How good is mushoku tensei actually?

Analysis/Review#1:

"Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu"; is possibly one of the most polarizing series of this year for various reasons which have generated a lot of controversy. That said, is Mushoku tensei a good series? Without further ado, let's find out:

Starting with the plot, I have to clarify that this series differs from its genre by the approach it gives to its thematic exploration. This thematic exploration consists of a more personal approach and similar to a "coming of age" than a fantasy of self-insertion, which in part would be something positive if not for its very superfluous execution.

The series is about a man who wasted his life by always blaming others for his failures and not wanting to keep trying to do something productive with it. When he dies he ends up reincarnated in an infant who preserves all his memories of his past life, having as a clear goal to take his life seriously and not waste it a second time. Now what is the problem with this? The problem lies in its own premise because while I like the idea and the intentions it has, they ended up being hypocritical in the long run once you think about it carefully. Because in real life there will be no "second chances" since one must face his life and NOT escape from it.

You could argue that I am being arbitrary in criticizing the series for its premise itself, to which I would respond that it is more for its execution. To prove my starting point I would say that the series leaves the protagonist on a golden flag tools to make life easier for him, by giving himself a loving family, an innate talent with magic and having a noble family inheritance. Making your message about "striving in life" lose some meaning and end up being convenient in this section.

I think that this could have been executed in a better way if a more pragmatic approach had been taken, by putting its protagonist in a much less beneficial and complicated situation, where he realizes that being reborn does not solve anything about your life, so that the message of the series would give a true teaching with a greater meaning.

It's not like it's a complete waste of themes, because frankly it isn't the case. The series also deals with certain topics competently, to give a clear example would be the occasion in which the series shows that just because you are not good at something, it doesn't mean that you should give up and not keep trying to improve yourself. Demonstrating that the fact that certain things are difficult for us means that we have room to mature and improve, giving real meaning to our actions. This ends up giving a simple but good message, which ends up having a considerable impact in the characters. If I had to conclude with how the series deals with its themes, I would say that it's not horrible but frankly it leaves a lot to be desired in this section because of how convenient, hypocritical and superficial that ends up being the execution.

Speaking of its plot as such, I would say that there is not much emphasis on the story for its pseudo-episodic format but at least I will give it the credit that although there is no very clear objective during the show, it at least ends up having a good justification for why it's an isekai in the first place (Not that this scores points but at least it's something I appreciate). For most of the time it's a slice of life, so not much really happens, being only until near the end of its first season that we get to see a conflict on a larger scale.
This means that its not pretty interesting for the most part, and it is remarkable how mundane the series is.

Its magic system and world building, although they are not bad, I would say that they are very generic, being too simple and even monotonous in certain cases. But at least, I can say that the progression of the protagonist in his magic training is carried out in a rather gradual way and doesn't end up being convenient, avoiding that in the end the protagonist always wins or is the most powerful character due to asspulls taken out of nowhere, making there more tension during the few battles the show features. (Edit: This was written before season 2 and it literally quite fucks up what i just said...)

When it comes to talking the main cast of characters, there is not much to say about them, they surely have a marked characterization and personality but there is not much insight into them, except for certain exceptions such as the protagonist. Because they are simply archetypes, they are neither remarkable nor endearing. They are mostly poorly written and in top of that most of them don't serve a purpose.

Speaking of its protagonist, this turns out to be the most interesting character, since the series gives him more insight than the rest of the cast. On the good side, I would say that this makes for a descent introspection into his character, but this also carries certain problems. The main one being that there was no need to show his past in such an exaggerated way, because it is simply counterproductive to the point of making us empathize with him, since it is due to the exaggeration of this that ends up being not only cartoonish but also as mere cheap victimization that ends up making it difficult for us to sympathize with his situation.

The other aspect would be how the anime never really shows his true change, since no matter how much they insist that he is now a better person now, the attitude with which the character is presented throughout the series is simply counterproductive with the point of this. I mean those times when the Rudeus does something lewd, end up being contradictory because they only prove how degenerate the character continues to be. Which is more disturbing if you remember that this child is someone who is actually an adult who is aware of his actions. This leads to the series being too condescending with its attitudes and the unfolding of its redemption. Since the excuse that is presented to us is that by having the body of a child, everyone thinks that he does not know what he is doing, so the guy never suffers any significant consequence for such actions.

Talking about the most controversial aspect of the series, its "fanservice and use of comedy" that ended up arousing much repudiation in the people who saw this series. And it is not surprising to see why, because it is very degenerate, to the degree that it seems as if it reflects certain fetishes of the author. The worst thing about it is that the series tries to be "self aware" about it, but instead of criticizing those horrible habits, the series justo... glorifies them to a certain degree.
Which makes the series even more pretentious by trying to pretend to be more than a self-insert fantasy for people with fetishes such as: promiscuity, pedofilia, etc. (You get the point)

The production values ​​are simply excellent; art and movement are too expressive, vivid and fluid. The backgrounds are detailed, the color palette has a paste-like tone that ends up playing quite well and the kinesthesia and effects they use on certain occasions are simply impressive. As a catch I would say that the character designs are somewhat generic and that the drawing tends to be very simple at times but even with that the animation is very good. The acoustic in general is quite detailed and the soundtrack fits very well with the setting, although I would say that it is not very remarkable in its use, being that there are very few memorable tracks but even with that it is still something component.

In conclusion: Mushoku tensei is a series that has truly remarkable ambitions and intentions but these are diminished when seeing how its elements and execution end up contradicting each other, resulting in a work with a lot of potential but incompetent in the long run, so in the end It results in not only a disappointment but also in a bad series.