Mushoku Tensei is one of the greatest pieces of media put together in recent years. It exceeds at everything it set itself to achieve, from the characters, story, world-building, animation, etc. This world is alive, and more importantly the protagonist and you are alive.
I put emphasis in you as alive, because the main character of this show, Rudeus, is somebody most people watching this show identifies little bits of themselves in Rudy. You don’t need to be a degenerate in every sense of the world to put yourself in Rudy’s shoes. Because Rudy encapsulates all the despicable things a loser represents. But the world gave him a second chance, a new opportunity to reflect on himself and what he wants to be as a person.
To comment briefly on the world-building, earlier I mentioned that the world feels alive, and that is because of how the story progresses, every now and then we get glimpses of how the rest of the world is moving, be it political conflicts, secondary characters reuniting with each other, new threats making their moves. This gives the feeling that the events in the story are not triggered by Rudy showing up.
Another amazing aspect of Mushoku Tensei is the story and how it is told. We get to see Rudy reincarnate as a newborn, adapting himself to the new world and grow into adolescence in the course of 24 episodes. This detail alone makes Mushoku Tensei stand up among its peers, since it no longer gives this impression that the world accommodates to him, like we see in other shows of the same genre.
The characters and their role in the story are somewhat unpredictable, Mushoku Tensei introduces several characters to the story and sets up game pieces that you expect will have a pay-off but in the end, it turns into nothing. This doesn’t mean the show wastes characters or plot-devices, rather strengths the narrative built around this fantasy world that nobody has their life for granted, there are so many unexpected, and expected, twists that every piece of information thrown at you excites you for what is to possibly come.

Personally, my favorite aspect of Mushoku Tensei is the main character himself, Rudy, and what it represents. There are many messed up characters in this series, undoubtedly Rudy is the perfect representation of a failure. A truly broken person to the core, selfish, full of resentment and hatred to everyone around him. He is given a second chance to live, to make up for his mistakes, yet he doesn’t feel that way himself. Through the story we see how Rudy grows as a person, he still makes a lot of mistakes and will continue to do so. But eventually those small steps become into big ones. What is truly amazing about Rudy is how, even though he doesn’t realize it. He helps other people around him, by trying to become a better person himself, he encourages other people to strive for the same goal. That is the main message of Mushoku Tensei, no matter how many wrongs you have done to the world, or alternately, how many wrongs the world has done to you. It is never late to change yourself. Because as shown in the series by other characters, you don’t need to be reborn into a new world to make a small step towards a better future. Roxy visiting her parents in decades after neglecting them, Eris learning to be humble and caring about other people that are not herself, Sylphy overcoming her fears and becoming a powerful magician. Even Paul that is despised by many people by all the shitty things he has done in his past, as well as cheating on his wife, he still finds redemption, and the world doesn’t immediately forgive him, he shows humility and works hard enough so other people see he is willing to amend his mistakes. Finally, Rujierd, who has committed the most heinous acts you could ever imagine, to being able to break a 400 year old curse, because Rudy lent him a helping hand, he was able to make that small step towards change. ▶ Video This show is very powerful and I’m grateful it exists, so it motives other people that are at the bottom of the barrel to never give in to despair. There is always hope, there is always a brighter future ahead of you, doesn’t matter how bad you are, or how many sins you have committed. It is never late to take that small step towards recovery. Nevertheless you are going to have to work hard for that…