Mushoku Tensei (Season 1) is Isekai Perfection

Man, I’m super late on this one, aren’t I?

Most isekai stories are simple, dumb power fantasies. They focus less on telling a story and more on providing shallow escapism. Which is fine, if that’s what you’re into. But all the potential of an isekai premise is generally avoided by most of the genre.

Mushoku Tensei takes the isekai concept and runs with it. It’s at the heart of the main character, delivering a surprisingly powerful character journey. Even outside of that, this is just a really compelling dark fantasy story!

After being killed in an automotive accident, our protagonist is reborn in a fantasy world. Now named Rudeus Greyrat, he decides to take the gift given to him and live his new life to its fullest. But in a world wrought with danger, that simple objective may be more difficult than Rudy thinks.

I’d go on and on about how much I love Rudeus as a protagonist. Except… I kinda already did that. So if you want to know exactly why he’s the greatest isekai protagonist of all time, check out my article on him. Link here.

The rest of the cast have just as much depth to them as our protagonist. There are whole episodes of this show without Rudeus in it at all! Roxy, Eris, Sylphie, Paul, they’ve all got their own things going on beyond Rudy. Any one of them could be the main character of their own show!

Most isekai have fairly boring and generic fantasy worlds. Mushoku Tensei’s setting is… well, mostly generic. But it has much more depth than most of its competition. We actually see other continents with more unique and varied landscapes, different cultures and languages, political situations, etc. The setting feels truly alive, rather than making everything revolve around the main character. With our without Rudeus, this world would keep on going.

It also helps that it’s absolutely gorgeous. Seriously, this show is SO good at making its environments seem massive and beautiful. Which, in turn, makes the show’s darker, more grim moments hit even harder.

Oh, and the animation is incredible. When the action kicks up, it’s a near constant train of jaw-dropping sakuga. And when the music starts? It is the perfect action-anime experience!

Also, a smaller thing: I love that the OP isn’t its own AMV. It’s the same song, but it instead chooses to focus on progressing the story through establishing shots and silent scenes of our characters on their adventure. It’s a great way to keep the pacing smooth and keep the audience immersed in the story.

Shame season two dropped that. Granted, season two is going for something completely different. But we’ll get to that another day.

Season one of Mushoku Tensei is amazing. It’s an amazing isekai and a brilliant dark fantasy show. I should not have slept on this one for so long, because it is legitimately amazing!