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EP. REVIEW: Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation II

Bookworm is actually a case of a soul being transferred into an established individual who was comatose/dying (like Parallel World Pharmacy and a few others) rather than a true reincarnation (like MT and Oshi no Ko).

For millinea, children who grew up in poor and/or communal living arrangements learned about sex from listening to/watching their parents do it. That may have left them with very earthy senses of humor about sex, but claiming that is the cause of perversity in the sense that's being applied to Rudy would be a stretch.

Genuinely a well-written episode taken in isolation. It's too bad the Rudy-Sylphie relationship is polluted by so much of the rest of the show; I would have found this episode genuinely very touching, in the absence of the context of the rest of show. The author basically seems to know what growth looks like from the narrow perspective of an adolescent protagonist learning to genuinely care about the people closest to him (although this requires suspending what we know of who Rudy actually is, of course; and, still constantly frames Rudy's sexual assault as hilarious, so it still doesn't "get" all of it).

I'm not entirely sure what you mean - are you contradicting author fiat? Remember, this is all fiction, and there's no such thing as reincarnation or remembering past lives in real life - the author is free to set the rules. Whether or not you can read in dreams in the real world has no bearing on whether a child in a fantasy world can read in the dreams of her past life. Regardless, at least as far as Effa remembers, there was no reading;

Very interesting, and it does explain some things that I had wondered about. But also definitely beyond the scope of what's been animated so far.

But let's keep any further discussion about Bookworm to a minimum (except as it relates to MT), as that is straying off-topic.

As for his romantic pursuits, I'm not too concerned by those. This occurs in a number of works mainly because it might be strange for somebody in the reincarnated world not to act like somebody of that age just because they may have had a full life in the past world. Singling out MT for particular criticism is just a bit unfair in that regard, and honestly I think it still works out in its favor here. It's why I don't agree with the whole "pedophile" angle a few people often raise, because I don't see any real alternative for this kind of story where somebody is given a full second-chance of life -- either in MT or other works.

Was a little disappointed that Rudy didn't explicitly make the Fitz/Sylphie connection until after he removed the glasses

I like how this statement perhaps unintentionally hits the nail on the head about isekai stories. Maybe if authors stopped using this silly hackneyed reincarnation trope that generates these inherently problematic elements (or to put a finer point on it, stopped using it without so much as thinking about said problematic elements), then they wouldn't have to worry about being criticized over it in the first place.

Maybe if authors stopped using this silly hackneyed reincarnation trope that generates these inherently problematic elements (or to put a finer point on it, stopped using it without so much as thinking about said problematic elements), then they wouldn't have to worry about being criticized over it in the first place.

I don't think critics have any authority to decide what stories can or cannot be told.

Of all the silly tropes that come with isekai, I don't think the idea of a full reset on life is necessarily a bad one when done well (MT, World's Finest Assasin, Bookworm etc). Especially when compared to being immediately OP or instantly having a harem without doing anything. Plus it's not even problematic because these characters are doing the things expected of them at their new ages. Baby? Suck on mothers breast. Teenager? Be horny. A fresh start on life means a fresh start and it would be more bizarre if characters didn't act like that. And for all but a few viewers and readers, it's not hard to roll with it either.

It might be a bit tropey, a lot of genres have tropes and lean heavily on them, but it makes for a more believable, real story rather than your everyday isekai power fantasy.

Perhaps there is some torturous explanation that makes both statements true at the same time,...

Because yes, it is still incredibly problematic when the "baby" doing these actions is actually a 30+-year-old man whose entire inner narrative is in that adult man's voice.

...seriously, why is it that so many defenders of this series instantly equate "someone is criticizing it" with "someone is saying it should not be allowed to exist." No one in here has made that claim. Not once. I'm fine with people writing or enjoying whatever crap their hearts desire, and I will absolutely defend its right to exist. But at the same time everyone else has the exact same right to think that it's crap and to explain why they think it's crap.

I disagree. While some of the content in Oshi no Ko could have worked just fine in a straight-up idol series, it would have been a more bland and ordinary take on it. Aqua's character would have to be significantly redesigned, as his goals, passions, and capabilities wouldn't make as much sense without the reincarnation angle, and Ruby would lose much of her emotional foundation. It would also kill some thematic elements that come up later in what's been animated so far. (This involves a lot of spoilers, so I won't get into explaining that here.)

I'm also going to disagree with other comments that MT didn't need to be an isekai series. This is definitely true for some other isekai, but Rudy's identity in his previous world is too much the foundation for who he is (and to an extent what he can do) here. You'd have to do a lot more than just a few small tweaks to make that switch work.