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Tl;dr: Mushoku Tensei, behind the apparent otaku-pandering, is a satisfyingly concluded magical fantasy coming of age story full of action, laughs, and thought-provoking feels.
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WARNING: INCOMING WALL OF TEXT, AND SOME SPOILERS. This review may be bit hefty, but I feel compelled to explain why this series deserves to be read.
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At first glance, Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu looks like another one of those "modern person gets a 2nd chance at life in a magical fantasy setting" stories that has seen countless incarnations in past years. Having read the web novels to the main story's conclusion as of 2016, I can say that it is ... one of the most refreshing and satisfying representations of this genre and a definite must read.

Story: 8/10

One of the story's biggest draws is that it unfolds over the course of the main character’s lifetime. You don't see that very often in anime and manga, or most of the modern stories for that matter. Nowadays, an entire series can end just following the story of a character or a party for a few months, with maybe a year-long time skip or two. Meanwhile, Mushoku has multiple time-skips spanning decades. With this scope, you get to see the world and characters change and grow as they are affected by the various consequences from actions built up over the years.

This span of time also allows for a variety of stories to be told. Each of the arcs can be different genre series by themselves. There’s a travel and adventure segment, a school comedy, a family/home-based slice of life, and even a mystery/suspense /political manoeuvring arc. Now this may make it seem like the author just was randomly jumping through genres and stories, trying to appeal to a broader audience. Reading through them one by one, some parts seem more inconsequential or mundane. But it’s all put together in a satisfying way at the end, and certain turns and twists reveal that each point of the character’s life was needed to show the big picture.

Mind you, the setting and world building in MT is no Lord of the Rings or GoT with their thousands of described locales, languages, systems, artefacts and characters. Still, MT manages to portray a believable magical-fantasy world that feels alive and is full of as many complexities as our own. It starts off with the perspectives of only a couple of characters, and scenes from everyday life, but over time, it’s able to touch on broader issues like politics, religion, war--- even race-relations and gender roles and how they play out in a world where magic is a fact of life.

One of the things keeping this from getting a higher mark is the uneven pacing and parts of the narration by the main character. Later on however, this remedied by the occasional change in narrators, showing main plot points from other characters’ POV.

Still, some of the readers encountering may find their immersion in the world broken by the MC Rudeus’s… quirky actions and extensive remarks, often pertaining to his love of females. Don’t get me wrong--- at times this provides a welcome break for some heavy moments and is part of the unique charm of the character. But it can get grating and repetitive at times, especially during his hormonal teenage years. Go figure that one out. (MC is a big perv, and dare I say it, but sometimes you want more plot rather than an half an entire chapter of him just raving about his waifu)

Tl;dr: MT is able to present a complex-enough magical world, explore some deeper moral and philosophical themes, and plays out a satisfying coming of age story. Still, if I were to compare it to some of the most popular highly rated anime and manga on this site, it may feel a little boxed in by the narrator.

Art: 8/10

*Since a light novel has few pictures, I’m basing most of this rating on how the text helps the reader visualize the story in a creative and appealing way.
The writing is fairly adequate, with some moments of brilliance. Although it sometimes feels like things are lost in the english web-translation. Still, the author gives you a general idea of what characters what characters and location look like, and how action scenes play out. There is enough creative use of language like allusions or word play and some are surprisingly clever. One thing that might be limiting, and affect your appreciation is the author’s use of pop-culture (often otaku) references. Some descriptions seem to be simplified by saying a character looks like or acted like [insert anime character here]. While these may appeal to the series’ main demographic, (I found myself laughing out loud more than a few times) it can be a bit confusing to viewers unfamiliar with the culture or genre, without additional commentary.

Characters: 9/10

While I say the story seems boxed in by the MC’s narration, Mushoku Tensei wouldn’t be what it is without him as a character. In summary, Rudeus Greyrat is a former man-child reborn as a child who grows up into the best man he can be. With just this simple idea, MT makes one of the most compelling character developments I’ve seen in an anime, manga or any piece of literature.

At first glance, the character of Rudeus seems like your typical pandering power fantasy. It would seem like Rudeus is hand-fed every opportunity to become a big hero in this new world. He is reborn with ridiculously strong magic potential, along with decades of past-life modern world intel, and has early lucky encounters with the right teachers and brilliant peers which eventually makes him one of the most formidable beings (OP!) in the world. It’s pretty entertaining to see him train his skills as a simple magic-using country boy to become one of the major world powers, crushing most everyone along the way is entertaining enough, and it makes for some pretty badass fight scenes.

But the longer you stick with, watching Rudeus’s growth into becoming a better, more rounded person actually becomes the most memorable part of this series. This becomes clearer when Rudeus encounters situations where all his powers and skills prove futile (yes this happens more than a few times), and he is left with nothing but his wits and character. For the first, Rudeus has just the right balance of calculating smarts and common sense reasoning, without coming across as an arrogant cliché genius character. He acts like a sensible real-life person would, able to get a read of his situation, plan well enough, and prepare for a few unexpected things. He is pretty genre-savvy since he has read and watched a lot of stories about magical fantasy worlds, and actually uses this knowledge to prepare for what this new world throws at him. Now, having strength and smarts like this would be cool enough, but what makes Rudeus stand out is his personality and character. And the more you read MT, the more you realize that the bulk of Rudeus’s growth comes from a foundation of self-reflection and a can-do attitude born from his resolve to redeem himself from his past life’s failure.

Mushoku Tensei makes no effort to hide how pitiable and miserable the main character was in his past life. It’s so blatant that that some parts of Rudeus’s inner-dialogue (especially in the earlier chapters) can get pretty disgusting or appalling for some readers. Early on you may also find it unsettling how detached he is, as if his new life is some kind of entertaining game (he is actually a bit of a creep at the beginning). At first you have doubts whether he is really sincere, like if he’s just someone who’s keeps making promises to change, but never follows through.

Being able to read his thoughts, we see him come up with simple flowchart mindset to self-improvement: “Don’t make excuses, keep productive habits, and treat people with respect”. It sounds as simple as just doing the opposite of what he did in his past life. But every year that passes by in this new life, he encounters more and more situations that test how far he is willing to change. Many times, he has to muster the courage to make the hard, but morally right decisions. This actually becomes one of the major themes of the series. ***SPOILER [In an alternate timeline, we see how badly he could have ended if he lost his resolve to be a better person. He abuses his powers to fulfill his selfish desires, but despite all his capabilities, dies as miserable and unfulfilled as his past life.]

In the end, what starts out as a simple rule to do the reverse of what he did as a failure, becomes the tested principles of a decent human being, and later on, an admirable hero. What’s striking is that he genuinely matures and begins to care about other people in this new world, whether they be friend or foe. In part, it’s helped by his past experience as a deplorable person himself. He is able to empathize with most people, and understand them past their flaws. And this leads me to another theme of the series, which is how characters grow from interacting with each other, and with Rudeus’s unique personality.

Like Rudeus, MT ‘s portrayal of characters is pretty balanced. It might be a bit on the optimistic side of viewing human nature, but the series really tries to have nuanced characters that seem believable in real life. There are no absolutely detestable villains in the series, which some may find disappointing. All chars have their own backgrounds and motivations which influence how they act. Some characters start out seemingly following a few tropes, like a “tsundere” or an idiotic comic relief character. But they eventually start evolving based on a real world understanding of human nature.

Rudeus himself, when he sees a character that seems to fit an anime stereotype from his past life, tries his best not to end up treating them as “anime character”, but an actual person he has to respect and influence in a positive way. Rudeus himself knows that people acting like anime stereotypes don’t function well in a real world, no matter how entertaining their quirks may be. He patiently takes it upon himself to become a good influence on these bunch of people who seem like anime stereotypes, and through the course of his life, they actually end up being well-rounded individuals, and his closest friends. That’s just one example, but I really enjoyed how this series found a new way to use a protagonist’s genre-saviness and modern day insights to be a source of wisdom in this somewhat medieval and barbaric world. It was really interesting seeing him consider modern day ideas like management skills, marketing strategies, psychology and respect for human rights to improve lives--- rather than simply being a min-maxing combat god.

You can’t discuss characters without talking about MT’s apparent treatment of its female characters. Some people may see MT, read a few summaries, or see some of the art, and think it is just like all these other harem male-pandering fantasy series. “Heck, the male lead even gets himself 3 wives! Talk about blatant wish-fulfillment fantasy and unrealistic portrayal of women!”.

But the main character having actual multiple wives is one other thing that distinguishes MT from most other harem series. Just like some of the cultures in our world, this world tolerates polygamy, and this is one of the few series that actually explores the implications. MT answers every harem MC’s question “What if you couldn’t just pick one” pretty reasonably. And surprisingly, it does not devolve into harem group sexy time… at least most of the time. Each wife actually has a unique and meaningful relationship with him, with their own pros and cons in how they support each other, which is actually important to the plot. To prevent typical harem misunderstandings and conflicts, Rudeus regularly holds family meetings, and makes sure each family member is able voice their concerns, and cooperate towards their family’s goals. It’s actually surprisingy mundane at times, but it adds a level of realism that is strangely satisfying.

And yes, a lot of series design female characters to meet particular fetish or appeal. And MT is no exception. There is no denying that a lot of Mushoku Tensei’s female character designs seem to fit the mold of a lot of the common modern attractions (tsundere redheads, lolis, onee-chans, nekos, etc.). But consistent with the character development in this series, they are fleshed out and feel like believable people. In this world, it is actually pointed out by Rudeus that women are just as powerful as men, through the mechanics of magic and swordsmanship. Women are not exactly damsels in distress in this world, and there are many that play vital roles in the battles that take place. One of the enjoyable things about this series even if it’s a harem is that you actually see the female leads grow from mere children into really likeable and appealing women. And we’re not just talking about measurements here. Each of the female leads actually becomes a strong, respectable woman each with her own unique traits and strengths. (To sum it up, it’s not every series that shows your “waifus” actually being wives who have to balance the responsibility of being heads of the household, good mothers, and mages/swordswomen warriors in a fight to save the world.)

Tl;dr: MT has great characters and develops them interestingly. Point in case: Former hikkikomori recluse becomes a respectable leader of a quirky band of heroes, and becomes responsible for a family of his own, while making time to save the world.

Enjoyment 10/10
Mushoku Tensei works because it does a little bit of everything and puts it all together. While it holds special enjoyment for fans of modern pop-culture, anime, movies and games, it certainly has a broad appeal simply for the roller coaster ride of emotions it can induce, and how it can make an impact on you in a variety of ways.

MT will make you laugh. From harem hi-jinks, to absurd plot twists, to funny references and clever wordplay. MT will make you cry. It has moments when simply reading how much some chars grow and develop new realizations after all this time can bring on the feels. Be prepared though, while overall a pretty happy series, MT will sometimes sucker punch you in the gut with more than a few tragic twists. Also, it can’t be taken for granted that MT brings a special satisfaction in how plots are resolved through characters acting like real world people, with believable reactions and more than one way of thinking. (My face and palms actually remained underused for this series. It actually does not have a lot of plot holes or frustrating moments caused by people acting out of character. People actually acted like thinking and planning human beings!)

Overall : 10/10

Yeah I know the math doesn’t add up. But I think for this series, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. It may be a bit uneven. The world and some characters could have been explored a bit more, and the pacing could definitely have been improved. It also has some limitations being a light novel, like appealing through visuals, sound ambience or music. But IMO, being a novel in text was probably the best way to introduce this series, since it adds that unique depth through the characters’ thoughts. I’m looking forward to adaptations as a manga or anime, and really hope they do it justice by keeping the core of what makes this a great series. Great characters, themes and emotional impact. If they actually manage to do so and give this series more exposure and accessibility, this may well be one of the great mainstream masterpieces of our time.

To end this lengthy review, I dare say Mushoku Tensei is one of those must-read stories that will make you a better person if you stick around to finish it. It’s not just satisfying in its cool fights and harems and feel-good moments. And I’m not even preaching or analyzing any of its deeper moral themes or implications here.

At its simplest, it’s a story about realistic change, growth and hope. After all, the title is literally translated as " Jobless Reincarnation: I Will Seriously Try If I Go To Another World" and it shows you exactly how one can "seriously try" at life. But it really makes a point about how even small steps and good habits matter and how they can add up to make you a better person. Things like being self-aware, not making too many excuses or assumptions, treating people like people, doing your research and being patient and not expecting instant results. These lessons aren’t exactly anything new, but the series does a good job of showing how they can make a difference over time. It makes you really believe that even if you’re not a super powerful magic fantasy protagonist, having these habits start a chain reaction of changes in the course of your life.

Phew, that got a little preachy. Anyway, if still for some reason you’re not yet ready to try those out in your real life, at least start making an improvement in your life by reading through this awesome series. Have Fun!

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Now what are you waiting for? If you’ve to read through this long, rambling, sappy review, you’re more than ready to read Mushoku Tensei!