Mushoku Tensei Hides a Clever Hoshi no Samidare Reference in Oldeus’ Line

Finally, in Episode 12, we got the conversation between Rudeus and Oldeus. Honestly, this was something I expected to happen in the previous episode, so I’ll admit my hype for this episode died down a little.

Anyway, during their conversation, Oldeus and Rudeus brought up a few things from the real world, including Hollywood and anime. And Oldeus also dropped a reference that not everyone may have caught.

Oldeus Referenced Hoshi no Samidare

At one point during their conversation, Oldeus says:

“You read this in a manga, remember? People who talk talk about trust easily are exactly the ones who deceive others.”

At first, the line might seem like just another reference to the real world during their conversation, but there’s a very specific detail hiding behind it.

The author of Mushoku Tensei, Rifujin na Magonote, explained on Twitter that the manga mentioned by Oldeus is Hoshi no Samidare, known in Brazil as Lúcifer e o Martelo.

The Exact Line Really Appears in the Manga

And this wasn’t just a vague reference.

The exact same idea appears at one point in Hoshi no Samidare, making it even clearer that Oldeus’ line was a direct homage to the work of Satoshi Mizukami.

The author of Mushoku Tensei then explained the situation on Twitter:

“I may have never said this anywhere, so let me make it clear again:

‘You read this in a manga, remember? People who casually talk about trust are exactly the ones who deceive others.’

The ‘manga’ mentioned in Oldeus’ line is Hoshi no Samidare (Lúcifer e o Martelo).

Please give Hoshi no Samidare a chance!”

And it didn’t stop there.

Satoshi Mizukami, the author of Hoshi no Samidare (Lúcifer e o Martelo), shared the Mushoku Tensei author’s tweet and added a comment of his own, thanking him for the mention.

Satoshi said:

“Thank you for following me. It looks like I’ll be able to avoid having to apologize by cutting my own throat and making it rain blood.

Ahhh, I’m glad I drew this. And I was also able to read Mushoku Tensei…”

I love this kind of reference.

It’s the sort of detail that completely flies over the heads of people who don’t know the original work, but makes the scene even cooler for those who catch it.

And considering that Hoshi no Samidare is such a different work from Mushoku Tensei, I thought it was really cool to discover that Oldeus’ line was hiding such a specific reference.