We’re past halfway and we’re now at Day 7 of the 12 Days of Anime. Yesterday was all about Eren Jaeger, a character who has taken three seasons to grow on me. Today couldn’t be more different as we look at a character who was seen in a vision, appeared, and died, more or less in the space of three episodes and yet managed to leave a massive hole in so many viewers hearts (that and a whole pile of press F on Twitter messages). This one is for Shizue from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.
Few anime treat the death of a character, particularly one who was so newly introduced into the series, with as much respect as Shizue got. Her passing took nearly half an episode, meaning we’d only known her for barely two when we were watching her death scene. They didn’t rush it, they didn’t play any part of it for laughs. Instead this was a quiet scene where Shizue lay on the bed contemplating the life she’d led and confirming the connection she had with Rimuru. And while her acquaintance with the slime was relatively new, the connection they’d forged over those two episodes was pretty impressive.
Shizue was a character I barely knew and yet I still felt her passing keenly. Because, she wasn’t just a plot device dropped in and her death wasn’t used simply to up some stakes or emotional tension. She was written as a person. One who had entered Rimuru’s life, and so ours as viewers, and one who was leaving abruptly after leading a hard life that was filled with moments of tragedy.
She was also a character that this anime made me want to get to know more of. She wasn’t bland and without personality, though we didn’t really get to see too much of her. They kind of took the adage ‘always leave them wanting more’ to heart here as Shizue certainly left me wanting more and wanting her not to be dead.
A very worthy addition to my 12 Days of Anime countdown, Shizue’s time with us may have been brief but it was most definitely felt.
Thanks for reading
Karandi James
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That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Rimuru-sama Face Cushion
Amazing how much writers can do with so little when they try…
Yes. It would be great to see more characters like this that have short screen time but leave a big impact. Having just rewatched Yuri on Ice I am reminded how little screen time Minami gets and yet he’s such a great character.
Or consider Chihayafuru – and the outsize impact Arata had, despite basically having no screentime compared to the total run of the show.
I’m fairly sure she’s going to be back in flashbacks: she’s been the very first character we ever saw in the show (her WW2 childhood form), and there are plenty of loose ends (I assume the hero from her backstory is the one who defeated Veldora?), and then there’s her student who left.
We might learn more about her in flash backs but ultimately she’s a character who has come and gone from the story. I think they did an excellent job of building her up in the episodes they had, though it was a very brief acquaintanceship.
Great choice. I can’t believe how sad her death was after such a short period of time. It was beautiful how she was absorbed by Rimuru so that she could have happy dreams forever.
I know. For a brief period of time on screen her death had real impact.