Season 2 was really a huge one as the heroes were invaded within their own country and casualties were high. Rimuru was nearly destroyed by Hinata and had to make a tough choice. He became the demon lord of legend and was able to power everyone up to all new heights. That was a turning point in a lot of ways, one of which is that there are no longer many threats to Rimuru. While season 3 has its share of fights, there is never a moment where you think that Rimuru is in danger. He’s likely top 5 in his own verse at this point and at least 2 of those other fighters are in his army. Not much to worry about at that point.

The season has 2 main arcs here. The first one wraps up the rivalry with the holy church. Hinata decides to go and call for a true with Rimuru but after receiving a threatening notice from him, realizes that it might come down to a fight. She aims to give it her best but knows that this will likely be futile. Her friends are manipulated into following her and picking a fight with Tempest though. Fights are unavoidable now and they are basically fighting an army of unstoppable demons. That’s not going to go over very well for them.

Then in the second half you have Rimuru throwing a giant festival. Since when is he not throwing one right? Well, it’s an even bigger deal this time as kingdoms from around the world will be attending and they have even set up a big arena for people to fight and have a good time. Among them is a new character named Masayuki. He is known as a legendary hero who is basically unbeatable. While it initially seems to be in a toon force type of way, that is literally his power. He can use plot armor as he pleases and that’s a fun power to have. The guy isn’t evil or anything though o dealing with him won’t be too hard.

Right away it is important to set your expectations here. Rimuru is so strong that there is no danger anymore. Like I said in the intro, that kind of plot stopped with season 2. You still have top budget fights and a great atmosphere, but the series won’t have you on the edge of your seat anymore. So how you feel about that will determine how much you enjoy the season. Fortunately I am totally fine with this. The Slime series has really been more about politics and world building for a while now. It is a power fantasy but one that focuses on teamwork and building ties among comrades. It’s a fairly unique spin on the whole thing.

Put it this way, Rimuru is friends with Vendora, known as one of the strongest forces in the universe. He is functionally immortal and everyone thinks twice before messing with him. Rimuru is best friends with Milim, the most physically powerful of the demon lords. He has the respect of all the others except for 2 who seem like crazy antagonists. Rimuru has earned the allegiance of Diablo, a demon so powerful that he evolved past the ranks of what was deemed possile. Rimuru is friends with all of the tree spirits, he has 3 evolved Oni fighters on his team as well as a master swordsman demon and an entire army of other creatures. Rimuru’s whole country is also boosted by his demonic energy so they can all regenerate from any nonlethal attack. It’s also worth mentioning that Rimuru has all the best scientists working for him so the country is also far more advanced than any others. It’s absolutely not fair…but that’s the fun of it.

There’s an ongoing joke about how the franchise is some kind of underground tax scandal conspiracy because nobody is actually trying to watch 5-6 episodes in a row of nonstop meetings. Well, while the joke is funny, I actually do enjoy the meetings. They feel realistic while never being bring and the characters are likable enough for the interactions to all be interesting. So when Rimuru finishes one meeting, only to start another one immediately afterwards with different characters, you don’t feel bad about it.

It all comes down to the writing which is extremely good. Then you also have meetings about the villains as they all talk tough and threaten each other. The show still has a veil of danger about it after all so you are supposed to be thinking that these villains could be a problem. Perhaps there will be a point where the meetings get boring but so far that has not happened at all. The show is also on the right trajectory here where, ever since it began to take things seriously in season 2, we saw a sharp drop in fanservice. That was the biggest credit to the series because that was quite obnoxious in season 1. Nowadays it is extremely rare and almost never happens.

The technical elements are also extremely good as always. The animation is top tier with some great cuts like when Rimuru has his rematch against Hinata. Diablo getting to show his stuff against the other characters is also very satisfying as always. You don’t necessarily need there to be a big threat to get some really fun battles established after all. Especially since the heroes like to hold back and sandbag a lot so the fight still appears to be competitive for a while there.

Then we have the soundtrack which is really good. There are a whole lot of tunes to the point where it can be difficult to find one that you are looking for on Youtube. You have to be willing to go through a whole lot of different songs. The opening may not be my favorite from the seasons but you still have the classic battle themes as well as new ones. It is very well rounded so I have no issues there.

Okay so lets talk about the characters. First up we have Rimuru who is a pretty fun character. He has improved a whole lot from when he was first introduced after all. Initially he was constantly horny like your average protag but after being a slime for a while he has mostly gotten past that. I won’t say that he is permanently past that but it’s not really a big factor anymore. He has learned what it means to be a king and is even starting to know how to use people. He has even begun to notice the various characters like Yuuki and Raphael being really shady.

Raphael is an interesting character as a result though because they are hinting more and more that she may have some secret plans at the ready. There is nothing definite but at times she seems to give Rimuru the wrong advice or will just hide part of the answer from him. It’s all a bit suspicious but so far there are no hints as to what’s going on. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a real character who has been pretending to be the A.I. all this time. That would be an interesting twist. After all we do see that all of the otherworlders hear this voice like Hinata when she first got transported to this world. Maybe it’s all connected.

One thing about the Slime series is that the cast of characters is absolutely humongous. As a result not everyone gets to have a big role in each season. There would just be no way to pull that off. So Veldora and Milim don’t get to do much here for example. They are immensely powerful and could end the fights in an instant so they have to get written out. Veldora always wants to help out but Rimuru tells him to cut it out. Likewise he doesn’t trust Milim since she sucks at holding back. These are the kinds of difficulties you run into when your army is too powerful.

Even Gobta and the Oni don’t do a whole lot here. Gobta gets one fight where he does well thanks to hos OP regeneration is in combat. Benimaru and Souei win their fights pretty easily so they don’t get a whole lot to do. Hakuro and Shuna are also around but there isn’t much time for them. They all got big fights in season 2 so that makes sense. Shion is the only one with a really big role in this season. Her new powers after evolution are absolutely intense.

She went from having a tough time (Albeit there were some specific circumstances there) in season 2 against one of the other outworlders to taking on multiple holy knights at once here. She is incredibly powerful now and is nearly invulnerable. Raphael even mentions that her rule breaker sword could even hurt Rimuru at this point. Shion’s loyalty is completely unmatched so that’s not a worry for him but shows how powerful she is. Shion is the kind of character that is super easy to root for throughout. I love characters who show that kind of loyalty and she has only continued to go up as the seasons go on. I may have her in my top 5 characters at this point. Off the top at least it would be Diablo > Milim > Hinata > Shion > Luminous

That’s why I really enjoy Diablo as well. He has enough power to really do whatever he wants but the guy is completely loyal to Rimuru. He intends to follow that guy forever and does his best to accomplish each goal. His role is that of a butler so Diablo has to find ways to win without murdering his opponents. That’s not always easy and goes against his nature but he makes it work. Diablo is very earnest and has good instincts. He has quickly become my favorite character in the series and that’s not easy with how many great characters are in this series.

On the villain side, Luminous gets more of a role here although you could say that she is a total good guy now. We learn a bit more about how her group operates and it turns out that she has been using kid gloves the whole time. She was never downright evil like the other demon lords and so that makes you re-evaluate the character. She’s certainly not blameless or anything like how she let this cult of the Seven Luminaries get away with so much. Still, she has no intentions of going against Rimuru so that’s handy.

I do have to give the Seven Luminaries a shoutout for talking such a grand game though. They all go out like chumps but still made for some good cliffhangers. They made great speeches and are technically very powerful. They just happened to pick a fight with opponents who really cannot be defeated. None of them come remotely close to winning a fight and the entire group is defeated in this season. So much for those guys eh?

At least we had a big villain though. Otherwise Hinata would be the biggest antagonist here even though she is a good guy as well. We finally see the rest of her origin story here and how she would ultimately be manipulated by the holy church. In all fairness, those guys aren’t evil either, there are just a lot of bad actors to filter through. She has made a lot of great friends along the way and will be a valuable ally going forward. Rimuru may not have needed more powerful fighters but you may as well keep stacking the deck against the villains.

By the time the season ends there are really just 3 villain groups left. First you have the merchants, then you have the old man who seemed to control the Seven Luminaries, finally you have Yuuki. We know that Yuuki is powerful from his one spar with Rimuru a while back but you have to wonder how he can possibly be a match nowadays. None of these villain groups seem like serious threats but they could surprise me. In particular Yuuki seems like the most interesting figure, I want to see what his overall goals are. For now his being evil just feels random with how much time he spends being a nice guy and helping out. If it’s something as petty as being jealous of Rimuru then that will be a bad look for him.

There’s plenty of time to introduce more characters and keep the fights going though. Last season we saw the council of demon lords and in theory each of the other 6-7 could give Rimuru a good fight. So things could change soon but as it stands, most of them would be allies anyway. So whether we throw more festivals or get more fights in, I’m looking forward to what’s next. Slime absolutely knows how to manufacture a fun atmosphere and develop a ton of interesting characters. When your fundamentals are that good, it becomes very easy to have a successful season in any genre. While I hope we continue the fights in each season, a season of slice of life episodes would also end up working very well.

Overall, This is the best example of a comfort show that I can think of. You can pull up any episode and have a good time knowing that the heroes are too strong for anyone to really challenge them. It is nice to just see everyone getting along and imagining yourself being one of the residents of the country. This is one of the only series where you can feel really safe and not expect a random villain to just blow up the town or something like that. It’s a fresh change of pace and I definitely expect big things from season 3 as well.

Overall 8/10