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. B…

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.

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.

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.

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 …

This is one of the worst titles I have ever seen. Bad plot, bad art, fans who are extremely painful and toxic to negative opinion about this piece of clay... One fan explained to me with a serious face that slime is much better than re:zero and ngnl >because it's shit. Although it later turned out that he did not watch either one or the second. Average OP main character, stupid dialogues. I don't know what else to say. This title literally does not represent anything outstanding. And what cannot be called outstanding in it cannot be called good in terms of execution. This is a story not made for the sake of making a cool story, but for the sake of making money from idiot fans. Everything is done in such a way that most people will like it. And as you know, most people have no taste. Of course, maybe I have reviewed a lot of titles (about 900, which I can’t transfer from another list because it has closed), and I understand something in them, I have formed my own taste and all that. As for me, this is a title aimed at who have not seen anything better than such cardboard crafts. Btw I think if this title had come out 5 years earlier, it would have been drowned immediately. Like before, people had an idea of ​​what code geass, angel beats, Elfen Lied, Darker than Black, durarara are. Previously, these titles were absolutely basic, and every anime fan watched them. Now it's good if the even heard the name of one of them. Okay, I hope I didn’t strangle anyone with my sweat...

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…

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!

Imagine a boring protagonist that does nothing really interasting the entire anime besides giving names to monsters. Thats literally all this anime is about, nothing deep enough to make you care about anything that happens in all 3 seasons and movie, the only thing is that is cool to watch someone in a isekai with rpg like system. Every character side history is complete cliche in every aspect, nothing really new or that really make you care about something happening, and you dont care if they are in a "dangerous" situation, the godlike protagonist will just save the day and was everything for nothing anyway. I really dont get it how people like this so much but i can see people that dont care that much of what is being shown loving this silly cliche history. The protagonist is really bad, is not like he is dislikeable or something, he is dog water in writing, he is not cool, not funny, he is just blend and strong. IF YOU ARE SOMEONE EASY TO PLEASE, maybe you will have a good time watching this anime, if not you will just waste your time.

Don’t you just love it when fans of a show constantly make up reasons for why what they like is unlike anything else? In the case of this show, it’s because the protagonist is a slime. Aha, see, that has never been done before! Did I mention how despite being the weakest monsters in all JRPGs, he’s actually more powerful than the gods? Or how he also turns into a cute girl early in the show? How original! Other than that, it’s a typical isekai series that checks all the usual clichés in the book. A loser virgin from our world gets reincarnated in a different one that functions like a videogame, where he is ridiculously overpowered, easily defeats all opponents, makes everyone his allies, and every female rushes to squeeze him between her huge melons. It’s literally just another power fantasy for collar workers of Japan who wish they were the masters of their own world. The main hook of the show is the constant evolution of the slime’s abilities, and the growth of the society he builds every time he completes a quest. Both of which are done in a breezy, wholesome way. The protagonist can instantly copy any ability from creatures he consumes, and with them powers through any problem that gets in his way. It’s all done in a cheap way, since there is no sense of training or learning. It’s all about using abilities you gained and you use them as easily as pressing a button. Also the allies he makes are to the most part joining him after being overwhelmed by his powers and not because they gained his trust or see him as a fellow warrior. The direwolf in the early episodes is a prime example of that. He accepts the slime as his master despite having killed his father and a lot of his friends. There is also no actual plot to speak of, since every arc plays out like a loosely stitched together quest in a videogame. The protagonist is not actively trying to achieve a specific goal. He wants a peaceful society, but doesn’t actually do something about it, besides reacting to whatever comes his way and that conveniently results in making the society better. The story is as lazy as the logic behind acquiring new abilities. There are no interesting characters either, since they are all fairly one-note. Whatever powers they have are quickly eclipsed before the slime. Whatever background stories they have are quickly forgotten in favor of the next loosely stitched together quest that appears. Even the slime is not interesting as a character. He’s just a carefree nice guy who has nothing to struggle towards, since he can easily overcome any problem with sheer power. Even when a demon lord that is stronger than him appears, he just befriends her by giving her food. And said demon lord is a bikini-clad loli. The author just doesn’t give a damn. Despite all that, the show managed to win a lot of watchers by being a wholesome civilization-building isekai. It works as far as escapism goes and, unlike most anime, doesn’t break any rules or betrays its initial premise. It is shameless empowerment fantasy from beginning to end, a thing which is not afraid to admit at every chance it can. Kudos for that, but it is definitely nothing great.

Its really sad to see that people were saying that Slime peeked to early, when story was just getting good in my opinion, but I can not talk for other people here but me. Story wise it got better and better as it went long, and also I think one thing so many studios even big ones get in trouble is that constant animation but studio 8bit really nailed it in the animation department. Many people do no know but studio 8bit is a small studio but that does not stops them from giving us the quality animation. The main character is also likable even though he is in a isekai anime, I say that because because many isekai protagonists are just plain bad and boring but that is not the case here. Even though the name alone makes you believe that its gonna be a echi/harem series but I was stunned to find its more story driven and action packed series, which was of course a pleasant surprise. And I have to say it below my expectations but there are some problems which needs to addressed as well, the those problems are the secondary characters, because side characters do not get the enough time to shine or progress and mind I remind you there are a lots of sides characters, I mean a lots of. I hope the side character dilemma will be resolved in second season now that its has been announced, other than that its a fun series.

This is a review of the first 3 seasons, first movie, and the spinoff show "Slime Diaries" I think I can finally definitively say that I just don't like isekai/"RPG-like" anime. So the main character is basically invincible from episode 1 and can win every battle and bring everyone back to life at any time, so there's absolutely zero consequence or tension in any of the battle sequences. And the scenes in-between battles range from boring as heck medieval politics talk to "i want to touch the booby" nonsense. A lot of the development of the world and its characters just sorta happens off screen while Rimuru just narrates what happened in a rapid-fire montage. I feel like there was little to no reason for him to be reincarnated from another world, other than for him to say "my dude" over and over. The third season was... ridiculously boring. I swear that half the season just took place in the meeting room while everyone just sat completely still and talked about what they were GOING to do, rather than actually DOING anything. The spinoff show, Slime Diaries, is entirely sketch comedy/slice of life, which was more entertaining. But there's just SO many characters and no actual development for them during the main show that its hard to get attached. I feel like this was solely made to be eye candy for people who are just REALLY into phantasy creatures and RPG monsters... and boobies... lots of boobies... I honestly can't fathom why this show has been going on for so long. I also can't fathom why there have been a seemingly endless number of isekai anime in the past decade. They all look and sound more or less exactly the same. I chose this one to watch simply because it looked slightly more visually interesting than the dozens of other medieval phantasy RPG isekai shows with an overpowered protagonist and an obnoxiously long show title out there. Perhaps I chose poorly. Or perhaps there was never a good option in the first place. Season 1: 4/10 Slime Diaries: 6/10 Season 2: 3.5/10 Movie: 4/10 Season 3: 2/10 Overall: 3/10

Being a huge fantasy junkie, and someone who always enjoys a good laugh, I decided to give this series a shot. It seemed like a match made in heaven for me. Unfortunately, it didn’t pan out. Story: 2/10 A nice, normal 37 virgin guy is tragically stabbed whilst protecting his friend. His last words are to wipe his hard drive of pornography so no one can see it. Then he dies and is reincarnated as an overpowered Slime monster in a fantasy world (because of course). I guess helping someone means you get to be reincarnated as an OP blob. It makes one wonder what God decided to do with all those heroes who died storming Normandy beach. I think the main problem here is that there is absolutely nothing outstanding about the plot. It’s a generic fantasy world. That alone wouldn’t necessarily be a problem, except the plot never seemed to want to go somewhere meaningful. The protag meets a tsundere dragon, and after releasing the seal on said dragon, it causes monsters to run amuck in the nearby forest. For the next 20 episodes, he spends the entire time helping build up a goblin village. Getting them food, shelter, supplies, teaching them various things so that they may help themselves, fighting off monsters, recruiting new allies, etc. But why should we care about these goblins and other monsters? Why does the slime care? Because they’re in trouble? Since he can basically do whatever he wants to, why doesn’t he instead go out and explore the world and cure cancer or, you know, do something actually meaningful? He’s ridiculously OP and almost nothing can touch him anyway. Go do something more grandeur and exciting. If he only wants to help others, there are far more efficient (and more interesting) things he could be doing. Most of the story never feels original. The world is dull. No overarching plot or direction to speak of. Now, all that being said, there are in fact, two unique things, which are also the most interesting aspects. First, others from Japan find themselves in this world, albeit none of them are reincarnated as OP slimes and are instead used as mediums for others to do their bidding, IE like a magic summon. The other aspect is the fact the protag is a slime. But this has literally zero impact on anything. It allows him to eat things and take their powers via Kirby. But it’s not like a mimic ability itself is particularly unique and there are other ways one could go about it. Art: 9/10 It’s downright gorgeous. I found it impressive on multiple levels. Attack animations and movement are aesthetically pleasing. Being a two cour show made it all the more impressive. Rarely will you see animation that isn’t a movie look this good. There are only a couple of inconsistencies that prevent it from being perfect. Sound: 7/10 The sound effects usually sound good, and it pairs up beautifully with the impressive animation. The only disappointment here is the OST, which felt lackluster overall. I only watched a small part of the dub, but it seemed respectable. Character: 3/10 The protagonist is the biggest problem here. He’s OP, can do anything, and is a nice guy with perfect morals. He’s a Gary Stu. Apparently he still wants girls though, despite lacking necessary parts…not sure how that works but whatever. The idea itself couldn’t even make me chuckle. Just another “Overpowered reincarnated isekai nice guy who does nice things and meets cute girls.” Most of the characters are uninteresting. The goblins have vanilla personalities, as do the orcs, the lizards, the dwarves…you name it. It doesn’t particularly matter which race or group of people you think of, their normalized colloquialisms and character motivations makes it hard to care about any of them. Not a single group felt like it’s own culture. The orcs came the closest, but unfortunately that aspect was pushed aside in favor of more meathead action scenes instead. There are also some demon lords who are villains or something, and yes, they’re also as standard as your villains come. Muhahaha, you think you are strong little slime? Well you certainly seem interesting, maybe I’ll finally get off my laurels and do something in about 20 episodes. But don’t worry, it would be inconvenient to the plot if I did it myself, so instead I’ll send some weak minions who will get progressively stronger before I do anything. Truly I am a mastermind genius! Something something evil something.” The other side antagonists are just comical anyway- maniacal laughter, weak motivations…you’ve seen this hundreds of times already. There was one colorful character, Milim, who appears towards the end of the series. She’s a demon lord who looks 12 but is actually 2000 years old (because of course). Naturally she wears a ridiculous thong-thing to go with it. I guess skimpy outfits give women super powers in Japan or something. Anyway, she is introduced as being 10x stronger than the Slime protag- and a potential enemy intially. But he gives her some honey so she decides they should just be friends. Lord knows she couldn’t have just taken it by force. What a waste. The one character who was mildly interesting was gone after a couple episodes early on in the series. Not going to spoiler the circumstances, but that was disappointing. Enjoyment: 3/10 It has some of the prettiest animations that are further enhanced by the fantastic sound effects. But the forgettable story, bland characters and listless world make this title an especially hard sell, even to fantasy fanatics. Overall: 3/10 Pros: +Gorgeous animation +Top-notch sound effects Cons: -Bland, uninteresting story -Dull characters, especially the protagonist -World-building is terrible -Lackluster OST

I'm not going to deny it, it's entertaining, but it's quite uncomfortable to watch and there are parts of the plot that lose sense the more time goes by. As expected because of the genre and the whole setting, most of the female characters are over-sexualized regardless of the level of power or rank they possess, compared to the male characters. I would not recommend it for this last point, I consider that there are better anime and manga that do not fall into this point and have similar plots with better construction. But if this doesn't bother you and you're looking for something that doesn't make you think too much, it's an anime you should consider watching.

It's okay for most isekai's truck kun is at it again with their shenanigans transporting our protagonist to a world of JRPG land haggling through with his band of misfits to establish peace amongst the land that the protagonist inhabits, but funny thing the main protagonist is different than other lightnovel heros. We are introduced to a slime who, right from the rift, is practically god. With that idea in mind his quest to establish peace in his land where everyone he is up against basically has zero chance gives the story and enjoyment a bit bleak knowing damn well he just has the capability of just wining all the fights presented towards the party and the main character himself. Every character is a mere depiction of what stereotypical parties come with having the band of misfits contain the brawn, the scrapper, the scatterbrain, the comic relief, the sexy one/ones, and the animal mascot. I can see why people can enjoy slime since it is a fairly unique and charming idea through paper, but giving the MC Dragonball status is really a let down knowing that all the fights are practically unjust.

Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken may be one of the most decent isekai recently released… But please, can we stop pretending this serie is perfect? The premise of this serie is pretty much the same as other isekais: MC dies and gets transported to a fantasy/RPG game world, but in this case he reincarnates as a slime. Slimes are well recognized to be the most basic and weak creatures in fantasy worlds, but sometimes they have some traits like broken skills, elemental resistances or ailments inmunity, that may make them powerful creatures which shouldn’t be underestimated (Dragon Quest is a well-known example). Slimes in this world are pretty much like that, but since they don't have intellect enough they are not considered as a threat. Here is when our MC appears. MC, subsequently named Rimuru Tempest, wakes up in a cave in this amorphous and gummy body, after a quick review he is informed about his condition by a kind of inner voice just called Daikenja (think of her like those pop ups tutorials in videogames) and without much else to do, Rimuru starts to explore the cave. Now talking about the serie in general, one of the best aspects about TenSura is the worldbuilding. Yes, this isekai actually HAS worldbuilding. The serie basically explains everything, the current situation, the world and its creatures, terminology, skills, magic effects, you name it. Of course this means there is a lot of exposition, sometimes too much (like in the first chapter), but it is presented in straightforward and concise sentences instead of walls of texts, so it doesn't end up being overwhelming. Most of this exposition comes from Daikenja to Rimuru and hence the viewer, but sometimes Rimuru himself explains the situation. Slimes have an unique skill called Predator that allows them to absorb, keep and analyze materials and enemies, so Rimuru spends like a month in the cave farming materials and gaining experience, stats and skills, becoming very powerful in the process. Soon he meets a sealed dragon named Veldora, and after a cringe but funny conversation, Veldora helps him to see, gives him a name and they become friends. Rimuru is also told more about the world and how he is not the only person transported from another world. That’s how, after absorbing Veldora in order to eliminate the seal, Rimuru leaves the cave with a new objective: to find more people from his world. Now Rimuru and the viewer are facing a new world, a… pretty common fantasy world. The serie is honest and doesn’t hesitate to show a normal and lighthearted fantasy enviroment with its typical creatures like goblins, dwarfs, orcs and of course humans. Helped with a decent palette of colors and nice backgrounds, this world feels alive and charming. TenSura is self-conscious about what it’s showing, without pretensions of being what it’s not, the plot is not supposed to be taken so seriously so you can get in the mood pretty easily. From this point the plot can be summarized in Rimuru getting involved in some races’ problems and helping them solving those problems, either by meritocracy or by force, and in the end making these creatures his subordinates and building a big “family”. Pacing is another positive point, every arc lasts enough to introduce new characters and main problem, it handles to explain all the important information and resolves the situation without rushing or lengthening. Even so, there is a big issue this series has: Rimuru gets so OP that he gets basically everything with little to no effort at all, even when the serie justifies everything. Predator and Daikenja are very broken tools, not only Rimuru can use all the skills he absorbs to beat all enemies he faces with ease, not only he can stock almost infinite materials and use them without caution when it’s necessary, but he also gets convenient explanations of what he doesn’t know via Daikenja. All of this breaks the tension and makes the serie predictable. But major issues around the serie are not just because of Rimuru’s powers, it’s the way the plot is too convenient to him that it puts the perfect situation so that Rimuru can solve it very easily. Just look at the first chapters, for example: He CONVENIENTLY appears in a place full of materials and monsters he CONVENIENTLY can absorb with his OP skill, then he CONVENIENTLY meets a powerful dragon that helps him to escape, and after that he CONVENIENTLY finds a goblin village with a problem he can easily solve because of his absorbed skills. Now he has a village of goblins and wolves which revere him, but he needs blacksmiths so he goes to a city to get them, he CONVENIENTLY meets the best blacksmith dwarfs in the city which have a big problem that Rimuru can CONVENIENTLY solve by just absorb a sword, analyze it and make a lot of copies with all the materials he CONVENIENTLY kept from the cave, so now the dwarfs are happy to revere him… Again, the serie at least explains the basics about every individual situation so it’s possible to justify them (like how he was able to make sword copies because he had enough saved materials), this is enough to put TenSura above others of the genre, but it’s not enough justification for all the plot conveniences surrounding Rimuru. This is just a mediocre writting. This is a big problem especially for action moments because no matter how powerful the enemy is, you know Rimuru and his gang can easily get rid of it without much complication. You know the good guys are going to win against the bad guys, like a shounen, but unlike shounen or actions series in general, here tensión is non-existent because how OP good guys are. Actions scenes are not always supposed to be good because of the sometimes obvious outcome, but the scene by itself, to see how good guys handle to beat bad guys against all the problems they might go through (and even they may lose). Here nothing of that happens, making actions scenes pretty dull and uninterested in the long run. Since there’s an overall lighthearted mood around, there are comedy moments too, but comedy is a pretty weak aspect of the serie. Most comedic scenes are summarized in dull boke-tsukkomi gags and plain jokes using cliches LNs are plagued of, making comedy in general feel very forced and fail to be funny. This serie is also overwhelmingly cliche, almost every trope of the manual can be found here: lolis, onee-sans, fanservice, bishounens, bouncing boobs, harem elements, and going through typical situations like OP characters wrecking everyone and everything easily, bullying the ineptest guy, harem chicks arguing each other, mortal cooking, onsen, etc. All of those issues aren’t bad per se, but in this case they are just flatly placed onscreen with no subtlety and with the vague intention of being funny. Tropes that have been heavily used and are no longer funny. Even when there are scenes with gags, situations or jokes that at least can make you smile, in regards of purely comedic scenes there’s not creativity, there’s not enough wit to make a genuinely funny scene, just the same well-known cliches reused. Characters are by far the weakest part of the serie. Rimuru as a character is just ok, at least he has personality unlike other Light Novels MCs, but it’s a pretty basic one. That’s not entirely bad because it fits with the lighthearted mood the serie has and makes Rimuru easy to relate with. Actually the main issue with that is the lack of any depth, making the character plain, and for a MC this is bad because it might make the viewer get bored or lose interest, also limits a lot the character’s potential. It doesn’t have to be a big depth, but something that says Rimuru is more than just your average MC. Also, it’s really hard to believe how someone that basic and limited apparently has so much charm as the serie puts it; just some kind words and a demostration of his powers are enough to convince people that Rimuru “is such a very nice and reliable slime” and instan…

It's certainly puzzling when a 'standard' anime receives high acclaim despite doing nothing to distinguish itself from its competition. And what exactly did Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken (TSSDK) do that cannot be found in any other isekai anime to deserve such a high score on MAL? Let's see, it has: • Reincarnation • MC being surrounded by beautiful women with large breasts • MC being surrounded by children • MC being a pervert • Extremely powerful MC • But his power is often underestimated • MC is a hero! • Self-awareness (it's basically a satire) • Medieval fantasy setting • Mini-bosses, so many mini-bosses! • Lots of races to not care about • Lots of random – and laughably weak – kingdoms not to care about And so on… However, if I had been asked to guess the correct anime based on this list, with each wrong answer revealing another hint, I would have had no idea that it was TSSDK rather than, say, Re:Zero, Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!, Mushoku Tensei, or any other anime in which the main character is reincarnated, resurrected, or otherwise transported from one state of being to another (SAO, Overlord, Log Horizon, etc.). In fact, the hints probably wouldn't give it away until somewhere between the 50th and 60th hint, when it finally mentions the most unique idea the anime has to offer – the idea that the protagonist is, well, a slime. Very imaginative. No doubt. But is it really 8.13/10-level imaginative when we have a series about someone being reincarnated as a freaking vending machine that, despite all that, received the measly rating of 6.43? Not in my humble opinion.

Don't waste your time, nothing actually thrilling or interesting happens. Every problem will be resolved with no issues, If you can't talk things through, there's always some OP skill that will fix everything, no need to learn or change. Characters are just a number of usual tropes for the genre and anime in general and the comedy isn't that good that it could serve as a driving force. The worldbuilding will be spoon-fed to you at a snail's pace which isn't a problem by itself, but it also can't be a driving force in this case. The art and music are fine, but nothing to write home about.

Following the main character Rimuru Tempest this is Personally one of my favorite Anime's of all time. An absolute masterpiece in my eyes. Very few shows can gain that sort of respect from me but this one checks all the boxes, and its a show I recommend to nearly anyone because its quite different from other anime's and stands out but is still absolutely amazing, this is a must watch for anyone who watches Isekai even if you haven't it's still amazing. The style alone of this show is on par with all the best shows you've seen and is a newer style of a show and it starts off with a bang and ends with a bang for all the seasons. (Seriously this Isekai is really action packed and has the best cliffhangers at the ends of seasons, as well as adding in special stuff at the end and beginning of each season.) The characters make this show even more worth watching because of how many characters there are that contribute heavily to the show. Most of the time the characters do not react to events in any realistic way because of there magic, I'm absolute that anyone who takes a stab at this will like it a lot. This is also a show for those who love and adore civilization building animes, this is one of the few animes I've seen that pull it off so well getting into the deepest of details. I really love this show please try it out, thanks for reading my reccomendation!

Don't listen to the negative reviewers. This show isn't what they expected, that's all. It's a very strange show, and it's going towards a very strange story. The first season is more of an introduction than a thriller. You'll like it, if you're into casual shows and strange stories! If I'm forced to enter a longer review, I'll go on ahead saying that a lot of the story and topics seem to come out of the author's whim. But that's fine. Not every story has to be deep and dark. This is chill and mostly merry. But there's an obvious twist in there. Time travel. Spirits. Reincarnations. Death and love.