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That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Review

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Slime season 2 feels like the biggest glow up I’ve seen between seasons since Mob Psycho. Now it may not seem nearly as drastic just looking at the score but I would say it can take a whole lot of effort to go up from being a 7 which is pretty good to being an 8 which is truly great. Additionally I was tempted to push this all the way up to a 9 but I told myself I needed to calm down. The entire last chunk of the season was incredible but I had to carefully factor in what I would consider to be a very rough start. Ultimately the series was able to pull itself up rather well and I’m definitely looking forward to season 3 more than I would have been before.

I would say there are really 2 main arcs here. The second arc is really the highlight but the first one is solid too. It’s just the opening episodes before that which get tricky. So life is good and Rimuru is still building up his alliance in Tempest. At this point he already has a Demon Lord on his side as well as the incredibly powerful Vendora and hundreds of powerful warriors. Perhaps he will be the one to achieve world peace. In the meantime though he has to meet with powerful politicians and share drinks and such.

So this arc was pretty weak….but I consider this to be pre arc. For around 3-4 episodes it just feels like not much is happening. Rimuru is socializing I suppose but it feels like an excuse for just lots of fanservice and not much else. It was a weaker start than season 1 so I was a bit nervous here. I mean the production values are still great and all but where was the fun story? I would even say there wasn’t a ton of world building here. Fortunately that changes when the outside kingdoms decide to attack Tempest which is what really sets off Arc 1 for real. The Kingdom of Falmuth hatches a plan along with the holy Church. They will send 3 humans to frame the monsters for an attack which will give justification for these guys to murder everyone. Meanwhile Rimuru will be held at bay by Hinata, one of the Church’s most powerful fighters. Can Rimuru get back in time to win?

This was great and for another show you might have expected this to be the climax of the season. First off, we now know that there are more humans in the world which is a really big deal. We do know that humans are summoned and saw two of them in season 1 but now you have a fighting force of evil ones. Each human is also shown to be exceptionally powerful as they are treated as a powerful race in this world. As a sidenote, it is nice to see humans actually looking really tough as opposed to just being fodder in these fantasy settings. This also helps make the world feel even bigger as these 3 could be twisted leads in their own isekai adventures and now Rimuru has to take care of them. All 3 of these humans are complete villains of course so Rimnuru does have to hurry.

Another reason why the arc stands out is because Rimuru faces his first true challenge in quite a while. Due to the double barrier in place, all of his abilities have been greatly sealed while Hinata is at full power. This does tell me that Rimuru is already much stronger but of course excuses won’t matter if he’s dead. This was a great plan from Hinata from start to finish and I appreciated her confidence. This was absolutely a great fight as well and by this point in the show (Which is still fairly early) I knew that season 2 was going to rebound quite well from those opening episodes. You can almost skip those and not miss much tbh.

Hinata’s skill is something of a mystery though. By the end of the season we see her scaring opponents who are potentially even stronger than a demon lord or at least one with the rank but true power is more of a pseudo demon lord. So in theory Hinata wouldn’t even need Rimuru’s powers to be limited to stop him unless Rimuru had already passed that level. I’m inclined to say he had not at the time but his Gluttony ability bypasses defense so maybe that’s something she knew she had to avoid. Either way this is an arc with a lot of action and an incredible climax which even involves Diablo showing up. Rimuru also gets a big power up which will certainly be handy for later on.

After that we get a break in the action for a while as the next episodes are all meetings after meetings. I actually liked these episodes quite a lot though compared to the non action ones from before. For starters these are all serious meetings and not just an excuse to have a lot of fanservice the whole time. Additionally, I’m always up for a good strategy meeting so it’s nice to see everyone hanging out. It certainly could have been sped up but it’s fine either way. We also get a quick villain meeting which is a lot of fun and sets up the new characters as everyone gets ready for the main meeting.

See, the demon lords have a meeting for Walpurgis whenever there is something big to discuss. Clayman has summoned everyone for important news and now that Rimuru is so powerful and has the rank, he will be in attendance as well. Clayman has been the mastermind for pretty much every event in season 1 and 2 so Rimuru needs to be there to see his future plans and also to throw some threat around. Each demon lord can bring up to 2 attendants as well in case any funny business happens. That said, the attendants would likely be out of luck anyway though.

Meanwhile, Rimuru wants to take the initiative against Clayman and his forces this time so he’s having his army attack Clayman’s while they are both at the meeting. That means they are all sent to different areas to take down Clayman’s Five Fingers, a group of elite fighters. Given how powerful Rimuru’s guys are this is as much of a stomp as you can imagine but we do get a lot of great fights as a result. Even some of Rimuru’s fighters who don’t seem like offensive specialists show what they’ve got when it counts.

I would say this arc even beat the first one. It’s just the perfect climax to everything the series was building up to. Clayman may have looked really bad to the point where I wrote an editorial about one mistake that he made but it was still good to have him as the final boss. It made sense to get him out of the way and now every demon lord has to respect Rimuru and his abilities. You certainly can’t trust any of these demon lords either so that sets up a lot of interesting paths for the future. It’s really hard to say how things will play out as a result since everyone is keeping their cards close to the chest.

I have an eventual editorial coming up about the power levels in the series and discussing how powerful the heroes are so I won’t go into too much detail here. I will say that this is one of the most interesting parts of the series though. There are an absolute ton of factions running around and there are so many big shots that you will be curious how they all stack up to each other. You have the Demon Lords, Elder Demon Lords, Hinata, Diablo, Rimuru, Veldora, etc. Each of these guys have claims to be some of the strongest in the verse but who really outranks each other? Throw in the Clowns who seem to be exceptionally powerful with the fact that Hinata likely has her own bosses and it makes things very interesting. Veldora also isn’t the only dragon. So I won’t start ranking them here based on what I believe to be the correct ladder, but it’s something that Slime does quite well.

I dare say that only perhaps One Piece has more active factions and power level discussions that come from it. Otherwise it’s hard to top Slime with how many moving parts there are and it makes all the fight scenes even more interesting. Another reason why this show is so great is because you are always wondering what is going to happen next. Who will make their move and how will the world change as a result of it? While the Slime show loves its peaceful talks you know that eventually battles are going to break out.

At the same time you are never worried for the main characters though. Rimuru’s army is far too powerful to be endangered by anyone or at least it seems that way. Perhaps before he got a power up but in this season Rimuru gets a massive one which means that he greatly outranks almost every character in the series. While that may be a wrap for most of the tension here, you can still get some similar to One Punch Man by keeping Rimuru out of it. Much like that series I think this one was effective at pulling that off by giving the other characters their own big fights.

It doesn’t hurt that the animation is exceptional. There is a great deal of budget behind each fight with a lot of quick moves and solid special effects. Each battle stands out with the sharp colors and you will be on board right from the start. At no point in the season do you feel like the animation falters at all. Then you have the soundtrack which is also greatly improved from the first season. Surprisingly it feels like a lot of the season 1 battle themes have been completely discarded and replaced. I’m cool with that because these themes are just better. “Going Forward and Backward” for example is my favorite track in the show and it fortunately plays for almost all of the battles. It’s a great theme that immediately increases the tempo and gets you ready for a top notch battle.

I also greatly enjoyed the new theme song that plays for the second half of the show. (First is good too but not in the same league) Now this is a top tier opening with incredible visuals and a really catchy song. I’ve certainly listened to it a fair number of times. It’s also a good first look at Rimuru’s new costume even if he doesn’t wear it much in the season. I wish he would stick to that one because it’s easily his best one. It’s also fun that we’ve finally gotten to the Hinata fight since it felt like it was in the first 3 openings because they never knew when the fight was going to be adapted. Still feels off with how long it took but I guess the animators were really looking forward to that moment.

Rimuru continues to look good in this season and works well as the main character I think sometimes he doesn’t trust his own abilities as well as he should though and gets nervous over nothing. Still, gone are the days when he wasn’t really sure what to do. He’s now learned well how to be a true leader and takes command when needed. It’s hard to believe that the guy was just an ordinary joe not too long ago. Now Rimuru isn’t trying to be a hero but he is doing his best to be a leader who watches out for the people.

For example at one point he has to destroy I think it’s 100,000 people in order to bring back a few hundred. It was a no brainer for him since these guys were on the villain’s side and he needed to get his people back. Perhaps not what a hero would do there as this is the definition of trading lives for lives but it is something you would expect your king or leader to do for you. Rimuru set a strong example for his fighters that he will defend them at all times without exception. You also may feel like he didn’t need another power boost, but why not right? At this point it feels like Rimuru has to be top 10 in the verse at the minimum and I would argue he is likely stronger than that. We probably won’t know for a while.

Either way, Rimuru is able to hold his own seasons really well and had a good rage moment at Clayman when he struck Milim. That was a good way to know that Rimuru was for real. Meanwhile Great Sage is also fun. At this point it’s fair to say that she’s basically a character as she can take control of Rimuru’s body if he allows it so she can fight. Additionally she is always giving out helpful information and is almost like a sidekick that Rimuru can count on. She has a lot of attitude but that just helps for the banter.

After what feels like ages we finally get to see Veldora in his human form in this season. It’s nice to have him out of the prison for a change and his human form has a lot of fun with the cast. He is incredibly powerful as you would expect and certainly doesn’t back down to anybody. He gets a brief fight at the end which will cause you to really wonder about where he stacks up as well. Either way Rimuru has another good friend now and I think Veldora will fit in with everyone really well. He had a great first impression on them after all.

I’m still not a big fan of Gobta but I will give him credit for immediately believing his friend when the humans tried to frame him. Gobta wasn’t having any of that and that’s good because your friend should always have your back when it counts. So he may not be a great fighter but he’s a good friend. Meanwhile Benimaru gets a chance to show what he’s got as well. As always he seems to be the most impressive from his family of fighters and hasn’t really had to break a sweat. He even takes down a very powerful villain from season 1 in an instant which is very impressive. I don’t think he’s demon lord level but this guy can hold his own against anyone under that.

Shuna has her very best appearance in this season. Usually she just appears as the rather quiet and timid princess but here we get to see what she can do on the battlefield. Sure enough, she doesn’t need backup or for other fighters to protect her. She takes one on of Clayman’s leaders and shows him just how outclassed he is against her. Shuna’s magical spells are very impressive and she can be ruthless in combat. Now whenever she stays at the village we know that it’s in good hands.

Shion also looks great here and had one of the biggest improvements from season 1. She has really settled into her role as being Rimuru’s right hand woman and makes sure that nobody slanders him. When the villains start being sassy she quickly takes them out. While she mainly seemed evenly matched with Suphia, I think we all know that she would have won in the end with her big energy attack. Shion even takes a demon lord near the end which is further evidence of her power. In a true one on one fight she will not be going down easy that’s for sure. Her loyalty is also just great and she’s a fun character through and through.

Souei is the ninja of the group and his speed is always very impressive. He doesn’t look quite as powerful as the others but he gets less opportunity to fight like that. When he does join the fray you can usually count on him to get a win or look pretty good either way. The mentor of the group Hakuro gets a pair of fights to himself. The first fight doesn’t go very well for him but the deck was stacked against the guy. Once he is able to fight at full power then everything changes immediately.

Ranga is still around and while he doesn’t really get anything super big to do, he is always a loyal fighter for Rimuru. His ability to hide within shadows is handy and he gets a fight at the end but it’s mostly off screen. Now Milim is a character who gets a whole lot to do. I’m not sure about some of the twists with her though. There is a particularly big one near the end that will reframe all of her actions throughout the season but I’m just not sure that I buy it at all. Seems like a really convoluted way to go about things and it just doesn’t seem to make sense with the flashbacks of around when her plan would have started.

Either way it does show that she has great self restraint though. The characters rightfully do call her out on how this was rather irresponsible but I don’t think she seems too apologetic by the end of this. She is powerful enough where nobody would want to mess with her anyway though. She is one of the 3 top level demon lords after all so there’s almost nobody in the verse who could hope to beat her anyway. It’s why Rimuru got so lucky in having her as an ally.

Speaking of allies, Geld gets to have his first bit of action now that he is a part of Rimuru’s army and he looks good. His raw power is able to overwhelm his opponent’s regeneration. It’s a really intense fight to be sure as he just keeps pounding away at his opponent until the guy just can’t get up anymore. If not for outside help he would have ended things right there. As a power type I’m usually not going to think Geld will win much but he did really well here that’s for sure.

Unfortunately Diablo has not done much yet but he’s certainly a character that you will want to keep a real close eye on. He gets one fight in the season and it’s a really impressive one because he is able to easily overwhelm his opponent who is supposed to be incredibly powerful. In fact, we know he is based on previous appearances so the fact that Diablo is basically able to dumpster the guy is crazy. I have really high hopes for what Diablo will be doing in the future.

Yohm is an adventurer who gets a much bigger role here. He’s a nice guy who may not be extremely powerful but does rather well for himself with a sword. He has a bit of a romance with Myulan going. There is a rival in Grucius but you know that Yohm is the only one with a chance from the start. They three of them have a good dynamic though. I do think Yohm doesn’t handle the situation with Myulan very well though. As soon as things started to get fishy I would have liked for him to have been yelling for backup or trying to interrupt her technique. That would have made a world of difference for Tempest.

Of course things go well for Tempest but otherwise a whole lot of blame would be on Yohm. The most blame would be on Myulan though…you know for being the actual traitor. Ultimately she was under a bad circumstance here but still went through with all of this. Grucius gets some credit for trying to stop this from happening even if he wasn’t successful. I like his confidence but Grucius really doesn’t get any big wins here.

Then we get to good ole Clayman. The man with the worst plan possible and he makes mistakes at every turn. He really was in a good position initially but showed his cards too early and it cost him. Due to some twists it is even worse for him as we learn that Clayman was doomed for the start. He tries for some sympathy points at the end but Clayman was way too far gone by this point. No way you would really sympathize with that guy much. The situation is entirely of his making and now he has to live it.

Meanwhile the Jesters are interesting wild cards right now. They seem to work for Clayman’s boss and are really confident in their skills. It seems like they might all be Demon Lord level and if that’s the case then the heroes could really be in some trouble now. We’ll see how that plays out. Carrion doesn’t look great as far as demon lords go but to his defense, everyone would lose to Milim really. Or at least most of them would but when you factor in that she was sandbagging a bit then it gets really tricky for him. Ultimately it’s probably a good idea that he has decided to work for her though.

Ramiris might be the weakest demon lord here but she works well in the comic relief role. I like to think that she must have a crazy support ability to have become a demon lord though. Surely you can’t make it to that rank without having some kind of ability right? So I’m skeptical at how weak she is and figure she must be hiding something. All of the Demon Lords show up of course and while some are more impressive than others, they all seem like they can fight so something has to be going on here.

Leon is another one of the demon lords and he looks impressive. The guy hasn’t fought yet or anything but he has a confident atmosphere about him and doesn’t back down from a fight. Even Crimson who seems to be at the top regards him with a good amount of respect. While Crimon is always joking around you can tell that he does mean it when he says he would help Leon out if he was in a jam. I like the comradery between the demon lords. I’m sure some of them would backstab the others in a second but for others I do think they would be good friends. take Demon Lord Frey and Milim. They seem like good friends and Frey isn’t really the ambitious type so I don’t think she would have much motive to go around seeking more power. After all they’ve been demon lords for a while so I doubt they want anything to disrupt the balance of power. It’s why things should get crazy once that breaks down.

For miscellaneous characters first we have Suphia. She is one of the beast warriors and fights rather well. I like how aggressive she is and that makes the fight with Shion really good. Then you have the mysterious Yuuki. Remember that he did block Rimuru’s full powered punch when they first met so he can certainly fight. As a bit of a secret mastermind I could see him being a huge focus in season 3 unless he is truly the end game goal. Then there is Hinata who is a bit of a wild card since we don’t really know how the Holy Church will play into things. They seem corrupt already but at the same time I would assume that they won’t openly team up with the demon lords. I would love to see them as a true third party that causes trouble for both sides. Hinata has the raw power to pull this off after all.

The Church is manipulating her but I don’t think that’ll last forever. The question will be if she ends up joining the Tempest Federation or not. Personally I think she will just to make Rimuru’s army of unbeatable fighters even more impressive. Yamza is definitely Clayman’s most impressive minion. The guy can fight really well with a sword and while he was never a threat to the heroes, he looked way better than the other fingers. I wouldn’t have minded seeing him more that’s for sure, but I should be satisfied with his appearances here.

Middray and Hermes are fun characters who serve Milim even if she doesn’t seem to know about the Dragon Faithful group. Hermes is more of a rookie so he tends to lose his cool a bit. I don’t blame him for wanting to fight off Yamza though especially if he believes he could win. The whole arrangement seems one sided for Clayman’s army. Once again, the twist about Milim doesn’t help for scenes like this where they are only standing down because she has cosigned all of this. Not a great move that’s for sure.

I don’t agree with Middray allowing all of this disrespect though. He definitely has to defend himself when the villains are going in like this. It would go a long way to building up the kingdom’s credibility. Especially since he does seem very powerful. Not as strong as Benimaru or anything like that but he can take on many other fighters. Then we have Albis who is one of the stronger beast warriors. She has a full super form and everything which is always tough to defeat. She was the one fighting Yamza too who is an impressive opponent to be going up against.

Then we have the 3 otherworlders. They’re all total villains but made for entertaining characters. First up is Kirara who has the ability to hypnotize people so they agree with her. This doesn’t work in the wonderful realm of Tempest though since the demons can block that ability from working. She can also heal though which is very handy. Things don’t end very well for her though and it’s why you never want to be in a group of villains for very long. They will always turn on you.

Then you have Kyoya who is always acting very polite but it seems to be an act as he is just as crazy as the others. It only comes out during a fight when he’s winning though. Otherwise the guy stays quiet and tries not to make a scene. His sword skills are impressive as is his future sight. With that he can dodge attacks easily. His abilities feel like something an isekai lead could have too so it helps with the whole image of these guys being reverse leads. The otherworlders give us some of the top fights in the season too so credit there.

Finally you have Shogo who is effectively the leader here. He can punch really hard and his berserk skill improves his stats even more. That really makes him hard to stop. He ends up taking a whole lot of punishment as the fights go on though. He can dish it out but he certainly can’t take it. I like how the guy is always yelling but he’s definitely not a villain you can count on. Ultimately Razen gets the best of him but things don’t even go very well for that guy either. I liked Razen’s confidence though. I thought his arc was going to be a lot longer and that he would show up later but it just wasn’t in the cards for him.

That wraps up most of the characters in this season. Of course there are a considerable amount of other characters that I haven’t mentioned like the various kings, other members of Tempest, etc but the cast is exceptionally large so mentioning them all would take quite a while. It’s really an excellent cast and that’s part of what makes the show work so well. No matter what plot they go to you can bet that something interesting will be happening. Season 2 is quite busy with all of the plots and sub plots going on.

The show is really a blast and it’s also a very calming title. For most of the show you never feel like the heroes are in danger so you enjoy the spectacle of all the fights without worrying about the heroes much. There is a tense moment in arc 1 to be sure before Rimuru gets his power up but it’s safe to say that after that you don’t get a very serious moment like that again where you think this might get ugly for the heroes. It probably wouldn’t work if every show started making things too easy on the heroes but it’s just rare enough where it works as a change of pace. You’ll be having a good time throughout.

Even when the fights are not ongoing the show has a good amount of humor and solid writing to carry it at all times. Really the only problem with the show here that keeps it from being a 9 is that the fanservice can be quite excessive. Particularly in the opening episodes there is a lot of fanservice and it just keeps on coming. After that the show dials it back to more of a normal amount. Slime isn’t really the kind of series that ever totally gets past this issue but at least it’s mild enough where it takes a decisive back seat to everything else going on. It’s Rimuru’s primary concern when meeting one of the demon lords which is unfortunate for his character. I did say he is improved from season 1 a lot with experience and all but this is still an unfortunate trait of his.

Overall, You’ll definitely have a really good time with this season. Slime has certainly improved since its days in season 1. The animation and soundtrack have never been better. The story is also at an all time high and the pacing is good. The fights are on point and you’ll just be having a great time here. There is just so much action and no matter who is fighting you know you’re in for a treat. The power levels being mysterious is also good since it allows the series to go in a lot of different directions for the next season. Once we know that Rimuru really is the strongest then that’ll probably limit what it can do to an extent. Either way you’ll want to check this one out.

Overall 8/10

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Rimuru’s Glamorous Life as a Teacher Review

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That title’s definitely a mouthful isn’t it? In theory I could have taken out the franchise title since you don’t always need to have that as part of the intro but in this case it did make sense. This one’s a 3 episode special about Rimuru’s days as a teacher. It’s a fun little adventure and works well in this universe where Rimuru already does get to have a lot of down time between battles. You can picture him hanging out at the school for a while to flex and show why he’s a better teacher than the rest. It’s a solid adventure that goes by in a flash.

The special starts with Rimuru slacking off at school as per usual when Jeff shows up. This teacher has always had something against Rimuru. Rimuru doesn’t know if it’s because he’s always slacking off or the guy is just jealous that he transformed the most problematic class into the most powerful one. Either way Jeff lets him know that a big protection test is coming up at the school and as always Rimuru’s class won’t be invited since they don’t have equipment. Rimuru quickly changes that so now his class can in fact enter. The rules are simple, the kids will drive a van/wagon past the mountain plains and into town where they will drop off the teacher unharmed. They will all then participate in a cave challenge fighting monsters.

To keep things fair, the students will be guarding different teachers. So for example Jeff’s students will be guarding Rimuru and his students will be guarding another teacher named Tiss. Your points are based on how quickly you make it to the castle along with how smooth a ride it was. Rimuru’s not particularly concerned since his kids are far more powerful than your average class. They each have spirit animals and basic offensive magic skills at the ready. Still, this trip may be more dangerous than they had expected.

The special does deliver on the action as the kids are inevitably attacked by bandits. They handle them rather well and then even have to fight off an actual demon. They don’t look quite as good in that battle but I don’t think anyone would have been quite prepared to handle this guy. Not only does he have regeneration but he is also very fast and powerful. Such a foe is completely outside the limits of a usual school test. Fortunately we had Diablo show up to clean things up by the end. The guy continues to prove why he is one of the best characters in the series which is why it’s almost a bit funny that he hasn’t technically appeared in the main show yet outside of a cliffhanger, a prequel episode, and now an extra episode.

You can tell he will definitely make a splash when he gets a proper role. There’s also a bit of an epilogue as Rimuru helps cure a fatal illness because he’s just that good. One thing you figure out very quickly while watching the slime adventures is that there isn’t much that Rimuru can’t do. Thanks to Great Sage he is a super genius and he has so many extra abilities that he is also a whiz at combat. This makes him pretty much untouchable to at least 90% of the cast which is no small feat. He’s a fun character and definitely looks good in these episodes.

Then you have the rival Jeff who is fun. I mean, you know he is completely and utterly out of his league in the fight but it doesn’t take away from his being a rather amusing character. It’s always fun seeing these characters give the lead a hard time, particularly when like here it isn’t overdone. He’s not trying to frame Rimuru or do anything drastic, he just throws out a lot of insults.

Then you have the third teacher Tiss. She’s a nice person but you feel like she should be a lot stronger than she is. My main issue is that she looked up to Shizu as a great role model and aspires to be as powerful as her. You would expect that she would have started training then right? Unfortunately she acts like she has never held a sword a day in her life. How does that work out? It just doesn’t make any sense no matter how you slice it. I’m hoping when she next appears she would have gotten a lot stronger.

Meanwhile the kids are good, they continue to defy expectations and actually appear as very solid characters. I would say the weakest of the group is Gale mainly because the guy barely seems to have any character next to the others. Kenya is a blast though and is always ready to charge the enemy. With his sword and design he looks like someone out of Dragon Quest. Then you have Chloe who is also always ready for battle. Her chosen weapon may not be the best one but she makes up for it in hidden talent. Then you have Alice who is quite possibly the most powerful of the kids. She is a little more on the timid side but definitely fights when it counts. Ryota is also a fairly quiet kid so you won’t see him make a name for himself, but he is there ready and willing to help at all times.

While the special is a fairly light hearted endeavor, the action scenes are pretty serious. Kenya actually sliced off one guy’s arm which was unexpected but of course the guy had a potion to regenerate it. I’m glad Kenya had been prepared for this though. The kids put up a brave stand against the demon as well which was nice to see and of course this led to Diablo stealing the show as always. It was a great climax and the perfect way to end the special. If you merge the three parts this works quite well as a mini movie. It’s got a complete plot and while Rimuru doesn’t get to do a whole lot in terms of fighting here, he’ll have plenty of chances in the main series anyway. This one really focuses on why he is known as such a great teacher. He may be rather hands off in his approach but his sheer genius makes up the difference.

The animation is on par with the main show. It’s a very solid display for the character designs and backdrops. I definitely have no complaints with how anything looked. The soundtrack is also taken from the show so this is good as well. It is able to really capture the feeling of just being another pair of episodes which is good. It’s a seamless transition. The pacing is on point so this will also keep your interest all the way through.

Overall, This was a fun trilogy of episodes. I wouldn’t say there is a ton more to discuss since it’s a rather straight forward plot. It’s a quick challenge to see which class is best and we all know that Rimuru’s absolutely destroyed the others no matter what Jeff says. Of course, they all have super powers and spirit boosters so it may not be super fair, but that’s neither here nor there. I’d be cool with Jeff returning in the main series for more of a rivalry with Rimuru from time to time. The kids also still want to visit Rimuru’s village so I assume that is probably going to happen soon. If you want a fun little adventure to see the old characters again this is definitely a good special to check out.

Overall 7/10

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Review

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This is a show that you must have seen somewhere over the years. It’s pretty popular and there was always advertising for it. The idea of being transformed into a Slime when entering a fantasy world is pretty interesting. I would argue that the show cheats on the premise later on by including a human form but…..it’s good because honestly the human form is way better. I’ll talk about that more in a minute. The show has its ups and downs for sure, but I would say this is a pretty good season 1 to the show. It develops the cast and gets us some good action scenes. I see a pretty bright future for the title as long as it doesn’t get too cheeky with fanservice. If it keeps going at its present rate I’d say the pros will continue to outweigh the cons.

The show starts with an average guy getting ready for another average day at work. He’s content with his life but at the same time everything just feels so ordinary. Is this really all that there is to life? One day though he gets stabbed and ends up dying. He is then reawakened as a slime with a ton of excellent abilities. He is effectively impervious to damage and most elements while also keeping a good amount of strength and speed. Most importantly, he now has the ability to absorb other creatures and gain their abilities. That’s a pretty good deal eh? Before long he ends up helping out a village and quickly becomes the chief. He is now the head of the Rimiru Tempest alliance. His human name was something else but as a slime he will be known as Rimiru. Together with the villagers he will make the world a better place and fighting is only done as a last resort.

That’s a super loose premise but it’s in part because the series has several little arcs going on. For the most part Rimiru hands out in the village with the goblins, orcs, trolls, and other magical allies that are around him. Each arc typically expands his life of allies as well as his territory as more people join the alliance. Rimiru’s abilities are so vast that it makes sense to join him because if you don’t then you’re probably going to get crushed. The show has a pretty fun atmosphere about it. The fantasy world is well created and it’s vast enough where you can already see how countless stories can be placed in this world. You’ve got the demon lords, human kingdoms, and a bunch of other elements that season 2 will probably follow up on.

There’s a dragon named Veldora who appears in the first episode and hasn’t really had a chance to pop up since then. Rimiru absorbed him so you get the feeling that he should be able to spit the guy back out as his abilities improved but maybe Rimiru just hasn’t thought of it yet? I’d assume there’s a better reason than that of course but having Veldora has helped Rimuru out in quite a few battles thanks to the flame immunity so that part’s already been paying off quite nicely.

The first arc I’d say is basically the origin stories with Rimiru taking down some Direwolves and helping out a bunch of Dwarves when they are given impossible orders. This leads to both factions joining up with Rimiru and starting the basis for the village. The Direwolves part was a bit of a rough start to the show as I would consider it to be the weakest story. There is quite a bit of animal violence there as Rimiru takes the wolves down. He doesn’t destroy all of them at least. Meanwhile the leader becomes a supporting character.

Ranga is a powerful Direwolf whose abilities are fairly relevant even by the end of season 1. The ability to hide in shadows and cast powerful bolts of lightning definitely can’t be underestimated. He’s quite loyal to Rimiru at all times and is just someone you can count on. Most of the Dwarves aren’t all that notable but Kaijin is definitely the main one. He has some ties to the main human kingdom so I imagine that will keep him important for some time. The fact that he is able to craft materials really well and build just about anything is also handy. The guy’s just very versatile and a reasonable character.

I suppose now’s a good time to talk about Rimiru. Well, he’s not exactly the most heroic guy out there. He definitely gets distracted quite easily by the heroines around him and I don’t always think he’s reasonable with how hard he tries to keep his army from fighting anyone. If the humans start something you should absolutely take them down in self defense. Rimuru’s definitely not as bad as Haruyuki with his questionable moments but he doesn’t hold a candle to the cooler light novel leads like Kirito, Orphen, or Lina. I wouldn’t say I ever became a big fan of the guy, he’s just decent at best.

In his slime form is definitely seems very powerful but I guess there’s less ways to use his magic. Once he gets a human form then that’s no longer a problem. As mentioned though, I do feel like this cheats on the premise a bit. The idea was that it would be a slime as the lead because the whole thing is so crazy that you’d have to see it to believe it. How could a Slime function as a main character indefinitely? The tough part of the premise is that a lot of people wouldn’t really find the design all that interesting and so the show would have to be really creative to keep him at the head. I feel like even the writer realized this was only going to work for so long and then introduced the human form.

I do think the human form is an improvement over the slime one so I’m definitely okay with it. The fight scenes are better with it naturally and while the Slime’s abilities are technically the same I do feel as though Rimuru is more skilled when using the human mode. Perhaps that is placebo but it appears to be the case right now. Rimiru is also one of the most powerful characters in this world due to all of the abilities he’s accumulated. He can copy and distribute wealth at will and even grants many different monsters a name which causes an instant level up. That was a pretty interesting idea and shows that names have a whole lot of power in this world.

The most effective tool at Rimiru’s disposal is the Predator ability. It allows him to eat/absorb any opponent and get their abilities. So far there has been nothing able to surpass it so we’ll see if that rings true long term. At the very least if Rimiru keeps absorbing a lot of characters during the series his power should continue to grow. We do know that there are opponents who can best him though like the demon lords. Right now their fighting abilities are on a different level so Rimiru wouldn’t even have time to use his absorption. That seems to be the only way to stop him so far.

The next arc introduces us to Shizu. She is a legendary fighter who looks like the hero of legend. She was transported to this world from Earth like Rimiru and fights as a solitary warrior. She always has to be careful because the fire spirit is within her ready to take control at any moment. She’s a very solid character to be sure. She may not have gotten to appear for very long but her role was quite solid. She did a good job of holding back the spirit as long as she could.

Her fighting techniques were definitely on point as well and the mask was cool. It would have been nice if Shizu could have appeared a little longer but there’s always the flashback option for that. I’m a little surprised her human friends took the way Shizu went out as calmly as they did but I suppose they understood what had happened. Rimiru took the loss especially hard despite not knowing her for very long. As the first major action arc in the saga this one definitely went over very well. The show was able to handle the serious tone here and Ifrit made for a tough opponent to deal with. This also introduces some elements like the first demon lord that will come into play soon.

Next up is probably the biggest arc of the series which introduces the Orcs. A mysterious mage has appeared and transformed the leader of the Orcs so that he becomes a huge monster. The rest of the Orcs have also been upgraded so they are effectively undead monsters who grow ever stronger by eating their foes. This unnatural army has been gaining ground and troops as they go through the land. It’s finally become a problem even for the alliance so Rimiru decides to step in after making an alliance with a nearby Orc village. This gives us a few new allies such as Benimaru, Shuna, and Shion. The Orcs are really outmatched but with Rimiru here to help they should be fine.

A wild card though is that the Lizard tribe is under attack as well and their troops may not be quite as thrilled about a partnership. Rimiru makes them an offer though and whether they accept or not could have a big impact on how things play out. Rimiru’s always trying for a peaceful alternative so it’s not like he would force the Lizards to join the team. If they refuse then Rimiru would leave them on their own but of course they stand no chance of beating the Orc army on their own. Whether they admit that or not.

Lets quickly talk about the characters from the Orcs, Ogres, Lizards, and even the Goblins since I haven’t mentioned them yet. Rigurd was the chief of the goblins and ends up being Rimiru’s most devoted follower. He’s a nice guy who means well. The guy may be a comic relief character most of the time but he’s well meaning and always tries to help out. He may not be a great fighter but he gets the job done. Gobta is a much younger Goblin but one who can actually fight fairly well for his age. He gets some solid swordplay moments during the series although I would still not trust him to be out there in a serious fight. I don’t think he has quite enough battle experience yet.

Then you have the Ogres who are easily some of the stronger fighters after Rimiru. Benimaru is the main one and along with his fellow warriors wants to avenge his village. He is able to form large explosions with his magic. The range on those things is absolutely crazy so the characters definitely need to keep their distance when fighting him. I like the guy, he has a lot of spunk and personality. He’s also a solid tactician and has contributed a whole lot. Then you have Shion who is also a very determined fighter who gets violent very quick. If anyone badmouths Rimiru then she steps in. Shion’s also one of the more heroic fighters as she is quick to volunteer the alliance’s help to stop villains when a threat is approaching. At times Rimiru isn’t even ready to declare such a thing but naturally at that point he has no real way out of this.

Shuna doesn’t get quite as much to do as the other to. After her transformation we have yet to see her really get to fight along with the others. Her abilities seem to be based on poisons and such but hopefully she has an offensive ability along with that as well. She’s a nice character though and also someone you can count on at the end of the day. Then there’s Soei and in terms of ability I have to say that I find him to be the most impressive fighter. His wires are super thin so it’s easy for him to lay a ton of traps. He’s also got great speed as well. The scene where he easily intimidates all of the Lizards was great. Due to his ninja training as well it’s just hard to see many opponents give this guy a real run for his money.

Hakuro is effectively the coach of the group. He’s a lot older than the others but thanks to Rimiru giving him a name the guy can still fight rather well. His speed is really on point and his technique should still be the best among all of the Ogres. While I do think he’s been surpassed by them, I can see how he would be very useful in combat. Abil is the leader of the Lizardmen and he’s definitely a solid guy to have around. He doesn’t let pride get in the way like Gabil. That said, he doesn’t get a whole lot to do in this season because of all the characters ganging up on him. Then you have Gabil and I appreciate his confidence but his unwillingness to work with the heroes leads to a whole slew of issues. To an extent it’s good to want to solve your problems on your own but it does get to a point where he is just getting in the way the whole time.

Geld is one of the big villains of the Orc arc. He ends up getting a ton of power thanks to the spellcaster but it’s not like he ever really wanted this ability. He just got desperate because of how tough the circumstances were for them. I’d say now that he has a proper name he should be set as a solid good guy. He could make for a decent ally although in terms of personality I wouldn’t say he adds much to the dynamic so I’m cool with him just being a supporting character. Gelmud is the spellcaster who put the Orcs into this position and the guy’s not very smart. You’d think that when summoning a monster of near limitless power like this that you wouldn’t antagonize and insult him right? There’s no way that is ever going to end well and naturally he found this out the hard way. It’s hard to feel bad for him because…really? Not a great moment for him.

Gazel is the King of one of the human kingdoms. He hasn’t done a whole lot yet but I could see him having a good role soon. At least right now he gets along with Rimiru fairly well although he is also a bit cautious which makes sense. It’ll be interesting to see how his character goes. Then we get onto the next arc which debuts Milim, one of the Demon Lords. There are quite a few demon lords by the way although most of them haven’t done much yet. Leon’s still causing trouble in the background like how he messed things up for Shizu but he hasn’t really gone to the forefront yet. He is responsible for this next arc though.

So after Milim shows up and joins Rimiru’s team, we then find out that a giant monster has been awoken. His name is Charybdis and it’s a monster of unimaginable power. With a single blow he can do this and that. While Milim could beat him easily enough, Rimiru is pressured into declaring that he’ll handle this without help. Lets just say that it’s not so easy especially due to the size. Even Predator would probably have a tough time here. It’s a fun enough mini arc mainly thanks to Milim being so much fun. She’s really a standout character.

Milim is easily the most powerful fighter we’ve seen so far. She’s able to end most threats in a single punch and has boundless confidence. She is absolutely someone you want to have on your side and the heroes should be lucky that she is so well natured. Milim is like a kid so as long as she has good food and the people are nice to her she’s happy. If anything Rimiru gives her a tougher time than he should because she is always ready to help the others out quite a bit. Without her the alliance wouldn’t be in quite the good spot that it is. I’m sure there will be a moment coming up where she has to choose a side though and that could get tough for the heroes. I like to think she would side with Rimiru but we’ll see. She just puts the rest of the characters to shame so if she’s an enemy then the whole alliance may as well throw in the towel now because they’d be doomed.

Then there’s a mini arc where Rimiru goes to teach Shizu’s students. It’s a fun little adventure and the kids have some fairly promising abilities. If anything you feel bad for them because Rimiru’s just way too powerful so there’s no way they can hope to defeat him in a fair fight. I could see them being fun supporting characters down the road though especially now that they have powered up spirits which should really increase their abilities in the long run. The series is really built around every character powering up so why should the kids be any different right? They fit right in.

Finally we end off with an episode all about Shizu in the past which was nice. She gets to go to a kingdom where everyone is uniting against a common threat. The issue is that there’s a lot of infighting and then it turns out a demon is in their midst as well. We get to have a pretty great fight with Shizu and a demon known as Kuro. Interestingly enough he got the big cliffhanger stinger scene at the end of the season so getting to see him in action here was a little unexpected. It’s like a nice hinting at things to come though. Already I can say he’s one of the best characters in the series. Milim would be my favorite but this guy is a solid number 2. Shizu would be 3rd and the legendary Hero might be 4th but we really don’t know much about her at all yet. Additionally I fully expect her to be evil when she showed up. This episode also shows that Shizu could have held her own series rather well because this last episode is a blast. It makes a case for possibly even being the best episode of the season.

As for negatives, well as mentioned I really only had 2 issues here. The Direwolves in the first few eps. Rimiru definitely could have found a way to defeat them without murdering a bunch of them. Animal violence is always a risk in any fantasy setting because creatures are all around. Fortunately it’s not particularly explicit plus they’re combat animals and the scenes were brief so all in all it wasn’t a total show crusher the way it could have been in other contexts.

Same for the fanservice, it’s around but it’s nothing too crazy. If anything the show tends to dial it down early on so after Rimiru’s initial moments it’s not a huge focus. It just tends to happen here and there. At most for most of the second half you could say that the designs may not be the best but a design in itself I wouldn’t consider to be fanservice the same away as intentional scenes. The show has both but as long as it keeps to this level and doesn’t get crazy I don’t see this holding the show back either. So the Slime franchise looks to be in good hands.

The animation throughout the show is very good. There’s a lot of consistent animation throughout and everything is very smooth. In particular the fire effects always look really nice. It’s definitely got a budget and looks like how a modern show should. The final episode also really stands out for looking excellent. Then there’s the soundtrack which is also very good. There are a handful of different fighting themes that all work out quite well with the action scenes. The themes are very memorable and I definitely listened to them quite a few times after the show ended.

One thing that was interesting though was in the opening we see a cool sword fight between Rimiru and a mysterious sword fighter but it never actually happens. The whole time you’re waiting and in the season 2 promo it appears so I feel like the animators maybe jumped the gun on that a bit. I guess it works as solid foreshadowing though.

Overall, This first season of the slime adventures definitely went over very well. It’s got a pretty solid atmosphere and assortment of fights and humors. I like that it had fun with the classic “Protagonist is overpowered” angle as the first episode is basically the system giving Rimiru a ton of extra powers so that he will be broken in every single way. The A.I. is also fun to follow although I don’t buy into her losing so easily against the Orc. You’d think that with her vast intelligence she would have used Rimiru’s abilities a little more wisely. The animation is solid and the show covered a whole lot of ground in these episodes. It does have some issues keeping it from being a great show but for now very good is a solid starting point. I look forward to seeing if season 2 can top this one. It certainly looks like it’s gonna be very action packed that’s for sure.

Overall 7/10