Yeah, the pace is bad. Cute short, blue haired girl is a memory of the past, even though she was the most likeable FL. Too much political mumbo-jumbo, that in the end just boils down to, who has the most power wins anyway. And its first story arc is already a tournament arc, which by now takes up felt half of the entire run of the manga. Shouldn't tournament arcs be outlawed by now?
It started fine. An isekai, that turned out to be none. (For some reason most of them just fail.) This here had potentiial. The chance for a primary love interest, that isn't cliche. She is not really part of the fantasy part of the show. That somehow felt refreshingly new. Just let the FLs, that focus onto the MC charm, because he is powerful, back in the dust (let them fail like they caught CFD (childhood friend syndrome)) and see how a normal girl falls for his normal sides. That would be different. I have no idea in which direction the fantasy part could have gone, but there must be something better than a tournament, right from the get-go. Now we are in an arena stuck on Namek. urg...