Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken 2nd Season

[Overall score: 6.90]
This season is a mix of half disappointment with half satisfaction. Half disappointment because the pacing has been absolutely terrible for more than half of the episodes, and half satisfaction because they redeemed everything with the last 2 episodes.

5 out of 12 episodes are Rimuru doing Rimuru things, just like in the previous season. And then, the story suddenly takes a 180. Half of the episodes are just boring. It’s so boring that the first few episodes feel like fillers. We should’ve gotten the entire Rimuru becoming Demon Lord thing way before, yet it took this many episodes. If you’ve read the manga ... or the light novel, the pacing will be a huge issue to you. The biggest problem with this season is the terrible pacing. I don’t know what went wrong, but the pacing was so horrible, that even though I’ve read the manga once, I went back to re-read it.

Shion was killed in the process of all the chaos, but of course, she wasn’t killed because there ‘happens’ to be some way to bring her back. I think this death was completely meaningless if they were gonna be alive again through some kind of magic.

And of course, for some unknown reason, the anime decided to make Rimuru less badass than he was in the manga.
“In other words, because you valued your own pitiful life more you’ve decided to damn my people.”
This was the line that made me think that Rimuru finally had a change in his attitude, which of course, he didn’t. Because first, it was left out in the anime, second, moments after that he forgives Myulan. I don’t know why 8bit decided to do this, but it definitely wasn’t the right call.

And don’t you think that it’s a bit ironic, how Rimuru is apparently ‘merciless’ towards the soldier who marched on Tempest, but then again, he simply forgives Myulan. The soldiers were in worse position than Myulan, if they didn’t follow orders, their family back home might’ve been killed. Some of them weren’t even involved in the killing of Shion and others, some of them were simply following orders. But of course, Rimuru is allowed to mercilessly kill all of them. Why? Because they aren’t cute anime girls. Why did Rimuru forgive Myulan so easily, without literally ANY FORM of punishment? Well, because she’s a cute anime girl. Isn’t it rule no. 1 to never hurt a cute anime girl no matter what kind of evil shit they do?

And then the author tries to justify this shit cause by saying that he forgave Myulan because he needed Youm’s cooperation. It’s honestly such a laughable reason, I always get a big laugh when people try to defend Myulan or Rimuru for forgiving Myulan. Who cares about Youm? Who cares about Falmuth? Rimuru can be friends with Dwargon and all other countries while not giving a shit about what happens to Falmuth, but no, for some reason he needed Youm.
Even Gabiru is more useful and important that Youm. This guy literally fell in love with a woman he barely knows, after staying with her for a few days. He loves her so much that he can even go against his master that he knew longer than he knew Myulan. He loves her so much that he can lay down his life for her or atone for sins she committed. It’s almost like he’s never been with another woman. And yes there’s some other beastman which I don’t give a shit about, that also likes her and will lay down his life for her. So she got 2 people in her harem within a few god damn days.

Rimuru is the protagonist and the sole MC of this anime, yet side characters get more screen time than him. Good side characters like Benimaru and Souei barely get any screen time, side characters like Gabiru and Geld get too much screen time. The characters are a mess. The newly introduced ones are even worse, especially the antagonists. The antagonists are laughable. Every bad guy has a motivation or a goal, but these new antagonists don’t have any of them. The bad guys are terribly written, it came off as the author miserably trying to portray these bad guys as truly evil and annoying. Did the author succeed? Only partially. They are still horribly written. The king of Falmuth is a king, but he’s probably the most braindead character in the entire series. Almost makes you wonder, how did he become a king of an entire country?

The animation is an upgrade since last season. It’s probably the most impressive thing about this season. But yeah, it’s okay, it’s nothing impeccable or remarkable enough to talk about.

The soundtracks may be the second most redeeming thing, some time they decide to put some cool soundtrack over fights, which I can appreciate. Other than that, the opening is absolutely remarkable. It perfectly fits Tensura’s theme.

I admit, this season has been lackluster and final 2 episodes could only do much to save the entire anime. Every other episode, other than the final 2 episodes, felt unimaginably boring. There were less fights last season yet it managed to stay more interesting than this season. Since I’ve read ahead into the source, does it get any better? Yes, probably..? I can only hope that the next season won’t have this pacing.

Do we have something to look forward to? Yes, and that is Tensura Nikki. Unlike this season, Tensura Nikki will stay true to it’s core. If you want a wholesome, light-hearted side story, this is god damn it. Dare I say, it’s even better than the original. It feels less like a filler than the first 4 episodes of this season.

As for this season, since it still has those key elements of Tensura and also a proper plot that works.. somehow.. a 6.90 will be the most accurate rating I can give to this.

The first season is too good to be true. I prepared for this anime by watching the whole season 1 before it airs. But, now, my hope is all shattered. This season has the laziest writing. They are constantly talking. Too much attention on the unnecessary problems and stupidly long planning. It wants us to believe something is happening but in reality, nothing interesting is happening. The animation is still good but the story falls flat so hard. So, 5 is a fit.

This is so frustrating. I am really looking forward to a good season but it seems it won't happen.

It’s hard not to feel at least somewhat conflicted with this first part of the Slime’s 2nd season. Part of it comes down to how inconsistent and middling the show is, but there’s another reason for this. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime is a series built around its novelty value.

The gimmick of a slime building and ruling a nation from scratch was a refreshing one, as it allowed for straight-forward fun and more vibrant animation than what one would expect from most isekai. Of course, when the charm of its premise wore off, the latter half of the first season petered ... out with less interesting arcs. However, the presentation still had some fun tricks up its sleeve to keep the experience less dry than some of its contemporaries.

With Slime 2, there’s novelty in watching a seemingly benevolent leader witness everything crumbling down before he administers karmic, cataclysmic retribution. Despite the show’s reputation as a charming, vibrant isekai that’s more palatable than most of its brethren, it’s never been a stranger to darker storylines and plot points. Rimuru himself was never averse to combatting enemy armies in order to protect his kingdom and forcefully expand relations. It’s just that this time, things are personal and as such, this first cour is the story of how Rimuru becomes a triumphant and mildly tragic war criminal who has to rethink his approach to inter-kingdom relations. It makes for a fun experience on the surface once those moments hit, but that’s more so because RImuru and the show extent actually have the balls to get this bloodthirsty, rather than due to good writing.

In spite of the main gimmick being warped into something far darker and more dramatic than usual, the show never quite lives up to the heights of S1’s first arc. Where that arc was well-paced and laid down its more dramatic moments with tact and not a lot of redundant exposition, Slime 2 does the opposite. This is most apparent with Youm’s subplot with newcomer Myulan, as she constantly monologues about how in spite of denying her own feelings for him, Youm is such a fool for trusting and loving her considering she’s being sent by Clayman to assist in Tempest’s destruction. The entire middle portion, once the show transitions into its big arc, is a slog where the fights become more about the inner monologues and explaining each other’s powers and positions than the actual fights, which aren’t that well-animated outside of a few solid cuts, anyway. The pacing also feels really weird, as in we get moments like the aforementioned that linger on extraneous nonsense or how episode 9’s conversations and pity party could have been truncated if not for how it inserts a recap at the very start with S1 footage. At the same time, some scenes don’t get enough time to breathe in the middle episodes, like with Youm’s romantic subplot developing way too fast.

Perhaps the most distasteful moments in the mid-section involve the otherworlders, a pair of humans from our world who act as repulsive brats that try to purposefully and falsely accuse some of the Tempest goblins of sexual harassment in the case of Kiara, and comment on how they want to makie Shion and Shuna into his sex slaves in the case of Shougo. Disregarding how the latter feels even more discomforting given the existence of a certain Healer show this season, this is just a really gaudy attempt at getting us to further hate characters the show already convinced us were pieces of shit. Clayman, the main antagonist of both cours of S2, has far more restraint with how he’s presented, allowing him to maintain a level of presence and villainy without the show having to go overboard on him being a manipulative scumbag. Even the king of Farmus, the antagonistic force of this cour, doesn’t feel this gratuitous, considering how the otherworlders reek of more rancid LN titles like Akashic Records. It’s fun watching them get their comeuppance thanks to the final ⅓ of this cour having some solid cuts as the baddies get squashed. However, it’s not the easiest to get invested in.

Part of the problem is also the show’s cast. Slime has never had a particularly memorable cast, as most were just Rimuru’s lackeys with a few personality differences that get exploited for some decent gags and explosive moments. However, they certainly don’t get a chance to be more interesting this season. Even in the set-up phase of the first 4 episodes, we still have particularly embarrassing moments like Shion wailing cuz Rimuru wouldn’t take her with him. A lot of this was easier to deal with in the less dramatic arcs of S1, but since this season becomes more focused on serious storytelling, it’s hard not to feel at least a little empty when the show doesn’t tighten up its characterization or even feel particularly brutal when shit hits the fan.

Rimuru himself has some cool shots to express his sorrow and silent wrath in the final few episodes, and those imposing moments land quite nicely. However, the novelty of his charm has worn off now and he’s kind of a boring protagonist without too much to make him particularly compelling or memorable when the show switches from cutesy hijinks to serious warfare. The finale does bring back the charm of him being very reactive and willing to use his previous world’s knowledge in quirky ways like with the naming of Diablo. However, moments like this and him being a bitter, sore loser in ep 6 are a bit too rare.

When he crosses that line to get revenge on Farmus by mowing down hoards of soldiers that weren’t even part of the initial invasion that burnt his kingdom, even though there are more benevolent reasons attached to this, it’s not as easy to get on-board with as the show wants it to be. In fact, no one objects to or feels reservations about this, not even Youm, who hails from Farmus. Actually exploring the morally gray nature of his actions this season considering he’s forced to rethink his stance on humans, would go a long way to add weight, drama, and humanity to this conflict. However, tension is only allowed in the shortest of bursts, and it favors an explosive ass kicking gauntlet with a tinge of vague tragedy, as opposed to doing anything that would prevent it from both having its cake and eating it too. The least it could do is be more ruthless in some of the violence on display in the final few episodes, but alas, that’s not the case. Slime 2 is a bit too toothless for what it shows outside of some cool finishers.

The presentation in S2 is passable on its own merits, but pales in comparison to the vibrance of S1, even if both entries are rather inconsistent in terms of artwork and sometimes animation quality. While there are some sick moments like Hakuro’s final move against Kyouka or the explosive final move Hinata lands on Rimuru before the latter escapes, there are also several jank moments throughout even the better episodes. Atsushi Nakayama went from assistant director of S1 to the primary director here, and the vibrant animation and fun, playful multimedia menu explanations for Rimuru’s powers have decreased. Both that and Rimuru’s playful visual interactions with “the great sage” are dramatically doned down outside of the finale and maybe one other moment this season. Additionally, some of the fights this season, particularly in the middle, look downright terrible compared to most of S1. Moreover, there is a surprising amount of lackluster CGI, particularly for the invading army of Farmus. There’s also just generally less visual flair here, which is best evidenced in the character of Diablo. In S1 ep 24 and the OVA episodes, his introductions had a sinister, grand presentation with some of the most striking visuals in each of these entries. He commanded a serious, sinister presence, even when the visuals of S1 sometimes failed to match that in his big fight scene. His summon in S2 had some shades on that, but he feels far more subdued compared to before since the visuals barely capture how imposing he is. There are some fun moments with how flamboyant and eccentric he can be, but the point still stands.

Even the audiovisuals of S2 are at least a little weaker, but that’s mainly thanks to “Storyteller” being one of the weaker TRUE anisongs, and “STORYSEEKER” from STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION being a far cry from S1’s EDs. It’s a shame that neither Azusa Tadokoro nor Takuma Terushima had songs this season, but eh, maybe in the next cour we’ll get something from them. The actual OST done by Elements Garden is still fine, with some suitably somber or epic-sounding tracks that feel more notable in the last 5 episodes. The series doesn’t even reuse as many tracks from S1 as expected, which is nice, and the sound effects are as crunchy and bass-boosted as ever.

To move onto another positive note of Slime 2, the first 3 episodes do still retain the magic of S1’s early episodes, barring the aforementioned scene of Shion crying. Revisiting the Drawf kingdom and the Elf tavern was pretty entertaining. Jokes such as dwarf king Dwargo lecturing Rimuru for his apparently weak speech towards the former’s kingdom, and having that echo in the back of Rimuru’s mind when his apology towards Shion and Shuna for sneaking out with the boys to the Elf tavern result in him eating Shion’s food for a weak are pretty fun. Watching Rimuru navigate politics with the Eurazania kingdom with liquor and some 1 v 1 battles with Shion and Youm against some of Eurazania’s best was cool. There are other fun gags and moments here, and even a few glorious bits later on like with what Rimuru decides to do with Youm, Myulan, and other newcomer Grucius in episode 8. However, the show can’t exactly go back to all of this without cheapening some of the drama presented here, even if the end game of the season inherently does that to some extent despite how brutal a lot of moments in the penultimate episode were. Well, the show does go back, and that’s part of why the show being somewhat toothless and completely unnuanced in the handling of its more serious and grim moments stings so much.

This is actually where the structure of the series comes in. On some level, this is the fault of the original material, but it’s taken to a whole new level with this adaptation. With S1, the creative team and producers had a hard time settling on how long they wanted the adaptation to be, which led to a very jittery 2nd half that had to skip the first half of arc 4 just so it could get to the part with the kids to end the season on something resembling a climax. This left the Eurazania and Farmus set-up for this season. Given that S1 ended right before the arc everyone had been waiting for, a lot of people were frustrated when S2 had to come back to what was left behind just to provide context for what the rest of the season was poised to adapt.

A problem that was averted by the finale was the seeming lack of presence Millim had this time around. In episode 8, Eren details a fairy tale to Rimuru after explaining the truth about her and the party she traveled with back in the first arc. This fairy tale meant to give Rimuru some hope, just so happened to be Millim’s tragic backstory presented in a form reminiscent of a hybrid of motion comics and stained-glass windows, and adds a lot to the show’s worldbuilding. In spite of what the entire scene means for the narrative, it was one of the best moments in the show for the sheer level of context it provides that add to some of the more likable side characters (who kinda just show up here) and to elements that could be exploited in the future. Up until this point, Millim herself only appeared once this season...in a 2 second scene with no dialogue because the anime wanted to show that Clayman is sending her to wage war on Eurazania that way Rimuru has his hands full with two war conflicts to resolve. However, the finale brought her back to fight Eurazania’s lord, Carrion, in a big way with one of the coolest battles in the series. Her finisher was particularly glorious to witness, more than rectifying what was initially a strange issue with this cour that could have been indicative of the structuring of the adaptation.

The finale itself is probably the best episode of the season, with how it sets up the future conflict in an exciting fashion while showcasing some of the vibrance and charm the series strove to have with RImuru’s and Benimaru’s “password” fiasco as well as the last two scenes of the show. In spite of the myriad of issues the arc itself had, it at least ended on a high note.

The 2nd Season of That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime is a rather conflicting experience. Before and at the end of the big arc the season adapts, there’s still some of that charm that made early S1 so refreshing. However, the arc itself, and even some of the build-up to it, are rather laborious at times and laden with obnoxious issues reminiscent of the worst LN anime. It’s not even as boring as some of latter-day S1, let alone as unenjoyable as the frustrations mentioned above could make it seem. There’s still some enjoyment to be had with Slime 2, just like before. While S1 definitely petered out after a while, it was perhaps the most charming isekai anime out there prior to Bookworm. However, now we have better options, and the show really does begin to stumble under the weight of a more serious direction and the structuring problems it dealt with as an adaptation since S1. There is some mild satisfaction and surprise in watching a show like this get as dark as it does by the end, but it doesn’t entirely stick thanks to certain plot points, the suboptimal writing of the show’s villains and drama, and how the show never goes hard on its morally gray ideas and sheer brutality.

There are several hilarious moments, especially early on, and some of the fights are relatively entertaining. Unfortunately, the show’s foundation really needed to be better if it wanted to execute a more expansive and dramatic arc with the finesse it once had in simpler times. Slime 2 part 1 isn’t a complete waste, but it’s about on par with S1’s weaker arcs and it doesn’t even look as good as before. There are several fun and amusing moments, but once the straightforward fun and novelty wear off and it’s time to be more critical, it’s hard not to acknowledge that we’re left with a bit of a mess. Hopefully the second cour picks up and the Shizue arc can finally have some real competition for "the best arc of Slime".

Overall: 5/10
As a big fan of the first season, I gotta say I was thoroughly disappointed with this season of slime isekai. Not only did we have ~3 filler episodes at the start of the series, but the overall pacing has been sub-par, especially when compared to the 1st season. Guess that's what happens when you're dangerously close to where the manga currently is and you're not planning on taking a long-ass break like Black Clover.

What the 1st season excelled at, including pacing and the blending of action and worldbuilding, has been performed very mediocrely this season. However, I will say a lot of these ... issues can be chalked up to the horrible production Slime has gone through overall: for those that don't know, we were never supposed to get a season 2, but the higher-ups relented after seeing the success and popularity of season 1.

Story: 4/10
I still enjoy the premise of the story: typical isekai setting, but our reincarnated protagonist is very pure and wholesome instead. The 1st season was very clearly a wholesome take on the generic isekai genre, and this season was very clearly meant to start flipping that on its head. While that the tone did start to change this season, I can't say I was a fan of how it was done.

As I mentioned before, season 1 was meant to be the only anime adaptation of the manga/light novel. As a result, it ended up skipping the content we see in the first 3-ish episodes. Why they decided to include this I have no fucking clue, since it didn't add enough development to the story to justify taking up ~3 episodes worth of time, especially when you consider the other content they chose to skip in later episodes that actually would've provided more insight into the world, story, or other facets. If you consider how horrible the higher-ups behind Slime are, it's pretty clear that this shit was added to stall and milk more money.

Aside from the filler episodes we got, the overall pacing this season has been subpar. Hinata vs Rimuru took much longer than it needed to, and I literally spat out my lunch laughing when I saw Myulan posing for like 3 minutes straight or so, just spitting out a very empty monologue. Like what am I watching right now? As I brought up earlier, moments from the manga were skipped for god knows why that could've added much more depth. Myulan's romance with Youm was better developed: it feels very random in the anime. After the attack on Tempest and Rimuru's return, we had more interactions between Rimuru and humans willing to help like the merchant from Blumund: this provided way more character development for Rimuru that we never got to see in the anime. We also completely skipped Ranga and Gruciu's conversation about demon lords, which adds a LOT to worldbuilding.

Most importantly, I absolutely hated how they handled Rimuru's interaction with the Falmuth army and king. The manga portrayed everything in a much more sinister, horrific tone befitting of Rimuru's rage at the time, while the anime went with a very light-hearted, and comedic even approach. In the anime, Rimuru has a long-ass civil conversation with the king before chopping his arm off. In the manga, Rimuru exudes a demon lord aura, before immediately cutting off the fat fuck's arm the second he starts talking big. The difference in directional choice here is staggering and baffling, with the overall direction for episodes 10 and 11 was decent at best, just like the pacing for the whole season.

Art: 6/10
While the animation has been mostly nice, I was really 50/50 on the animation of Rimuru's attack on the Falmuth army. The animation for merciless and meggido was sick. But the animation (or lack thereof) afterwards was quite sad.

I could list so many ways they could've gone about making the episode much darker, making Rimuru more evil and scary, etc. etc. but I won't bother. I just implore you to check out chapters 65 and 66 if you're really interested. It'll give you a sense of how much violence/horror was censored and fluffed up in the anime (Geld vs. Shogo was significantly more bloody and gruesome than the animation made it out to be) as well as how much better content later on (compared to the first 3 episodes) that added to worldbuilding was skipped.

Sound: 6/10
Just like the animation, the sound and use of OSTs were good at most points, but there were some that really stuck out as being poor taste. Specifically, the music being played over Rimuru's slaughter using Megiddo. Why are we getting cheerful music here? This is supposed to be a very dark moment and a crucial turning point for Rimuru. Playing optimistic, happy music doesn't really fit in thematically at all.

That being said, I will applaud Gobta's voice actor for killing it during the death reveal scene, and the use of OST in the background. Very fitting, and one of few actually dark scenes executed properly this season.

Character: 4/10
A lot of crucial character moments were not done right or just outright skipped, especially for Rimuru the fucking protagonist of all people.

Just look at chapter 66, and tell me Rimuru isn't an absolute chad or badass. He not only has to hold himself back from killing the king outright the moment they meet, but he constantly intimidates and pressures him, making it very clear who's boss and who isn't. Rimuru in the anime? Has some tea with the king, remains collected even when the king is spewing bullshit, etc. etc. We never see Rimuru close to snapping or starting to live up to his name as a demon lord.

I get that Rimuru is normally supposed to be like this: calm, collected, willing to try peaceful options first, but the whole point of this arc was to show that even he could snap when pushed to his absolute limits. This is also a big turning point since he's gotta realize that peace won't be as applicable to everyone as he would like it to be, and also since he actually has to kill humans now. We just don't get this same character development in the anime. If I never read the manga, I wouldn't even assume Rimuru has undergone some sort of change: he looks and acts almost exactly the same as before.

Even the crucial introduction of Noir/Diablo is rather subpar: we skip over a lot of his initial interactions with Rimuru after being summoned, which leads to rather mediocre character development for him. Likewise, a lot of small character interactions amongst each other or with Rimuru were skipped, which makes Rimuru's primary group seem significantly more one-dimensional than they actually are.

Enjoyment: 5/10
This season of Slime is nowhere as good as the 1st season, especially when you consider how much better of a job they could've done. If you truly want to enlighten yourself, I suggest you read chapters 63-68 of the manga: it'll really make you realize how many amazing moments were delivered in a sub-par moment or skipped entirely. Moments that I was really looking forward to seeing animated, like Rimuru's demonic aura and slaughtering of the army, were completely flipped around and ignored/replaced with much more light-hearted fantasy shit. Disgusting. Interesting and meaningful character interactions were forgone for 3 filler episodes. Again, disgusting. All that being said though, this season is a serviceable adaptation of the manga content. But that's about it: mediocre when it could've been so much more, and that's more depressing than it is disgusting.

Ah yes, finally. After waiting for a year and half due to the virus, it’s finally here.
Slime Anime Season 2. Was it worth the wait? So far, no.




Please note that this review may contain spoilers.



...

Story:

Well, as far as the first 3 episodes go, there is no plot progression or anything that moves the story forward. The deal with the kingdom is not that interesting, but we did get those elf scenes but other than that, there’s little to no story in the first three episodes, the pacing is messed up. The episodes feel like those shounen filler episodes, i don’t even remember these scenes in the manga, maybe in the light novel. They’ve stretched things too far, and it doesn’t live up to the first season’s first 3 episodes as it actually had something going and it built a world filled with mystery, lore, and great world-building. I hope we get to the actual arc soon. But i did enjoy some scenes.


Overall the story is un-interesting(so far) pacing is messed up, and no plot progression. Though some scenes were enjoyable to make up for it(6/10)

Art and Animation
Well, Studio 8bit delivering with their amazing art style and fight scenes. You can really tell each frame was done with passion, and the character designs make it all the more better. Though some scenes looked a bit janky(like the horses going toward tempest) the art is superb, and the animation. It’s amazing that fight between Shion and Suphia was amazing, especially that kick. You could feel the impact of each hit, and the way Rimuru sucked up that power ball from Shion. 8bit is truely the right studio for this anime.

Overall, Amazing Artstyle, Great Animation(9/10)

Sound:
The sound design is amazing, it’s like a line between anime and reality, every impact hit by each character felt so real, but at the same time felt so smooth. Now the music. Oh boy the music. Though it was amazing at times, the casual scenes have very over-used music. It’s starting to get annoying, though the godly music in the fight scenes make up for it.

Overall, Amazing Sound Design, Great Music but sometimes overused(9/10)


Characters:

Though they are good and well-written, they didn’t shine during these earlier episodes. My favorite character, Benimaru had like 15 seconds of screen-time. It’s ashame really. I wanted to see more of Benimaru and his development. But at least we still got Rimuru, Shion, and Shuna but no Gobta ;( The characters so far are good, but not outstanding (7/10)

Enjoyment:
I was really bored during these early eps, wasn’t as fun as season 1. But some scenes carried. The bad outweigh the good. But i will overlook it since it can improve, and it will.

Overall Enjoyment: Got Bored most of the time, but some scenes carried my enjoyment, and it will improve(6/10)

If you enjoyed the first season, you should probably hold off until this season is complete and then just rush it so you don't drop it halfway.

Major problem with this season so far is - there is hardly anything happening, lot's pointless dialogues which dont tell anything and scenes which serve no real purpose in story.

There is pretty much no character development or new interesting characters for the majority of season and way too much focus is spent on side characters without actually telling anything about them - the kind of stuff you would expect from Naruto fillers.

The Art good and sound is acceptable, no ... complaints there but nothing worthy of a praise either.

Overall enjoyment so far was 6 which is a shame, will update once season is complete

I want to preface this review with the fact that I REALLY liked season 1 of Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken. Unfortunately, season 2 was quite the letdown in comparison.

The first season of Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken focused on Rimuru getting used to his new world, making friends with various other monsters, and building up his new kingdom. So now that Rimuru is well established in his new world, season 2 shows us what happens to our adorable slime buddy after he has gotten situated. Well, kind of. Rimuru isn't around too much for the beginning of the season, which wouldn't necessarily be a ... negative if the supporting cast could carry the show on their own for a bit. The large cast of characters, while diverse, do not hold a candle to Rimuru himself. They are quite shallow as characters go, and thus give the season a more slow/boring start.

In addition to the lack-luster supporting cast, the "threat" in the current season is basically a joke as there are absolutely no lasting consequences & the bad guys are portrayed as comically evil. A well written enemy is one that you can somewhat emphasize with or at least understand where they are coming from. The enemies in this season are the most blatantly evil people I ever seen in an anime. There are absolutely no personality traits that these guys possess that isn't something a stereotypical mustache-twirling baddie wouldn't also have. & as I mentioned earlier, there are no lasting consequences to the interactions with this new enemy. Basically all the damage that was done at the beginning of the season was made obsolete at the end. There is nothing wrong with the good guys coming back in the end, but it's hard to get invested in the obstacles Rimuru faces if you know there's really nothing at stake.

Lastly, Rimuru's power scaling is a bit too much for me. I suppose I may not be the target audience for shows like this, but I prefer some good ole fashioned character growth with some time spent training for my anime protagonists to actually grow in strength. Rimuru, however, just seems to wake up and become 100x stronger than he was the day before. Again, it's harder to become invested in the plot and challenges that the characters face if there is seemingly not much effort going on to meet their goals. I will say it was very entertaining to watch Rimuru fight at the end of this season, but I think the quality of the story really suffered from how these fights went down.

Overall, this season was...not that good. The side characters still need more fleshing out, there are no meaningful threats or challenges to Rimuru and company, and Rimuru is just too OP for someone who did absolutely no training this season. Plus, with the seemingly serious tone of this season, I didn't get nearly as many cutesy scenes with my favorite little slime as I did in the first one. Thankfully, the end of the season does introduce a new interesting character and Rimuru does gain some new abilities, both of which did peak my interest. So, hopefully part 2 of season 2 can step it up plot-wise seeing as this one definitely left something to be desired.

Each episode is excruciatingly painful to watch, and definitely not in a good way. The episodes are being dragged on way too long. 1 whole conversation literally takes an episode and a half. If they just sped it up and wouldn't end with cliffhangers for nearly all the episodes, this anime would at most be a 7.5, instead, they drag the episodes for way too long. Don't get me wrong, the show isn't half bad. It's just the pacing that's a problem. After 9 episodes, the anime hasn't even gotten to the good parts and if it was paced correctly, the show would've covered everything ... important.

First season was a good surprise. I expected yet another garbage isekai but it was fun, interesting and kinda deep in storytelling.

Second season is a complete disaster. Sloppy storytelling, unnecessary filler scenes, almost non-existent plot. If it was a 24-episode anime it would be totally fine but it`s not. As a 12-episode anime this season is the worst isekai of this anime season.

The only good part of it is a Myulan arc. I don`t really enjoy romantic storylines in adventure\action anime but this was a solid and almost mature story and Myulan is a very likeable character.

I still have high hopes for summer season of ... our fiendish\friendly slime-kun though.

Story: (3/10)
Really slow and too much passive scene (discussion, talking, etc.). The ending was very bad. How could Milim play dead just for fun while destroying other people village? That doesn't make any sense.

Art: (5/10)
Average.

Sound: (7/10)
No different than other anime. I like cute kawaii sounds so I give it good rate.

Character: (4/10)
... There isn't much character progress through the story. The Milim ending part is the worst part. Destruction just for play? And Rimuru okay with all that? I assume building town is easy in that world. But destruction in other Devil King's kingdom is insane.

Enjoyment: (4/10)
Decent. I enjoyed some scene like the evolution of Rimuru becomes Devil King, and the rebirth of Veldora. But Veldora in human form is pretty disappointing and doesn't look as badass as Veldora's dragon form.

Overall: (5/10)
Mediocre anime. I might not continue when there's new season of this anime.

The following review might be filled with salt and spoilers.

I will start with my overall view of the series so that you don't need to waste your time.

Overall: 5/10

Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken 2nd Season is a generic isekai with good fundamentals and poor plot execution with bad pacing and it feels as if it doesnt take itself seriously.

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... "The slime isekai" had a decent first season: a lot of characters, good worldbuilding, good visuals and an OP main character. It was overral pretty enjoyable, but I was still surprised when a second season was announced relatively early.

Then, going into the second season, the world is expanded some more, and with the growth of Tempest, new villains are quick to show up.

Story: 6/10

There is nothing in the story that stands out as 'great writing', the fundamentals are well put and exploited properly.

The first few episodes of the second season go by in the most casual way possible, nothing major happens, everything is absolutely fine. The problem with the story is the direction it takes after the arrival of the villains, those being the Demon Lord Clayman, who uses the Majin Mjurran as his puppet, as well as the kingdom of Falmuth, which has the support of the church.

Clayman shows up again using with Mjurran to infiltrate Tempest. The Majin gains the confidence of the people of Tempest and acts as a spy for Clayman. Clayman plots to bring war upon Tempest, apparently planning on gaining power from the deaths caused by it, as stated by Rimuru.

Now let me ask you a question: do you care at all about Mjurran?
If you do I can only assume that either you get attached to characters way too easily or that I am heartless (I did care about how Rimuru would take care of her, and as expected, he did so as if it was the most trivial thing possible). Mjurran does have a fair bit of screentime but nothing too major happens to have the audience fall for her, aside from her good looks and an apparently sad backstory.

Tempest's growth starts to harm Falmuth's economy. Falmuth then plots, alongside the church, to destroy Tempest as soon as possible, beggining a surprise attack on the main city of Rimuru.

A few special individuals from Falmuth are moved first to try and cause chaos inside the city. These three characters are introduced as Japanese people summoned into this world to serve as pawns for Falmuth.
They are villains just for the sake of it. They act as a catalyst for the viewer to despise and wish for the main cast's victory, nothing more than that.

After a scene showing how these three villains are unable to cause much trouble, the church and Mjurran come into action; the church sets up a barrier all around the city, weakening monsters, while Mjurran sets up an anti-magic barrier, compromising the communication between the city and Rimuru.

While the events unfold, Rimuru tries to go back to Tempest but is attacked right away, the enemy sets up a barrier, weakening Rimuru and bringing him close to death.

What follows is the defeat of the city of Rimuru by the three japanese villains and Falmuth's army, bringing a lot of casualties to Tempest.

The episodes in which these events unfold do have a decent pacing and are treated seriously, that is, until Rimuru comes back to Tempest. The supporting characters constantly try to keep the tragedy a secret from Rimuru for little reason. Rimuru heals a few of the survivors and deals with Mjurran. These scenes mostly have a bad pacing, being annoying at times, the dialoges are generic and what follows the seriousness of the tragedy is an even worse comic relief, the characters are almost back to being happy after generic scene N.133092. Apologies made, everything is fine again, some characters provide Rimuru with a plot-driving information, Rimuru sets up a plan to deal with everything.

The seriousness of the previous episodes is all but back, as if it never existed, and I find myself bored and angry at the way the plot developed.

If there is any satisfaction in seen how Rimuru turns everything around, which is already pretty much disclosed on episode 10, it does not make up for the lack of depth the story was developed with.

Art: 8/10

Nothing much to be discussed about the art/animation, it is solid and can be flashy when needed, just like the first season.

Character: 7/10

The main and support cast are decent at best, there are too many characters and too little time to have even the main cast grow at all, since there is no focus even in the drama between the Majin, the hero(s) and Grucius. That said, the design is fine and the characters are likeable and have at least some charisma.

Villains are just that and add little to the story as a whole, no background is shown and there is nothing likeable about them.

The overall tempo is too slow.

I already read the novel so, i kind of expect what going to happen in this season. However, after watching for 9 episode, i finally run out of patient.

The first 5 or 6 episode of this season, is just to cover the content that has been missed/skipped from season 1. Those part are pretty boring or mediocre at best.

Afterwards, there are episode where major focus on other side characters, and other story happens without the presence of the main character. I personally felt uninterested.

Then as of the most-recent episode available, it wasted half of the episode taking ... about the past, and the other half just to make some strategy arrangement. This is probably alright if the earlier episodes are not as dragging, but so far i felt this season is on a very slow tempo, very dragging story telling and i am not enjoying watching this.

Tensei Slime season 2 had a strong legacy to uphold. Unfortunately my expectations were not met. This review will have no explicit spoilers as it concerns the structure and craftsmanship on display, but may make some comments concerning the structure that can be read-into.

In this review I will not break down each individual subclassification. In general the sound assets were mostly reused from season 1. The art is a slightly less detailed at least in part, (S1 had it's fair share of dodgy art too) but not offensively or concerning so.

The aspect I found most agitating watching this was the ... pacing, honestly giving the story a 5 was rather generous. The entering episodes were somewhat languid but pleasant, although didn't feel like much beyond a "B" story. I felt a little let down at the time, little did I know that these would be the highlight of the season for me. The primary issue being the following Arc. The actual development felt a mix of painfully slow at times, then (infuriatingly) rushed though the main story of the Arc without paying it the respect it deserved. Compared to the first season which moved so fluidly from one Arc to the next, giving appropriate attention to each; it was obvious where improvements could be made. To top this all off, the loveable characters from the first season had very few meaningful developments in S2. If anything giving them screen time only further contributed to the pacing issues, as they appeared simplified for the purpose of trudging though obligatory interactions. There were new characters introduced, but they did very little to make an impact emotionally, serving mostly to grind the story onto the next act. With the exception of the last two episodes, very little or merit happened in terms of head cannon development.

Perhaps I'm overly critical due to the impact and longer run time of S1, but honestly believe that the necessity from production to split the season into a "part 1" and "part 2" caused crippling pacing issues which sapped the show of its charm.

Unless the reader is a dedicated slime fan, I wouldn't recommend this show unless the aforementioned issues are resolved in season 2 part 2.

Continuing from the last season, the same main issue I find with this anime is the sheer amount of characters. It's similar to MHA with its main problem being too many characters that can't get enough screen time for development. Fan service is another thing I personally don't like, other people might but it's not my preference. I have not read the manga, but with how the anime is going, it seems like a huge pile of plot armor for the main side characters. I loved the first season, despite the same issues, but the second feels different imo. Still, it's very enjoyable. I would ... recommend it as a watch, but don't expect something perfect from it.

tl;dr different, "darker", but no better than season one.

Spoilers.

I'll give credit to season two for avoiding the haremy feel of the latter half of season one. I'll also give credit for the fact that it tried, that it tried to be deeper, more realistic than the first season. Yet in the end, "Tensei Shitara Slime" is still a shounen show. The viewer knows that the MC will avoid defeat in every fight, and that the main side characters are nearly immortal. At least the fights are interesting and the interactions funny enough.

This season is confusing For a moment I thought the good guys that died ... would stay dead, that OP slime MC would finally be faced with an issue he couldn't overcome. Of course I was wrong. Yet while the viewer is asked to care about the lives of the main characters in an almost poignant mourning scene, not 10 minutes later we're expected to accept the deaths of twenty thousand humans (granted they were shown to be not good people, but still twenty thousand!) as a matter of fact and a equal sacrifice to bring back the MC's friends. To quote from the anime, "this kind of idealistic world can only be created by [the MC]."

So I guess the issue is that we have a heavy, bloody half coexisting with a light slice-of-life and it just feels... wrong. Don't misunderstand, it was entertaining for the most part. But it wasn't quality.

How the mighty have fallen. I remember how hyped everyone was after the absolutely amazing first season, but after it came out, I havent heard a single person mention it. Well there is a good reason for that. This review will have some spoilers.

Episodes 1 - 5:
The second season is shorter then the first one was and tries to tackle a pretty big chunk of the story. With that in mind, I seriously dont get why are these episodes here. Literally nothing happenes in these episodes so they feel really pointles. You could probably cut them out and it wouldnt really hurt the story in ... any way. The only thing that is sort of set up here is the romance between Mjuraan and Youm and let me tell you, this is one of the worst romance subplots I have ever seen.

Episodes 6 - 9
The plot finally kicks in and its absolutely retarded. Rimuru gets attacked by some random chick, they fight for a bit and then she fucks of. Tempest gets attacked and several characters are killed. And to top it all of Mjurran betrays them and Youm defends her because his entire character is he loves Mjurran. There are several problems I want to talk a bit in depth here.

1. The random attack
Not much to say here. The whole scene was so random I dont really get why is it in the anime. They fight for a while and then she tries to use the nuclear option and fucks off. My guess is that she will be an important character in the future, but this encouter sucked balls.

2. Mjullan
As it turns out she was a secret agent of the demon lord Clayman and casts a massive barrier around Tempest. So how does Rimuru deal with her? He forgives her and the anime tries to show you that she is actually a really good person. You can turn an antagonist into a part of the main cast, both dr Stone and Re zero did exactly that and those are shows that came out in the same season as this. Sadly Mjullan is an example of how not to do this. I wouldnt really mind it if the show tried to stay lighthearted and simply didnt want to go into executing someone. This isnt the case since after this, Rimuru shows absolutely no mercy to the army and slaughters them all to the last men. Youm also betrayed Rimuru and again nothing happens to him for it. This whole subplot was just so stupid.

3. Tempest gets attacked and characters die
This part was ok at first and actually set up some scenes in the later episodes. The problem is that everyone gets revived so it made the whole thing kinda pointless. Not only that, but any death in this show will from now on have absolutely no impact since we know that Rimuru can just revive everyone. Again what a stupid thing to do.

Episodes 10 - 12
These 3 episodes absolutelly rescue this season. Before them I wanted to give slime something like 4/10 and be done with it, but these episodes clearly shoved us a much better anime then what we actually got. Its really sad that the enitre season couldnt be like them.

So this is it. This season was a massive flop that got saved by the last few episodes. I hope that the creators learned their lesson and that the next season will be much better then this. If there is no 3rd season or it isnt good, I wouldnt reccomend watching this even if you liked the first one because you will probably be really disapointed.

I liked season 1, not as much as others, but it was good. This second season all I heard was good stuff so I was super excited. Even re-watched S1 to refresh my memory. And then season 2 started...

I tapped out by episode 4. Don't get me wrong. It's not bad. But it's not good. It's just boring. The visual and VA is amazing for sure. But nothing really happens. You're introduced to a billion side characters and none of them gets any development. Rimura is ok as a lead, but he sways between passive and aggression that sometimes is confusing. For example, he says ... no violence in other nations, but when he had visitors- the first thing he wants to do is get physical...

I'm pretty sure they're trying to build this anime towards a certain plot, but I have no idea what it can be (nor do I care because I've lost interest, it's been 4 fucking episode and nothing has happened). It's like the show has ADHD. It can't focus on one story line at a time.

I might pick up this anime again in the future if I'm bored.

Anyways, if you like pretty animation and good VA you might like this one. If you like intriguing characters and great story telling, stay the hell away. You've been warned.

I liked the anime don't get me wrong. But because of the character's actions, I was disgusted half of the time. I like to binge animes, and couldn't concentrate half of the time because some of the gestures were so repulsive, that I felt disgusted even 2 episodes after. I don't know why, it usually doesn't bother me, but these gestures repeatedly appear in almost every episode, rendering them unenjoyable for me. For example lip licking. One of the most disgusting act in an anime. It is ok once, but not 10 times. It all started with that Kirara girl. She was very revolting, along ... with her gang. I understand that they tried to make them as unlikable as possible, but there is a limit. The contrast is too big compared to the rest of the show. It is just my personal opinion, but because of these things I think I will only remember this part of the anime as disgusting, and I won't watch it again. Nothing was wrong with season 1, let's hope for the best in the next installment.

Tensura suffers from pretty much what majority of the isekai stories have out there.

First, Rimuru was reincarnated with a cheat ability. Isekai OP MC with cheat ability check. This is as generic it can get for isekai stories. As a slime he got predator AND great sage. That's a cheat ability on top of a cheat ability. Then with both cheats, he became pretty much overpowered in just a few weeks along with the name blessing with Veldora. Was there a struggle? Somewhat, but the blessing and his cheat pretty much makes those struggle pretty much a given now. There's no difficulty at all.

Second, the ... territory progression. Imagine creating the one of most technically advanced nation in just about 2 years. All the other nations existed way longer before Tempest was born, but lo-and-behold Tempest has become more technologically advanced than most nations in just about 2 years.

The city-building itself is unrealistic. The city was like built in a year and it's design was already better than other nations. The presence of advanced technology is understandable but the rate of it appearing is unrealistic, considering that there's practically only 4 skilled dwarves in Tempest. Sure, magic exists, but chalking it up to "magic" and just whip out a very advanced civilization is a very lazy approach to world building.

But wait a moment, we have a justifiable reason for the stunted technological advancement, right? Yes, Tensura has. That is the Great Tenma War. It is a time where angels descend from the heavens and pretty much targets the most technologically advanced nation. It's an understandable reason, but despite that, nations which experienced that a few times already never devised a countermeasure and just supposedly decided that stunting the growth of technology is best answer. That's pretty much the decision for almost all nations in Tensura. And in all honesty, with all those prideful rulers and in Tensura, none of them rose to the task and tried. With such an event happening every 500 years, somewhere around 100-200 years after each war should be enough to for the next generation of prideful rulers to not care about it and develop a countermeasure. But no, most nations just sat there without preparing countermeasures and let their nation sink every 500 years.

Rimuru is dumb as shit. This is literally one of the main reason Tensura has a plot. Rimuru was an adult before reincarnation. He is a working adult, remind you. That means, he had experienced and met so many different individuals, good and bad. Despite that, Rimuru has practically almost no sense of caution when confronting others. He comes out as a person that almost literally trust anyone he meets on the get-go A very generic personality which can be seen in a lot isekai protags. In addition, there are a lot of cases and problems which would have been easily resolved if Rimuru just stopped and listened to his very OP skill Great Sage. Majority of the time, Rimuru just chalks it up as a joke and shelf it.

You can even say that Great Sage is the brain, and Rimuru is the heart. Since, for the most part, he just stopped thinking and did whatever. This is despite him becoming a ruler of a nation. He wanted notes from Gazel on how to rule a nation but he barely uses or improves upon those knowledge. A huge waste for character development, honestly. This is also despite that he was an adult and should have at least the bare minimum idea or knowledge of management. But his experience as an adult was also thrown in the trash as well like it did not exist at all.

Last is the rest of the cast. Every single one of them is basically a Rimuru fanatic. If Rimuru says to take their own life, they most likely will. Them not retaliating when the humans swooped in to burn the city was the most frustrating part of the story. Every single one of them is so focused on making that be "good to humans" true that they rather die than not follow it. At that point, everyone was just an unthinking puppet. Rimur just started fixing this after they died.

Overall, Tensura is generally fun, but falls into a lot of problems people tend to ignore.

Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken 2nd Season


The second season continues to follow the same principle as in season 1, following on from the events from the last Ova episode.

In the course of the second season, the series develops a little more and becomes correspondingly more serious. Unfortunately, the development of the storyline isn't enough to really create tension, it's mostly average. However, from the structure, it can be concluded that the second part of Season 2 could be quite interesting.

I would love to give as much to this season as I did to the first. But the implementation of this season was mostly sloppy. And ... that really sloppy, the pacing of the episodes was almost bad, although it worked so well for the first 12 episodes of season 1.
The finale in season 2 had some "satisfying" properties, but the implementation managed to weaken it.

Especially how often one tried compulsively to shove the events into a fleeting recap. In this season alone you could count 3-4 recap attempts that stretched out over several minutes. Then most of the "serious" episodes failed to build any tension at all. I think episode 7 or 8 somehow made it, the rest of them had a lot more problems.

In terms of the characters, practically everything stayed the same, they were still likable. The problem is that this was also pulled down again by the poor pacing.

Musically, this season was the same as the previous one, only a few new Osts were added. The East in episode 11 gave the whole thing a little more charisma.



I like anime and don't know the novel or manga. However, a lot feels completely wrong about the implementation of this season. Clearly, you've wasted too much potential here by dragging out most of the episodes and ruining the main scenes.

Story - 4
Art - 5
Sound - 6
Character - 4
Enjoyment - 6
Overall - 5