TLDR: Decently animated and voiced but cursed with a mediocre story smothering its own promise, Slime is carried by two strong characters; but these two bright (and perhaps short lived) sparks cannot save the show from a disappointing supportive cast and overly frequent detours into generic trope territory. An experience that may be enjoyed by some, if you're willing to put substance aside and just roll with the ride.
I didn't expect much from this show, but I did consider changing my mind in the first episode. But eventually I've been proven right: I found this show to be painfully average. In fact, Slime's criminal flaw is not in a very shaky story or lacklustre characterisation — this show is just simply uninteresting to me when I look at it as a whole.
It's a pretty basic story, reminiscent of Overlord but with more...docile and far less hostile characters. Slime charts the rise of the now reborn protagonist: Rimuru Tempest, a wisecracking and perverted slime that's attempting to build an empire through sweat and steel. What's good about this whole journey is how the show paces itself and how it realistically shows genderless slime creature Rimuru tackle obstacle after obstacle when it comes to forging its kingdom.
That's...pretty much all that's good about the plot.
Like many shows, friendship power is greatly abused in this show. Enemies and characters who have every right to be hostile, roll over easily for Rimuru to (literally and figuratively) scratch their bellies. Slime's opportunism can sit well some times, but it eventually turns the story shallow and despicably loathsome. There's pretty much nothing at stake for Rimuru Tempest, as it gets what it wants, settling issues through a show of immeasurable force or by flaunting the strength of its allies.
Rimuru literally murders a creature BRUTALLY, only to have the creature's own child AND its WHOLE group follow him loyally—with a very half asses explanation after, no questions asked. The son of this murdered creature also fawns over and almost worships Rimuru—the very individual that murders his father, before his very eyes. He encounters powerful kingdoms who just lie down and want to befriend him. He makes two warring groups come to peace with each other and live together; disregarding the fact that they had been spilling each others' blood and intestines just a day or two before. He somehow makes friends with one of the strongest beings in his world (way, WAY stronger than him at that moment) by offering aforementioned being some honey, thus gaining an unbeatable ally that effectively grants Rimuru immunity from the very few things that can actually threaten it in the first place.
It's the way this show completely tosses aside the idea of actions having consequences that irritates me. Things are handled with a couldn't care less attitude in Slime, making it quickly repeat itself again and again...like a broken record. Rimuru could slaughter half of his villagers; yet the remaining half would still flock around the Great Rimuru adoringly, as though he crowned them with roses.
Slime's best arc came in its first few episodes, and ended just as quickly. The show has steadily dipped in terms of quality since then. Perhaps due in great part, to its lack of well written characters.
Rimuru Tempest starts off to me as a pretty good character, even considering that he is exceptionally overpowered. His moments prior to reincarnation as a slime monster highlight the person he is: cynical, somewhat on a high horse and very goal centred; but still deeply loyal and selfless in the end. I was happy with how many layers they added to Rimuru and to a large degree, Rimuru is still a great positive even throughout the show at its lowest points (as in, the time I'm writing this review). His actions and line of thought stay true to the person he is and though he has VERY LITTLE character growth, that element of characterisation is presented very well by the writers. So you have Rimuru with all its flaws and strengths (personality wise), ensuring that this genderless slime is at very least, never a bland slime.
This series' supporting characters are the ones that hurt the show greatly. There's literally nobody of worth except for Shizue Izawa, who has an extremely interesting backstory and character arc. Her involvement in the show marks the best part of the series, as her dynamic with Rimuru is a powerful one—that continues to define the series to this very moment.
The twist in their relationship is especially profound and dare I say, heartbreaking. Such poetic undertones would complement Slime's overall carefree nature very well...add a layer of depth to its happy go lucky gait. Too bad Slime never introduces more ideas like this.
Rimuru's inner circle is filled with the typical trope characters. Blunted yandere, deredere, loli, male kuuderes...you get my point. Characters have no real role but to function as plot devices: they're inserted in such a way that it is IMPOSSIBLE to imagine any of them getting any development at all. Every character you're introduced to ends up being mostly irrelevant, used sparingly after their 10 minutes of fame per season card expires. Except Milim Nava, who just gets showtime EXCLUSIVELY for fan service.And when I say that, you can probably surmise that there's nothing going for this show as of now in the character department.
In fact the words shallow and half assed come quickly to mind.
Animation and art in this show were major strengths at the start of the series. I think many of the initial fights were handled well, from hand to hand combat to the magic battles. I'm also still fond of the character designs here and the colours used, especially in battle. There's some vibrant stuff here. Sad to say that the quality of the animation has...dipped slightly from the explosive start. So you don't have anything really on the level of those first ten episodes, especially since we're in a very much slower arc right now. So as a whole, I could still say that it's pretty decently animated and good to look at. Nothing much to expect here in terms of visual storytelling or cinematography though: expect a lack of depth comparable to Sword Art Online's art here (although some of those Aincrad shots had GREAT cinematography BUT BACK TO POINT).
Show has two great OP and endings, but nothing too great in way of the OST. Voice acting tends to be solid, especially from Rimuru. But in comparison to the other shows that have come out this season, it's clear to see that this show really cannot compete in this category.
So yeah, this show is enjoyable for some amount of time, but I got quickly tired of it. Would I recommend it? Probably not, I've enjoyed other isekai more and I'm not particularly sure that Slime brought anything new or interesting for ME to the table. However, there are SOME really fun parts in this show that may lead to it being enjoyed. I don't know, that's up to you.
I just wish that this show could have kept strong to most of what it started with.
