What makes Mushouku Tensei stand out in the sea of Isekai stories of overpowered protagonists steamrolling the world as if it were a sandbox RPG with the console command on, is that Mushouku Tensei knows how to tell a story. For one, unlike other poor Isekais out there that I've subjected myself to (it's my hobby to try to find good Isekais for some reason), where the protagonists somehow found some way to elevate themselves to the highest level as quickly and easily as possible, the protagonist of Mushouku works his way to achieving his level of success. Furthermore, the author has taken the care to pace the story nicely where plot situations have proper set-ups and payoffs and there is an appropriate amount of time given to flesh out his characters in midst of their predicaments. It also helps that at times, the characters here have a refreshing amount of depth to them at times, notably the protagonist, Rudeus who suffers PTSD from his past life and how those traumatic experiences re-enter his life whenever he experiences similar situations in his Isekai life, and the protagonist's Isekai father, Paul whose womanising has a dimension in his life, seemingly having affected him in the past and in the present. (Paul's infidelity is not particularly well-done, however, but that's another point) I also like how the story has some interesting twists and turns that depart from the typical Isekai formula that we see today. Though they aren't thematically poignant, they kept the story fresh and interesting. While others have trouble with the casual sexualisation of the characters, personally while I do find it rather appalling, I think that if you are reading light novel adaptations and the like, this sort of thing is pretty much unavoidable with very few exceptions. Though I don't condone it and think it's really childish, I've gotten used to ignoring this sort of thing in my Isekai, harem anime/manga and light novel media.
This certainly makes Mushouku levels above the mediocre Isekai stories which for the most part are tropey power fantasies with abnormally quick pacing, flat characters and uninteresting and typical story developments. Still, that doesn't change the fact that Mushouku Tensei is a power fantasy. It is at heart, attempting a redemption story of a once Otaku shut-in who had once given up life in his original world, and is given the opportunity to rebuild his life and aim toward living his life to the fullest. While it certainly should be noted that Rudeus got to where he's at because of hard work, it should not be ignored that the very fact he was given a second chance in life, one which he was fortunate enough to be healthy, talented in magic, born in a relatively peaceful and well-off family is by itself an incredibly unrealistic fantasy where the scales weighed heavily in his favour. And there isn't anything wrong with that! Being a power fantasy doesn't make a work bad, in fact, Mushouku Tensei succeeds at being a power fantasy simply because it doesn't feel like one. It layers sufficient difficulty (though not difficult enough for them to outright fail which is why it's a fantasy) to the characters' journey, allowing them to work to grow and develop their status and place in society.
Still, perhaps what Mushouku Tensei is very poor at doing is writing character conflicts beyond its usual scope of 'I had a bad time on earth PTSD'. It is particularly noteworthy that the chapter that made me decide to drop the manga, around chapter 30+, where there is the development of a conflict between the protagonist and his father which I shall not go into detail so as to not spoil the story, but it was at best, incredibly forced, rather nonsensical even after it had been explained, and rather quickly resolved. Usually, I would ignore such developments in badly written Isekais stories, but Mushouku Tensei has the aspirations to push for these more meaningful narratives and exploration of the human condition, and so its inability to properly develop this conflict in a logical and believable manner (particularly when the story had actually nicely set-up tensions between the two characters) was particularly jarring, disappointing and gave the rest of the reading experience a sense of pretentiousness, where it felt like the author was out of his depth. And delving deeper in, despite its attempts to tell a darker story with psychological consequences (as seen with the PTSD), Mushouku Tensei is reluctant to probe deeper into its character's psyche and explore the inner depths of the human condition. For instance, an example is: *the paragraph below is a spoiler so avoid if you don't want to read it*
Paul's adulterous relationship with his maid during his wife's pregnancy which resulted in the maid's pregnancy. It's a very messy family situation that was resolved rather easily through Rudeus' powers of persuasion aka 'protagonist' skills. Still, while the effects of his adultery could be felt in the family situation very briefly (and resolved rather quickly and easily too I might add), the psychological consequences felt by Paul's wife, though touched upon, such as her feelings being betrayed, were resolved by Paul's now unconvincing show of love to his wife (as he had betrayed his wife) and were not explored in greater depth. What about her own feelings of inadequacy after the adultery? How did she reconcile her faith (she believes in some goddess of pureness where monogamy is king) after her husband had been unfaithful? The answer is, of course, love solves everything. For a lesser story, I would probably roll my eyes and accept it as it is, but for Mushoku's narrative aspirations, I find such a development too simplistic in its view of the human condition. Also, I would argue that although Rudeus' PTSD moments are at times, powerful, insightful and earnest, I think it is to the story's detriment that it did not go deeper into the nihilistic depths of existential hopelessness that it implies that the character went through. *End of spoilers*
Essentially what I'm saying is that for a story that tries to dive into the deeper psychology of its characters, exploring to an extent, the human condition and all of its flaws and glories, it really only touches the surface.
At the same time, despite its rather misogynistic narrative, Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari exists. That story fulfils a similar position that Mushouku Tensei fulfils in the 'properly written' Isekai story. The shield hero too went through much suffrage to achieve his degree of success. While Tate no Yuusha eventually succumbed to a comfortable harem, power fantasy Isekai narrative, something which I admit Mushoku is better for as it has not yet reached that inevitable point (I see you harem set-up), Tate no Yuusha's opening chapters, where the protagonist was subjected to deep hatred, hopelessness and trauma, was not only believable but deeply affecting, perhaps more so than Mushoku's briefly rendered portrayal of trauma.
All in all, Mushoku Tensei is a well-written power fantasy that will certainly keep readers entertained as heck. But, its aspirations of depicting the human condition (other than the societal PTSD that I think is well done and believable) may be superficial at best. Still, I don't think Mushouku Tensei can be called the best because it isn't the only Isekai that has managed good writing as a power fantasy. Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari fills the spot as well. Other than those, while not particularly dark, Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy is particularly entertaining in how it slowly develops the world, lore, has insightful detail with its character interactions, and interesting dynamics with the intertwining factions and how they are to eventually meet the overpowered protagonists' group, and Kumo desu ga nani ka is great too for just having one of the most charismatic and entertaining protagonists in Isekai media period. Personally, I think the greatest 'Isekai' still has to go to Konosuba to indulge in and be boldly self-aware enough to make fun of this cannibalizing genre of wish-fulfilment and casual sexualisation.
