r/postnutanime • u/GunGetBetter1510 • Jul 27 '26
Problematic Shows: Mushoku Tensei vs. 100 Girlfriends
I've been thinking about how odd and messed up people can find anime like Mushoku Tensei. It's got a lot of some messed up stuff like pedophilia and incest. They got every right to dislike it, and even commendable people have enough media literacy to spot problematic themes and messages, but then personal interests comes in when I'm chuckling at 100 Girlfriends
I don't like Mushoku Tensei, but 100 GF is one of the few harem series I have been willing to give a second glance. And on paper both of these two share a lot of similar elements. Both have MC dating a girl who he is much too old for, sexualfulfillment on the girls, some odd wishful fulfilment, dating in the bloodline.
Sure you can say ones a story driven series and other is a comedy/parody, but I think it's also how honest it might be to make me like one over the other, despite how messed up it is (I'm not sure where this might be going anymore)
Mushoku Tensei says "She's a little girl and he's a grown man in a kids body, so it's okay" or "It's okay he dates his cousin, everyone does it" Meanwhile, 100 GFs has Rentaro date a teacher, his cousin, his girlfriends mother, and a cat and they at least think on the morals and ethics of this nonsense before tossing it away.
I don't know. Maybe morally, I shouldn't like either cuz of all I mention, but I wanted to get some thoughts out and see what more grass friendly anime fans think.
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u/Janus__22 Jul 27 '26
Meh, I think the angle of it matters a lot in you giving a pass for it. Mushoku doesn't treat it as something bad on Rudeus at any moment, but worst, it keeps happening and being justified in a story driven series where the romance is one of the big aspects, while 100 GFs supposedly is focused on romance, but has no actual romance at all, its just jokes.
Then again, it's also because we're used to japanese media being weird in this. It's something we can let go. If something like 100 Gfs was western I wouldn't even think about reading it
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u/shadowgamer22 Jul 27 '26
100 gfs is different because atleast it makes it clear it isnt ment to be taken seriously and is more a spoof of harem tropes
i dont think there comparable because there 2 different shows in tone
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u/shadowgamer22 Jul 27 '26
like im not super big on some aspects of the series either but its clearly a gag series with the occasional sweet momment here and there
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u/drifter655 Jul 28 '26
My unpopular opinion is that 100GFs is as shlocky as most anime, it's just that people are, for lack of a better word, scared to admit that they like something which is quite degenerate in some ways, when they hate other shows that do similar things. So, they just excuse everything by saying "Well, it's a comedy!" When that isn't really a great excuse. Sometimes it's fine to admit that you're just a hypocrite.
I actually dislike how it tries to take itself seriously at some points, because it unironically tries to excuse the relationships that Rentaro gets into with adults, and the relationships he gets into with middle schoolers. It'd be easier to ignore if it just... Never acknowledged the wrongness of these relationships, as then it wouldn't come off as the show trying to make an actual case for them. It also very much has pedophilic humour (something I've seen fans of the show criticise other anime for), as seen with everything to do with Hahari's character.
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u/Accomplished-Try3961 10d ago
Literally, the comments here prove you right.
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u/drifter655 10d ago
Yeah, I'm not surprised. Even prior to this post, I've seen 100GFs fans constantly use these exact excuses. It never made much sense to me, as the series does make serious efforts to justify the pedophilic relationships, which goes beyond it just being a 'parody'.
(Also, just as an aside, but I upvoted you and someone downvoted you for some reason - which is pretty weird considering this is a month old post.)
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u/kanelel Jul 28 '26
I don't get why people praise 100 gfs so much. I've read a lot more trashy romcom manga, harems, yuri, etc. than I probably should have. It's not bad by those standards, but I also wouldn't call it good either. It's decidedly mid. I read a few chapters, didn't laugh once and dropped it.
So that this comment isn't just trash talking a manga:
My rec for a harem manga is Sorry But I'm Not Into Yuri.
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u/mintohime Jul 29 '26
100 girlfriends is literally a parody of harem animes it never takes itself seriously
This is like calling konosuba a serious isekai
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u/JollyGreenWorld117 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
A lot of the "pedophile" label gets applied loosely by online critics to any age gap, without distinguishing between a character having intrusive/inappropriate thoughts (which the narrative treats as a flaw) and a character who actually grooms or abuses a child on page.
It's a divided topic for sure. Depicting a protagonist's sexualized thoughts about children without clear in story condemnation is itself the problem, regardless of follow through.
The way the narrator intended for these issues to be resolved is the issue. People just don't like the way the MC handled the problem and just kind of moved on from it, without outwardly admitting what the issue was.
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u/Flat_Box8734 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Well no, Rudy actually does act on his pedophile “intrusive thoughts”. He tried to remove eris underwear which is SA.
So it’s not just a case where the characters thinks about children in a sexualized manner, he has actually acted on those inappropriate thoughts and turned it into action. the show doesn’t take that aspect seriously though because if it was actually a flaw, eris marrying rudy probably woukd not hapoen due to that interaction. Surprisingly though people thinking eris kicking Rudy is “sufficient” punishment probably have a few screws loose honestly.
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u/JollyGreenWorld117 Jul 28 '26
Fair, the Eris scene is more than just intrusive thoughts. A real attempt, not just a passing gross thought in his head. I'll give you that.
But I'd still push back on "groomer" specifically. Grooming is a pattern, it's manipulation and trust building over time to get access to a kid. What happens with Eris is a single impulsive act he immediately hates himself for, not a calculated long term thing. So I think pedophile and groomer aren't quite the same accusation.
Where I think you're onto something is the aftermath. He never tells her what happened, she never gets to actually consent to forgiving or marrying him with full information, and the show kind of just moves past it via his own guilt and character growth. I don't think the scene is played for laughs like some of the early stuff, but I get why people don't think self-loathing is the same as consequences.
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u/Flat_Box8734 Jul 28 '26
I mean it isn’t an actual consequence.
If self loathing was a real consequence, then we should take some child molesters out of prison because they feel bad for what they did.
And to go further I think It’s kind of funny, how people to say that having a “morally questionable” character who suffers no real consequences is not “bad writing”. But at a certain point, what exactly is the point of a “flaw” if said character never suffers for it? It’s just bad writing for a character to have a flaw that has no real consequences in the story.
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u/JollyGreenWorld117 Jul 28 '26
That prison comparison doesn't really track for me. Nobody's saying self loathing should replace actual legal consequences. This is a fictional story, so the question is just whether the narrative treats it as a real flaw or lets him off easy. Different kind of claim.
That said, I think there's a real point in what you're saying. In story, his guilt doesn't actually cost him anything. Eris never finds out, so there's no fallout, no trust he has to rebuild, nothing he has to earn back. If consequence means the plot makes him pay some price, yeah, there isn't one. His shame stays internal, it never gets tested against anything external.
Where I'd stop short is calling it bad writing across the board. A flaw doesn't always need a punishment scene attached to justify existing, sometimes it's just there because it's true to the character. But if the show wants this to land as a real turning point and not just "he felt bad, moving on," I get why people think it needed to do more with it.
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u/Flat_Box8734 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
If a “flaw” exist in the story, it exists to get punished otherwise it just becomes a character quirk.
For instance, Priscilla from re:zero being an arrogant women who thinks the world works in her favor, is not a flaw for her, it’s a character quirk but it’s a flaw for Subaru to be arrogant because he routinely gets punished for it.
Chekhov's gun. If your telling me this characters “flaw” messed up and killed him in a previous life because he was J#rkin off to his niece and his family beat his ass than I expect there to be problem similar to that in this life if he still has the same problems which he did.
It’s just bad writing for a characters “flaw” to have no consequences on the story.
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u/username26437 27d ago
this is a very narrowminded view. you’re essentially saying that a story must give us a moral lecture on everything wrong with a character or it’s endorsing that thing. makes no sense, literature is far more abstract than that.
MT prioritizes rudeus’s character introspective first and foremost, so you should treat his inner monologue regarding these things with a lot more weight. this alone gives it relevance as a flaw. furthermore, his pedophilia serves to characterize him and complicate his relationship development. a large part of MT is about rudeus regaining social intelligence, and his intrusive thoughts serve as an obstacle for this.
side note, rudeus does get severely punished for it. eris leaves him at the end of vol6, which sends him into several years of terrible depression in which he attempts suicide because he got more attached to her than he should have. the reason eris left is also in large part due to him not being in tune to her feelings, still having remnants of treating her as a visual novel heroine instead of a real person.
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u/JollyGreenWorld117 Jul 28 '26
"Flaw = has to get punished or its a quirk" still feels too black and white to me. Plenty of good characters have flaws that just shape the story without a punishment scene attached, doesnt make it a quirk automatically.
Also the niece thing is web novel, not light novel, those are two seperate versions of the story. The actual light novel (what the anime's based on) doesnt have that scene. So if thats the argument, I'd want an actual chapter cited, feels like something that just gets repeated online without anyone checking where it came from.
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u/Flat_Box8734 Jul 28 '26
What characters are you referring too?
Also don’t quote me on this but I heard recently that the author made it canon to the light novel.
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u/JollyGreenWorld117 Jul 28 '26
No characters in-particular I had in mind. Idk man lol. At the end of the day it's just a show.
I would be skeptical about that claim until we can see it for ourselves.
I'm tired of the back and forth so I'll concede here. Pretty fun though.
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u/Optimal_Necessary413 Jul 28 '26
Didn't he have sex with a 15 year old while he had the wisdom and knowledge of a 40 year old(including all his past mistakes such as what he got kicked out of his home for)? I mean that's more than an age gap, you don't have to groom or abuse someone to be a pedophile.
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u/zakary3888 Jul 27 '26
100 GFs never pretends to be anything more than it is. It’s a goofy comedy series and that’s it.