That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Series Review

Posted on by Karandi
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 9 Rimuru in the cave

Ready for the slime of your life?

Here we are with another isekai anime and this one just comes out in the title and says its about That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (you know, because that happens a lot).

Another normal, ordinary, totally average guy who is killed by a totally normal knife wielding running man before being reincarnated as an over-powered blue slime in a world resembling a standard generic fantasy setting where he will begin building an empire and have plenty of adoring subjects because he is awesome.

slime23a

So, if you don’t like isekai or over-powered protagonists it is probably time to duck out of this one. Because, this anime is utterly unashamed of what it is and while we have the gimmick of the protagonist being a slime, there isn’t a lot that really distinguishes it in terms of plot or setting.

That Time I Got Reicarnated as a Slime knows what it is and doesn’t really try to go beyond that.

Where That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime does manage to distinguish itself from similar isekai adventures is that the protagonist seems utterly without a goal for the majority of the story. Sorry, I’ll correct that. He has goals but mostly they revolve around making his life easier, and usually making life easier for those who follow him.

There’s no grand plan of fighting some powerful evil, trying to return home, or really anything else. Just short term goals that get accomplished in bite sized arcs as this essentially slice of life, empire building story kind of rolls itself out.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 11 Rimuru

As such there is never any real sense of urgency or that there are any real stakes in anything that happens. I kind of found this very off putting and frequently found it hard to invest a great deal emotionally in this show.

While I never overly disliked it, I think if Slime had suddenly had production issues and been delayed a month, I may not have even noticed. It just kind of existed and while I was watching it I usually had a casual good time with an occasional smile, the occasional enjoyment of a particularly good dialogue exchange, and very rarely an interesting fight, but mostly it just kind of passed by.

For people who prefer their stories low-key and don’t mind watching characters just kind of drift and do what they do (so people who don’t really mind slice of life in general), Slime probably offers a rare fantasy opportunity that isn’t all about slaying a demon lord or achieving some grand goal. In a sense it reminds me, vaguely, of something like Restaurant to Another Universe in that you have what appears to be a standard fantasy setting without any of the epic plot trappings that usually accompany it.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 16

In a sense, if Slime had chosen to simply occupy the space of a slice of life in a fantasy setting, I probably wouldn’t have watched it at all because I already know such a premise doesn’t really interest me. However, Slime does at times have hints of a larger narrative and certain arcs seemed to push that forward.

In those moments I found a genuine enjoyment rather than a casual like of the show. Shizue’s arc in the first cour was the true highlight, hitting some fairly decent emotional notes, filling in our knowledge of the world, and progressing the idea of a villain Rimuru may have to face at some point. All and all, it was pretty solid. There are other arcs, or bits of information within some of the other arcs that also build on an overall narrative idea, but they are scattered and hardly a focal point.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 6

With that it entirely comes down to your viewing preferences and whether you need a driving narrative as to whether this anime will grab your interest.

However, if the basic premise and set up is what you are looking for, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime offers a fairly beautifully presented quality viewing experience. In almost all episodes the visual and animation quality is maintained with none of the mid-season or late season mistakes, glitches, and just rushed efforts that other anime sometimes face.

Rimuru is as charmingly depicted in episode 23 as episode 1 (though early in the series there’s a weird CG visual used occasionally for Rimuru that just seems out of place with the rest of the visuals of the series – quite possibly deliberate but I felt it was weird).

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 1

One thing I did find bizarre was that the anime would introduce monster characters who would have quite strikingly non-human appearances and then after Rimuru gave them a name they would ‘evolve’ and have a more human appearance. I mentioned this in one of my episode reviews, but it felt like an utter waste to take such distinct looking characters and morph them into generic fantasy boy/girl with vague monster appendages.

It felt like a loss for what could have made this anime visually far more memorable than it ends up being, even if it is a pretty anime that is easy on the eyes.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 16

From a sound point of view everything works. Character voices serve their purpose and Rimuru’s voice acting is perhaps the character’s most charming point. He’s easy to listen to, fairly emotive, and the contrast between his inner and outer tone at times is spot on and nails the humour of a situation. Other characters are either good enough or quite interesting, and the background music and sounds do their job but don’t stand out as overly memorable.

Overall though it is the characters that I find to be the weakest element of this anime. Not because they are not good characters. Individually, each character is perfectly fine and they even play well off one another. The problem is that other than Rimuru, no character really sticks around long enough to have much impact. Even characters who stay in the story, after their introduction and brief moment in the spot-light, get shunted to the background where they occasionally fill screen space or make a comment, but kind of cease to develop as actual characters.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 10 Lizardmen

For me, in the absence of a driving plot, I really needed more from the characters and their personal journeys. I needed something to make me want to invest emotionally in this anime, and tragically the characters just couldn’t fill the void.

Admittedly, the characters are largely quirky and cute but when the vast majority of names are forgotten before the series has even been a week completed, and you genuinely don’t know what even half of them are trying to do or accomplish and you generally have no sense that any of the characters are motivated to do anything beyond serve Rimuru, it really makes it hard to care about what happens to any of them and Rimuru is so over-powered (and if he wasn’t, Milim sure is), that it is hard to visualise harm coming to any of them.

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Again, it comes down to whether or not you care about any kind of tension or emotional stakes in your story or whether you just want to chill. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime would be a very good anime to just chill to.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 19 Gobta

Before I wrap up, I do want to discuss the episode count. At 25 episodes, this anime took six months to air. That’s a long time investment for episodic watching and I will admit, I was weary of it by the end. It didn’t help that the final arc, despite tying in fairly beautifully with Shizue’s arc from the first half of the season, was undeniably one of the weaker stories delivered.

However, what makes it worse is the anime actually finishes at episode 23 and then we have two extra episodes. Episode 24 actually is better than anything the second half of Slime gave us and just made me wonder why we hadn’t seen more like that. That probably isn’t what you want your bonus material to do. 24.5 is just padding. Poorly executed recap. A poor excuse of filler to pad out a 25 episode count that was unneeded.

Getting onto recommendations, it isn’t as though this was a bad anime. There are huge numbers of fans, massive amounts of merchandise available, and realistically there’s nothing inherently broken about the story. While it doesn’t suit my viewing preferences, it functionally works and at times even I found it very entertaining and at its worst I just found it kind of empty but watchable. So for some this will be highly entertaining.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 18 fanservice

My honest opinion with this one is that there are better isekai anime out there with better journeys and characters. Then again, I prefer something that has clear direction and characters that grow and learn so perhaps Slime and I were never meant to be. Still, I wouldn’t actually tell you to avoid this one. It can be good fun and is nicely made. Give it a try, by the end of episode 3 you should have a rough idea of whether this works for you, and maybe you’ll find a show to fall in love with.

However, I’d love to know your thoughts on That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (the anime) so please share in the comments below. And you can check out my thoughts on season 2 here.

Images from: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Dir. Y Kikuchi. 8Bit. 2018.

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Is It Okay To Enjoy An Anime When The Characters Act Questionably?

Posted on by Karandi
Questionable Feature

Are characters under some obligation to behave in an ‘appropriate’ manner in order for their stories to be enjoyed?

At first I thought the answer to this question was obvious. Of course characters in a story couldn’t all act in a way that necessarily matched the morality of the society that produced them (or individual groups within that society). To start with, we’d never have any villains ever again, unless you think someone chewing gum too loudly is villainous in which case perhaps we could have a plot about young teens ridding the city of petty annoyances.

However, when I stop trivialising the question I realise what people are actually asking is whether or not the protagonists, or the characters the audience is asked to sympathise with and somehow connect with, should behave in what someone believes is an appropriate manner?

More than that: Is it wrong to enjoy the story when they don’t?

Spoilers for Tensura 2, Horimiya and Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation.

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As an anime fan who writes on the internet, I’m well aware that some commentators, reviewers, and groups can be quite vocal and vicious with their criticism. Not just of an anime they personally didn’t approve of, but of people who watch and/or enjoyed that anime.

Whether they accuse people watching the showing of being perverted, degenerates, idiotic or a whole range of other unflattering words, they cast judgement on anyone who would dare to find enjoyment in something they found offensive.

And you know, while I fully support their right to be offended and to choose not to watch what they don’t want to watch, I don’t support name calling or shaming people for what they enjoyed or liked to watch given someone else enjoying an anime doesn’t hurt anybody in the slightest.

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What I find even stranger finding a character decision to be a little questionable, or even outright morally wrong, doesn’t actually make the story worse by default. Certainly, it might rub you the wrong way and maybe it will throw you out of comfortable viewing mode and you don’t want to stick around.

That’s fine. I had a friend who felt that way about Terror in Resonance. She didn’t want to watch a story where the ‘terrorists’ and their actions were being given some justification. Didn’t want to stick around to find out why they were acting as they were or even to find out if the anime ultimately did condemn them or not. Her choice. But you know, she didn’t call me sick or a degenerate because I was fascinated by the story and the characters and wanted to know what lay behind their actions. I wasn’t pro-terrorist, but I did want to see what the overall story wanted to say.

Terror
I’m pretty sure they only caused this much damage once.

Three of the anime I’ve watched this year have had moments where the main characters have had me seriously blinking and wondering about their decisions and all three cases I mostly enjoyed the series they were in. I fully understand that one of them seems to have passed without comment by the community at large, another had a brief flare up of words and then slipped away, and the third seemed to really bring out some strong opposition and almost as vocal a defence.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 – Not So Controversial

Part of me wonders why there hasn’t been more discussion around Rimuru’s actions in Tensura season 2. I mean, I guess part of it is the fantasy world is very removed, it is a second season so people are more or less acclimated to the series, it clearly isn’t intended to be taken actually seriously, etc, etc…

Yet, when faced with the death and injury of some of the people in his city of monsters Rimuru very quickly makes a call to transform into a demon lord in the hope of bringing them back to life and will gain the power to do this by literally slaughtering the entire opposing army.

slime s2 9
Nope – you are going to die.

It’s an abrupt decision given barely any digestion time, eagerly accepted by Rimuru’s followers, and acting upon with frighteningly swift and efficient brutality. This wasn’t a war. It was barely even a fight. It was open slaughter.

While some argument might be made that it was in retaliation for an act of heinous violence by the human army first, there is definitely a discussion about how proportional the response was particularly given no effort was made at a peaceful solution or simply defence. Rimuru went from harm-no-human to kill-every-member-of-the-army in less than a single episode and the audience seemed to largely be expected to support or endorse his actions.

Now would Rimuru have had any success at finding a peaceful solution?

Given the extreme hatred the church had of monsters and the callous attitudes of the nobles leading the army it seems unlikely.

Did every single soldier need to die? Were they all fanatics with a monster hating mentality or were some just soldiers who signed up to protect their country and feed their family who were ordered to march out? We’re not supposed to ask.

Is Rimuru right to pursue a resurrection of his people at the cost of all these souls? Again, we’re not supposed to ask. We’re supposed to be hoping a miracle occurs and not actually looking at the cost of it.

Does enjoying this mean you are a horrible person who would support genocide in real life? – That’s a firm no.

I actually did enjoy this sequence though I felt Slime missed out on the opportunity to really explore the moral quandary here. Then again, people don’t tune in to watch Tensura for moral quandaries that might lie therein. They watch to see Rimuru bounce about, enjoy being held by various women, and occasionally devour monsters while getting another power-up.

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Horimiya – A Brief Splash

When I’d only watched the first 3 episodes of Horimiya for my watch or drop post, I started to see a few arguments and comments online regarding a particular line by Horimiya that some people found homophobic. Basically, Hori tells Miyamura that if he leaves her it wasn’t allowed to be for a guy.

Horimiya 7
Not a character reaction to the line – just representative of some of the online comments.

Now, whether people in the thick of this one who were watching week to week found it was a little more intense, from my point of view there seemed to be a whole bunch of people voicing their opinion one way or the other as to whether the character was homophobic or not and then it just kind of disappeared off my radar. While there might still have been comments in my twitter feed connected to it, I didn’t really notice.

I actually didn’t have too much of a conflict with Hori’s statement. It was ridiculous and illogical but I think she was genuinely flustered and it wasn’t something she repeated or reinforced – more something that was blurted out in the heat of a moment and then the story moved on.

Now, while her ‘no guys’ statement could definitely be seen as reinforcing standard relationship views and excluding other communities (and it would probably be more offensive to people who had life experience here) it didn’t feel to me like the anime was pushing an agenda and more that a teenage character in the anime had said something that wasn’t great in one of her less than amazing moments.

Actually, Horimiya caused me more concerns with Hori herself encouraging her boyfriend to verbally and at one point physically abuse her. Largely because if removed from the sweet premise of the anime with two characters who genuinely care for each other, Hori could get herself into an actually abusive relationship if her partner took advantage.

Again, the anime wasn’t taking this darker view of the issue or trying to encourage people to act in a particular way, but you could certainly view the series and that aspect of Hori in a concerning light. Again, while I definitely thought about the issue, considered the implications outside of the anime for people in the real world, and I did wonder if perhaps the anime could have just left that part out, I also continued to enjoy watching Horimiya.

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Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation – Ouch

Gear up your pitchforks and placards or get your best defence slogans ready because this one caused a stir. I’d raised my own concerns about some of the creepiness of Rudy in my watch or drop post and placed this one at a maybe for completing.

I wasn’t concerned whether anyone else enjoyed it or not but for me Rudy as a character wasn’t someone I was finding it easy to get behind so while there were a lot of aspects to the story I kind of enjoyed, I was a little conflicted. That said, I’ve now finished Jobless Reincarnation so have read a number of other reviews of the series. They are diverse to say the least.

Jobless A 3
I don’t think the internet waits for later, Zenith.

This one has had the main character called a pervert and a paedophile and a whole bunch of other less than pleasant things. Viewers of the show have been called degenerate in some tweets and reviews, particularly if they dare to claim anything less than utter disgust with the title. And all of this because a reincarnated middle-aged man looks at girls?

Well, not really. He goes a bit further and there’s a few scenes that do hit me personally as being quite uncomfortable viewing even though the anime doesn’t want you to think about it. It really wants to play it off for laughs and usually has a slap-stick moment of Rudy getting kicked or punched afterward, though occasionally he just kind of walks away with a creepy grin on his face.

However, while there are those howling about this anime and its poor taste, there are also those singing its praises as being a different kind of isekai, for its world exploration, for the way magic is handled. And all of these aspects of the story are actually pretty praise worthy. So we have an anime that with the exception of several main characters and their treatment of women is actually pretty good but the way some of those men treat or talk about women is pretty… well let’s just go with triggering for some.

Basically, enjoyment of this one will depend where you land. I enjoyed the series but not as much as other isekai anime that I’ve previously watched and loved because I couldn’t form much of a connection with Rudy. I don’t like him and I don’t like some of his choices. Plus, that grin of his really does creep me out.

At the same time, I actually understand why people would drop this one and decide it wasn’t for them. Equally, I get those who accept that Rudy isn’t a perfectly nice human being who is always nice and respectful to others and just watch the anime for what it is and enjoy it. While I get these two groups probably won’t really see eye to eye, I also think that they can keep their criticism to the anime itself and not to the other viewers.

So, Is It Okay To Enjoy An Anime When The Characters Act Questionably?

I’d say absolutely. Sometimes characters who act questionably are needed to really make the audience consider their choices. Sometimes it drives the narrative. Sometimes it is just a throw away action that while it might open a significant discussion around how particularly ideas and groups are represented in stories, it isn’t actually the central point of the anime so shouldn’t necessarily be enough to condemn the entire rest of the story.

Of course, it is also okay not to enjoy the anime because of the questionable character actions. That really depends on your own tolerances, trigger points and experiences, and you’ll make the decision for yourself about what you did and didn’t enjoy and why.

But what shouldn’t be okay is taking an issue with someone else for enjoying something just because you didn’t. By all means, discuss your view, put forward your reasons, write your own article or make your own video explaining why something is a problem, but leave the name calling out of it.

Be sure to share your experiences with an anime where you haven’t necessarily agreed with the choices made by a character or a time when you got called out for enjoying something someone else found offensive. Let’s have an open and respectful discussion.

Images in this article from:

  • That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2. Dir. Y Kikuchi. 8bit. 2021.
  • Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation. Dir. M Okamoto. Studio Bind. 2021.
  • Horimiya. M Ishihama. Cloverworks. 2021.
  • Terror in Resonance. S Watanabe. MAPPA. 2014.

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(Tensura 2) That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2 Series Review

Posted on by Karandi
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2 Series Review

It seems like part 2 of season 2 of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime has many of the same issues I identified with part one (which means if you enjoyed part one you probably won’t be worried about them at all). I’m still wondering why they split this into two parts and more wondering about the overall pacing of Rimuru’s story at this point, but overall watching Tensura 2 Part 2 has remained enjoyable enough while not quite being what I want from a fantasy isekai.

There will be some spoilers in the review.

Tensura - food challenge That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2

The simple truth – That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2 is watchable (even enjoyable) but is not unmissable.

The story in part 2 picks up almost immediately after the events of part one with all of the characters revived and everyone more or less relaxing as Rimuru makes a side-trip to release Veldora like he promised way back when.

Part of me wanted a lot more from Veldora’s character given this dragon had been so incredibly built up by the way others spoke about him, however That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is a comedy and never misses an opportunity to reverse your expectations. Instead of Veldora being a game-changing introduction, he quickly takes the form of a human and spends the majority of this season lounging around becoming addicted to manga.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2

I would say this was a waste of a potentially fantastic character (as many characters in That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime end up feeling underused just due to the sheer number of characters the story has in it) except that all of this lead up (episode after episode of Veldora being background) ends up culminating during the climax with Veldora delivering an anime inspired attack that just made me laugh out loud. It may have been a lot of build up but in this case the pay-off was nearly worth it with that being one of the best moments for the Summer 2021 season.

Slime S2 Ep47 5

Perhaps that is an overall problem with That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime in anime form. This whole second season is essentially build up to concluding the fight that Clayman has started by orchestrating the attack on Rimuru’s city (Jura Tempest Federation). And it’s all well and good to spend a whole half-season on a build up to a battle (let’s be honest plenty of shounen will spend longer setting up a decent smack-down), too much of this season is spent with characters kind of talking about doing things and planning and it isn’t particularly riveting viewing.

Also, Clayman remains a pretty lame antagonist. Sure viewers realise he isn’t the final boss and is just being used but that doesn’t make his screen time any better. He’s the only face of the villains we really get and he’s just so pathetic you can’t take him or his minions seriously leading to a serious lack of tension in all this build-up.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2

That the final battles are more or less Rimuru’s overpowered minions steam-rolling over Clayman’s less than willing followers means that we had nearly three-quarters of this season as build up for a non-event. Rimuru’s battle with Clayman himself was given a little more emphasis but again there was little doubt as to the outcome.

Then again, plot and pacing have never been That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime’s strong points. It kind of gets by on the charm of its cast and the humour. It’s not meant to be taken seriously but rather to be enjoyed. The final episodes of this season more or less remember that and bring us a few solid character moments as well as some good punch-lines, but the first half the season suffers from the absence of charm. The cast are there but given little to work with.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2

As a continuation of the franchise it works. Particularly knowing we will get yet more Slime in the future so this isn’t actually the end of the anime. But as an individual viewing experience, Season 2 Part 2 of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is lacking.

But let’s give a shout out to Milim who managed to steal the spot-light late in the series and was largely responsible for the charm and fun of the final episodes. Combine her presence with Veldora finally getting his moment and Rimuru doing what he does best, utterly destroying his enemies, and I can’t really argue against how this season wrapped up.

Milim - Tensura 2 Episode 43

In fact, the final episodes of this season reminded me well and truly of how fun That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime can be and turned my maybe I won’t watch the next season (or at least wait and binge it) to ‘okay, I’m going to keep watching this franchise’. Which, given my earlier feelings in the season when it felt a little devoid of fun was quite the feat.

But all long running anime do have slumps in their flow and pace. The better shows recover from them and hopefully whatever the next arc of this story is will wash away any final concerns. What I do know is that this arc against Clayman wasn’t Slime at its best. It had moments where the cast got to shine and the humour worked but it can do better and hopefully this is as poor a showing as this story has to offer.

As to everything else, the character designs and animation are what you would expect from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. I continue to enjoy the colours in this anime and the fights remain flashy and pretty fun to watch. It is amazing that with such a large cast they have managed to distinguish each character and you seldom get confused about who is who (though I do regularly forget the names of less frequent appearing characters).

Tensura OP - Rimuru

The real highlight of the season 2 part 2 though is the opening theme, Like Flames. Seriously, its an awesome song and that it plays over the final clashing battle works very well. Also, the visuals in the OP are pretty amazing. This was one opening I never skipped during the Summer 2021 season because it was just great to listen to.

Anyway, if you have watched That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime so far, season 2 part 2 will continue the story for you and give you more time to hang with these characters. While it may not be a standout arc for the series it isn’t bad watching and the ending of the season almost makes up for the slow build-up. Let’s hope the next instalment of this franchise delivers more fun moments with these characters.

Images from: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2. Dir. Y Kikuchi. 8bit. 2021.

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(Tensura 2) That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2 Episode 48 Impressions

Posted on by Karandi
Tensura 2 Episode 48 Review

While I haven’t been the greatest fan of this season (or part season) of Tensura, the final episode of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2 at least delivered on defeating the current bad guy, resolving Rimuru’s place with the other demon lords, and provided a bit of set-up for future issues to be dealt with in the inevitable follow up seasons or movies or whatever else they choose to do.

At the very least, I can’t complain they didn’t close the lid of Clayman’s role in this story.

Tensura 2 Episode 48

Tensura 2 provided satisfaction with an obvious resolution.

After the build up, beginning of the fight, and even the final transformation of Clayman in the previous episode of Tensura, you might have been expecting an epic battle. However, Clayman has always been a bit of a pathetic adversary and what we got was a pathetic end to a pathetic character and weirdly that felt kind of cathartic.

From start to finish in this short and one-sided final confrontation, Rimuru dominated the scene and Clayman’s increasingly pathetic attempts at escape and/or begging for rescue were mere background noise as our overpowered slime/newly minted demon-lord took him out.

Tensura 2 Episode 48

However, I did have one moment of panic while watching this episode of Tensura. After the fight, the demon lords all sat down at the table and it seemed like we were about to be stuck watching another meeting.

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Fortunately, this one was brief, simply wrapped up some key points such as officially recognising Rimuru, a couple of other demon-lords more or less retiring underneath Milim, and Rimuru granting the group a new name given there were no longer ten of them. Actually, it did provide some closure on this whole arc really with Rimuru starting Tensura Season 2 Part 2 by becoming a demon lord and it ending with his official recognition. I like closure and even though the real mastermind is still out there, this felt like enough.

Tensura Season 2 Episode 48

The after meeting sequence with Lapace trying to sneak in once again and being confronted was a decent enough set-up and continuation of a threat that has yet to be dealt with and the follow up here was actually pretty surprising. It was a decent enough scene for sequel baiting and honestly tied in enough with existing story threads while not feeling like it was just completely left unresolved.

Then of course we had Rimuru return home to his devoted cult (no, followers… friends… citizens?) and we get a final shot of him flying through the blue sky reflecting on how he came to this point. Again, closure. It is kind of nice to get it.

Tensura 2 Episode 48

While this wasn’t the strongest season of Tensura by any means, it left me feeling like it wasn’t a waste of time so despite some misgivings, I’ll probably watch whatever the next instalment of this franchise is.

Images from: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2. Dir. Y Kikuchi. 8bit. 2021.

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(Tensura 2) That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2 Episode 47 Impressions

Posted on by Karandi
Tensura 2 Episode 47

You know, I haven’t been the biggest fan of Tensura 2 part 2, but the episode this week definitely gave me my very favourite moment from this franchise and one of the best laughs I’ve had this season.

While I was expecting a climatic smack down this week, I wasn’t expecting some of the best comedy moments from the season to occur during the course of the episode. And yet, Tensura 2 delivered some decent fights and for some reason finally remembered it is supposed to be a comedy.

Best moment from this season.

Veldora has felt a little, okay a lot, underused since his release from his prison. Admittedly, the concept of an all powerful evil dragon becoming addicted to manga is very much in line with Tensura 2’s usual desire to give us opposite features and play it for laughs, but he’s really not done much at all.

Yet, in one hilarious fight sequence with Milim he’s managed to make me laugh and has made him my pick for best character of the season. Here’s a dragon fighting a demon-lord and having a blast doing it while calling out a range of attack names straight out of other manga and anime. It was perfect and if the rest of the season had even been half this entertaining That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2 would have been quite the enjoyable watch.

Tensura 2 - Rimuru gives instructions to Veldora

Was the penultimate episode of Tensura 2 Part 2 enough?

If we look at this episode of Tensura 2 simply as a way to get to the final episode of the season, it serves its purpose well. It is a fun and exciting episode, allows some of our cast to show off some moves and resolves all but a handful of issues. It also leaves us with a villain transforming into a monstrous form right at the end giving us something to look forward to next week even though the outcome seems a foregone conclusion.

Still, this episode probably isn’t going to make you forget the slow grind to get here. Nor will it overcome the fact that the reason this episode was so fun is because we really did narrow the focus down to a handful of cast members from the giant cast. So many characters are nowhere to be seen having been sent off on other missions (some we’ve seen the outcome of).

Tensura 2 Episode 47

More importantly, this episode of Tensura 2 finally addresses the whole Milim getting brainwashed issue and Milim, when she’s Milim, is always a bit of a fun character. She instantly lifts the mood in the final third of this episode and helps to remind us how much fun this anime can be.

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If I was to raise one complaint about this episode, and it really isn’t a complaint, it is that Rimuru doesn’t do much. He directs his forces and he did undo one of Clayman’s spells, but it is quite clear they’ve held off on Rimuru really getting involved in the fight and saved that for the final showdown. It’s a pretty predictable move and the end result is you have to wonder whether or not this all could have been over if Rimuru had decided to deal with things more directly.

Instead he is kind of reduced to over the top reactions that aren’t quite as funny as some of the other moments in the episode.

Rimuru - Tensura 2

Naturally, because it seems Clayman’s time is coming to a close, we suddenly get some more backstory. Too little, too late to make me care about the smug jerk and his inevitable defeat. But I guess it is a standard trope of the genre I just hope they don’t fill the next episode with it and rather just get on with ending this particular arc. It would be nice also to see the core cast reunite one final time before the season’s end.

Anyway, what did you enjoy about the episode and what do you want to see in the final?

Images from: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2. Dir. Y Kikuchi. 8bit. 2021.

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That Time I Decided To Take An Adventure-Comedy Anime Too Seriously

Posted on by Karandi
That Time I Decided To Take An Adventure-Comedy Anime Too Seriously

As Rimuru sits down at the table with the other demon lords, his friends and followers battle it out against armies, skeletons, and whatever else this anime is going to throw their way, I can’t help but wonder if the reason I’ve never gotten as into That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime as some other fans is because, despite it being an adventure-comedy, I keep trying to take it seriously.

That Time I... Am I taking That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime too seriously?

I mean, I know I’m not the only one who has found this second season a little lacking in… well everything that I was kind of hoping for from the follow-up season to be. Just read the one star review by perfectEveryTime on MAL and it becomes quite apparent that the lack of tension and the sense of episodes wasted hasn’t exactly sat well with all viewers despite the series overall still maintaining a score of 8.3.

If you’ve followed my episodic coverage of Tensura 2 Part 2 then you kind of know I was more or less ready to walk away from this series after repeated episodes of characters having meetings. It was like watching the Blue Exorcist Kyoto Arc all over again where previously fun characters who used to do exciting things decided to sit around tables sipping tea and discussing things that might be exciting rather than doing them.

That Time I... Am I taking That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime too seriously?

Overall, fairly disappointing.

However, I had to wonder if the overall problem is that I’m just taking is all too seriously.

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That Time I Decided To Sit Back and Take Another Look At Something.

Covering seasonal anime is always an interesting prospect, largely because you are forced to take a week to reflect between each episode. This means conversations that probably don’t even last fifty minutes in real time feel like they take forever as they stretch out over three weeks of viewing.

For some stories, this type of pacing does it no favours whatsoever and when I initially dislike an anime, sometimes a binge watch at a later date proves that with a different flow a lot of the problems are actually strengths.

But, is that true for That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime?

That Time I... Am I taking That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime too seriously?

I guess the real problem I have overall with Slime is that it has never been quite the anime I want it to. See, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime could be an epic adventure. You have some serious powers with the protagonist and his group, you’ve got built in racial and political tension, there have been enough genuine threats presented that the drama and excitement could be dialled up to eleven without even trying.

Yet, the anime isn’t trying to do that. That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime is happy kicking back, having characters meander about their business, chill in the hot-springs, and when they fight they tend to end the conflict in one or two moves so dramatic duels or matches are well off the table.

That Time I... Am I taking That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime too seriously?

Also, nobody ever dies from Rimuru’s group since Shizue in season one. Nobody. Even when they do; don’t expect them to stay dead.

This disconnect between my expectations (or at least what I would kind of like to see) and what the anime actually is means that while I don’t dislike what That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is presenting I always feel just a little disappointed in. I feel there’s wasted potential, only it isn’t wasted. Instead the anime pours its efforts into that chilled and laid-back tone it has going and it likes being there.

Slime isn’t Goblin Slayer, wallowing in the darkness of adventuring and the horrors that may befall the unwary.

Goblin Slayer Episode 7
Image from Goblin Slayer. Dir. T Ozaki. White Fox. 2018

It also isn’t something like Ascendance of a Bookworm that is really looking at an adult struggling in a new life and trying to find purpose and using their knowledge from our world to succeed.

Despite its more epic trappings, That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime doesn’t take itself anymore seriously than something like Cautious Hero.

As a result, it relies on the chemistry of the cast, the occasional moment of absurdity, and an overall feel to win the audience over.

And if I was just binge watching I can see how season 2, part 2 kind of works for just sitting back, eating some pop-corn and waiting for all the characters to have their moment to shine.

That Time I... Am I taking That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime too seriously?

But as a seasonal viewer, and someone who probably is taking this whole thing too seriously, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime feels like this season has lost some of the charm that made its plot and tension short-comings forgivable. Instead of finding it fun to spend time with a lovable cast, I kind of keep hoping this current conflict with Clayman wraps up soon so they can get back to doing something fun.

I’ve already more or less assumed nothing will actually come out of the fight (and if the next few weeks proves that wrong then so be it). So if I’m not drawn to tension or excitement then I at least want each episode to be full of characters who bounce off one another and are just a pleasure to spend time with. And this current arc isn’t delivering.

So I’ll admit, I’m taking this adventure-comedy anime far too seriously, but even if I don’t, I’m still thinking this season has hit a low point and hasn’t recaptured the magic of the first season. But I’ll hand it over to my readers. What do you think?

Images from: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2. Dir. Y Kikuchi. 8bit. 2021.

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(Tensura 2) That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2 Episode 46 Impressions

Posted on by Karandi
Tensura 2 Episode 46 Review

It’s probably a good thing Clayman isn’t a lawyer. Or anyone who has to present a logical argument. While Tensura 2 has tried to market Clayman as the great manipulator, he really is kind of a let-down in that he hasn’t got contingency plans and he really hasn’t even checked that his actual plans are coming to fruition before he lays out a paper-thin case against Rimuru before the other demon-lords.

Tensura 2 - Clayman presents his 'evidence'

Not that it seems like they particularly care about evidence. Clayman claims Rimuru killed his subordinate, Rimuru calls him a liar and says she’s alive, but nobody cares about evidence in this episode of Tensura 2. Instead this heads where it inevitably was going to, a fight between the two.

Doesn’t it make you feel kind of sad that these massively powerful beings who have so much influence over the world can’t think of a better way to settle a situation other than gather their forces and get into a smack down?

Then again, It did make this one of the more interesting episodes of the season.

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Will Rimuru maintain his plot armour in the final episodes of Tensura 2 Part 2?

Rimuru - Tensura 2

We already know that Tensura 2 is a little too fond of its characters and seems fairy unwilling to let even minor cast members be permanently cut down (unless they oppose Rimuru in which case they can be taken out without hesitation).

That kind of sucks any tension that might exist in this match up between Milim, Clayman and others with Rimuru and his entourage. Which again, kind of sucks because Milim vs Rimuru could be such an epic match-up.

Even without any real fear of danger befalling our ‘hero’ it was a pretty fun fight to watch playout.

Tensura 2 - Milim vs Rimuru

Knowing it hasn’t yet come to an end certainly makes you want to watch next week to see how the fight concludes. I mean, one assumes that Rimuru is going to figure out how to snap Milim out of her brainwashing and then the both of them will throttle Clayman, but how that comes about is yet to be seen.

Then again, maybe Tensura 2 actually has a surprise in store for us and Milim is just gone. (I kind of doubt it.)

What about Clayman?

Clayman has so far proven a disappointing adversary at every turn and while it is clear there is someone else behind him, honestly I just want him to pose a more credible threat.

He talks to much.

He has a superiority complex.

He doesn’t verify the success of his plan before moving on to the next step.

When challenged on key points of his story, he has no back up and reacts really badly under pressure.

I actually don’t think Tensura 2 could have presented a less interesting threat and about the only noteworthy point is that Milim is in fact under his control, which is only noteworthy because of her relationship to Rimuru.

Tensura 2 - Clayman

I’m struggling to find a positive with Clayman. I kind of want him to get quickly and decisively cut down but I somehow suspect he’ll have one final desperate plan which will probably involve him transforming into something really big and stupid and still being more or less instantly erradicated.

That is of course just pure speculation.

Also, I kind of wanted more from the other demon lords. Most of them didn’t even speak let alone contribute anything after their introductions.

Tensura 2 Episode 46

And with two episodes left in this season of Tensura 2 it seems unlikely that these characters will actually get fleshed out in any meaningful way.

Still we have the conclusion of the Milim and Rimuru fight to look forward to and that’s enough to keep me happy for now.

Images from: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2. Dir. Y Kikuchi. 8bit. 2021.

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(Tensura 2) That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2 Episode 45 Impressions

Posted on by Karandi
Tensura 2 Episode 45 Review

With only a handful of episodes to go Tensura 2 seems to be moving things along with Shuna, Souei and Hakurou moving on Clayman’s castle while Rimuru goes to the meeting of the demon-lords and sees Milim’s current condition, though even that isn’t enough to really list the episode.

Tensura 2 - Veldora reading still

I will definitely give this episode points because Shuna’s face-off against the skeleton priest thing (one of Clayman’s fingers) was very impressive and Shuna’s a character who spends far too much time in the background making clothing or other things while everyone else gets to be awesome. However, outside of that, this episode left me feeling pretty flat.

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Has the charm worn of Tensura 2?

I’m not that worried though given long running shows tend to do this to me in that their energy spikes and falls and if I were watching this whole season in a binge session it wouldn’t feel anywhere near as drawn out as it does watching it weekly. That said, if (when) there’s eventually a third season of Tensura 2 I probably won’t be diving in for episodic viewing and will probably just binge it at the end.

If I’m really honest, even season one had a few dips in it in terms of how interesting I found it. As much as Tensura is very popular I will admit I find it a charming watch but I’m not a manic fan of the franchise and if it were to disappear I probably wouldn’t remember it for very long.

But let’s take the episode in order.

Tensura 2 Episode 45 - Shuna

Shuna’s journey to Clayman’s base isn’t exactly fraught with danger given they overcome the challenge fairly readily and easily, but it was still so nice just seeing her out and about.

And honestly, anyone who claims not to have been impressed by her magical feats against the skeleton guy either didn’t watch the episode or is just too hard to impress. Shuna was awesome. If only she wasn’t sharing an anime with Benimaru and Rimuru she could have been an amazing protagonist all on her own.

Tensura 2 Episode 45

Of course, much like last episode where Benimaru mopped up the battle in the canyon, I kind of felt sorry for the supporting characters this week. instead of the beastketeers, this time it is Souei and Hakurou who are forced very much into supporting roles in this battle and neither really get to do anything truly amazing (though Souei’s ease of slicing and dicing a death dragon could have been impressive if it didn’t get straight back up).

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Considering both of those characters are very impressive fighters and Souei is a character I genuinely like in Tensura 2 but don’t think he gets anywhere near enough screen time, they both felt criminally underused in this episode.

The skeleton guy’s radical personality change also kind of felt a little bit on the cheap side this week though did give me a bit of a laugh (and laughs have been a little few and far between recently for Tensura so I won’t turn my nose up at it).

Tensura 2 Episode 45

With that battle wrapped and the characters heading toward the fortress, we cut back to Rimuru heading into the meeting with the demon lords and he faces up to the guy who was responsible for Shizue.

Honestly, this feels like an underwhelming confrontation and while I get now probably isn’t the time or place for Rimuru to really pursue this issue, it all just felt a little anti-climatic. Tensura 2 part 2 hasn’t had any solid emotional notes really to hold it together and it felt like Rimuru should have had a stronger reaction (though I do get time and place).

Tensura 2 Episode 45

Then we have Clayman arrive and they are still trying to make this guy look like walking scum as he slaps Milim in the head. As I’ve said in an earlier review, we already hate Clayman but they really aren’t doing subtle. But if we want to know how people react to the obviously bewitched Milim and the cocky Clayman I guess we’ll have to wait for the next episode.

I kind of wish I was more excited but honestly I’m just kind of waiting this one out and hoping Tensura 2 manages to end on a hight note.

Images from: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2. Dir. Y Kikuchi. 8bit. 2021.

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(Tensura 2) That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2 Episode 44 Impressions

Posted on by Karandi
Tensura 2 Episode 44 Review

I get that Tensura 2 has a large cast and is actually more a comedic slice of life than an action epic, but at some point you have to wonder if there really has ceased being any point in following along.

As the three bestketeers face off against their opponents this week, supported by various other characters, we more or less get three forgettable encounters.

Tensura 2 Episode 44

Firstly we have the white tiger girl and Gabiru facing off against Milim’s dragon priests. Only the priests don’t really care about the outcome of the fight given they are fairly certain that Milim doesn’t want to fight Rimuru and all the extras are more or less dropped before we even come into the situation. Then the main bald priest guy is more just wanting to play rather than taking the fight in anyway seriously.

While it is great that not ever opponent is just straight up evil or killed, this felt like such an empty encounter. When the potential big-bad rose toward the end of the episode and the priests all got up and just healed all of Rimuru’s crew that were hurt and they all banded together it just felt like everything in this situation had been mostly meaningless.

Was this encounter in Tensura 2 at least entertainingly meaningless?

I guess that depends.

It was nice to see that Gabiru has continued to grow as a character from where we first met him back in season one. I don’t really have an opinion on the white tiger girl so really didn’t get a lot out of her scenes. The dragon priests of Milim might become interesting depending on where the story goes with them, but right now they are just another extra moving part in a story packed full of characters and factions.

Tensura 2 Episode 44

Tensura 2 also continued the fight with the snake girl and the ice sword guy. Though, after being completely outclassed, ice sword guy more or less tried to surrender before Clayman, true to his nature, turned on his own subordinate. As I said last week, we really don’t need any more reasons to hate Clayman but Tensura 2 feels the need to make him seem despicable at every single turn.

Likewise, the encounter with the masked pair in the forest was kind of a one-sided fight before they more or less decided they were done and disappeared.

Tensura 2 Episode 44

So to summarise, the Beastketeers pretty much lost all three encounters in Tensura 2 as one opponent didn’t fight, the second one turned into a giant monster that another character took care of (and lets discuss that in a moment) and the final fight saw the opponents beat them down and then calmly leave.

About the only actual moment of cool we get this week is that Benimaru, cocky as he was about the outcome of this fight, more or less demonstrates that he needs to be the protagonist in his own anime right now and not playing second fiddle to a slime given he’s pretty much an unstoppable force of nature in his own right.

And I’d be more critical of that except it was very cool.

Tensura 2 Episode 44

However, from a narrative point of view we’re still left with another situation where the guy with the ice-sword was built up as a threat and then disposed of so easily. This is much like the three characters who were all reincarnated that attacked Rimuru’s city. They were introduced as potentially the next real threat and then ended up being summarily disposed of within a handful of episodes. It almost makes you wonder why they bothered to introduce them at all.

Was Benimaru’s moment of cool in Tensura 2 Episode 44 enough to make this episode exciting?

Possibly yes, but overall I’m still very luke-warm about this second season of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime .

Images from: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2. Dir. Y Kikuchi. 8bit. 2021.

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(Tensura 2) That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2 Episode 43 Impressions

Posted on by Karandi
Tensura 2 Episode 43 Review

I’m wondering when Benimaru got so incredibly cocky, though given how Tensura 2 has been going I guess having supremely overconfident supporting characters is just par for the course at this point. Though, in any other show, someone acting that confident that they were about to win a war would most definitely be smacked down my instant karma.

Tensura 2 Episode 43 - Benimaru

Tensura 2 – Where the ‘heroes’ have a lot of traits in common with standard villains.

In addition to superb overconfidence we also have underhanded tactics and Benimaru doesn’t actually join the fighting himself this week, though I suspect he’s probably going to have to involve himself eventually.

Anyway, after all of the chatter of the past few weeks, Tensura 2 has at least finally kicked off its war though we do still have Rimuru doing some magic to ensure the dryad can accompany the fairy and we also have a brief glimpse of Milim as Rimuru is told about her subordinates. The pose he visualises her in is probably completely irrelevant to the thought process at hand but there’s really no other reason for Milim to wear that outfit other than to be put in such poses (no this is not a combat friendly outfit) so lets just move on.

Milim - Tensura 2 Episode 43

The beast guys get all excited and pretty much tell Benimaru they are going to take care of a few things on the battle field. Everything goes more or less as planned with a trap taking out most of the footsoldiers and the flying lizard guys cleaning up any of the flying soldiers. Its a good thing the whole army was marching together and nobody was taking a different route. That would have made the whole thing a little less spectacular.

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Then, because like the only plan the villain had was march through this canyon, he’s freaking out because Clayman isn’t going to be happy he failed and apparently failing once is enough of a reason to be killed or turned into a mindless puppet (wow, Clayman’s employment plan sucks). So without any kind of actual plan Ice-Sword guy tries to flee but finds his magic is blocked.

In case my tone isn’t clear, I’m really not caught up in the ‘excitement’ of this. There was no tension, no drama, and the action wasn’t entertaining enough on its own to hold it together. While there’s a definite relief that we’re finally seeing the characters do something, rather than talk about doing something, the army here that was talked up as a potential problem has turned more into a pest eradication mission and I’m really not into watching people swat flies.

Tensura 2 Episode 43

The one battle that potentially could have given us a bit of a thrill as when snake girl from the beastketeers tracks down the ice-sword guy and the two actually start a duel. Even then, it felt a bit one-sided though I am going to throw in here that Gobta gets points for being the single coolest character this episode.

That’s a little tragic for Tensura 2 that Gobta is now actually the coolest character on screen…

Naturally the fight isn’t finished and there’s several other fights and getting set-up for the various characters we are supposed to remember the names of but I doubt much of it will amount to anything. Honestly, Rimuru’s people are so overpowered at this point they can pretty much steamroll entire armies without Rimuru at all. Good thing we’re supposed to like these guys otherwise we’d be calling out ofr a hero to take out this unstoppable monster army.

Tensura 2 - Episode 43

Still, Tensura 2 does remain fun enough for casual viewing. The real issue is that much like many long running series, after a slump of episodes it takes me awhile to get back into it. That’s more or less why I’ve paused My Hero Academia at this stage. I need to really be in the mood to jump back into that or I will genuinely just pick at it.

Images from: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2. Dir. Y Kikuchi. 8bit. 2021.

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