Over the last decade, the Isekai genre has undoubtedly caught on and become quite popular. While this genre was always massive in Japan, fans overseas have gotten hooked on the otherworldly genre as well. When speaking about iconic isekai series, we usually think of Sword Art Online, That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime, and Re:Zero. However, recently, a new, incredibly popular isekai series that has been rising in popularity is Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation.
Mushoku Tensei experienced a lot of success, but its newest season has been struggling, as its new fourth episode debuted with a low score of 6.6 due to its controversial nature and questionable topics. The series is now recovering rating-wise, but compared to other series like Re:Zero, it has proven to be quite underwhelming.
Mushoku Tensei Season 3 Episode 4 Debuts with A 6.6/10 IMDb Score, Marking New Low For Season 3
Mushoku Tensei was originally a web novel by Japanese creator Rifujin na Magonote, which made its debut on November 22, 2012, before concluding on April 3, 2015. The web novel was undoubtedly popular, and because of that, the series went on to get a wide array of new adaptations, including a manga release, but most importantly, a TV anime series by Studio Bind, which is rather small and not known for many hits beyond Jobless Reincarnation.
The TV anime series first debuted on January 11, 2021, with Season 1, and it then continued on July 3, 2023, with the second season. Now, in 2026, we finally got the release of the third and latest season after three years of waiting. On July 4, 2026, Mushoku Tensei Season 3 made its debut in a stunning manner, with 2 episodes released at once.
At first, it was undeniable that the series itself had gotten an upgrade with the third season. At the very least, animation-wise, Mushoku Tensei Season 3 looks like an upgrade after the disappointment of the second season, which was notorious for quality dips in certain episodes. However, despite that, the ratings haven’t all been positive, especially with the latest Episode 4, which was released on July 19, 2026 in Japan, and almost immediately after globally.
Mushoku Tensei Season 3 Episode 4, titled Suio-kyu Majutsu-shi, made its debut on IMDb with one of the lowest scores of the whole franchise, amounting to 6.6/10. It was definitely a shocking score for a franchise of this scale, but in big part, it was because of fan dissatisfaction. This new episode had its fair share of controversial content. While that isn’t exactly new for the Mushoku Tensei series, and the Isekai genre as a whole, it left an off-putting taste in many fans’ mouths, leading to fans rating it a 1/10 or a 2/10.
Mushoku Tensei Season 3 Struggles To Maintain High Ratings Despite Some Recovery
Since Mushoku Tensei Season 3 Episode 4’s debut, ratings have definitely gone back up. At the moment, the same episode is sitting at 7.8 out of 10 with 4.1K overall ratings. In part, the rating has gone back up because of many dedicated fans believing the series had actually been review-bombed, so to counter that, they have started leaving 10/10 ratings, even if they believe the episode itself doesn’t deserve that. So, in many ways, this new rating is most certainly skewed.
Regardless, even with that, the Mushoku Tensei series as a whole hasn’t been the best rated in general. With over 50 episodes in total at the moment, the series only has three episodes rated over a 9/10. In general, the scores of this franchise tend to sit around 7.5 out of 10. In itself, that score might not seem bad, but on IMDb, many anime series regularly crack the 9 out of 10 with spectacular episodes and story writing. For example, Re:Zero, another Isekai, released its 4th season and had 8 episodes rated over 9/10, with the other episodes also hovering around in the high 8s. 2 of these episodes even have a near-perfect score of 9.9/10.
Even on MyAnimeList, Mushoku Tensei, when compared to some other series, doesn’t feature a top rating. Its first season has a score of 8.32/10, its second season’s first part is rated 8.2/10, while the second part is rated slightly better, at 8.6/10. On MAL, its third season stands as its highest rated yet at 8.8/10, but it’s nowhere near the highest rated anime series of this year, let alone all time.
Mushoku Tensei’s Future And Other Projects In Store
Mushoku Tensei Season 3 has just started airing, and because of that, the series still has quite a long run ahead in 2026. At the moment, we have confirmation that Mushoku Tensei Season 3 will span over 27 episodes, which is quite similar to its previous seasons featuring longer-than-usual anime TV season installments. However, we know that the season will be split into two cours, with the first and currently ongoing one being 14 episodes long. At the moment, we don’t know when the first cour is ending, and when the second will start. It seems that the second cour is set for a 2027 release, giving us Mushoku Tensei content two years in a row.
The fate of the series after that is currently unknown. We don’t know if Mushoku Tensei is getting a fourth season, but given the overall popularity of the anime, we would be surprised if it didn’t. Despite the controversies surrounding many of the plot points of Mushoku Tensei, the series is still quite successful compared to other isekai. Based on the most recent numbers, the series seems to have 18 million copies worldwide in circulation.
However, in 2026, it must be noted that the series was outdone by otherworldly anime, notably Re:Zero Season 4. Re:Zero’s third season became Isekai of the Year at the 2026 Crunchyroll Awards of 2026.
Its newest season, Season 4, went on to become the highest-rated anime season of the year and the second-highest-rated anime of all time on MAL, just behind Frieren. It did so by obtaining a score of 9.16/10, far ahead of Mushoku Tensei Season 3. Re:Zero’s score is expected to grow further moving forward as the season continues.
With that in mind, we expect Re:Zero to beat out Mushoku Tensei at the Crunchyroll Awards once more as the Best Isekai Of The Year, and we believe the former more than deserves the title with its incredible new arc, as well as the direction and production of the anime. Mushoku Tensei might be popular, but it definitely doesn’t seem like it’s taking the Isekai crown home anytime soon with juggernauts like Re:Zero around.
Source: IMDb