I’ve rarely been in this situation before when watching something. It feels like I'm playing Russian roulette with this anime, and half the time I'm losing. Mushoku Tensei is a beast of an anime to critique because there are just a lot of little details that I dislike about it. For every great thing, there is something stupid and infuriating to counteract it.
The writing in this anime is like eating a chocolate chip ice cream sundae with bits of rotten egg, expired mayo, and wasabi. Even if they are bits, those bits spoil the sundae and I cannot in good consciousness say it's the best sundae of all time. I wouldn't be watching this season if I didn't like things about MT’s previous season.
I like its setting, its visuals, its music, and its themes are poignant for an isekai. And some of the side character arcs are phenomenal,
Getting to the things I don't like, buckle up because this is a doozy.
STORY-
I don't like the pacing this season at all. The first 3 episodes had okay progression, followed by 6 episodes of nothing happening, episode 9 was the best at progressing the plot, and then the last 2 episodes were just bullcrap happening. A lot doesn't get accomplished in this season. Compare this to s1 where Rudy went to a lot of different locations, this season Rudy is at the tavern, then he goes to school and that's it. Rudy just forgets what his goal is for some reason and just ignores the external conflict that causes the plot to go on in the first place. What doesn't help the pacing is the painful attempts of halfhearted comedy, the basic romance plot line, and the lowbrow ecchi that does nothing for the story, speaking of which.
BLONDE THOT GIRL-
I don't like Elinalise. She is one of the reasons why the ecchi in this show annoys me to no end. I don’t like how her whole character is someone who is just there to have sex and that is it.
Before the MT fanbase comes for my head, my disdain for the overt fanservice and ecchi is NOT a case of me “virtue signaling”. It's not like I'm standing at a podium wearing a priest robe shouting “Sex is bad”. I like some dumb fun ecchi moments as much as the next bisexual guy. It's just that the way Mushoku does ecchi is …..shit. It's either really dumb, kinda problematic, or both. The fanservice is not subtle literally at all, and it feels like it only appeals to horny teenage boys and lolicons. At least when George R.R. Martin or Tatsuki Fujimoto puts sex into their stories, it gives more context to the characters or the setting they are in. But here it feels like characters being horny and having sex is the priority while the most important thing, yunno, the plot, and the setting, are second nature.
It's one step forward, two steps back with his character, I went from hating him in s1 to sympathizing with him before s2 started, and now… I just don't care about him at all, because the writing of his character is all over the fuckin place, dude. There is nothing for me to appreciate about Rudy because his actions are so wishy-washy, that I don't really support or hate him. He just does nothing for me.
WHY THE “DEPRESSION” ANGLE, DOES NOT WORK-
“No, but you don't understand, my guy, MT addresses very “impotent” themes like Rudeus’ mental depression which is profound for an anime in this genre”-Random Mushoku Fan
My problem with this statement is that it feels disingenuous because of how we are introduced to Rudy in season 1. Now, I don't want to sit here and devalue what other people take away from this anime. If this impotence character arc resonated with you, then that's okay. But let me explain why his character just does not work for me. I think the best way is to compare him with other characters in the same genre
SUBARU FUCKIN NATSUKI-
Say what you want about Rezero, but the creator of the show is very genuine with Subaru. He is depicted as being a delusional loser with next to no powers and the only powers he does have caused horrifying trauma.his previous life wasn't all that better, because of his depression and anxiety, but he still achieves most of his goals through his determination and the friends he makes.
Ugh, now looking back on Rudy Two Shoes, Rudeus as a character is still written halfheartedly like he was in season 1. Everyone on the block says that he is supposed to be trash but he gets better since this is a redemption story. But other people see him as this Chad anime protag who is already a great character. The writer wants to have it both ways with him, without giving him a humane level of vulnerability.
Subaru in Rezero starts out being depicted as an undesirable neet, and throughout the show, he is put in multiple situations that show just how helpless and weak he is and that fuels his development. And when he acts chivalrous he sometimes gets clowned on for it.
Rudeus starts out being depicted as an undesirable neet, and throughout the show, he is depicted as a super talented perverted prodigy child who acts kinda sassy, teaches a lot of people, and is well-loved. Yes, there are some moments throughout the series where Rudy shows weakness, but the rest of the time, he is just the stereotypical MC who casts high-powered spells, can see the freaking future, knows all the languages, gets a juicy body, stops bullies, ends slavery, and is respected by nearly everyone. So his moments of vulnerability or weakness are overshadowed by how idealized of an MC he is.
Rudy as a character is defined by the people around him. The writer wants to focus on the bonds Rudy has built on his journey, rather than his mental state, which was a great decision in S1p2, but in doing so, it makes the depiction of mental health very surface-level.
And it's just that Rudy being lonely sometimes just does not compare to Subaru suffering trauma and depression from watching his loved ones die over and over.
Sure this toss-up of these qualities makes him more of a realistic person with moral ambiguity, but he is depicted as a super-talented individual one moment and a sex offender the next,(I still have PTSD flashbacks to season 1.) I dunno, man, it just feels like the writer doesn't truly commit to making him a character who struggles with his mental condition. There are only a handful of moments where he does, but then the rest of the show just either forgets about it or focuses on his penis instead.
WHEN A GREAT STORY IS RUINED BY A TEENAGER’S PENIS-
. The erectile dysfunction storyline is appalling. It's a fucking joke, and I don't care what you say. I just don’t buy the “his depression is so accurately portrayed” thing one bit, because the setup for Rudeus’ emotional breakdowns in the show all feels goofy, immature, and childish. Touching on mental health is such a sensitive and heavy topic, but by having his penis involved, it then just becomes a joke. Or maybe since I'm an adult and not a horny child, I cannot take any of this seriously. I mean it's a goddamn erectile dysfunction for crying out loud.
MT already gets shat on because of its overly horny nature, so how the hell does this make it any better? What human on the earth is gonna resonate with a dude who’s biggest problem right now is how his penis doesn't work right? And how the fucking fuck did this writer expect to put something as crude and nonserious as a common genital condition most prevalent among men in their 40s into their magical fantasy story starring mostly children and expect me to take it seriously? Out of all the other themes explored of loneliness and commitment in the previous season. This is what you do to the main character to give him motivation. And sure this does tie back into his character being overly horny, but why the hell does a comical sex drive have to be the only thing of substance to explore with a character? oh, I know why because the writer is a horny teenage boy. It's bullshit like this that makes me doubt the writer's talent because if they were actually a good writer, they would not need to use something so goofy as commentary on something so poignant.
BRUH
The audacity to act so genuine about this goofy character conflict and then make the solution for it the most anti-climatic thing ever, This is by far the dumbest thing I have seen an anime do in quite some time.
You know what, I've reached saltiness overload, Let's tone it down with ways the story can improve.
And boom I just improved the show twofold for you writer, you are welcome.
SETTING-
I praised Mushoku for having a setting that was well-fleshed out and very interesting. Sadly, I cannot say the same for this season. I'm sorry, but this anime is not doing this school setting any justice right now. The most interesting thing about it is that any species can attend, you can decide not to show up to classes if you don't want to, and they serve some yummy fried chicken. That's it, we don't see any world-building coming into play. Most we see of the magic in the school is either random handwaving incantations that arent explained, tiny bits of lore that isn't told to build the world,but just to make Rudy look smart, and through scribbles and incantations in books n shit.
We just see Rudy walking around campus, reading books, and talking to people. It sucks because this is a fantasy, a genre that is well-known for creative settings. And yeah I get that it's just character introductions, but you can do that while also making it interesting. Perfect example Harry Potter perfectly juggles its characters, lore, and plot together and makes it interesting. Or if you wanna narrow it down to anime- Little Witch Academia, KLK, hell even Kakegurui had a more interesting school setting and characters than this. Also, the anime does a shit job of portraying the passage of time, apparently, years go by, but you wouldn't even know, just imagine how cool it would be to use the magic system to explore how much the students learned over the years or something.
Outside of the actual mystery which evolves around Rudy just sitting in a library reading and carving clay with a hair bowl cut dude, everything that MT does story-wise is the most basic thing you can do with a school setting, “Oh look, Rudy makes some friends, rudy gets into some kono hentai anime hijinks at the girl's dorm, rudy meets a cutie anime “boy” and they become BFFFFFs, rudy deals with some high school romances, rudy fights some random furies because he is the strongest ever or something. So instead of being your generic isekai fantasy anime, this season of MT is just your generic magical academy fantasy anime. So props to paying homage to anime trends from the mid-2010s I guess.
THE OTHER CHARACTERS-
Honestly, I don't mind stopping the plot to introduce characters, but you better have some solid goddamn characters. And MT kinda fumbles in this respect as well. I'm just gonna say it, a majority of these characters this season are not interesting in the slightest. The only new ones I liked were the ones introduced in episode one, the white-haired elf boy, and Badigadi because his power was somewhat interesting also he looks absolutely absurd in his student uniform. Everyone else has the depth of a Makoto Shinkai character despite being in this fantasy that prides itself on good characters. Glasses dude who sculpts, he was just a caricature, the little slave girl was just a little slave girl with no personality because shes a slave, the black-haired guy was boring, I already mentioned Blonde THOT girl - I genuinely don't care to even mention the rest.
I also don't like how these characters change emotions at the drop of the hat and cause really forced drama conveniently for Rudeus’s sake. For example, Soldat conveniently gets drunk and acts forcefully towards Rudy out of nowhere in episode 3. Dafuq is this? Wonder Egg Priority?. For an anime that wants to be a serious commentary on mental struggles, it sure treats some of its side characters like they are caricatures. There's even a cat girl and dog girl who eats chicken that is just comic relief/boob characters and they do nothing. So as you can see MT has a profound story, an imaginative setting, with great character writing indeed!
CHARACTERS I LIKED -
My favorite characters this season were the ones introduced at the beginning. While they were boring, they did a good job of helping Rudy find a new sense of belonging with others.
MUSHOKU ROMANCE-
Despite being bored to tears, I was rooting for the romance in this season, but then as it wraps up, it spends way too much time trying to focus on this romance that it becomes tiresome. Backhanded compliment incoming but while I think MT does portray sensuality better than other skis, all of the story and characters do not justify how dragged out the romance is. I care more about the characters getting naked than anything involving their personality or their relationship. There is a focus given to sexuality and gender in this relationship, which is engaging,.. But since this is MT, these things I mentioned either go nowhere, treated as a joke, or become a segway to a really cliche high school romance makes me convinced that the writer's priorities are shipping these two rather than anything else storywise. It's like Wattpad fan fiction. I appreciate somewhat an improvement by not making the entire series lowbrow/problematic ecchi, but this season and its characters are just spoiled with tropes that aren't refined nor do they fit with its setting.
For example, Fritz is given this plot twist in this season that is really predictable. The ED starts to feel more like a joke when Rudy just starts asking his friends if they can cure his penis problems, and they’re just like..” no”.And then the other supporting characters including the princess and her bodyguard have nothing to their personality and are just there in this season to get these two together. It gets to a point where this lovey-dovey romance just becomes stalling to make up for the fact that nothing is really happening. And it's really hard for me to justify why this had to be twelve episodes when only 4 episodes had substance for me to care about.
ANIMATION/SOUND-
Even the best thing about the show, the animation\ is a remarkable step down this season. Lot of awkward poses, characters drawn weirdly, and stiff movement that was uncanny. so the one trait that separated MT from other run-of-the-mill isekai isn't there anymore. Even the direction could not save it despite how okay it is. I will admit the scenery was really beautiful though. The soundtrack was barely noticeable, and there were a lot of scenes of just pure silence, with no music. Some might say that was intentional to get immersed in the environment, but I would say since nothing of note is happening most of the time, there is not enough music that portrays the vibe of the scene well enough.
ENJOYMENT-
Now I have been interacting with a lot of fans of this anime and the conversations mainly boil down to its controversy. Im not really interested in that alone, I just argue about how weak most of the story is, and the discussions have been "engaging" to say the least. I mention this because arguing with MT's fanbase was more enjoyable than watching the anime itself, and I mean that wholeheartedly. There is just nothing in this season that won me over, unlike the last season. maybe it's just a case of why splitting the course does not work in MT’s favor, but judging by “this cour” alone, I was not having a good time. It's all the more annoying feelings I had with season one, but just magnified and dragged out.
I can hear some of you already saying “Oh he's just complaining about the lack of a story, he can't appreciate good character development” Cmon man, yes, I'm complaining about the lack of a story because the story portrayed in the last season was really good, but everything in this season being shown on screen has little to no substance, goes nowhere, or is built on absolute bullshit. It pisses me off how much potential this story has to be great, but then decides to fuck itself with its own horniness while looking in the mirror and saying “ yea, I am the best isekai there is!”. I was giving this anime a benefit of a doubt when it stopped exploring its worldbuilding and its plot, but then when I realized that it did so to focus on uninteresting characters, a tiresome romance, and a story arc about how a teenager trying to fix his dick instead of finding his missing family members, I just could not take it anymore.
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