Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken

Insert obligatory pretentious quote here because I’m not good at starting a review. The Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime or TenSuru is an anime that slipped into the radar of ever hungry anime watchers in October 2018. Since then, the anime has been praised as being a wholesome isekai deviating from the norm and positing a new and refreshed take on the genre. So, imagine my confoundment when only the first 5-6 episodes held true to the preceding sentence. After the first 6 episodes it turns into your typical harem loli bait. Allow me to elaborate.

The anime starts off pretty good actually with ... our protagonist (who is a not-so-social-virgin at 37) dying, with his dying wish being “If I ever get reborn, I want to be OP af and want to screw as many girls as I like”; to be fair, I would probably also wish something along those lines. After citing his wish, “the great sage” reincarnates him into another world as the most OP slime ever. Stuff happens and he ends up saving a tsundere dragon from eternal imprisonment by eating him and also saves a village of goblins from direwolves. He, then names all the goblins and direwolves and takes it upon himself to create an ideal living environment for the monsters to live in. Just because he worked as a “contractor” in his previous life, he’s able to plan out a whole city mostly by himself. He also becomes an expert in holding a conversation even though he was lonely and awkward in his previous life. I don’t know how that works, but good for him right?

After planning a whole city mostly by himself, begins the directionless adventure of the slime. This is one of the main problems with this show, it does not know what it wants to be. There’s no overarching narrative, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but audiences at least need a sense of direction of movement in order not to be bored. There was something about there being a demon lord or something, idk it’s probably the same guy that’s present in every other isekai. What the show does is, it makes one of the characters say “Demon Lord” in some way or the other and the anime is like “well that’s enough plot progression for one episode. Who wants tiddies?”. Instead of actual plot we get “plot”. Not “plot” plot, but PLOT. Every girl the slime ever comes across is infatuated with him because we need to construct a harem or it will not be an isekai. Thus, the slime turns into chad slime and is swimming in tiddies, literally. The second problem with the show is that the danger does not feel real. Since the slime, who gets the name Rimuru by the way, is as OP as Goku in his Rainbow Super Saiyan Ultra Instinct Super Saiyan Legendary Super Saiyan God Ultra BS Level 5 form, nobody stands a chance against him. Anyone who challenges him, gets their ass handed to them in about 5 milliseconds. The fights usually go like this:

1. Rimuru’s henchmen fighting evil guy.
2. Evil Guy: You are just cannon fodder.
3. Henchmen lose; evil guy laughs; Rimuru arrives.
4. Evil Guy: You’re just a slime, you can’t do anything.
5. Rimuru beats the shit out of evil guy.
6. Evil Guy: *gasp* *starts following Rimuru for no reason*

Seriously, everyone who ever comes in contact with Rimuru becomes as loyal to him as you’re to anime. There’s this direwolf whose father is killed by Rimuru, but he’s like “meh, shit happens. You killed my father and dozens of my friends with whom I’ve spent my life till now, but you gave me a name so I instantly forgot about them”.

The comedy is ehhh??? I know comedy is subjective, but I can distinguish between well written comedy that isn’t funny just to me and just plain bad comedy. There’s this character who doesn’t speak and just says “mmmhh” and whenever he does that Rimuru goes “Speak up, man”. It was funny the first time but became annoying after it was repeated for a million times. There’s this lizardman who’s arguably the most irksome character in the show because his only purpose in life seems to be to make stupid decisions for the sake of tasteless humour. But, the most annoying part is that those actions, those asinine actions that he takes in the show which we took for granted, actually contribute to plot progression. He overthrows his father, the king of the lizardmen, from the throne during an invasion just because 3 of his henchmen told him that he is strong *annoyed nose exhale*.

The characters are painfully mediocre. Except for one female character, all others are there just to show some cleavage and get wet over Rimuru for no goddamn reason. Rimuru himself isn’t that interesting of a character. We never get an explanation to his motivation or what he wants to do, he just does whatever is presented to him. That’s weak writing. If your character holds his/her characterisation only in the context of the story then that’s weak character writing. There’s not even much to write as the characters are the definition of average. If they were on either end of the spectrum you would have something to say about them, but the characters in this show don’t have much of a personality. Only one character gets anything resembling a backstory which was so cursory that I forgot about it as soon as it happened. The characters are introduced as some kind of badasses only to further paint them as only superficially badass. There’s a character who tames the orcs and has a calm demeanour in his first scene but loses his mind when his plan fails. He’s portrayed as smart and shrewd but isn’t even able to figure out that his own slave is going to kill him.

The female cast consists of useless fanservice character #1, useless fanservice character #2, useless fanservice character #3 up to useless fanservice character #10, and Shizue. You can literally replace the female cast with boobs and it wouldn’t make a dent of a difference. Every female in this show, in one way or another, is only present to hold Rimuru between her boobs or to get angry for absolutely no reason in order to provide “comic relief”. I’ve put comic relief if massive quotations because all it does is annoy the viewer or pad for time as every episode needs to be 20 minutes long. The “comic relief” usually (and by usually I mean all the time) consists of girls vying to get wet over Rimuru or having other characters eat food that they’ve prepared; usually (and by usually I mean all the time) the food is very unpalatable and causes the person eating said food to faint. As you can see these are entirely new concepts that have never been executed or seen before in any anime, ever.

There’s a demon loli who runs around in bikinis blowing up whatever she wishes and is supposed to be a “demon lord” who are apparently the most OP people in the world. The demon loli is defeated by Rimuru by stuffing her mouth with honey; a feat which is applauded by his loyal followers quoting it as “A feat which only Rimuru-sama can accomplish” *exasperated sigh*. The demon loli (that’s what I’m gonna call her because she was only present in the show to appeal to pedos and was such a superfluous character that I don’t even remember her name and can’t be bothered to search for it), becomes besties with Rimuru because, well, we need an excuse to shoehorn in a loli with enough helium in her voice to lead to dizziness, nausea, vomiting, loss of consciousness and ultimately death.

You might be thinking that despite shitting on this show why have I still given it a 4/10. Well, that’s because even though everything about this anime is utterly mediocre, I still had an urge to click the next episode and ended up finishing it in a day so it gets some points there. Even though the fights themselves can’t be considered anything other than one sided massacre, they were still fun to watch.

Oh, almost forgot. The music is ok, the OPs and EDs are just fine and with the exception of one piece (which I just can’t seem to be able to find), all the others are forgettable. The animation is pretty solid though, especially during the fights. But, what good is animation when the majority of the show is as bland and tasteless as frozen dry fruits.

Tl;dr
If isekai is your thing, then go for it, but again if you really like isekai then you’ve probably already watched it. If you don’t like isekai and are going to try it because you’ve heard so many good things about it, then I’d recommend you to refrain from watching it. This is another one of those mediocre isekai that has been hyped to high heavens by the anime community. It’s literally like any other isekai.

Life can be harsh and I’m sure most of us think so in some way or another. The typical everyman at adult age works an 8-5 schedule on weekdays to make a living. Satoru Mikami is a very ordinary person until he gets reincarnated as a slime after being killed in a knife attack. As tragic as that sounds, it may not be a harsh life after all. Isn’t life just full of surprises?

After being turned into a light novel, Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime) is one of the few isekai shows that I genuinely looked forward ... to this year. While it subscribes to usual fantasy gimmicks, this show also does a unique job at entertaining the audience through its charismatic main lead, world fiction, and creative storytelling. I refer this show as more of a fantasy isekai, one that has a slime as the superstar.

Can the isekai genre really have potential to be more than just what's on paper? It certainly could for some franchises. This show is one of them. Satoru is reborn as a slime and his role is crucial to everything around him. Taking on the alias “Rimuru”, he makes up for his appeal through a variety of personality traits: kind, witty, laidback, sarcastic, courageous, and among others. When you look at all these character personalities together, Rimuru can be very likable. In the early portion of the show, we see Rimuru’s charisma and being able to lead supernatural creatures without fear. He even gives names to his new friends while showing his compassion. Rimuru is built to be special in the show. This is established through his immense abilities (such his Predator skill), where viewers can easily point fingers at him for being overpowered. Indeed, this isn’t an overstatement. In most of his battles, they are more like curb stomp face offs where Rimuru dominates his opponents. From isekai shows in today’s world, overpowered characters aren’t uncommon. What actually sets Rimuru apart is his unnatural charisma and human behavior. The witty conversations and small talks he engages with others often makes his fights much entertaining than they should be. Even in serious conflicts, Rimuru finds time to make jokes while being strategic enough to formulate a plan. Now, that my friends, is setting a likeable isekai protagonist by example.

Yet, this show can be a tearjerker at times too. The emotional context draws important value with a character named Shizu. After a titanic battle against a demon known as Ifrit, we learn about her past and Rimuru even inherits her will. Taking on her form, Rimuru realizes that he can’t save everyone regardless how powerful he is. It sets the path of his journey to keep promises such as being a mentor for younger kids. In the latter half of the show, Rimuru finds a group of children with magical potential and tries to lead them as a positive role model.

Even as an isekai show established with such a powerful protagonist, its character cast shouldn’t be overlooked. We meet a variety of characters with colorful personalities during Rimuru’s adventures. Some of the most noticeable ones includes his allies such as Shion, Shuna, Gobuta, Benimaru, Ranga, and later on, the Demon Lord Millim. Through Rimuru’s character interactions, it’s easy to see how his charisma inspires others. Many of Rimuru’s followers shows great respect for him and similarly, he deeply cares about them. Even Millim, a Demon Lord with overwhelming powers, takes a liking to him as the two forms an unlikely alliance. Respect of course isn’t just demanded but earned. Thanks to Rimuru’s abilities, he manages to make alliances with the most unlikely races. Under Rimuru’s leadership, he even sets forth to build a new country with his allies. The central element of storytelling relies on Rimuru’s way of showing his will. He proves this throug his actions and words. Really, by the end of the show, I felt like I understood Rimuru far more than I originally anticipated.

Despite my love for the show’s witty humor, colorful character cast, and storytelling, I should point out the anime still suffers from pitfalls. Fan service scenes with baths are common and Rimuru is still vulnerable to earthly desires in the fantasy world. In fact, I dare say the author made the monster girls as cute and sexy as possible. Millim and Shion are prime examples for their character designs. Just take a close look at them. Millim is pretty much half naked in her default outfit while Shion gives more of a mature lady vibe. Like most fantasy isekai, elves are characterized as desirable by males. This is shown early in the show when Rimuru encounters them and finds himself in brief moments of lust. While the storytelling has adequate development and carries an emotional weight, it’s hard to say that it’s great writing. In fact, many of Rimuru’s battles are extremely predictable even against the strongest of adversaries. In most of those fights, you should certainly expect Rimuru to be the winner. While the series also gives some of its supporting cast time to shine, most of the spotlight falls under our little slime-kun. Perhaps a bit too much...

Finally, 8-bit is back. After years of mediocre light novel adaptations like Infinite Stratos and Knight’s & Magic, Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken’s sets a bar for being a marvelous example of world fiction. The magical world contains fruitful amount of content such as the various nations we see. Tempest is the most prominent one ruled by Rimuru. Located in the Jura Forest, it’s a prime example of a monster country filled with larger than life characters. Meanwhile, other locations such as Brumund Kingdom and Dwargon reminds me of the high fantasy elements of the isekai genre. While the visual quality can look a bit cartoonish at times, it remains vibrant, bright, and contains a fine degree of palette. It suits for this particular show with its lighthearted humor. The character designs are of course worth mentioning in the case of Rimuru, the Demon Lords, his monster allies, and the infamous Veldora Tempest. At times, I feel like the author really put his thought into making them look as otherwordly as possible. The battle choreography also delivers a visual direction of what isekai shows should be. Nothing too groundbreaking but being able to showcase what characters’ abilities can really do. You should definitely not expect a DBZ-level style of action quality but be prepared for some jawbreaking cinematography.

Don’t you just wish life was simpler these days? Looking back at Rimuru’s adventure, I confess that I am a bit envious of his life. He is so carefree despite being an such a prominent figure in his world. Whether taking on the form of a slime, human, or Shizu, Rimuru makes everything look so easy. As such, watching this show felt like an easy way of passing time and enjoying what the author creator wanted us to experience. Now I wish life was easier.

'That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Loli Don't Mind The Slime Part It Is Just a Marketing Bait' is truly a fantastic self-insert series because the mc's face looks like a dead moth and the story line is basically Overlord but isekai. "B.. b-b..b.but isn't Overlord an isekai?" Not compared to this.. piece of.. slime.

The setup is a really great excuse for the story. One of the best ever to be honest. 37 years-old virgin NEET who hasn't left his apartment for 38 years goes outdoors for the first time ever and dies because the world is really a fucked up and sad place ... to be living in anyway. Even his last words are "Please wipe my PC's HDD's." Lucky for him, he reincarnates and turns into a loli in this ideal world where he is awesome, everyone (especially people with tits) love him and in generally, here he is "pretty much a big deal". That's not literally how it goes, but the differences are miniscule (he has been outside before, sorry for the exaggeration). Totally not a loser or anything in his past life.

The reincarnation of our mc is the polar opposite of the real him and this new version of him happens when you put gary stu, swag and the outcome of a certain glopping sound in a blender, but instead of these things mixing together, they just start skipping over the 18000rpm blades like waddup are you even trying? and for some reason the color blue is relevant here. I guess because everything is blue for him. The sole worst part of the writing is the comedy in the series and since it heavily relies on the personality of our main character, he becomes quite useless piece of... slime rather quickly. For example, one of the first comedic reliefs is a scene regarding his daily life as a slime and there he says "I eat veggies because there is really nothing else to do here." And that's supposed to be a joke. Now, if this had been presented a bit differently, for example the mc saying "Ugh, I am so fucking bored I am eating grass", there is a high change that I would have sided with him, called him ma man and perhaps even laughed. The real alternative was just a childish, supposedly-witty remark that achieved nothing. And that's pretty much how this side of the thing works. There are even some lame Gintama-tier poop jokes. Not approved.

Other characters are great tho. Mainly because they consists of ridiculously hot and weird looking females that are not even humans. Some of them has green skin and big boobs, another comes with oni-features, pretty sure third one is a squirrel. Also, elves, elves and ero elves. As a person who likes that weird hentai shit, I have highly enjoyed the ecchi fanservice regarding our harem casting. There is also a huge-ass, badass dragon in the series who ends up being kinda tsundere. 10/10 idea, best since tsundere-shark subreddit. However, the outsome is 2/10 lameness and pure waste of potential. Especially dialogue between it and the mc is so dreadful it makes both of these characters seem exponentially worse than they would otherwise be. Most lines in the series is just filler be it mc talking with wolfies, orc grills or elves. Good thing they all love him/worship him as a god because he is such a nice guy.

The actual story of this series is simple. Our mc eats the dragon and becomes Naruto, then he starts exploring the fantasy world and committing acts that play out like side stories in j-rpg games except he does it with highly overpowered isekai Jesus manner because that's the entire point of this series + is being nice because nice is so nice. People get impressed over how amazing he is, others who are literally evilzz get hyped over the tsundere dragon. Real basic stuff that could shine if it was filled with interesting characters, cool action sequences or some details worth of anything. None is to be found in here.

The art of this series is somewhat experimental. There are drawings made by children, some type of spectrogram-tier audio logging shit, exhaust pipes against red backgrounds because Iunno why exactly, enter the void type of all-colors-of-rainbow sequences that quite well match the definition of digital vomit, and stuff that is too stupid to be even described. Gladfully these scenes are scarce and the real thing is way more generic, which is good because generic > this pseudo-artsy nonsense. The art during the actual story parts is simplistic yet efficient. Nothing to complain there. Sounds-wise, the mc sounds like a loli so I guess they achieved what they tried to do. The opening song and ending song both are easily the worst I have heard this season, but the OP has been kinda started to fit the acquired taste definition.

Conclusion:

I think isekai is one of the best genres in the modern anime industry because it rarely takes itself too seriously. It tends to be over the top stupid and that makes it so genuinely entertaining to watch. It is also so very easy to forgive whatever problems they have, but loli datta end up disappointing me. It's not very fun to watch at all, just childish to a point that it feels like kids cartoon, and especially the ridiculously slow tempo is ruining the experience and making the whole thing just be all over the place. The manga is like 11x faster and better.

*If you are just too tired to read the whole thing just skip to the last paragraph*

This show puts a smile on my face.

Every season there is one show that just makes me happy as a person and makes me not regret getting into anime.
In Winter it was Yuru camp, in Spring it was Hinamatsuri, in Summer it was Cells at work and this Fall it is about a slime.

That time I got reincarnated as a slime is a show that actually makes you feels like you were reincarnated as a slime. These 6 episodes actually focuses a lot on the world building and ... our MC finding a proper way to live there instead of giving him a harem.

*minimum spoiler review*

Story-7

It is about our MC who got stabbed and was reincarnated as a slime. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand this but the selling point of the series for me was that everything was just making more sense than the rest of the isekais out there. The MC isn't just powerful by sheer luck he was
reincarnated in a cave and was named by a dragon and because of that he became powerful WHICH is the reference to the game logic that the villains having a name are more powerful than the ones without it. The MC then swallows him. The story right now focuses on the adventures of our MC (his name is Rimuru btw so I should probably stop calling him MC) in this world as a slime. The lowest level monster there is and waiting for the dragon to come out so that he can tell him about his adventures.

Characters-8

There is our MC which is the most realistic person to die die into the fantacy world. NO HE IS NOT A LOW LIFE ANIME LOVING WEEB, he is just a gut who works in an office. And he is a virgin.
Goblins were the first creatures that were introduced to us in that world and rather that making goblins look like..well like..Goblin Slayer goblins (i haven't checked the other reviews out yet but I am 100% sure EVERYONE has mentioned this) they are wayyyy more lovable and sweet.
Dwarfs are awesome and manly creatures who are true to their masters.
And the wolfs are pretty much the same.

Sound-7

There is not particularly any track that is spectacular. Some are rather forgettable but they all give that *fantasy world* charm that is necessary to have and they do it really well. The OP and ED are both really good.

Art and Animation-9

8bit studios have never been bad with animation. The animation is spectacular and consistently good with great details.The fight scenes so far (even if they are small) are good. The art is also pretty good with vibrant colors that just mixes well with the world.

*
Overall-9

The show has its own charm that just makes you wait eagerly for the next episode to come. It makes me happy and is a treasure for isekai genre.
After watching the first episode of Goblin Slayer I was actually planning to make a sarcastic review by just talking about it. But I just couldn't.
You might have noticed that I have not made an enjoyment section, that's because it is subjective (not because I am too tired and lazy :P). For me it is 10/10. This is my first review so I hope you will be easy on me.

Thanks for reading
*

Tensei Slime is THE isekai of the season, with a great first episode, it presented a relatable main character and how he ended up getting into another world but in a slime's body, all of this on a great animation budget and a good background music. I personally enjoyed it very much. The plot itself wraps p pretty originally and in a good way it connects up beetween events, in a not-rshed pace everything gets developed in a way that you get to really like most of its characters.
Rimuru himself is the star of the show, this cool slime fella is imensely cool, cute and ... pretty likeable, he is a good guy, everyone in the anime likes him, everyone watching the anime likes him, he's the kind ideal protagonist a show should have, and most of all, he's original, I mean, when did you see a talking genious magician slime before? I say, never! He being a slime is the main reason everyone likes him, he's jsut original, if he was a simple teenager japanese boy, it wouldn't be the same thing.
Most of the sub-characters are great, we get to know the goblins(which in this anime are good, as opposed to the goblins in a certain other anime), they're carismatic, they're likeable. Same thing can be said about the wolves, tough less carismatic, the leader of the bunch is pretty cool.
Animation-wise this anime is great, I simply love the opening theme's animation, it's really well done, as well as the general animation, nothing feels bad or rushed in it.
OST, except for the great OP theme I don't think there's something really great about it, quite forgetable I must say :/

And that's about it, a more great than good story, a outstanding art, a ok music, a great character and of course I had a outstanding enjoyment.
Overall a great show with imense potential.

A modern staple of fantasy legends, the Slime Monster is an amorphous, shapeless, gooey creature best represented by the original Dragon Quest Slime. They are typically weak, but certain slimes, such as massive ones, ones made of special materials, or ones that are immune to damage, can be quite dangerous and deadly. Its usual attack is to engulf its prey.

The Slime is an iconic creature from Dragon Quest, but the existence of slime monsters dates back at least as far as Dungeons and Dragons, to the Gelatinous Cube. Which is suggested to be an invention of Gary Gygax.

Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken is an adapted ... series of Manga written by "Fuse" is the Maga Theme adventure and fantasy series was first released in March of the year two thousand five eventually got serialized this season.Seri was adapted by "8bit" and got twenty four episodes that started to date the two months ago, this series was so much not found many loggers of manga and anime because this series has a very unique story story as well as in the bamps of comedy elements that are very inviting lace tits make this series begin to reap its popularity.

Tells the story of an office employee named "Satoru Mikami" who wants to go to a restaurant to eat with his theme. But in the middle of a trip an unexpected event a criminal suddenly attacked his theme armed with courage and a sense of responsibility he was willing to sacrifice his life just for the theme Stabbed by the villain. Before he died he told his theme to destroy his PC (Personal Computer) because inside the PC had a very important secret document. For most people, we thought that we only lived once in this world but Satoru was strangely thrown into fantasy world where things that are impossible can happen in some of their abilities in the world he did some experiments including magic. But he still did not know why he was thrown in that strange world and why he turned into a slime instead of a human?

After being thrown into the world Fantasy Satoru met a dragon he asked about the world after chatting so many satoru decided to make the dragon his family and they changed his name to the "Tempest" Sorator himself changed his name to "Rimuru Tempest" but the dragon was still in the seal by the big crystal chunks to sealed the dragon's power the Satoru decided to bring the dragon by eating and analyzing how to free the dragon and that's the story rolling.

The themed of this series adventure has a good graphic quality not just a background or can we call the Landscape this series is also good in the character design.Seri has a very unique character that rarely owned any series is "slime" color selection so so many contrast making the real impression of the audience.Seri adapted from the manga is illustrated by "Kawakami Taiki" is quite interesting because it has a very unique character makes the illustrator difficult to adjust to other characters but it is not a big obstacle even with the very unique character can add to the storyline to become more interesting.

This series has a main character "Rimuru Tempest" he is a work office worn for stabbed by a criminal, in the unique capability of making this main character this is much popular than people not only the time appearance also no less as a unique creature Slime also has a funny and adorable impression. "Tempest" is a family name that has two members that is "Tempest Verudora" is a dragon that is cighed in the crystal and the other "Tempest Rimuru".

Incomplete if a good animation is not supported by the sound section. The "8bit" studio party brought in "Okasaki Miho" who will fill the Rimuru Tempest voice. For the studio's opening theme, "Takuma Terashima" will sing the nameless story as the opening theme. the opening theme will be sung by "TRUE" titled another colony.

As the Manga and Light novel reader if the two things got the serialization then it was so glad to be first-shaped and the following now the series began adapting to being a video.Resial was honestly he was nice since I read the Mangananya series and I really enjoyed the series and in the end the series got a serialization was the news is happy. In this season has some very good series of one of these Tensei Slime this.

"That time I got roped into thinking that this anime might actually be good after seeing all of the praise for it only to be terribly disappointed" basically sums of my experience with TenSura right now.

This season's token isekai anime is super duper original because it's protagonist gets reincarnated as a slime instead of a person. Mind = Blown. Our hero is portrayed as an embarrassment to society with no unique qualities who dies a horrible death when he ventures outside to communicate with other humans. Now here we have the moral of the story: Don't go outside kids. So after dying a virgin ... and being reborn in a fantasy world as a slime, our hero suddenly develops communication and tactical skills out of nowhere and gets a voice actor who doesn't sound dead on the inside. This is where the mediocre adventure of a slime begins.

You know what the biggest flaw of this anime is? It isn't entertaining. I just don't find the humor funny, and when you're a comedy anime, this is a pretty significant issue. And the one thing that the anime included that was actually amusing, which was the frickin tsundere dragon, the protagonist just has to go and ruin it by eating said tsundere dragon. I mean damn, If I wanted to watch vore, I'd find some messed up hentai to watch instead. So before being consumed, the tsundere dragon and the slime gave each other the name Tempest. Now another reason why I'm bored slimeless by this anime is because Tempest is a pretty lackluster protagonist. He just does things with seemingly no actual purpose, and...yeah, there's really nothing else to say about him actually. Oh wait, his most notable characteristic is the fact that he's a pervert who likes boobs. Which leads us to the one enjoyable aspect of this anime:

Monster Girl Tiddies

That's right, we've got goblin tits, elf boobs, and so many other female species with cleavage. I can't wait to see what monster they decide to slap breasts on next! Because when everything else fails, just throw in some fan service, and all problems are solved, amiright? It doesn't matter if the plot is garbage, because sexy anime girls make everything better! Seriously though, the plot of TenSura has been painfully mediocre so far. Nothing eventful has happened. Every character worships Tempest because he's da supah cool protagonist with no flaws whatsoever who helps out everyone he meets. Yep, that's basically the synopsis of the narrative. Plus the visuals and sound of this anime are rather standard and forgettable, which doesn't help.

If a comedy anime makes me yawn more than laugh like TenSura's done thus far, then there's a problem. Sprinkle in a generic isekai plot and add a teaspoon of undeveloped characters and you get quite the slime of an anime.

And nobody wants that.

Mikami Satoru’s (Rimuru Tempest’s) top search results:

1) Japanese Spooge-casters (newscasters)

2) AppleJack(ing) Off (My Little Pony Futa)

3) Slime Stuff (self-explanatory)

4) Grew Grew Cock fO`shO (spirit gun!)

... 5) Legends of the Galactic Queero’s (starring Yang in the putang — otherwise known as Reinhard’s vagina)


But enough giggles for one afternoon, what do these words bring to mind?

Squishy. Amorphous. Pliable. Flaccid.

No. This is not an explanation of Rimuru “The Slime” Tempest’s appearance — or a Donkey Kong dong Shlong — rather, it’s a succinct description of That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime’s (henceforth, will be referred to as just “Slime”) unstructured plot and the easily influenced cast of characters. Now before the various facets of the show in question are taken apart to illuminate its numerous failures, one must give credit where credit is due. For Mikami Satoru (Rimuru Tempest) to have the wherewithal to instruct his friend to destroy his hard drive — due to the massive amounts of downloaded pornography, allegedly — in the midst of his final moments on earth, was nothing short of being hilarious and befitting of the modern day virgin. But as well-timed as this joke was, it bamboozled the viewer into thinking that Slime’s story would entail more adult-oriented humor, instead of a puerile adventure about freeing a dragon (Veldora) from an Endless Prison.

Besides this subterfuge, Slime grants Rimuru with — no exaggeration — the most ridiculously over-powered “cheat code” in the existence of Isekai. Although, at first, Rimuru is perceived as a relatively weak, helpless being, his ability to absorb literally anything to amass new skills is ridiculously “broken.” Furthermore, Rimuru can alter his appearance on demand and can later combine different abilities to forge new, stronger spells/attacks. Plus he can create potions for healing, various weapons for killing, and manipulate time itself. Still, though. This does little justice to the wide array of skills he displays throughout the series. Literally, if you can think of it, Rimuru either possesses it or can ascertain it through his absorptive powers.

“Why is this a problem, though?”

People, typically, can not acquire new skills on the drop of a dime. It takes time and a great deal of dedication. Take Naruto, for example. Even though humans will never produce a Rasengan in their life (a terrible pity), they can empathize with Naruto’s hard work and determination in mastering the difficult, new skill. Rimuru, on the other hand, appropriates spells/powers rather effortlessly, making his “arduous” journey difficult to empathize with. To put it another way: imagine the smartest person you knew growing up, and how effortlessly they achieved straight “A’s.” Their accomplishments seem watered down because they are expected given their superior intelligence, rather than achieved through rigorous persistence. This is the same dilemma the viewer is faced with when watching Slime. Rimuru, to the detriment of the series, is too perfect and no task seems formidable enough to properly challenge him.

Furthermore, as far as characterization goes, Rimuru is as bland as oatmeal without milk (that’s right, dry out of the bag mother f—ker’s). He presumably lived 37 years as a human, but routinely acts like a child — especially in the presence of voluptuous women. Due to him possessing incredible powers, having an altruistic mindset, and not having any discernible personality (besides being a kind individual), he immediately evoked comparisons to the Gary Stu complex. Which hits the nail right on the head! What’s worse, is that Rimuru — the focal point of Slime — experienced diminutive growth/development throughout the course of the series. He is the veritable vanilla protagonist in this metaphorical Slime sundae (ewww!) that was so sorely missing in delicious toppings (what am I talking about?).

The remaining cast of characters, woefully, failed to elicit any fond memories, as the writing staff seemed more concerned about character quantity, rather than quality. Essentially, each character get’s their five minutes of “useful” screen time, and then they are effectively disregarded to clear the way for even more characters. Besides Shizue Izawa — who had a mildly interesting backstory — every character is easily forgettable, becoming a distant memory after the end of each episode. Until they come back in another episode and you’re like, “oh, they still exist?”

In terms of the plot, it proceeded like clockwork. Various problems occurred to create “tension,” but no situation felt insurmountable. Rimuru, per the hero obligation, spouted useless, uninspiring lines, such as: “If I don’t don’t kill him now, it really will be a disaster,” to substantiate the stigma of the boring, invincible hero archetype. It also perpetuated the overall laziness of modern day anime writers. Their inability to craft new, interesting stories and layered characters — with a semblance of authenticity — demonstrate their lack of ambition and willingness to take bold risks.

Slime is an anemic mimicry that never breaks free from its own constraints, hamstringing its potential to inspire excitement and joy in the viewing audience. Instead of a “hot mess,” Slime is just a mess. A wet, goopy mess.

Honestly, the whole isekai trope isn't inherently bad- It's definitely feasible to make something genuinely good with creative world building, interesting character interactions, good direction and premise, and so on. Unfortunately, this series, like most others, has none of those and is quite literally the most trite isekai that could be made by what I'd presume to be a human. Though if someone said this was computer generated by re-using every awful isekai trope ever, I'd unironically believe it. This is a prime example of a series using an incredibly "clickbaity" title as a hook without offering anything of substance beyond it, and it really ... shows.

First of all, even the title is boring as shit aside from the "slime" part. "That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime" says nothing aside from the fact that the main character is going to be a slime. Big if true. Shocking. Apparently the author had real difficult time coming up with the title. Sure, there isn't anything inherently wrong with making an eyecatching title- But if the answer to that is just literally putting the premise as one, then it's pretty safe to say the author is very obviously creatively bankrupt and the series isn't worth the time. And to add to the insult, the character is an overpowered sue character that doesn't even abide by the common notion of a slime and the series becomes another self-insert power fantasy. And to even further add to the insult, it still manages to use the generic cute anime girl design instead of the slime in the promotional poster. Amazing.

The setting of this series is also disgustingly generic, and it really boggles my mind how some people unironically think any of this is good world building. Slimes, dwarves, goblins, orcs, monster wolves, dragons, elves, demon lords, and just any other Dragon Quest reject mobs you can think of, and it's got them all. Essentially it's like making a randomly generated dungeon with RPG Maker's premade assets and just calling it a day. There's nothing interesting to look at, because you've seen them all before- The only thing that could remotely subvert an expectation would be that they act slightly differently from the "norm", but even that is overdone and tiring.

But you might be thinking, "Who cares if it borrows assets from every other isekai fantasy series ever? That doesn't say anything about its writing quality." And you'd be right- It doesn't. But what it says about the series, is just complete utter lack of creativity not only in assets, but also in just general writing.

Just look at this nonsense up to the sixth episode:

[minor spoiler below]
The main character gets reincarnated as a slime in a different world- Then immediately by the second episode, he becomes an overpowered sue character that can quite literally do anything. They can just eat anything of any size and instantly gain all of its powers and abilities, because apparently that's what slimes do. He also has infinite storage of what he eats, and can finitely but perfectly reproduce anything he also eats as long as he has the resources in his infinite storage. Then if that wasn't enough, he also gets a giant exposition machine called The Great Sage in his head that just explains away anything that he might be unfamiliar with, so there's absolutely no struggle. Then if that also wasn't enough, he doesn't have any motivation whatsoever other than completing a few "side quests" he might encounter along the way, so his characterization is the most boring "good guy" trope you can think of. Then of course, everyone likes him because he's Number One. And if there's someone who doesn't like him? Clearly must be evil or stupid. Or both.
[minor spoiler above]

The fact that the writing needs a gigantic exposition machine in the first place already shows that the writer is absolutely incompetent and that unraveling his dollar store isekai world care package through other means is simply beyond his talent. This exposition machine is also incredibly obnoxious as it constantly cuts off whatever is happening on the screen into some Shaft-style Powerpoint presentation mode whenever it wants to explain, which just doesn't do well for the flow of the show. This sort of exposition machine is commonly used in narrative when the main character isn't talkative or is a video game character that responds based on player input to add some sort of character dynamic while maintaining that form of interactivity- So when it's used aside a very talkative main character, it really goes to show terrible the writing is to warrant the usage of it.

And finally, the show doesn't even make great use of what little it has going for it- The production budget. I guess they thought they found the next Overlord in the making, so the quality of the visuals is actually pretty good. Sadly, the series also spends a lot of time on minutes and minutes of monologue, explaining characters' powers and abilities, and covering backstories of side characters nobody cares about. Essentially, this is the Weeny Hut Jr. version of Sword Art Online, but I guess people don't even notice the similarities because Kirito got a cool slime mask. With this trend, I can already see that "Reborn as a Vending Machine, Now I Wander the Dungeon" series having a bright future as soon as it's picked up by any semi-decent studio. No, that actually is a thing. And yes, anime is fucking dead.

Press F to Pay Respects.

As someone with literally thousands of hours of playtime in the Sid Meier's Civilization series over the years, I very much appreciated this anime.

Isekai series are a standard staple in the anime industry nowadays and managing to stand out from the crowd can be easier said than done. Generally the way people do this is by giving some sort of twist to an otherwise quite generic setup, which in the case of Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken is quite simply that the protagonist gets reincarnated as a slime of all things once he gets transported to this particular fantasy world. However, it is important to ... understand that that part is *NOT* what makes this anime stand out from most other isekai series. Rather it is how likeable the protagonist is as a character and most importantly the general style and execution of its story.

You see, regardless of what kind of twist people like to throw into their isekai novels, in general they still boil down to a similar end goal. You normally have some sort of greater peril to tackle or evil demon lord for the MC to defeat and in the process of doing so he'll get his own harem etcetera; it's all very shounen-like in terms of writing. But Slime isn't really like that. Instead, this anime is much more relaxed and focuses on completely different kinds of challenges.

In essence, watching Slime is like watching a let's play of a fantasy version of a game of Sid Meier's Civilization. At the beginning of the story, our protagonist Rimuru comes across a poor goblin village, very basic and currently suffering from attacks by nearby wolf packs in the forest. He offers to help the tribe, and in the process not only manages to deal with the threat of the wolves, but by using his powers he's able to help the goblins domesticate them and join forces for mutual benefit. After being chosen as the new leader of the tribe due to his accomplishments, Rimuru starts the long and arduous task of trying to transform the village into something greater.

This is a large part of what the anime is truly about: the evolution of civilization. Over the course of story we get to see more and more races join the village as it grows into a larger town. We get to see the establishment of culture and diplomacy with other nations, the progression of science and infrastructure, the birth of an independent country and the political negotiations of a fresh, multi-species society with the rest of the world. It's all quite fascinating to watch and it makes me wonder why this is such a rare thing to see in anime. It's not only rare but at least if you ask me, it's also a hell of a lot more interesting than a group of people feeding off the power of friendship to go overthrow some evil demon lord or whatnot.

Now that is not to say that Slime doesn't have its fair share of action and clashes with hostile forces as well, but they are generally more large-scale conflicts with other nations. Also, while it is undeniable that Rimuru is ridiculously strong due to his completely broken Predator ability that lets him devour anything, I never felt that this was much of a drawback for the anime. Even if he may be overpowered, at the end of the day the eventual goal of the anime isn't just to defeat a bunch of enemies. The main challenges of this story are not ones that can simply be solved with brute force; they are a lot more sophisticated in nature, and I appreciate that a lot.

Unfortunately the second half of Slime isn't quite as good as the first half as there are less challenges standing in the way both in terms of peaceful and hostile ones. It feels a bit more slice of life-like and also contains a bit of a side arc that I don't really think did a whole lot good for the anime as a whole. I did have the show scored as a 9 for the majority of its airing but ultimately I had to chop off a point towards the end for this fact alone. Nevertheless, with a second season already confirmed, I can only hope that it finds its footing again once that comes around.

Ultimately, Slime is a great isekai show for the simple reason that it's focused on what it's simply like to start a new life in a new world—as well as the aforementioned evolution of society—without having to turn the story into a generic shounen fantasy adventure in the process. It's just a fun anime in general, and Rimuru's cheerful, smug and smart outlook on the world does a great deal for its overall enjoyment value as well. The show certainly wouldn't be the same without him. Overall, it's a very enjoyable and surprisingly creative show which is always cheerful, light-hearted and relaxing, without any excessive drama needed. Definitely recommended.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime — but not really, since writing a fantasy story with an actually weak main character would take some effort, so let's just throw that overpowered blue blob into the usual generic JRPG fantasy world and hope we can get away with it.

Well, they did. After all, that title would be too long even for a light novel. And the isekai formula still works like a charm: you just need to change whatever the main character gets incarnated in next, be it a polar bear, a vending machine, or — oh for fuck's sake — bloody Vladimir Putin ... (just make sure to make them all overpowered self-insert characters, or else...they might start taking you seriously).

So the gist of the thing is, dude dies and gets reincarnated as a demigo...I mean, a slime, in the aforementioned generic fantasy world (which needs no introduction, if you saw one you saw them all). Every obstacle is won over some stupidly overpowered ability the slime was incarnated with for some reason; probably cheat codes. It doesn't last long, though, since a cute blue-haired girl sells more.
At first, it got me excited, since the first episode is pretty irreverent and fun, and I thought I was in for a parody-esque anime in the vein of Konosuba; as the second kicked in, however, it was obvious this would be just your run-of-the-mill isekai with nothing new under the sun. I kept watching to see if they could turn it around, but it doesn't seem it will. It can't decide if it wants to take itself seriously or not, and meanwhile, it bores you to death.

Rimuru's voice got annoying right on episode 2, and he (?) doesn't really have a relevant personality. Everyone else but two characters who receive the flashback treatment on the Dwarf Town (which doesn't really help us care about them) is just fodder for jokes or for Rimuru's slow descent into megalomania.
In episode 6 we finally meet our promised main girl...which proceeds to fall in love at first sight with our dear blob, so I figure we can get her out of the picture as to having any chance of being a decent character.

If you are looking for something that will make you mildly amused at best for a couple of minutes each week, give it a try. It might just be your cup of tea. Otherwise, it's just an utter waste of time and you won't find anything redeemable here. Better dispose of that ever-growing plan to watch list before.

When was the last time a light novel adaptation or isekai tried to be straightforward? Nothing fancy, nothing repetitive or self-indulgent, just simple. With the likes of Re:Zero, Akashic Records, Overlord, and Mahouka, it’s become harder and harder to find an LN or isekai show that just wants to entertain (parodies like Konosuba don't count cuz fuck you). Even many of the “simpler”, “safer” anime like The Asterisk War and Isekai wa Smartphone fail to realize that we just want something simple and satisfying. That’s probably why Slime is as popular as it is. It just wants to entertain us with a fun, digestible isekai ... world for an adorable protagonist to build in and explore. Not to mention, it does so with some decent visuals, good music, and the sense of whimsey you’d expect from a show about being in a game-like world. That’s not to say the show never gets violent, that it never indulges in typical LN and isekai cliches, or even that it’s a good show. It’s just that Slime values entertainment above all else, never overindulging to the point of stupidity or alienation. Frankly, this is the first isekai in years to not suck.

Slime’s visuals are honestly strange. It doesn’t really feel like it was made in 2018 or 2019. Something about this odd and inconsistent art style doesn’t feel like something you’d see nowadays. While the art style certainly feels unorthodox, a lot of the facial expressions are priceless and adorable as a result, particularly with Rimuru’s slime form. The sheer liveliness of some of the environments trumps even the likes of No Game No Life, which is arguably the most visually stunning isekai on the market. The show often experiments with different styles, like swapping between anime and photorealistic footage when getting us acquainted with Rimuru’s slime form in episode 1, or when he fantasizes about hot elves and they’re drawn in a 90s aesthetic. Several moments in the show, along with the first ED, also add a sort of digital, VR-like filter to whatever’s happening onscreen. Speaking of the first ED, the visuals for it change 4 times, and each version looks great. Even when they’re not experimenting, some of the action scenes and sequences of Rimuru wandering around in slime form look stunning and fluid. The first OP is a wonderful example of this. Sadly, the visuals are about as inconsistent as everything else. For every moment of smooth or lively visuals, we have moments of typical static shots, and episodes where we don’t get much animation. Some of the background and foreground scrolling tends to look awkward as well, and the rampant CGI tends to be even worse. Still, the character designs are generally great, and the high points in the animation put nearly every other isekai or LN adaptation to shame. Studio 8bit is probably one of the better sources of isekai anime out there.

Even more vibrant is the music. Early on, we’re treated to some fun chiptune pieces, along with some adventurous tracks. Somehow, the amount of more lighthearted and fun tracks, and even the amount of battle themes is completely overshadowed by the sheer volume of great emotional pieces. A track that perfectly exemplifies both sides of this is actually the first ED, "Another colony" by TRUE. The guitars and drums give this energetic vibe that’s both invigorating and a tad emotional, and the violins more than add to the more emotional aspect of the song. Along with the decent vocals, these elements turn this into one of the better EDs of 2018, and a great way to cap off each episode. I don’t care as much for the second ED despite its more sentimental tone. Takuma Terashima does the 2 OPs of this season, and they are both fantastic. The first, “Nameless Story”, is a striking tune, especially with that bombastic usage of the special guitar which gives a more rustic, perhaps 2000s vibe. The visuals accentuate that vibe, as both aspects of the OP meld to create both this sense of adventure and danger. The second OP, “Meguru Mono” is a far calmer, more emotional piece that shows just how far Rimuru and his civilization have come, and how wondrous things will remain in the future.

As expected from an isekai, the writing is a bit of a mess. The show’s pacing is often strange, and it has a ton of pointless and bewildering time skips. Emotional moments often feel rushed or conjured out of thin air, and the show often forgets about its characters until they randomly appear later. Examples of the latter include the time when Gobta’s just left alone in a cell halfway into episode 5 and forgotten about, or when the goblins and wolves are told to wait outside at the beginning of episode 4 and are forgotten about until episode 6, where we see them and a whole new batch of goblins working. The show also tends to resort to time skips, glossing over the progression of the central village Rimuru builds, and making the town’s progression and some of Rimuru’s absences feel utterly ridiculous.

Another problem is that the world-building is sometimes inconsistent and unexplained, like how Rimuru could only name like 50 or so goblins and one wolf before passing out in episode 3 and then 500 goblins in episode 6. The worst case of the latter is in episode 19 where the wolf Ranga suddenly has a strong partnership with Shion and pulls a flying ability out of nowhere, since the characters ask how and when he learned that and became that close with her, and we never get an answer. Granted, the world-building is never indigestible and rarely broken like it is in Mahouka or Smartphone. It’s just that these issues become especially distracting when the narratives are already rather unremarkable and badly paced. It’s even worse when most of the arc conclusions are drawn-out, anticlimactic, or cheesy, with the 4th arc’s finale being the worst example. That said, some of the storylines in this show are genuinely good. The best example of this is the 3-part storyline with Shizue at the end of arc 1, with its intense backstory and a sentimental payoff for Shizue and her ultimately tragic tale. If only more of this show’s arcs and mini-stories were as good as this or even the majority of the second arc, but inconsistency really is Slime’s middle name.

A majority of the characters in this show are actual yes men, often with one defining character trait and only some level of chemistry to make them salvageable. Barring Rimuru (the little asshole), his internal sage assistant, and perhaps the utter dolt that is Gabiru, it seems like the best characters in this show are ones that appear for a short time, like Shizue, Veldora, or the trio of guild adventurers at the end of the first arc. They along with the characters I’ve named often have the most entertaining personalities and chemistry, and the most we get from them are a few gags at Gobta’s, Shion’s, and Rimuru’s expense. Almost none of them have any exceptional personalities or amazing chemistry to rival the GOATs in anime casts, nor do any of them necessarily wring any hype out of me aside from a character introduced in the penultimate episode. However, none of them are insufferable or horribly written. Still, this is probably Slime’s weakest and least entertaining aspect.

The experience of watching this anime at its best is a lot like that of playing a Kirby game. It has an adorable, round, expressive protagonist who absorbs his enemies’ powers while exploring new lands, and a sense of whimsy crafted by the bouncy slime animation and wonderfully varied OST. The experience of watching this anime at its best is a lot like that of playing a Kirby game. It has an adorable, round, expressive protagonist who absorbs his enemies’ powers while exploring new lands, and a sense of whimsy crafted by the bouncy slime animation and wonderfully varied OST. It’s not necessarily well-written, visually stunning, or even consistently entertaining, but it sets a benchmark for isekai that frankly hasn’t been met in half a decade. All it needed to do in order to not suck was just be straightforward and willing to entertain.

With that said, can we finally have a good isekai again, please? I don’t want another isekai ending with a recap episode, as amusing as this one was. (Yes, the recap is listed as its own anime now, but it was still advertised as the final episode by the show itself, and MAL did not list it as its own entry when this review was made. Fuck you, it's my review...you bullies.)

Written and Edited by: CodeBlazeFate
Proofread by: Peregrine

What started off as a unique premise of a middle aged man being reincarnated into a Slime in a fantasy setting, slowly devolved into another generic, power fantasy Isekai. [Warning spoilers]

The light hearted slimevilization was fun for a while, but it became boring.

Story (4/10):

There’s not much to the story. Rimuru says he wants to get avenge Shizu and defeat the demon lord Leon, well not really it’s just building Rimuru’s nation until the next enemy attacks. There’s no tension/stakes, especially after Milim joins. The loli demon lord is too OP for her own good. She could oneshot all of the enemies, but doesn’t because ... of plot convenience. Milim’s basically a get out of free card as long as she’s by Rimuru’s side, which removes tension from an already tensionless story.

The world building isn’t that good. While we learn about the races/species that inhabit the Great Jura Forest and watch how Rimuru’s nation is built, we don’t know much about the other regions. If the story shifted it’s focal point to other regions the world would have felt more grand and alive.

Characters (1/10):

The characters are one-dimensional and are only made likeable through a couple of character traits. They aren't remotely realistic or relatable. They don’t develop past their initial introduction. The author constantly introduces more characters instead of developing the ones he has already e.g. Benimaru looks like he has potential, but he doesn’t have much going for him besides being a loyal servant like everyone else.

Rimuru has no personality or character flaws aside from being a laid-back ‘good guy’. He’s pretty much a self-insert character. Everyone loves Rimuru in the world. They worship Rimuru and join his side soon after meeting him, to the point it becomes cheap and unearned. They literally bow down and promise to serve him and in return they get a powerup from being given a name! It reaches “SASUGA AINZ SAMA!!1!” in terms of annoyance.

The Great Sage is essentially a exposition plot device. It knows and explains everything in this world that Rimuru is unfamiliar with and solves all of his problems. Basically it’s lazy writing.

The humanification of the races annoys me because it’s blatant fanservice. For example, Benimaru turns into a handsome man, Shion turns into a busty oppai bodyguard, the lizard girls look like hot kunoichis. Whereas, what happens to Gabiru & the male lizards? They just get wings...

The fight scenes are awful. The writer approaches them by making Rimuru so ridiculously overpowered and the enemy so much weaker that they stand no chance in beating him, so fights end in a oneshot. When the enemy is stronger than Rimuru, Milim just takes care of it. Slightly off topic, in the fight against Charbydis, it annoyed me that Rimuru forced her to sit out while willing to risk the danger of his people and rely on his allies when Milim’s standing right next to him. Rimuru came across as a hypocrite when he insulted Souei, Ranga and Shion and told them to “rely on me a bit”.

I digress, my biggest problem with Slime is how EVERYTHING gets handed to Rimuru easily:

• Encountering the goblin village and becoming their leader right away.
• Defeating the Orc Lord
• Dwargon King arriving with his men and issuing a duel-> ends up forming a peace treaty
• Charbydis was described as an apocalyptic event coming to destroy the Jura Tempest nation and had the whole forest scared-> Milim one shots him.
• Carrion shows up and makes a non aggression pact because plot
• Milim betraying the Demon lords to join Rimuru’s side because of honey and them being “best friends”...
• Rimuru asking enemies to become friends and build a nation together.

Everything seems to work out for him. None of the races fight in his nation or have any conflict. Rimuru acquires abilities to resolve any situation because of how overpowered the great Sage is. It really should have some drawbacks.

If this was one situation I would overlook it, but it’s a constant occurrence. Nothing feels like it’s taken seriously. There’s no meaningful/real conflicts.

Any build up to a situation is always killed off in the most anti-climatic way e.g. Charbydis was hyped up being this Calamity as strong as the Demon Lords, however everything was resolved in less than a day and ended with Milim oneshotting him. What did Charbydis subplot add to the story? Nothing, besides being a shoe horned plot device that came out of nowhere to show powerful Milim is. I would have enjoyed watching everyone fight together to defeat the “raid boss”, but instead she made everyone’s efforts seem pointless.

Animation/Sound (6/10):

The animation is average. The soundtracks are fine. I do enjoy the opening and think the upbeat, lighthearted song fits the tone of the anime.

Overall (2/10):

Slime peaked in the Shizu arc. Everything revolving her was great. It’s really telling that even though Shizu had little screen time, she managed to be the most fleshed out character in the whole show.

Slime is relatively good until the Orc arc. It goes downhill in the 2nd half, particularly after the arrival of Milim. According to manga and LN readers, the anime skips a lot of content, especially world building and it’s noticeable e.g. the students arc is rushed, we get subtle foreshadowing about Veldora, something strange about Chloe’s summoning but the show doesn’t expand on them.

Slime would have been better if it wasn’t always so lighthearted, if it stopped introducing so many characters without developing out the previous ones first and followed through with the buildup instead of everything getting easily resolved.

Overall, it feels as if the story is on easy difficulty.

I love to see how the anime industry supports these authors who in their stories abjectly abuse the same format, and within the same format take advantage of the same resources and end up creating a garbage like this BUT that inevitably takes the liking of Most, I love it.

It must be clear that the protagonist, a man of 37 yo, is a failure, so the first thing that is mentioned in the anime is that it is a virgin and all that, but being transported magically to another world and lifestyle, its existence begins to be more interesting, a premise that reminds me ... of another 200 animes that I saw.
Being more specific, my problem with most of the stories that are based on reality, but that have supernatural facts, is the mediocre execution that they decide to give him in a hurry, here in less than 5 minutes we had a protagonist lying on the floor about to pass for the other side, they even tried to dramatize the moment even knowing that it was going to turn into a blue bug. The process of translacion although it has been mediocre, although that supposedly should not matter could be worse...

The only thing that has "original" in this anime is the most obvious, the Slime is usually portrayed as a weak and insignificant creature, the author knowing that and had the great idea of ​​turning it into an all-powerful being and protagonist of its history, Deconstruction = masterpiece.
Speaking of the characters, at no time I noticed a good interaction between the cast shown so far, the dialogues are boring at all times, the moments that predominate the chapters try to be mature or at least serious, the protagonist spends too much time talking alone inquiring about irrelevant things.

Genders
Fantasy 5/10
Like any other isekai, is it well executed but seriously, again the same?
Shounen 5/10
The series has no message, the writing is very poor and off, the fights I do not know if they deserve to be called fights because their modality is absurd, because of the context that they are given, and because of the acting of the characters especially the powers of the Slime.

The animation is not allowed to be bad because it is one of the things that the viewer has more in mind today with these mediocre animes, therefore, the animation is spectacular, but the settings are not good enough for my taste.

Admittedly, the fever of overrating began with what the manga started and because the protagonist is a blue Slime OP.

(Review translated from Spanish to English)

SO
I love this anime. And I think it's very sad to see so many negative reviews... that bring up invalid points
I don't want to put anyone down, but you are either misinterpreting somethings, or haven't watched far enough ahead for it to be covered.

First off! Rimuru... is a slime. Slimes are sexless. Slimes are genderless. So people have boobs, happens in real life too. Sure it can be a little fan-service-ey, but it's not really important. How can you NOT notice boobs that are being squished against your face? Because you are only a face. And are being carried. By someone with boobs.

Second! Rimuru seems ... overpowered... because he can absorb the powers of things he eats. So all he needs to do is eat something strong and boom, he's a God! Except Um... he needs to EAT IT. He's not as strong as he seems.

Next! Yes, it seems a little slow at the start. This is a somewhat complicated world that needs to be built. It's going slow because Rimuru is new to this world and understandably knows nothing.

Exposition! Yes he has a Exposition machine in his head. But it avoids unnecessary explanations from other characters. And it isn't used particularly much. It's just fantasy Google. It also isn't perfect.

Rimuru as a person:
So I love Rimuru's character. He helps the Goblins... but anyone would. That doesn't make him a Gary Stu. Everyone loves him... probably because he's considered "super powerful'... and in a world full of monsters it's good to join up with powerful people? He even seems somewhat cold and distant from people, actually. It's other people that are almost worshipping the strongest thing they have after the only being protecting them disappeared. He also has his own reasoning for helping out further in the series. He's just generally a normal dude that's disconnected from reality slightly.

Sometimes in anime there comes a point when there is just too much friendship. Characters who were enemies seconds ago suddenly become best friends for no real reason. No hard feelings, no suspicion or anything. Never any problems, just one happy family. There are no alliances of convenience, no fear of being backstabbed, no slow defrosting of relations. I can appreciate the idea of talking people out of hostilities, but come on. Just a few words and there we go, best friends forever? Am I supposed to take this completely unironically?

And apparently this is because they really respect the protagonist, whom they have suddenly chosen ... as their new leader. Yes, they have found their one true love: Rimuru Tempest. Their love for him is so great that they can put aside all their previous grudges just to serve under him or otherwise be friends with him. Everything is forgiven in nanoseconds and they can all live together in perfect harmony. The second ending perfectly pictures the problem: pretty much the entire cast having fun together. There is nothing at stake. There is no conflict. Just sunshine and rainbows all day, every day.


Rimuru has no goals in life. He wants nothing for himself, instead wandering around and helping random people he meets. When people gather around him, he likewise dedicates his time to helping them with their mundane problems. Furthermore, he does this in a very passive manner. Something new comes up, and he reacts, for instance by beating up some random generic villain that showed up for no reason. When he does obtain long-term goals, even those are simply things he was entrusted with by people he barely knew. In one particular case, we are informed of the importance of the person beforehand by prophecy because of course this is the best plot device for the job. They are destined for each other even though they have never met because... destiny or something. Seems legit.

How can I relate to someone like that? They have gone out of their way to write a protagonist so altruistic that angels would blush in envy. It's too much. Especially in a strange new world full of dangers, no believable person would behave in this way, and even if they somehow did, they would be utterly unrelatable. People are not stereotypical heroic protagonists. People are more nuanced, and they carry flaws. Imagine random people, whom you've never met, walking in and asking you to take care of their mundane errands for no real reward. Repeat this over and over again. Of course, you would every time do everything they wanted, right? Without a single complaint, without ever having desires of your own?

I imagine you wouldn't. Because most people are not angels.


Incidentally, we learn very little of Rimuru's personality. This is pretty much all we know:

1) He likes waifus to an extent, and
2) he performs generic good deeds, often against generic villains.

Beyond his fondness of mammary glands and his dislike of generic evil overlords, he does not appear to have any well-defined beliefs or interests. And it is not as though he actively seeks out waifus either. A few of them join him on their own, and while he enjoys their presence, it is not like he actively seeks out their company or tries to develop his relationship with them. After so many episodes, I still don't know what makes him tick. He just kind of... hangs around passively and helps the people around him who make him solve all their problems.


After his rebirth, Rimuru nearly instantly gains nigh godlike powers so that almost nobody is a real threat to him. He didn't even have to work for it much at all because of the cheat abilities he received at birth. Kind of makes the part about being reborn as a slime meaningless when the slime ‒ an allegedly weak monster ‒ is instantly godlike. There would be ways to handle an overpowered protagonist. He could at least deliver witty lines or semi-decent jokes on its basis. It could be a satire of overpowered characters. It could be that the protagonist uses his powers in an interesting way, maybe by scheming or making difficult moral judgments. Highlighting their own ruthlessness can actually be funny as well. Unfortunately, Rimuru is in favor of mechanical infodumps and generic super-altruistic lines, so here we are then.

Overpowered abilities and perfect altruism are a terrible combination because it lets characters bypass any difficult moral judgments. They can take the easy way out and trivially solve almost anything, implying that we should all follow their example and take care of every problem we come across. But the rest of us don't have godlike powers, so what do you expect us to do? Sometimes we have to make difficult decisions, and those tend to be the most interesting ones in fiction too.


The rest of the cast is usually even worse. As I was implying earlier, Rimuru is surrounded by a fanclub whose members worship him without question. They praise him many times during each episode, which gets old fast and really dampens character interaction. They barely have any characterization beyond this either. This fanclub includes women desperate for him because of course it does. You can debate whether it counts as a genuine harem, but either way it is another symptom of the fanclub mentality. This is not how actual people speak to each other, at least if they are being honest. I don't want protagonists to be surrounded by fanatic fanclubs 24/7.

The antagonists are somehow even worse. There are essentially two types:

1) The card-carrying, mustache-twirling villains in black capes that are the bane of anime and fiction in general. They are so obviously evil that it hurts. God forbid the protagonist has to make difficult moral decisions; we can't have that. Plus the antagonists receive approximately zero characterization and zero interesting lines. Also, they are as incompetent as you'd expect, so a miss in that regard as well.

2) The "antagonists" who actually have no interest in opposing Rimuru in the first place. In fact, give it a few minutes and they will be best friends with him. Their reasons for this change of heart are so trivial that there was no real conflict to begin with.

What a brave stance this show is taking. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad. All the good guys love the protagonist. Actually, many of the alleged bad guys aren't bad either because ‒ as noted ‒ they become friends with the protagonist anyway. Sometimes even without fighting. Try offering them some candy. Maybe that will do the trick. Incidentally, does "Demon Lord" stand for "official envoy of friendship" in this world? Because ‒ judging by the Demon Lords onscreen ‒ that sure is what it looks like. What a happy-go-lucky bunch of people. They say you "fall from grace" to become one, but that is probably just a troll.


You can probably guess what this does to the plot. Because adversaries instantly become friends, what can the author do to move it along? If you guessed "make new ones appear out of nowhere," you are right, and this is the result. The plot abruptly transitions from one point to another without any strong underlying theme or message, never stopping to think about the events more thoroughly.

Rimuru defeats generic evil (or "evil") villain A.
->
Rimuru defeats generic evil (or "evil") villain B.
->
Rimuru travels somewhere and solves mundane errand X.
->
Rimuru defeats generic evil (or "evil") villain C.
->
Rimuru travels to random location Y and saves a bunch of people from a technobabble-based illness or something.

And what did we get out of all this? No cohesive plot, that's for sure. No interesting themes, either.


The comedy falls flat as well. The reason is in part the same friendship I have been ranting about. The comedy consists of the usual lighthearted slapstick that we have seen thousands of times, complete with the equally predictable fanservice. I know we shouldn't expect too much, but the show is afraid to offer even the slightest hint of black comedy or scathing commentary. Nor is there any irony or satire found here or even a hint of the simplest sarcasm. No self-awareness. No subversions as far as the eye can see. No funny rants against existing conventions. Here everything is obvious, in-your-face and very conventional, but comedy only works if it is surprising and audacious enough. This show plays it too safe. It is afraid of rocking the boat in any way or form. As a result, it is not funny, even when it is clearly trying to be.

Furthermore, Rimuru's dialogue seems really dull and generic, including his inner monologue. He and his infodumping exposition ability ‒ essentially a robot ‒ simply describe surrounding events and offer very little in terms of personal viewpoints or deeper thoughts. The wrong way to do world-building is to just dump the info, go "Hmm? So that's how it is," and leave it at that. Sure, Rimuru may plan to use this info to beat the enemy in front of him, but this always takes place in a very mechanical and straightforward manner. There is very little in terms of tactics. There is even less in terms of any moral debate because the world is so black-and-white, and the arbitrary infodumping does little to help this. It is also a problem with the way the dialogue was written. Lines are delivered in a simplistic and predictable fashion. At least lighten it up with your personal ideas or some witty remarks, but nope. To be fair, Rimuru tries to deliver jokes sometimes, but they fall flat for the reasons outlined above.


"But we can't have a protagonist with well-defined personal beliefs. How will people self-insert as him?"

Well, maybe self-inserting is not always necessary. But even if you wanted to, the problem is the opposite. How am I supposed to self-insert as someone who is so passive and lacks initiative? I don't want to self-insert as a cardboard cutout or blank slate.

Interesting characters actually believe in things. They have goals in life, and they struggle to fulfill them.

I simply gave up on this show. I couldn't stand anymore the repetitive storytelling and the deeper I got the more this show seems to be aimed directly at children. The stakes are incredibly boring, because there's no threat at all cause the MC is so overpowered or if something bigger shows up (say, a loli "demon lord" who acts like a child) just give her some treats and there you go, mission accomplished. At some point it started to get boring and even embarrassing, the atmosphere may work for the first episodes but after a while you start to wonder "Is that it?" So ... bye, can't take it anymore.

Well well, seems like the story to this popular series isn't ending yet, at least for now. Nonetheless, I would like to declare TenSura as one of the greatest Isekai series ever made, and 8-bit's adaptation of the source material (majority from the manga, some with LN/WN) couldn't have come any closer to pure excitement and enjoyment, even after some big falls and hiccups along the way. And with Season 2 in the horizon to come (at the time of this review) in 2020, let's dissect what Season 1 here has already churned out so far.

*This will be a tad bit spolier heavy, but I'll ... promise to keep it very generalistic!*

Story:
The Isekai "other world" genre at this point is nothing new, becoming a commonplace in modern-day anime, and TenSura is no different. Some dude lost his life in an "everyday typical" incident, except that the scenario causes his death...and what happens next is even more mysterious (and honestly one of the big selling points of the series). He is reincarnated as a gender-less slime (and it's even proven in the myriad of source materials), and honestly Rimuru Tempest is legit one cool lit character, quite possibly one of the best characters I've ever seen in an Isekai series. As time passes, by captializing on the differenitating MC cast and crew, it truly is something that is special against the many generic Isekai stories out there.

From the get-go, Rimuru, in slime or transformed human form, is quite the OP figure. Being a slime, it can traverse everywhere with the versaility to transform as and when Rimuru likes it. With the help of the basic but powerful Unique Skills Predator and Great Sage, plus the meet-and-greet consumption of the tsundere Storm Dragon Veldora, it is set to create a name for itself under the guidance of Great Sage and harmonize the assortment of characters coming its way in the Jura forest. As the series grows, the plot building of the Jura (Forest) Tempest Foundation town in the light of Veldora's disappeared large domineering presence is a very important one, not only for Rimuru and his teams of growing fellow mercenaries, but of combatting external threats as well.

For the very concerned parties, pertaining to the source materials, TenSura Season 1 covers:
- Manga: Pretty much the entirety of the manga, both Japanese and English subbed releases.
- LN/WN: LN Volumes 1-4 and WN Arcs 1-3 (with some non-linear episodes adapting relative chapters), not gonna mention them here, but please do check them out.
- Some episodes are anime originals (or rather, side stories) too, I'll leave that for y'all to find out as well!

Characters:
Overtime, we get to see the many characters, starting from strong pack of direwolves (Ranga, leader of the pack) to good-looking goblins (Gobuta you deserve the high praise here), even the insanely strong small community of dwarves (Kaijin and Co.) and ogres (Benimaru and Co.), and also both the Lizardmen (reminds me of the proud jerk Gabiru) and eventually the orcs themselves also. Not to mention even the Demon Lords make their first appearances, and while we have seen the first of the Demon Lords (Destroyer Milim Nava, Clayman, Leon Cromwell and others), Season 1 didn't go as far as to mention their purposes and motives, I'd bet that LN/WN readers who most likely already know how big the action is, and we'll sadly have to wait till Season 2 to fully let the proceeding major arcs flesh in its glory.

Oh, and don't miss out the companion MC in line: Shizu Izawa, quite possibly the integral character close to Rimuru. Dubbed "The Conqueror of Flames" with the fire spirit Ifrit, that was embedded by Demon Lord Leon himself, Shizu is pretty much in common with Rimuru, that both are "World Travellers", summoners that are required to be powerful, so much so that their existence comes off as totally rare. Once a subject of constantly failed experiments, a sacrifical pawn at the heart of it all, she is saved by Rimuru due to the curse inflicted upon her heart that turned into hate. As a consequence, she always wears the power-nullifying (Anti-Demon) mask to encapsulate Ifrit's massive power. In the later stages, Rimuru redeems her life, promises to take up her request of vengeance and teaches the summoned children on behalf to improve on their magic abilities. In a sense, we can all symphatize with Shizu as a memory of pure hell and torture, and how Rimuru sees her as a close friend brings the feels.

Overall, a well-rounded cast of characters, and I pray that Season 2 knocks off the walls with more key characters that will arrive in due time to come and break the door open for bigger possibilities, between Rimuru and Co. and the other characters not yet revealed!

Art and animation:
My outlined preliminary review after the first 1.5 months still stands, and highly so to even greater effect as Season 1 is officially wrapped up. Props to the production staff and everyone's contributions over at 8-bit for this amazing series. An overall high quality, top-notch product through and through, certainly the flagship series that the studio has to offer. Though sometimes the series will have certain hiccups in quality, but on an overall standpoint, we viewers stand to gain tenfold. And how can I forget about the references for anime original episodes? [b]*Salt meme* intensifies[/b]

Music:
When will a series be stretched wholesome by its OST alone? The endless amount of reveals throughout these past 6 months through the 2-cour OPs and EDs just made more hype and pleasures all the more redeeming as time goes by. Not to mention that all 4 songs are awesome to listen in their own right, but many would agree that the OP/ED pairing of the 1st cour shines brighter than its counterpart. The OST shines during its battle segments, whether be it with major enemies or even just friendly fire. Heck, the music here is one awesome ball of fire.

In conclsion, with people complaining about the cut content towards the adaptation, it's hardly noticeable at its first steps, it regretfully interpolates through the hurts-and-shreds of its erratic pacing. But for anime-onlys like myself, I feel that with this much disruption (ever since Milim arrived and the Royal Capital arc with Shizu's students), the attention to detail subsequently increases and it's hard to call it a good adaptation overall. But whatever the case is, it does not detract from the overall experience, and is still a fun and enjoyable series to watch in its entirety.

Now we'll just have to wait for the continuity that is Season 2, bringing even bigger hype in 2020. Until then, have a wonderful "It's Slime Time!", on behalf of Rimuru and Shizu, #SlimeTime out!

After hearing so much about Reincarnated as a Slime I finally decided to binge the 13 eps that are out to see what the fuss is about. I am pretty disappointed with what I found, not because the show is terrible, but at how over-hyped it has been.

To start, the story so far is pretty boring. Pretty much every conflict that has happened so far has been resolved either by our OP protag, or the OP ability gifted by our protag to his friends (I'll leave it at that for spoilers). This was fine at first but by episode 13 I should have seen our ... characters struggle against SOMETHING- and to be clear this is not One Punch Man. There is no hidden conflict for our MC, and very little humor regarding our MC's easy victories. And just when a plot point get's interesting (around ep 7-8) the show gets rid of it, seemingly to swerve the audience expectations at the expense of creating a fun and interesting character dynamic.

The characters in the show are nothing special either. Our MC is a typical overpowered shounen protag, a pervy incel thrust into a wish-fulfillment fantasy. He has a few funny one liners but there is nothing interesting about him (it?) except that he/it is a slime. Oh and by episode 10 he has a human form because a show about a slime MC didn't want to commit to keeping a slime MC.

The side characters aren't much better. Every time an interesting character is introduced the plot pushes them out of spotlight in one way or another, and replaces them with boring one dimensional anime tropes. I have nothing against anime tropes- but a show has to do something special and when every other aspect of the show is just average, the boring characters really stand out. In all fairness, there is one fun character (Gobta) who is honestly the highlight of the show imo. Maybe he can save the show in the last 11 episodes?

The art and sound in this show are fine, if not above average. a lot of the action looks smooth and the animations are pretty. Unfortunately above-average animation has almost nothing to do with making a show good. On the other, I have found strong musical scores can really add to the emotional impact of a scene, and help mask some messy plot at times. Unfortunately none of the music here was of that quality. Not to say it was bad, but the best way to describe it is that I watched all 13 episodes within 40 hours of writing this and can't recall a single tune.

The enjoyment of this show is the kicker imo. Easily the most subjective category here and while I've bashed the show up til now I can definitely tell this is a show that many enjoy and many reading this would enjoy it as well. It's a "turn your mind off and watch the protag kick ass" kind of show, and even I have a special spot for guilty pleasure shows (looking at you Irregular at Magic High). If you are simply a fan of isekai or need a tropey pick-me-up then this might be for you.

Overall this show is pretty average and I don't understand the hype. Pretty much every other review I've read or heard has glowingly praised the show as "charming" yet this seems to a fairly intangible concept used to cover up a show that really doesn't do anything unique. If you want a "charming" average isekai then this is the show for you, but I would not recommend Reincarnated as a Slime to anyone who has been misled to the idea that this is the next big thing or SAO done right.


**Edit: Through Episode 16 nothing has changed and the show has only doubled down on its flaws. I'm still hopeful for a fun and challenging arc to close out the series though, so I can't write it off just yet.

[Mild Spoilers Alert]

Isekai fan reporting in. I've watched many Isekais so far, including Death March and Isekai Smartphone (that one was pretty fun to be honest), so when I heard we're getting ANOTHER Isekai anime, how can I not check it out?

It was paired with tons of praise (thanks r/anime) which made me think it's some hot stuff.

8 episodes in, and nope. Nothing.
It's not bad, it's not good, it's "Fine I guess".

The pacing is the biggest problem with the anime. I already have one anime to follow which has the pacing of a snail (thanks One Piece), but unlike One Piece which actually has some ... decent stuff going on, Slime has definitely nothing.

Today's episode (8) had 0 content in it (it was 1 page in the manga) yet spread out to 24 minutes, including the MC summarizing what happened in the last few episodes TWICE.

8 Episodes in, and we still have no definite story. Our "super interesting" Slime MC does nothing but wander around and beat some bad guys on the way for no real reason. Then we get introduced to a new, interesting character, and the writer hypes us up. Nope, gone.

So Slime-san is just wandering aimlessly, while showing us some fanservice of huge elf/goblin/whatever boobs (because why not?)


Isekai Smartphone was fun because it didn't take itself seriously, it just shits on everything the Isekai Harem genre presents. But it seems like Slime Datta wants to take itself... seriously?

Oh and I say it has no Harem but everyone love him because he's such a nice guy. Not a Harem of 5 girls, but of many women and men.

Now, we already see from the get go that our Slime-san is OP. That's ok, but instead of showing us some flashy fights with him using his super OP powers, nah, he wins because of some other stupid reason.

[Spoiler] Imagine there's a big fire spirit who is super strong and destroyed a village in a second. Our MC must fight him. Fire spirit makes everything burn, while our MC is thinking of a way of action. Then he gets caught in the flames! Oh what will he do? Will he eat the flames and enhance himself? Will he transform into one of the bigger monsters he just ate? Will he cover himself in water? Oh boy what will he do?! Nah, he's just fire resistant. So fire doesn't affect him at all. Great...[EndSpoiler]

Boring, I might not drop it just yet, but I might soon.