Mushoku Tensei is as basic as it can get when it comes to the premise of it. The more "unique" elements of Mushoku Tensei are very out there(?) because the manga apologetically displays the deplorability of the Rudeus, the main character of a typical isekai with very bland worldbuilding.
I am not one to be disgusted very easily and I can overlook almost anything as long as it has some sort of significance to the story so I will not bash the pedophilic undertones that is being told through the perspective of Rudeus himself. Of course I hate the fact that Rudeus himself is a degenerate anime cave dweller that unfairly received a miracle in the form of a second chance in a new world, but I think that we all wished that we could restart and live a better life. And thats why I believe this managa, despite it's sort of boring story, is so highly rated. It is a series (which has a degenerate and pretty nasty audience) that feeds off of relatability for these weirdos. Now I'm not saying that everyone who likes this manga is a weirdo, but i kinda am. Rudeus' very morally questionable ideas and actions are things that he knows aren't good, but does anyway and he still is the same degenerate that he once was. He creates a effort to improve himself as a human being which is admirable, but I get the feeling that those with similar tendencies kind of live through this fantasy of self improvement and abandoning their responsibilities of human being on earth to just start over with a clean slate. That is probably what Mushoku Tensei did best, creating a story in which the audience of anime lovers and degenerates could dream through and fantasize about.
Otherwise, this manga falls short in tons of aspects that it needs to be become actually good. The general premise this story revolves around Rudeus improving himself as a human being in a new world alongside a clean beginning is not executed very well. The habits and internal ideas of Rudeus makes it hard for me to not judge him as a human and I am not on to judge normally as I mostly do not concern myself with how a character is made or done as long as it has some sort of significance in creating a good story. This however, is not a particularly good story at all and throwing the keys to Rudeus as the storyteller leaves a bad taste in my mouth that is hard to wash away with the scenes and developments that are decent in the manga.
Don't even get me started with the fanservice either, it is something I abhor in this manga as there it is so damn unnecessary. It degrades the already 1 dimensional characters ever further and the horrific pace of this manga does not allow me to read a little faster to escape them. The manga depicts these characters so poorly in the sense that they are just good and bad people with no humanity and agency of their own to do actions outside of their alignment. Rudeus is the only character that is sort of complex in character and the other cast is just... there.
The subpar world, plot, and development don't make it any better but I'm not going to get into that. Chapters 65+ are especially horrid and an absolute CHORE to read in every sense of the word; I'm not sure why I even read up until that point either but here I am.
I like the art tho, its good.
At first glance, this manga was okay and had some objectively decent qualities that created an okay first impression. That however went down is a spiraling descent into your typical copy and paste isekai with some unique but NOT good elements. It has essentially been infected with the desire to appease to a gullible and degenerate audience through the use of an almost unbelievable dynamic of relationships between Rudeus and the rest of the one dimensional cast.
I am not blaming Rudeus' nature of being a deplorable human being as the reason to this manga being bad as many others seem to be doing, but the bad execution of a typical but solid premise that was one of the first of its kind.
