The Beginning After the End Initial Overview
A month ago, Aaron and I were talking on Discord about the then-upcoming spring 2025 season of anime. Somewhere in the conversation, he brought up an upcoming isekai anime that, he claimed, could be bigger than Solo Leveling. It was called The Beginning After the End, and it was something that I had vaguely recalled hearing about. Despite being skeptical about his claims, they still intrigued me. Thus, I found myself jumping online and binge-reading through the webcomic that the anime would be adapting. Within a few days, I had read through the majority of the chapters currently out. And, while I still remain skeptical about its ability to be better than Solo Leveling, I do think The Beginning After the End is a good read.
A Western Isekai
Firstly, let us clarify some things: while The Beginning After the End, or TBATE, has gotten an anime adaptation, it doesn’t originate from Japan. In fact, its author, who goes by the moniker TurtleMe, is American. He’s been writing the ongoing TBATE web novel since 2017, with the webcomic coming a year later. If you want to check out the latest chapters, find them on Tapas, or join his Patreon for early access.
As its name suggests, The Beginning After the End is an isekai, and it begins with an essential moment in the protagonist’s life: his death. The protagonist, Grey, was a man who had risen to become the King of his nation on a potential future version of Earth. However, his life was miserable, with his status as King depriving him of any family or friends. Worse, it gets cut short in his mid-thirties by a death so sudden, not even he knows why he died. Being an isekai, his death only means he gets reincarnated into another world filled with swords and magic. While initially unhappy with being a baby in such a medieval setting, Grey, now going by Arthur Leywin, soon sees the second chance he’s been given. Thus, he resolves to make sure his new life is everything that his old one isn’t. IE, one filled with warmth and kindness and surrounded by the friends and family he never really had his first time around.
This is Not Like Rudeus…mostly.
If the synopsis sounds similar to Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, there’s a good reason. In an interview with IGN, TurtleMe said that Mushoku Tensei was one of the biggest inspirations behind The Beginning After the End. Both center around a protagonist who had an unhappy first life before suffering from a premature death. Both are reborn as babies to loving parents in a world dominated by the use of magic and medieval technology. And both use their prior knowledge to help them get ahead in life in order to ensure they live their new lives to the fullest. While some may see this as TurtleMe merely copying Mushoku Tensei’s formula, there are several differences that become apparent as time passes.
Firstly, while they both had similarly unhappy lives and premature deaths, Arthur is radically different from Rudeus. Rudeus had plenty of chances to better himself and open up to others in his first life and wasted them. While Grey also chose to cut himself off from others past a certain point, it was so he couldn’t be manipulated by others once he became king, leaving him little choice in the matter. In addition, there’s how both see their families in their new lives. Rudeus never considered Paul and Zenith his parents until after Paul’s death, something he regrets. In contrast, Arthur initially keeps his distance due to not knowing what familial love is due to being an orphan in his first life. Once he understands the feeling, though, he doesn’t hesitate to consider Alice and Reynolds his mom and dad and becomes fiercely protective of them.
Secondly, while their plots start off similiarly, past a certain point, TBATE diverges from Mushoku Tensei. While Mushoku Tensei will come to encompass this grand plot involving the future for the world, it remains largely focused on the life of Rudeus and his growing family. In contrast, Arthur begins to find himself involved in a conflict that’s bigger than he ever thought possible. The kind of conflict that has the potential to end the world if things go bad. Rudeus will go on to fight great battles in the future, but none will be on the scale of what Arthur and his allies will come to face.
Lastly, and this is the most important part, is the fact that Arthur is nowhere near as flawed as Rudeus was starting out. In other words, Arthur is not as h**ny as Rudeus can be. In fact, that can apply to the entire world of TBATE. They’re nowhere near down bad as Rudeus’ new world is!
There’s Always the Web Novel and Comic
I can’t reveal anything further regarding the plot of TBATE without spoiling things. However, while the anime might not be as good as it could be, I do still think that the webcomic is worth the read. If you want to give it a shot yourself, then I highly recommend going to TAPAS and helping to support TurtleMe. He’s also got a patreon where he releases chapters of the web novel early. I might end up supporting him myself if it means he can keep making this story.
