For better or for worse, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation is one of the biggest and most popular isekai series of the last decade. It stars a 34-year-old shut-in as he's reincarnated into a new world. As Rudeus Greyrat, the former NEET is a prodigy, gaining some of the strongest magical abilities of anyone in the series. While the series has plenty of high points, especially in of world-building and storytelling, it has a lot of on-screen controversies that weigh it down.

To say that the on-screen controversies have made the show divisive would be an understatement. Rudeus, and to some extent his father, Paul, have done a couple of things that are not acceptable in the slightest in the real world, but Mushoku Tensei treats them fairly normally.

7 Paul Cheats But It Isn’t a Big Deal

The Series Treats Paul's Infidelity Lightly

When Rudeus is born in a new world, he has a nice family. It consists of his father, Paul, his mother Zentith, and their maid, Lillia. Paul was known as a womanizer in his past, and his former habits come back when he cheats on Rudeus's mother with Lillia. The family finds out when Lillia gets pregnant, and with her never leaving the house, it's all too obvious who the father is.

Paul's infidelity is only a problem for a little bit. Lillia was going to take the full blame for what happened as well, choosing to leave the house in exile. Rudeus convinces everyone to let her stay, which isn't the worst idea, but the fact that Paul's cheating was treated as a small bump in the road didn't sit right with a lot of fans. Paul's bad habits are also apparent later in the series, but it seems that his wife always chose to not make a big deal out of them, which somehow undermines Zenith's character.

6 Rudeus Gropes Two Girls to Fix His ED

An Odd Reason for a Not-Great Moment

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation is filled with ecchi themes to put it lightly. Rudeus is an extremely perverted character on more than a few occasions, and one of his worst comes with Pursena and Linia, two of his classmates. When he finds out that the two of them broke one of his statues dedicated to his idol Roxy, he fights them and knocks them both out.

The worst of it comes when Rudeus ties the two up in chairs and gropes them. At this point in the series, Rudeus has struggled with erectile dysfunction and uses this "opportunity" to feel the two girls up, trying to stimulate some excitement for himself. He doesn't, and the series moves on from the moment like it was normal.

It's a moment a lot of fans have a problem with. It's odd enough to tie the two girls up, but groping them crossed a line for many. Oddly enough, the two decide to dedicate themselves to Rudy after this moment, normalizing the odd exchange a little too quickly.

5 Rudeus Has Two Wives (So Far)

Wife #1, Meet Wife #2

Mushoku Tensei made its name as one of the best isekai series of all time through its realistic themes of self-discovery, growth, and an amazing world waiting to be explored. When Rudeus gets his second wife, however, the series goes back on a couple of the things that made it so great. While the world Rudeus finds himself in certainly doesn't have all the same rules as Japan does, it doesn't sit right with many that Rudeus gets a second wife.

It's not relatable to a lot of people to have more than one love interest committed to them, and that's exactly what happened to Rudy. This is normal in a lot of unrealistic anime series, but Mushoku Tensei was supposed to be about real character development. It went back on that through this new relationship.

4 Rudeus Buys a Slave

Julie Was Purchased Like an Item

One of the strangest and most unnecessary characters in Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation is Julie, the dwarf slave. Rudeus bought Julie like slavery is totally normal to him. To say this moment is a controversial one is a massive understatement as well, as many viewers couldn't get over the fact that the normally morally good Rudeus so casually engages in the slave trade.

Julie herself is a fine character. She's quiet, which makes sense given her bleak background. Julie was only bought to help Zanoba make dolls as well, but she develops a great relationship with her master and with Rudy. However, the fact that slavery is not even addressed as an issue in ing remains a big point of controversy.

3 Rudeus Cheats on Sylphie

Rudeus Is Unfaithful Like His Father

Mushoku Tensei is rife with cheating. Like his father before him, Rudeus has no problem cheating on his wife if another woman is in front of him. He's had crushes on multiple women, but there was only one around at any given moment. His first crush was on Roxy, his teacher. When he met Sylphy, he developed feelings for her. Finally, he met Eris, and grew to love her as well.

He finally meets Sylphy again later in life and marries her almost immediately. They settle down together and have a quiet life next to the Magic College when Rudy gets news that his mother is in danger. He heads out to save her and hears that Roxy is trapped in the same labyrinth that his mother is in.

It's a great moment when Rudy saves Roxy, and he's loyal at first. But after his father dies brutally, Rudy falls into a deep depression. Roxy saves him from his sadness by sleeping with him, despite the fact that Rudy has a wife back home. It's a sad moment because Rudy betrayed the faith of the woman who put her trust in him when he could have just gone back home to her.

2 Rudeus Worships Underwear

The Sacred Relic of the Master

Rudeus is one of the most lustful characters in anime. A large part of his character is based on how sexually excited he is and the lengths he'll go to fulfill his desires, which makes sense for someone who has been a reject virgin for more than thirty years. While this isn't the worst or most unrelatable thing in the world, Rudy takes it to almost unheard-of levels. Mushoku Tensei has moments so sexually charged, it can feel closer to a hentai than a regular isekai series.

One of the strangest moments that the series chooses to take incredibly seriously is Rudeus' infatuation with Roxy's underwear. He even got caught spying on her while she was bathing, and instead of being upset, Roxy took it as a compliment. Rudy was only five when this happened.

Rudy treats Roxy's panties as a sacred relic. It's an odd point that the story focuses on heavily, making a lot of viewers more than uncomfortable with Rudy as a character. Again, it isn't absurd for a male character like Rudy to be excited by the idea of something this lewd, but he treats them so reverentially that a lot of viewers are taken back by his actions.

1 Rudeus Is Mentally in His Late 40s

His Real Age Makes Everything a Bit Uncomfortable

Mushoku Tensei has so many great things going for it. It has great fights, a lot of solid character development, and phenomenal animation. At its core, however, is bot the series' uniqueness and its biggest problem. Rudy was 34 years old before he was transported to his new world. When he comes over as a baby, he retains all of his old memories from his past life.

While his physical body is only in his teens for most of the series, he's actually mentally closer to a man in his 40s. This makes his relationships gross, to say the least. He gets romantically involved with a character who is both physically and mentally in her teens when he is mentally 30 years older than her.

It's a problem that Mushoku Tensei never shakes. Rudeus continues to get older but refuses to get into any intimate relationships with anyone closer to his real age. Rudeus' mental age is easily the biggest controversy Mushoku Tensei faces, but it's also the original and unique idea at the basis of the series, so it's not going anywhere.