Mushoku Tensei, baby. We all know it, we all love it. At least the first season. Up until now, Mushoku Tensei has always been defined in my mind similarly to Game of Thrones: the undisputable greatest in its genre, despite its many flaws. Unfortunately in Season 2, its status as the greatest suddenly becomes very much disputable as its shortcomings evolve from minor mishaps to thematic catastrophies, and the elements that elevated it above all other isekais disappear faster than Rudy's erectile capacities.

Firstly, let's just get this out of the way: Rudeus Greyrat is a piece of shit. He is not "morally gray" as his last name might suggest and many fans claim, he is a complete scumbag. Not because he is horny, but because he is utterly reprehensible. It's very easy to forget that he's not actually Rudeus; he is a 30 year old man born in modern Japan that is roleplaying as Rudeus, and decided that slavery and pedophilia are okay. His reprehensibility works in his favor as a character in a very unique way in Season 1 because every time he starts acting up too much, he gets his ass beat, gets put in his place, and he learns from it to better himself and grow as a human being. His growth isn't voluntary, it's forced upon him by life; just like in the real world.

This does not happen in Season 2. Rudeus acts up. He does some stupid, terrible shit. And he gets away with it with minimal consequences. Quite a few times. To continue my Game of Thrones analogy, it would be like if Theon Greyjoy skipped his Reek arc and kept raping and pillaging and being terrible with zero consequences for the rest of the show. Which is infuriating, because suddenly any justification for "moral grayness" gets thrown out the window. Moral grayness works because the grayness reflects the grayness of our own world. But if that grayness only exists to satiate the author's greed for edginess or to refute the existence of white and black, completely throwing out any semblance of realism or groundedness, then suddenly it's nothing but an empty, self-insert power fantasy for the author to write about getting women and being the strongest while pretending to be deep.

And it's not just Rudeus that's morally reprehensible: it's the entire season. Sexism and objectification of women are such low-hanging fruit that I won't even go after them, but they're generally pretty bad, and have been pretty bad even in the last season to be entirely honest. But slavery??? You just gonna put that in there for an episode, pretend everything is fine, and carry on like nothing happened???

I'm not pretending that depicting problematic things automatically makes a show problematic; it doesn't. However, doing so requires a certain degree of responsibility and care that is entirely non-existent in this show. Depicting things that are undeniably morally pitch black as gray, or even white, without attempting any sort of social commentary, does make a show extremely problematic. Slavery may have been normal at the time, but it is also one of the greatest evils of the human race, and failing to even try to put that perspective into your story is utterly incompetent and irresponsible. Your story can take place in the most barbaric, backwards setting you can imagine, but no matter what, all people in that setting are human beings that reflect those in real life, and you as a writer owe it to your characters, your audience, and yourself as a writer to represent those people fairly and justly.

That's the worst of it, but undoubtedly the first season also has quite a few bones for me to pick with. However, I don't do that, because elevating the first season and overshadowing its flaws are incredible animation, great character writing (as long as the characters are rich powerful white men), and captivating world-building.

Two of these three protective shields staving off my criticism are not at all there in this season, while the third is only present in a greatly weakened state. The first season had countless breathtaking shots and fights, where even the most mundane of everyday happenings was gorgeous and immersive. Fight scenes were eye-boggling, spells were beautiful, and every frame truly felt like a painting.

I struggle to remember even a single moment in this season that maintains this standard.

Rudeus' reunion with his father also made me cry, and I related heavily to both of their struggles with insecurity and to prove themselves. In Season 2, the peak of character writing is an arc revolving around Erectile Dysfunction, and Sylphie, the single sweetest and most precious character in all of anime who inexplicably falls in love with this travesty of a rat human being.

The immersive world remains this series' one saving grace, as we meet new characters from different races and political factions and experience jaw-dropping revelations centering around Nanahoshi and the nature of reincarnation and the Mass Teleportation, all executed in a brilliantly sequenced and emotional reveal in Episode 9 that was only as effective as it was because of the painstaking set-up and non-stop meticulous detail maintained for the past 32 episodes.

Mushoku Tensei is still widely hailed as one of the greatest isekais of all time, but after this season, I am struggling to understand why. Its blatant flaws spiral out of control as the glamour that concealed them in the last season disappears, transforming it into a barely-held-together string of mindless lust, senseless edginess and power-drunk fantasy. I could stomach most of its bs in the first season, but now, it's testing the limits of my patience.

I'll still watch cour 2 though. Probably.