Jemini
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Before you read too far, I would like to note that I will do my best to avoid spoilers. I should mention also that I have only started reading Mushoko Tensei recently following the anime adaptation it just got, and have only gotten up to half way through the 7th book out of 23. Despite being the first Isekai to make a major splash on the web novel scene, and also being the ORIGINATOR of several of the modern day Isekai tropes of the webnovel generation, it took this long for it to get an anime adaptation due to it's heavy use of R-15 level sexual content (and extremely rare once per 5 books or so R-18 content.)
That said, it is an absolutely amazing series worthy of a read for anyone who wants to do well writing in the Isekai genre. It is incredibly helpful to know the origin of these tropes, and how they are generally applied far more poorly these days compared to earlier. Mushoko Tensei is written in a style that handles things like OP harem protagonists far better and with a lot more care than the modern day general wish fulfillment. Despite having this sort of content, it actually manages to avoid becoming a basic wish-fulfillment story by making the MC have several flaws, place them into gut-wrenchingly difficult situations, and challenging them a lot with interpersonal drama and situations that really have no right answer. Instead, Rudeus (the protagonist of the story) has to simply do the best he can and winds up making horrible mistakes despite his best efforts that are often a driving part of the next phase of the plot.
This is how to handle character flaws well. Something a lot of authors struggle with. A character flaw is not just a mark on your character to make them less perfect. Most people tend to treat those character flaws like some kind of superficial decoration. However, the correct way to handle character flaws is showcased perfectly in Mushoko Tensie. In this series, Rudeus' character flaws are ever present, and they often lead to major plot-altering errors in judgement. Things he winds up regretting for years to come and change the course of his life.
Another thing to draw attention to is definitely the way the OP protagonist realistically deals with becoming that way. For one, he doesn't have some kind of cheat skill aside from the fact he was able to begin practicing things like magic at an extremely young age due to his previous-life intelligence. Aside from this, his main source of power comes from pure hard work. This, of course, falls into the category of the "hard working protagonist" trope also common nowdays. However, this one is also handled far better in Mushoko Tensei than it is handled in most modern day Isekai.
In the typical use of the "hard working protagonist" trope, it is mostly a justification for why the MC is so powerful, and it doesn't do much to explain why the protagonist is so incredibly self-sacrificingly hard working despite already being stronger than anything they have ever encountered or had to deal with. In the case of Muskoko Tensei however, his hard-working attitude is very well explained.
His back-story in his previous life is that he was a NEET Otaku who wasted his life. This is as far as we find out in the anime, but the web novel goes a little deeper into it. It turns out, as an elementary student he was actually a fairly promising child who was pretty much the top of his class. Then, when he was in middle school, he got a computer and learned how to code and wrote a few computer programs that amazed people. However, he let all that success go to his head and felt he was so great he could just start resting on his laurels. He began to not pay attention in class, and his grades slipped. He became overweight as well, and then due to his poor grades he got put into one of the worst highschools where he got bullied so severely it traumatized him and made him not even want to ever leave the house again.
He realizes that the reason his previous life turned out so horrible is because he wasted his previous life due to how much he got conceted as a child. Therefore, no mater how well he does with his magic or other skills in this current life, he refuses to think of himself as someone great. In fact, every single time someone praises him, his mind immediately goes to every single error and mistake he has made in his life (of which, due to the more realistic way the story is told, include a lot of things even in his Isekaied life.) And, his thoughts about his mistakes counter-balance the praise to such a degree that it actually over-compensates for any pride the praise may have triggered. In fact, this attitude is to such an extent that his hard-working nature in and of itself starts to look more like a character flaw as well rather than something to be admired.
There is also a second reason why he is so hard working. Up until the age of 13, he got a very warped view of the world. His father is hailed as one of the most talented swordsmen in the world for being able to raise all three of the major sword styles to the advanced level of skill. There are people far better than his father in one specific sword style, but his father is the only person who has ever advanced all three styles that far. Later, until the age of 13, he meets a series of adult fighters who are progressively even stronger than his father is, 2 of which he even learns from but feels woefully inadequate because he is unable to understand their lessons. (His talent in in magic, not in physical combat. His physical close quarters combat abilities are above average for a normal person, but weak compared to the average warrior.) Meanwhile, he also has a friend along for the ride who has far more talent as a warrior than him and absorbs the lessons from those same 2 warriors more powerful than his father like a sponge.
All of this gives him 2 major false impressions that, combined with his fear of becoming conceited that has become truly pathological, causes him to underestimate himself to such an insane degree that he's never satisfied with his current level of strength. 1 is that due to only associating with some of the most powerful people in the world, he comes to the impression that the world he's in is completely filled with these exact kinds of people and there's no way he can survive in this world if he doesn't keep getting stronger. 2 is that when he sees this friend of his picking up physical combat lessons so much more readily than him, he feels threatened that he will be seen as useless if he doesn't strive to keep up the pace. This is also likely due to his past-life trauma of bullying, but he is extremely insecure and constantly in fear of rejection from others.
These are all things that other modern day web-novels have attempted to knowingly or unknowingly imitate, but I have yet to see anyone really do it as well as Mushoko Tensei. It plays all of the above flaws and justifications so straight that you really feel the MC's insecurity. It does not treat his insecurity as a gag like most of the imitators do, it actually takes you along for the ride. You, as the reader, can realize that he's actually crazy powerful in this world. However, due to his level of insecurity and just how much you are taken along for the ride, you do not realize just how severely he's underestimating himself until you see an alternate POV chapter from someone of similar age to him, which come out extremely rarely. You see adults call him absurdly talented, but even with that you don't get the full picture until you see it from someone close to his age and very personally involved with him. This, also, is due to how masterfully this series actually does manage to take you along for the ride in the protagonist's insecurities. Even you, the reader, feel like he needs to do more to measure up due to all the mistakes with harsh consequences that he keeps making, even more so because the average web-novel reader today is used to the protagonists being more frustratingly perfect than Rudeus who keeps making deadly or almost deadly mistakes, or mistakes that nearly rip relationships apart.
Anyway, I've talked as much as I can without revealing spoilers. In conclusion, it would serve any Iseki writer very well to read this series. There is a lot to learn from it. The anime fails to portray some of the subtlety in the source material, but it also has been fairly good so far from what I've seen.
That said, it is an absolutely amazing series worthy of a read for anyone who wants to do well writing in the Isekai genre. It is incredibly helpful to know the origin of these tropes, and how they are generally applied far more poorly these days compared to earlier. Mushoko Tensei is written in a style that handles things like OP harem protagonists far better and with a lot more care than the modern day general wish fulfillment. Despite having this sort of content, it actually manages to avoid becoming a basic wish-fulfillment story by making the MC have several flaws, place them into gut-wrenchingly difficult situations, and challenging them a lot with interpersonal drama and situations that really have no right answer. Instead, Rudeus (the protagonist of the story) has to simply do the best he can and winds up making horrible mistakes despite his best efforts that are often a driving part of the next phase of the plot.
This is how to handle character flaws well. Something a lot of authors struggle with. A character flaw is not just a mark on your character to make them less perfect. Most people tend to treat those character flaws like some kind of superficial decoration. However, the correct way to handle character flaws is showcased perfectly in Mushoko Tensie. In this series, Rudeus' character flaws are ever present, and they often lead to major plot-altering errors in judgement. Things he winds up regretting for years to come and change the course of his life.
Another thing to draw attention to is definitely the way the OP protagonist realistically deals with becoming that way. For one, he doesn't have some kind of cheat skill aside from the fact he was able to begin practicing things like magic at an extremely young age due to his previous-life intelligence. Aside from this, his main source of power comes from pure hard work. This, of course, falls into the category of the "hard working protagonist" trope also common nowdays. However, this one is also handled far better in Mushoko Tensei than it is handled in most modern day Isekai.
In the typical use of the "hard working protagonist" trope, it is mostly a justification for why the MC is so powerful, and it doesn't do much to explain why the protagonist is so incredibly self-sacrificingly hard working despite already being stronger than anything they have ever encountered or had to deal with. In the case of Muskoko Tensei however, his hard-working attitude is very well explained.
His back-story in his previous life is that he was a NEET Otaku who wasted his life. This is as far as we find out in the anime, but the web novel goes a little deeper into it. It turns out, as an elementary student he was actually a fairly promising child who was pretty much the top of his class. Then, when he was in middle school, he got a computer and learned how to code and wrote a few computer programs that amazed people. However, he let all that success go to his head and felt he was so great he could just start resting on his laurels. He began to not pay attention in class, and his grades slipped. He became overweight as well, and then due to his poor grades he got put into one of the worst highschools where he got bullied so severely it traumatized him and made him not even want to ever leave the house again.
He realizes that the reason his previous life turned out so horrible is because he wasted his previous life due to how much he got conceted as a child. Therefore, no mater how well he does with his magic or other skills in this current life, he refuses to think of himself as someone great. In fact, every single time someone praises him, his mind immediately goes to every single error and mistake he has made in his life (of which, due to the more realistic way the story is told, include a lot of things even in his Isekaied life.) And, his thoughts about his mistakes counter-balance the praise to such a degree that it actually over-compensates for any pride the praise may have triggered. In fact, this attitude is to such an extent that his hard-working nature in and of itself starts to look more like a character flaw as well rather than something to be admired.
There is also a second reason why he is so hard working. Up until the age of 13, he got a very warped view of the world. His father is hailed as one of the most talented swordsmen in the world for being able to raise all three of the major sword styles to the advanced level of skill. There are people far better than his father in one specific sword style, but his father is the only person who has ever advanced all three styles that far. Later, until the age of 13, he meets a series of adult fighters who are progressively even stronger than his father is, 2 of which he even learns from but feels woefully inadequate because he is unable to understand their lessons. (His talent in in magic, not in physical combat. His physical close quarters combat abilities are above average for a normal person, but weak compared to the average warrior.) Meanwhile, he also has a friend along for the ride who has far more talent as a warrior than him and absorbs the lessons from those same 2 warriors more powerful than his father like a sponge.
All of this gives him 2 major false impressions that, combined with his fear of becoming conceited that has become truly pathological, causes him to underestimate himself to such an insane degree that he's never satisfied with his current level of strength. 1 is that due to only associating with some of the most powerful people in the world, he comes to the impression that the world he's in is completely filled with these exact kinds of people and there's no way he can survive in this world if he doesn't keep getting stronger. 2 is that when he sees this friend of his picking up physical combat lessons so much more readily than him, he feels threatened that he will be seen as useless if he doesn't strive to keep up the pace. This is also likely due to his past-life trauma of bullying, but he is extremely insecure and constantly in fear of rejection from others.
These are all things that other modern day web-novels have attempted to knowingly or unknowingly imitate, but I have yet to see anyone really do it as well as Mushoko Tensei. It plays all of the above flaws and justifications so straight that you really feel the MC's insecurity. It does not treat his insecurity as a gag like most of the imitators do, it actually takes you along for the ride. You, as the reader, can realize that he's actually crazy powerful in this world. However, due to his level of insecurity and just how much you are taken along for the ride, you do not realize just how severely he's underestimating himself until you see an alternate POV chapter from someone of similar age to him, which come out extremely rarely. You see adults call him absurdly talented, but even with that you don't get the full picture until you see it from someone close to his age and very personally involved with him. This, also, is due to how masterfully this series actually does manage to take you along for the ride in the protagonist's insecurities. Even you, the reader, feel like he needs to do more to measure up due to all the mistakes with harsh consequences that he keeps making, even more so because the average web-novel reader today is used to the protagonists being more frustratingly perfect than Rudeus who keeps making deadly or almost deadly mistakes, or mistakes that nearly rip relationships apart.
Anyway, I've talked as much as I can without revealing spoilers. In conclusion, it would serve any Iseki writer very well to read this series. There is a lot to learn from it. The anime fails to portray some of the subtlety in the source material, but it also has been fairly good so far from what I've seen.
Otherwise, have a nice day.
