People argue that this anime isn't problematic. Perhaps it's a natural reaction to hearing someone criticize your interests, or perhaps they (or you) genuinely believe it isn't problematic. Perhaps they've thought about this deeply, perhaps not. I empathize with these people. However, I've thought this is a weak position from the start. They believe that to claim the MC is a predator or a pedophile means to admit you are ignoring the nuances of the story. I've never seen a good argument for this, and I will explain why.

Let me ask you: what do you refer to when you say "I"? Most of us have the intuition that we are something more than our physical structure. Are you still yourself if a certain part of your physical matter is changed, but your internal experience remains the same? And if not, where do we draw the line? This is Theseus' ship. How much of your physical matter can be changed until you're no longer 'you'? Our identity isn't defined by our present body. It is defined by the culmination of our experiences and the 'oversee-er' we feel ourselves to be. We have the strong intuition that our identity is separate from our bodies, yet when many of you see a grown man placed into the body of a 5 year old, it is okay for them to have sex with minors. It is made clear that the mental state and rationale of Rudeus is simply just him from his past life, with new knowledge from his new life. He has not forgotten. He is not a new person. From his experience, his identity is simply his old identity with some new memories. He is still himself when he speaks to the man-god, obviously showing this fact. This doesn't add 'nuance', it simply adds to the MC's abhorrent morality. Instead of being a pedophile, he is now a pedophile also DECEIVING a bunch of 14-year-olds who genuinely believe him to be a child (prodigy). I ask you: if scientists managed to transfer the identity and experience of a 40 year old into a 16 year old body, would it then be OK to go ahead and have sex with 15 year olds? Because they APPEAR as a 16 year old? NOTHING. ELSE. CHANGED. That's Rudeus.

So, it's season one, I take this moral position and let it take the backseat because it's a genuinely interesting show. What actually WOULD be nuance to the discussion is his growth path. It would be interesting if we were asking ourselves whether or not it's okay to portray pedophilic fantasies, as long as the person grows out of it. It would be a highly progressive critique of how we view pedophilia now. In the same way that we help criminals reform in the lowest crime societies, should we avoid shunning pedophiles and instead promote reform? That's an important discussion to be had in the future. So, this anime was interesting due to the complex emotional experience and expected growth of the MC. And the only reason I could watch is because it seemed he wasn't doomed to be abhorrent. It seemed that he was learning about his trauma and reconnecting with himself through his second chance at life. It seemed that he was meant to be viewed as flawed, that his sexually abusive and predatory, self-serving behavior was self-evident and obviously meant to be seen as morally questionable. I was wrong. He doesn't change.

This season solidified the fact that instead of the MC becoming a better person, the world just molds itself to accompany his flaws. When he is terrible, everything just goes his way instead. He loses some loved ones and a limb, but at the end of the day he is deceiving everyone around him into believing he is simply Rudeus, born from nothing. At the end of the day, he is simply having sex with a 1000 year old child and a 16 year old girl.

Entertainment doesn't save a story from such flaws.