It’s time to take a look at the recent Slime movie. This one looked pretty fun even if perhaps the trailer didn’t have a lot of action in it. The whole time you were wondering how the movie would play things out considering how powerful Rimuru is. Would the movie be trying to have some kind of ultimate threat to go up against the heroes or would it be more low key about hanging out in the town? I would say it ultimately leans toward the latter a bit more. So this is a fun title but it doesn’t hit the same highs as season 2.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Hiro who fought off a ton of attackers from Clayman’s army but was ultimately unable to save his friends and family. Everyone was wiped out and so his life lost purpose until one day a queen named Towa showed up and nursed him back to health. She even gave him a name so his powers increased dramatically. He now lives to serve her but her kingdom is in rough shape. There is constant poison that floods in and while she can dispel it with her crown, the price is that it continues to zap her strength. Eventually it is likely that she will die if this keeps up. Their only hope is if Hiro can get help from the great demon lord Rimuru so that they can cultivate the forest and get more space but will he listen?

Of course if you’ve seen the show then you’ll know that Rimuru is a very chill guy so that’s not really a problem. Throughout the film I’m waiting for some moment where Hiro and Towa lose faith in Rimuru or get tricked into thinking that he’s the enemy. I feel like that happens every time in these things but surprisingly this never becomes a problem so I was pretty happy about that. Slime didn’t go in the obvious route and it was a very smart decision on their part. I definitely appreciated it.

In fact, none of the usual misunderstandings happen here. The characters actually talk and so you still keep the calm vibe for the most part. Every time the film seems like it’s going to swerve…it just doesn’t. Of course again that means there will be a little less excitement and danger for the most part but this was a fun change of pace. Rimuru is always in control and deep down you feel like all of the characters will be okay. Towa is really the only one in danger since anyone trying to attack Rimuru’s village would be slaughtered in an instant. His village is ridiculously overpowered at this point after all with multiple demon lord protectors as well as the legendary storm dragon.

In fact that only reason there is any real conflict here is because Hiro is one of the biggest suckers I’ve seen in a while. I can’t really mince words with this guy, he just makes really bad decisions the whole way through. Why would you possibly listen to some old guy with a super shifty plan when you can talk to the all knowing Rimuru? It just felt a little contrived that Hiro would even consider such a thing in this situation. So I liked him for the most part but that scene was definitely hard to overlook. It just wasn’t a good moment for him. In terms of being an honorable guy and very powerful, Hiro stacks up though.

Meanwhile Towa is nice enough as well. The whole time I was expecting her to suddenly turn evil or something but again the film isn’t really going for that. Instead she’s just trying her best to help out even when the odds are against her. She has a bunch of old advisors who aren’t the most helpful but they’re not too bad. I will say that the actual main villain of the film is very underwhelming though to the point where he barely even appears in the movie. It’s actually a little funny because you can tell that the film didn’t care about him at all either. He’s here because he needs to be but that’s really it.

There is a really interesting subplot with Diablo and Violet though. Rimuru sends him off to get some intel on what’s going on and we see once again how Diablo is super resourceful. He immediately knows who is behind the curse and confronts her. We also see how crazy strong he is to the point where Violet can’t keep up at all. Diablo continues to be a fascinating character and I’m really looking forward to seeing what he does in the future once he unveils his big plan. Right now it’s safe to say that he’s really got everyone right where he wants them. This also made for the best fight scene in the whole film so I was definitely glad to see it.

The animation here is definitely solid. Again it’s probably not as high budget as the show since they really went all out for season 2 but it’s all very streamlined and colorful which is what I was hoping to see. The battles aren’t frequent but the ones that we do get are very solid. There is a long battle in the opening that was good and of course the climax has some big action scenes of its own like with Benimaru’s big fight.

Benimaru gets a big role here since he and Hiro are related and from the same tribe. That’s the emotional beat for this movie and it’s good to see Benimaru getting some shine since he was one of the first main supporting characters for the Slime show. The rest of the tribe members like Shion don’t get as much to do but it’s probably hard to squeeze everyone in. They do all get quick fights near the end though.

Then we have Rimuru who is a fun main character here. I would say the only issue with him is that he’s extremely powerful and can do anything, yet he tends to let a situation play out. This means that characters will get injured and be in life threatening situations that he could have stopped. In this movie it’s especially noticeable since people do get super injured and even nearly die. Rimuru goofing off only works when everything’s fine because you can say that he would have stepped in but that’s just not the case here.

We get a lot of death fake-outs and the like in the climax of the film and you can’t help but feel like Rimuru really just let things get as bad as possible. He needs to focus up! Still, he’s a good enough character and if I lived in the village I would still feel very secure overall. What are the odds that you’d find yourself in a dangerous situation there compared to in the rest of the world right?

Overall, The Slime movie is pretty fun. It’s a lot more laidback and casual than you might expect but in a way that’s what made the series big in the first place. It’s taking a different approach to the usual Isekai titles and it works well. It’s the ultimate power fantasy of having a bunch of other fighters who are all super powerful to but on the same side. For once the heroes have the overwhelming edge and if you watch this film with that in mind then I expect you will have a very satisfying time all around.

Overall 7/10