Obviously, the story isn’t over, but by having Rimuru save the kids and thus fulfill Shizu’s last wish, the first adaptation is more or less over. I hear there are two extra episodes or whatever, but… honestly, I’m kinda speechless. Oh well, let’s at least cover the contents of the episode first.
— The first kid starts praying for a superior spirit, but only lesser ones show up. So apparently, Rimuru can just eat them all up, use his special skill, and create a superior spirit out of them. He’s done it before with other stuff, so why can’t he do it with spirits?! You just have to accept that this is possible.
— One by one, the kids are being saved. It’s pretty damn anticlimactic. Literally nothing is dramatic in this series. Nothing. Conflicts don’t always have to involve a big, blowout fight, but good lord, even saving these kids is a walk in a park.
— Two of the kids are more special than the others. The orange-haired punk actually manages to summon a superior light spirit of sorts. Good for him, I guess. I still won’t learn his name, though.
— Then finally, the Shizu-lookalike confesses to Rimuru right before it’s her turn to get saved. So like every isekai ever, the protagonist just has to show up in order to have women and girls fall in love with him. My biggest beef is that we’ve known these kids for like… what? Two or three episodes at best? Probably even less than that if you just stick to their scenes and their scenes only. And already, this girl is supposedly in love with Slime Boi. And since this is anime, her love is super serious, you guys. It’s not just an innocent crush on an adult figure. After all, that sort of thing happens from time to time, and you just kinda let things play out. But no, because this is fiction — and more specifically anime — the girl’s going to cling to her love for the rest of her goddamn life. Whether or not Rimuru will ever indulge her whims remains to be scene, but at the moment, he thinks to himself that she should’ve waited eight or ten years before confessing.
— Plus, the story even confirms it for us that the girl will remain in love with Rimuru. When it is her turn to pray, an older version of herself literally shows up as a spirit. It’s remarkable how nobody bothers to comment on the woman’s blatant resemblance to the little girl.
— And of course, the first thing that the spirit does is plant a big, fat kiss on Slime Boi’s lips. What a Don Juan!
— Then as the spirit flies around, Rimuru turns and sees her in a different light. Uh-huh…
— Ramiris proceeds to exclaim that the spirit is dangerous, but before anyone can do anything about that, the latter quickly occupies the little girl. Rimuru checks and sees that the girl is now saved, so what’s the deal? When pressed, the fairy demon lord claims that the spirit had come from the future. Oh lord. So what am I supposed to believe? The little girl is saved, so she grows up to go back in time and save herself?
— A bunch of fairies then descend from the heavens, and then… uh, that’s it. Rimuru tells us that the job is done. So, so, so anticlimactic.
— Apparently, there was an incident concerning a golem, but Slime Boi literally tells us that this is a different story that this adaptation won’t tell. Haha, okay.
— Then after telling Yuuki that the kids are fine now, we proceed to get a recap of the entire series. It’s accompanied by an insert song. At this point in the episode, I honestly felt kind of shocked, because I did not expect to see an ending. That’s it…? That’s how the first adaptation is going to end? Saving five kids from their terminal condition doesn’t even sound bad on paper. It’s just the execution was so… flat and unthrilling. You expect to be hanging off the edge of your seat when a story nears its conclusion, but no such thing here.
— After the recap, we get yet another insert song and another montage. This time, we are taken around the world to see how all the people are doing. Yawn.
— Finally, we reach the epilogue where some jobber sets the stage for a future adaptation. Y’know, in case you wanna keep watching.
— After he’s done, we cut to Rimuru finally saying his goodbyes to the kids. Hey, his job here is done, and he needs to get back to running his country. Honestly, this felt like something that should’ve been a long arc that somehow got condensed to two or three episodes. I don’t care about flashy shounen battles, I really don’t. But we don’t even get the good shit like character development. The kids are all sobbing, because they’ve gotten attached to Rimuru during his time as their teacher. But did we get to see any of that? Absolutely not. I expected nothing, and I still feel disappointed.
— Right before he leaves, he gives Shizu’s mask to the Shizu-lookalike. Oh boy, more time-traveling implications. What if she grew up, became a hero, then went back in time and met Shizu? Ahahahahahaha, that would be dumb.
— Anyways, when Rimuru is finally alone with Ranga, we see some girl is standing behind a tree and spying on him. Dunno what that’s about either, but don’t care.
— Final thoughts? Do I really have any after that random-ass conclusion to the adaptation? Hmmmmm. Obviously, I never really loved the isekai genre in the first place, but I really dislike the direction that it’s headed in. I feel like when a protagonist finds him or herself in a whole new world, they should have some thoughts about Home, wherever that might be. And y’know, our protagonist may ultimately decide that they don’t want to return Home, but those feelings should at least matter to them. Those feelings should at least be worked out.
With That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, it almost feels like being a stranger in strange land is an afterthought. Yes, our hero is technically an isekai protagonist because he came here from our world, but those concerns are never brought up again. Then near the end of the episode, he just unceremoniously explains that he no longer has any desire to return home. Yeah, this just doesn’t work for me. It makes me wonder why this even needs to be an isekai. It really doesn’t. It doesn’t explore any isekai themes. Rimuru could’ve just been some random ass human who died and reincarnated as a slime. I see no need for him to have come from our world other than the gag where he produces a mountain of manga to “bribe” people.
But beyond the fact that the show doesn’t really live up to expectations, the show just doesn’t really deliver on any excitement. No, Rimuru doesn’t have to be a badass hero who dual-wields katanas and climbs a tree to save his true love. But no matter what the story is, it should at least have a discernible rise and fall in action. The latest arc involving the children epitomizes my problems with the entire series. It’s supposed to be a big deal. On paper, it sounds like a big deal. Shizu’s lingering regret is that she could never save those poor children, so Slime Boi takes it upon himself to put her soul at ease. So what do we get? A half-assed, unemotional story where he magically comes up with a solution while testing the kids’ abilities, hears how to reach the land of the spirits from some random-ass waitress/maid, goes there, and voila… job done. Like c’mon. Again, I don’t need a battle to resolve every conflict, but I need something.
Anyways, the animation was pretty solid from start to finish.
Final grade: D