It almost feels like Tensura decided to take a page out of Blue Exorcist’s play book in terms of having a sequel season where the characters literally just sit around talking before doing anything. Throw in the self-aware joke with one of the characters also being so bored he fell asleep and this one is really scraping the bottom of the barrel.
And I’m clearly not alone in this opinion.
That there’s a build-up here for future events that will be fun isn’t really enough to earn itself a pass for two episodes in a row of sitting around talking. And every time it seemed like the meeting was about to wrap up another character had to have their little moment or confrontation and honestly I just wanted to scream in frustration.
While it feels like they did bring the meeting, finally, to an end in this episode, I’m going to be clear that another episode like this for Tensura and I’ll be dropping this one. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime has been fun enough but it is essentially a fairly laid-back slice of life so there’s no driving overall plot really keeping me hooked in and I won’t really care if I miss the ‘ending’. Basically, I’m not willing to keep giving this show 20 minutes of my week each week if the last two episodes are indicative of where this story is going.
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But let’s be specific.
Tensura’s season 2 part 2 is so far not hitting the mark.
The fairy that showed up at the end of episode 38 with a declaration that the kingdom is going to be destroyed, is summarily plucked out of the air, used for a lame joke and then faints at the sight of Veldora and is silenced for the rest of the episode. This is an episode called ‘Ramiri’s Warning’ and the warning lasts barely to the opening credits and is actually never considered again in the entire episode.
We then get an extended explanation of the story the characters are going to tell the other nations in Tensura (you know, rather than just getting on and telling them we have to explain what we’re going to tell them first) before that various dignitaries all decide to flex their clout and kill us with exposition about their motives and why they have chosen to ally with Rimuru.
It’s dull, repetitive and honestly just tedious to watch. I really could have slapped the blonde guy when he got up and had to ask Rimuru one more question because it felt like we were nearly at the end.
In fairness, we do get one decent line from Rimuru when he’s asked if he’s confident he’ll win the upcoming fight but it is all too little too late and a final sequence with the ‘bad guys’ isn’t enough of a diversion to leave you with a favourable impression of Tensura’s latest episode.
But hey, we have allies, we have an enemy and we have a plan. So maybe, just maybe next week Tensura can get back to doing something rather than having the characters talking about maybe doing something at some point.
Even if that something is apparently deliberately causing a civil war in another country.
Um… Okay, so Tensura really is blurring the line on who the ‘good’ guys are at this point given our protagonist as pretty much wiped out an entire army single handily and is now contemplating causing chaos in other countries in order to rebuild them in a way that serves their own purpose.
Anyway, something might happen and that’s definitely a good thing. I hope.
Images from: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 Part 2. Dir. Y Kikuchi. 8bit. 2021.
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Karandi James
Technically, we never actually hear the fairy’s warning at all. “This kingdom will be destroyed!” How? When? By who? And we get absolutely nothing about it. She might as well have not been there. And, for that matter, we might as well have not been there either. This is another way in which storytelling goes wrong. But hey, maybe, just maybe, something might actually *happen* in the next episode! They promised it pretty strongly with Clayman moving on Rimuru’s allies, so it’s possible, if we’re lucky, that we’ll have an episode dealing with that, and how Rimuru and company completely stomp on them in a one-sided brawl.
I know, there’s just so little of substance in this episode that couldn’t have either been assumed or summed up in a quick five minute narration as the characters moved off to actually do something.
Slime really needs to up its game for this season because so far its feeling like its just stalled.
Brings to mind a certain piece of advice, from a master storyteller: write freely, then EDIT MERCILESSLY.
Heh, it just occurred to me, this is a perfect, literal example of why storytellers should show, not tell.