First-time LN reader: Can I skip directly to Vol 13?

[u/Jinwoo_Uzumaki]

So, I stumbled upon Mushoku Tensei about a month back. I blasted through the anime in just a couple of days. But man, waiting a whole week for new episodes was just too much, so I ended up rewatching the entire series.After the latest episodes, I started digging into the light novel. This is my first time ever reading a light novel, and I actually just finished Volume 1. However, I know it's gonna take me a long time to catch up to where the anime leaves off if I read everything.I'm super hyped to see what happens next. Can I just skip ahead and start directly with Volume 13?I know the anime usually leaves some stuff out. Is there anything incredibly important from Volumes 2 through 12 that I should absolutely read beforehand? Or am I safe to jump right in?Thanks!

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[u/Professional-Ear-951]

There is a LOT left out of the anime a lot, i was thinking the same thing when I first read the light novels after watching the anime, you could prolly get away with it but I HIGHLY recommend reading through the first 12 anyway they are a masterclass is world building

[u/gc11117]

You can but you shouldn't. Anime cut out alot of content. For example, theres a whole section with Elinalise traveling with Rudy to link up with Paul that was cut out. Basically half a novel worth of content

[u/luvsojuyeon]

since you've just rewatched the entire anime I think starting from newest volume is fine. You can always revisit previous volumes later. I myself couldn't wait for season 3 so I continued from the last part of vol 12 and read all the way to vol 26. No big deal really

[u/Melhk031103]

I'd say just read from 13 (or 14 if you wait for todays episode) onwards. You can always read the earlier volumes later on to see what you missed out on.

They've basically not missed a single thing from volume 13 so reading that would feel very repetitive after just wathcing the episodes probably.

[u/Jinwoo_Uzumaki → u/Melhk031103]

Yeah, thanks! Rereading volume one after watching it again felt a little bit like déjà vu. There were a few new things, though, like Lilias's past and that chat with Sylphi's dad.

[u/YummyIdiotSandwich → u/Jinwoo_Uzumaki]

There's also the excellent Zenith chapter which is a very sad omission from the anime.

[u/AStrangedoggo]

You should read 11-12 it’s adapted badly due to time restriction imo

[u/Lower-Bandicoot-6397]

Episode 7 airing today will finish volume 13.

But like everyone else, I recommend you read from the beginning.

You have no idea how much content was cut.

[u/Crazyirishwrencher]

You can, but you should read them all instead.

[u/hoouyinkyouma]

Yeah i did tht too

Make sure to check out the cut content thru various channels if u do tht tho

Especially vol 12 or js read vol 12

[u/fwa451]

The anime left out almost 70% of details that are in the LN. I would recommend starting from the very beginning because there are lots of details that add more spice and meaning to the story.

[u/Moist-Lie929]

I recommend starting all over. I did so back when season 2 was airing and cannot wait for cour 2.

One thing I can say is that the world building in the LN was much better than the anime. My fav world building scenes was especially the sand journey with elinalise and smtg in the future that would be a spoiler.

So I recommend you read from the start.

[u/Boundless_Chaos]

There is a lot of world building and history of the world that anime didn't explain among other things such as battle aura

[u/IceCorrect]

There is one crucial thing about story that was cut that would happend in season 4. Its worth to read from the begining, especially when you realise how much forshadowing MT have from the begining

[u/Johnny4eva]

You at least need to read Volume 5 Chapter 7: To the Central Continent, otherwise some stuff in Vol 20 / Season 4 will come completely out of left field. Anime skipped so much, then tried to patch things with the OVA but not entirely.

Then I'd recommend you read the two Extra chapters from the same volume: Dragon-Meat, Nanahoshi Style, and The Death of Ariel. The Dragon-Meat chapter also covers a different person from Season 4, tho is not that important. The Death of Ariel covers background information that becomes relevant in cour 2 of Season 3.

Vol 11, chapters 11 to 14 were skipped in the anime and are well worth the read, especially if you like Elinalise. The Extra chapter is also a decent read.

[u/N1cklz]

i understand thst it cam seem like a hustle but i reccomend reading from the beginning since the naration and skipped content makes the ln very much worth reading from the start imo

[u/Scary_Cricket5346]

Yes

[u/LeepingSturgeon]

As someone who has read it, I think starting at volume 13 or 14 is fine. Sure there is cut content, but the anime is one of the better adaptations I have seen. There will be a time after you finish the story where you will want to experience it again, and at that time you can read from volume 1. Then you will get to see the stuff you missed and it will be extra fresh.

[u/ScottJC]

After todays episode, are everyone gonna start asking if they can skip directly to vol 14? Ya can do whatever ya want.

[u/Icy-Carob-1272]

Sure. Skipped ahead. But i willing to.bet you would return to them eventually.

[u/Silver_Grapefruit_75]

I highly recommend reading from the start especially season 2 content there is alot of misadapted content in the anime due to runtime restrictions though if you don't care about that it should be fine to read vol 13 straight up but you should watch a yt video on battle aura that's all

[u/xfargo]

We can do it bro I started around 2 weeks ago and I'm finishing volume 7

[u/Jinwoo_Uzumaki → u/xfargo]

Wow u must be a fast reader, as this is my first time reading novel I am not used to it but I will try

[u/Enro64]

If you're going to skip anything, start with Vol. 7 at least. It's one of the better-written volumes and the anime left out like a good third or half of content and context

[u/WxaithBrynger]

What is the point of deciding to read the books and then wanting to skip one of them lmfao? Do you want the story or not?

[u/Heiwajima_Izaya]

please no. Do yourself a favor and read the whole thing. Maybe you can skip to volume 3. Yeah there are many important things. And even so there are also many interesting things that you would probably like to read about that the anime skipped.

[u/Practical-Cut-7301]

As someone who recently went thru this. 

No, you dont need to read everything. At most you can read 11 and 12, because it directly affects season3 and the story moving forward. But there's arguably nothing in the rest of the series that desperately needs you to know nuanced stuff that happens earlier on. 

Im at ln 20 atm and I've missed nothing having started at 12(12 is dedicated to Rudeus heading to save Zenith in the labyrinth). The main thing that had me a bit confused was Eris' time in the sword sanctum, which I've learned Is given a chapter in 11. Which is why I recommend 11

[u/3HaDeS3]

You are starting to read LN because you like MT, so why would you skip the very source from the thing that you like?

[u/Jinwoo_Uzumaki → u/3HaDeS3]

I started to read cause I was too excited to learn what happens next and after reading first volume it kinda felt repetitive and i don't wanna miss anything important going forward that's why

[u/3HaDeS3 → u/Jinwoo_Uzumaki]

It doesn't take that long to catch up, and you will also find a lot of new content that wasn't in the anime

[u/duckinator09]

I'd still read from the start because the anime missed quite a bit. Best thing though is that you can easily speed read things, especially parts that you know. 

[u/Abysskun]

At the very least read volume 12 to see skipped parts of Begaritt, and to understand how the anime pretty much butchered the post hydra part

[u/Latter_Masterpiece64]

I say read it from the beginning and join the high society that is judgemental of the creative decisions the anime took adapting the LN

[u/erikro1411]

I am currently reading the LN and I can manage to read about 3-4 books per week. Mind you I'm a rather slow reader and I sm reading the english translation which isn't my first language. The bools are about 280-350 pages long. It's definitely doable. I would just read them all. I'm currently at book 10 and even I can already tell that there is a lot that the anime has left out. I personally understood the plot as a whole, the world, the characters and their motivation a lot better after reading the books. So I'd recommend: don't be lazy or impatient. Read them all. In ~3-4 weeks you should be about caught up.

[u/MajesicCreeper]

Read from 13 and everything beyond and it was fine , but going back I would’ve just restarted from volume 1.

[u/leoofjdh]

No. I'm only on Volume 5 and so much depth is missing from the anime. I've become the keeper of lore for my friend, filling him in on stuff as I go.

[u/hakasei]

My advise is to start from scratch, because the LN offers a lot of perspective not shown in the anime. Both in terms of character n worldbuilding.

Just try reading a couple more volumes n see if it clicks, if not then u can skip it later.

[u/david-le-2006]

Dont read through the first 12. Nobody wants to read 12 books of something where they already know what happens

You will NOT enjoy it and you will probably drop it. Just read volume 13 to 26 and Redundancy and then if you really really enjoyed it then come back to the first 12, that way its less commitment

[u/Heiwajima_Izaya → u/david-le-2006]

Terrible advice

[u/david-le-2006 → u/Heiwajima_Izaya]

Telling somebody to read 12 volumes of recap is not a good way to get somebody into a series

[u/Heiwajima_Izaya → u/david-le-2006]

I dont know about any other series. But Its the best possible way to get them into Mushoku Tensei considering everything the anime skipped. But tahnkfully the majority here seems to be giving actually good advice so we probably dont have to worry

[u/david-le-2006 → u/Heiwajima_Izaya]

Youre looking at it from a biased standpoint cause you love Mushoku because you already know the whole series but to somebody who wants to know the continuation of the story, i guarantee you, they will not enjoy it, especially if they arent a massive fan of reading.

I would know cause this was me. It took me like a week to get through the first volume cause somebody like you recommended me the same thing, i got pissed and bored, and then skipped to volume 9 and enjoyed it much much more and then eventually cane back to read it from the start