears is in the ranking of popularity among the male audience, where it appears in the sixteenth position.

What could cause this apparent decline in the show's popularity even as it is about to enter the story arc that fans of the franchise claim is the most interesting of the entire work? Well, in the comment forums, netizens debated about it:

"The school's story arc was extremely boring."
"There are so many parts of the story that I can't tolerate."
"I think Mushoku Tensei loses popularity because the protagonist is getting creepier and creepier. The story is interesting, so hopefully someone will repeat the formula but with a better protagonist."
"I'm sure a lot of people stopped watching it after the protagonist's horrific expressions in the first season."
"The original novel is much more interesting. I read it in Shousetsuka ni Narou and it was very moving."
"It's not interesting, it lacks exciting moments, the character designs aren't good, and the protagonist is off-putting."
"It's not an anime that I would recommend to other people for its double-entendre jokes."
"Mushoku Tensei is a lot of fun, but I guess it's not popular because of its protagonist. I think if they re-made the story without all that unnecessary perverted content that disfits the play, maybe it would be more popular."
"It's the story of a perverted guy with three wives, where everything goes well, don't you think it's disgusting? Or is it because I only read Shonen Jump stuff?"
"Apparently the Japanese can't accept that if Rudeus were soft and innocent, they wouldn't like him anyway."
"It's amazing that both Mushoku Tensei and Tensei Shitara Slime were constantly competing as light novels, but in anime it's a completely different story."
"When you put Mushoku Tensei and Tensei Shitara Slime in the same season, it's clear that Rimuru's story will stand out a lot."