(Yume): Hello everyone. Yume here with Nitsuj on this week’s Project Nitsuj.
(Nitsuj): We’re here to take names and review anime. And we’re all out of names to take so let’s review anime by taking a look at the second part of That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime.
(Yume): When last left Rimuru, he had bought the ogres under his control and found out that the orcs are going on a rampage. In order to resolve the situation, a dryad by the name of Treyni asks Rimuru to step in and defeat the orc lord before he becomes something even more dangerous. What will be Rimuru’s answer? Let’s find out.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Nitsuj): The second opening for this anime is “Meguru Mono” by Takuma Terashima. Now a lot of people are torn on which opening is better. Some like the first opening more and others like this one more. For me, I like this opening more. While the first opening was good, I feel like it lacked a certain narrative and setting. This one, however does. Right a way the opening catches your attention with a piano solo. After that, it just tears the roof down with it’s orchestra instrumental and Takuma’s amazing voice. The violin and piano work in perfect harmony with each other throughout the song and even the ending with the violin solo amazes me. This opening really sets the narrative for Rimuru’s character. He’s guy who was not only killed but lost his first real friend since coming to this world without knowing when they’ll see each other again and lost the woman he was destined to with and developed a good bond in the short time they knew each other. Yet, despite all of this, Rimuru continues to move forward believing and carrying on to the hope that everything in the end will work out for him.
The second ending is “Little Soldier” by Azusa Tadokoro. Once again, fans were split on which one was, but in my opinion the second one was better. I love how the song has this upbeat, sincere, and playful tone. It really does match perfectly with the series and Azusa’s voice is very good.
Episodes 12-14
(Yume): In episode 12, Rimuru and the others agree to defeat the orc lord (Nitsuj: We’re having bacon tonight). They decide the best thing to do is to form an alliance with the lizardmen and given that their last encounter was with Gabiru (an idiot) they decide to speak with the chief himself. Souei enters the lizardmen stronghold and speaks with the chief directly where he agrees to form an alliance with Rimuru who will arrive with his army in 7 days. The lizardmen stay hidden underground and take up a defensive position as they hold out for Rimuru’s army to arrive and then go on the offensive (Nitsuj: Good plan). The only problem is Gabiru arrives, overthrows his father, and takes control of the lizardmen (Nitsuj and Yume: IDIOT). Gabiru goes on the offensive and leads the lizardmen to attack the orcs where even though he’s an idiot he is a capable commander (Nitsuj: Blame it on charisma). However, his limited knowledge will be his downfall as he doesn’t know the orc lord has a special skill called starved. It’s a skill similar to Rimuru’s predator skill however, the skill leaves the orcs in a constant state of starvation where they kill their victims and eat them to gain their power to become stronger (they’ll even eat themselves. Scene here: Scene here: https://youtu.be/Qqs52tvGiXE).
Episode 13-
(Nitsuj): Is an awesome episode! Sorry, I’m just really excited.
(Yume): Quite. It starts with Souei rescuing Gabiru’s sister from a group of orcs (unlike her brother she’s actually competent). Rimuru and the others arrive where they recognize her as the representative of the lizardmen and form the alliance with her. Souei and Gabiru’s sister go to rescue the chief while Rimuru and the others head out to the battlefield to rescue Gabiru and the others who have become cornered by the orc general (Nitsuj: I wonder if there’s an orc champion?). Gobta and Ranga arrive to save him while Benimaru, Shion, and Hakurou attack the ogres from behind and get some sweet revenge (scene here: https://youtu.be/FHPh9zjZbQM. (Nitsuj): Get that bacon). Ranga also evolves into a star wolf and unleashes an attack which kills the orc general in one shot (scene here: https://youtu.be/9Vx7gu-9bG0). Souei and Gabiru’s sister rescue the chief and as all of this is going on, Rimuru hangs out in the sky waiting for the orc lord to make his appearance where he finally arrives and Rimuru prepares for battle.
At the start of episode 14, Gelmud the majin who created the orc lord and gave Gabiru his name arrives. It turns out he was trying to give birth to a new demon lord and have it be his pawn which is why he was going around and handing out names left and right. Gelmud tries to kill Gabiru but his loyal soldiers protect him and Rimuru also protects him as well (Nitsuj: He’s a better slime than me, I would have let him die). Gelmud orders the orc lord named Geld to defeat Rimuru but he instead kills Gelmud and eats him which results in him transforming into the demon lord known as orc disaster. The ogres and Ranga hit Geld with their best shot but not even that is enough to bring him down (and they decapitated him and everything, https://youtu.be/Q96viEVSUBk). Rimuru finally steps in and goes into autopilot mode letting the Great Sage fight for him (Nitsuj: You gotta love life hacks). The Great Sage hits Geld with fire but he’s fire resistant (Nitsuj: So much for my bacon). Just before the Great Sage can launch a counterattack, Rimuru takes over and the battle shifts from who can beat who to who can eat who first (the answer is obviously slime). Rimuru eventually wins where we get to see Geld’s past and find out that he wasn’t always like this. His people were always starving and as a king all he could do was watch as they all died off slowly. Even when Gelmud showed and knew he was evil, Geld knew he had to do something for his people even if it meant he would commit a great sin (Nitsuj: Wow, they actually gave him a good backstory. Rather than just have him be this lowly monster who only wanted power, they actually gave him a tragic story where you feel sad for him and wonder that if the circumstances had been different, he and Rimuru could have been allies). Rimuru tells him his sins and the sins of his people have been resolved and Geld passes away peacefully, returning the rest of the orcs to normal (scene here: https://youtu.be/nFG-SUUMKiY).
Episodes 15-18
(Nitsuj): In episode 15, the aftermath of the orc attack is addressed. It gets decided that the remaining 150,000 orcs shall fall under Rimuru’s rule and shall come together with the lizardmen and goblins to unite the monsters of the forest (Rimuru’s kingdom continues to expand). Rimuru’s gets appointed as chancellor of this alliance and spends the next 10 days giving the orcs names allowing them to evolve into high orcs and Geld’s son becoming the new orc lord named. . .Geld (Yume: Well that’s not gonna get confusing at all). Rimuru also gives the lizardmen chief a name as well, Abiru. As for Gabiru, he gets excommunicated from the lizardmen tribe for his treason and gets banished from the land. He accepts his punishment with grace and leaves. We fast forward 3 months later where Rimuru’s small village has grown. Thanks to the labor force of the orcs, they now have houses, water ducts, and are making roads to better travel (we’re bringing this forest into the 21st century). Of course this development doesn’t go unnoticed by other nations (when you got goblins, ogres, and 150,000 orcs working together in one village, you know something’s up) and Gazef shows up to face Rimuru to figure out if he’s a friend or a dangerous enemy in the making (he’s only a few steps away from becoming Bowser). They have a quick swordfight where Rimuru is able to defend himself against Gazef’s attacks to earn the victory (scene here: https://youtu.be/sg07JvS99R4) and it gets revealed that Gazef was trained by Hakurou in his younger days (Yume: Everything’s connected). Rimuru enters a treaty with Gazef establishing the Jura Tempest Federation.
A lot happens in episode 16. Gazef gives Vesta to Rimuru as a token of their new friendship and to put him to work. He actually does apologize for his actions previously and swears not to commit the same mistakes again (Yume: He better. If not, Rimuru will eat him up). Rimuru names all the lizardmen (including Gabiru) and they evolve into dragonewts with some looking more human when they evolve (well we made ogres hot, I’m sure we can make lizardmen hot). Just when things finally seem at peace, the demon lords take an interest in Rimuru and one of the demon lords named Milim comes to the forest to investigate him. She makes an impactful landing and quickly figures out that Rimuru is the strongest person there. A few of the ogres try to fight her but their attacks do nothing to her, in fact, she’s actually 10 times stronger than Rimuru (Yume: What she lacks in the chest department she makes up for it in the power department. (Baron): And in the dat ass department. (Yume): Really? Must you? (Baron): Oh please. Girl has an ass that needs a lift and I got the perfect ride for her). Rimuru convinces her to give him one free shot to take down promising that if he fails, he’ll become her servant. Rimuru hits not with a weapon or a magic spell but with honey which she loves and agrees to stop fighting for more honey. After this, Milim becomes Rimuru’s best friend and decides to move into the village because it’s so much fun thus becoming Rimuru’s ally (scene here: https://youtu.be/msMwzyvvN8s). While everyone is happy about this, Rimuru’s trust circle is worried as they’re afraid that his friendship with Milim will upset the balance between the other demon lords.
There’s a lot of talking and diplomacy in episode 17. We see the other demon lords and surrounding nations take an interest in Rimuru’s nation (hey when you got a bunch of hot monster girls in your kingdom, I take interest too) and send envoys there to investigate on whether or not Rimuru is an ally or enemy. The first visitors are underlings belonging to a demon lord named Corrion where their leader Phobio gets into a fight with Milim (does he have a death wish?). Their talk really goes nowhere and they take their leave with Rimuru willing to talk to Corrion down the line (scene here: https://youtu.be/YayBrn8zTTE). The next visitors are the other kingdoms who send adventurers to investigate. One kingdom sends Kavel, Eren, and Gido (Yume: Long time no see guys) and the other kingdom sends an adventurer named Youm and his team. When they arrive Youm quickly pisses off Shion by calling her tits and insulting Rimuru (again, do you have a death wish? Can you not see that the guy has ogres, goblins, orcs, and dragonewts working for him and is friends with a demon lord? (Yume): Not bad for a slime). The kingdom that Kavel, Eren, and Gido represent want to enter into friendly relationships with Rimuru and Rimuru hires Youm and his team to act as the ones who defeated the orc lord. The rumors of Rimuru defeating the orc lord haven’t gotten far yet and only a select few know about it so Rimuru wants Youm to start spreading the rumor that he and his team defeated the orc lord while Rimuru just provided support. This way more people won’t be intimidated by him and be more open with him. After touring the village, Youm’s attitude changes and he starts to speak respectfully to Rimuru agreeing to be his champion. While this is all going on, one of the demon lords finds out that an ancient creature named Charybdis that rivals their power is returning.
We begin episode 18 with Phobio still pissed about his lost to Milim and wanting to get his revenge on her. His hope comes in the form of two majin clowns named Tear and Footman who tell him he can get stronger by subduing and obtaining the power of Charybdis (never trust the clown. (Yume): So what did a clown do to you? (Nitsuj): Nothing, because it never had a chance). The majin take him to the cave where Charybdis is still sealed and he goes in hoping to seal Charybdis within his body and become a demon lord. Of course this was all a trick and instead this was the final push needed to break the seal on Charybdis who is now headed to Rimuru and Milim. Once news reaches Rimuru on this situation he prepares the city for the inevitable attack of Charybdis where in a strange twist of fate we actually find out was created by Veladora, so technically speaking Rimuru is about to fight his brother (sibling rivalry can be an ugly thing).
Episodes 19-22
(Yume): The battle against Charybdis begins in episode 19 where it’s not on the same level as the white whale fight from Re:Zero but it is entertaining nonetheless. The ground troops manage to take out the swordfish with bait and switch tactics and then do an all-out attack on Charybdis (Nitsuj: Going Persona all up on in here. (Yume): You’ll never see it again). When they all out attack is finish, they only do a measly 30% damage before Rimuru hears it call out for Milim and he decides to let her handle this situation as it’s technically her fault that it’s here. Milim uses her powers to discover that Phobio is inside and Rimuru wants to save him, so Milim shows some restraint by destroying Charybdis and sparing Phobio’s life (scene here: https://youtu.be/FV0WrGY8ozg). Rimuru heals Phobio and apologizes for his actions as well as give them information regarding the clowns who tricked them (Nitsuj: They’ll float. They’ll all float down the river when I’m through with them). Milim believes this series of events was caused by Clayman and out comes Carrion the master of Phobio who apologizes for his underling’s action and enters a non-aggression pack with Rimuru and the others before taking his leave (now Rimuru has two demon lords he’s on good terms with).
In episode 20 the town celebrates their victory over Charybdis (we’re having fish tonight) and as they celebrate, Rimuru remembers one of Shizu’s regrets and that’s her students back in the royal capital of Igrassia (Nitsuj: She never got to give them their final exam). Since things have settled down in the town and everyone seems to have their acts together, Rimuru decides to journey off to Igrassia with Ranga and become a teacher for Shizu’s students. Rimuru and Ranga make it to Igrassia where they meet one of Shizu’s former students, Yuuki who came from Japan as well and has a lot of questions (Nitsuj: Such as which mangas are done, how did these animes end, what new games came out, and what ships are sailing?). Rimuru shows he’s a bro and actually makes him copies of all the manga and stories he missed and after hearing what Rimuru has to say, he agrees to let him be the teacher for Shizu’s students. Before going to the class, Yuuki tells Rimuru that the kids don’t have long to live as the excessive amount of energy they received when summoned to this world will take a toll on them and eventually kill them by the age of 15. Rimuru goes to the class where he sees they’re full of energy and one them tries to attack him with a fire spell (scene here: https://youtu.be/aakTX7jVsXA, oh hey, the anime turned into Assassination Classroom).
We get a formal introduction to the students in episode 21. We have Kenya (the one who tried to kill Rimuru last episode), Ryota, Gale (I think he’s American or European), Alice, and Chloe. At first they don’t respond to him, but when they sense Ranga’s present they start to speak (scene here: https://youtu.be/upKweqvANTs. See, sometimes fear in the classroom is a good thing). He then challenges them to a one on one duel where we get to see all of their powers. Kenya can use a flame sword, Chloe can use water spells (I get the feeling her and Kenya might get together), Gale can shoot magic bullets, Ryota can go into berserker mode (introduce this kid to Wolverine and Guts), and Alice can control other objects to fight for her (bloodbending shall rise again). Rimuru beats them all and gets the idea in his head that if a spirit were to inhabit their body like Shizu, then maybe that could balance out the excessive amount of energy in their body (scene here: https://youtu.be/qz39ytVuHQ4). He goes to talk to Treyni on the possible whereabouts of high spirits but she says she has no idea where they are as the old queen of spirits died sometime ago and she has no contact with the new one. A month goes by and Rimuru spent that time training and teaching the kids while also trying to find information on the spirits but found no leads. While he’s out on a picnic with his students, a sky dragon attacks the capital and Rimuru defeats it, saving a merchant named Mjolmire in the process as well (scene here: https://youtu.be/TI1swIJN9-k. (Nitsuj): I swear I saw Guile from Street Fighter as a side character). Mjolmire treats Rimuru and his students to a meal as a thank you for saving his life and Rimuru invites him to his village to teach them the secrets of the trade which he agrees to do. As they leave, one of the waitresses reveals that she came from a village where the spirits aren’t far. After giving her a generous tip, she tells Rimuru where to go and he heads out with his students to the Ulg Nature Park.
In episode 22, Rimuru and his students make it to the cave of the spirits where in order to gain an audience they must first defeat a mecha like golem (it’s a Gun- (Nitsuj): No! No it is not. (Yume): Not even a little? (Nitsuj): No. (Yume): Aww~). Rimuru takes it on and burns it alive with his hellfire to bring out Ramiris an obnoxious little fairy who’s not only a demon lord but actually the queen of spirits as well. She fell from grace sometime ago and was reborn as a demon lord (Nitsuj: It’s reborn). She’s fully aware of who Rimuru is thanks to Milim who swung by to talk about him (so she was doing her work properly) and talks about Leon and how he used to be a hero, but just like Ramiris fell from grace and got reborn as a demon lord. After Rimuru explains the reason why he’s here and what he wants to do, Ramiris agrees to help him and leads them all to an altar where they can either ask high spirits to inhabit their body or make new superior spirits using their magicules (so in the end no matter what they choose they’ll be safe. Good for them).
Episodes 23-25 and OVA
(Nitsuj): We start episode 23 with the kids receiving their spirits. Gale goes first where he manages to summon a multitude of inferior spirits with his prayer. Rimuru then devours those inferior spirits (taste like popcorn) to combine them into a superior earth spirit and then gives the spirit to Gale. He does the same thing with Alice who has a superior space spirit and Ryota who gains a wind/water superior spirit (these kids have a lot of promise). The only two who are different are Kenya and Chloe (Yume: I knew those two were going to be aces of the class). Kenya is actually able to summon a superior spirit of light easily. As for Chloe, she hit the jackpot. She summons a spiritual body from the future, an abnormal being that will be reborn in the future and is a complete mystery that not even Ramiris can explain it (scene here: https://youtu.be/wy3R86KS4iw). Despite this abnormality, Chloe seems fine as does everyone else, so mission accomplished. After this, we get a quick recap of the series and Rimuru takes his leave deciding to return back to his kingdom. As you would imagine the kids are sad but he promises to return and even gives Shizu’s mask to Chloe.
Episode 24 can kind of be seen as an OVA. The episode focuses on Shizu who gets summoned to a kingdom to exterminate a demon. While there, she meets another demon named Kuro who takes an interest in her after she hurts him (masochist). In the post credits, we see him actually take an interest in Rimuru. It’s an alright episode.
Episode 25 or 24.5 as some view it is just a recap episode as Veldora talks with Ifrit and teaches him how to play shogi (not sure if that’s one of the weirdest or coolest things I’ve seen in anime).
We do actually get an appropriate OVA which came out not that long ago. It starts with Shuna and Shion fighting over Rimuru. Rimuru gets the idea in his head that girls won’t fight so much if they both had a slime plushie that looks like him. Shuna can make the spandex but he’ll need a substance similar to polystyrene to make this work. He finds out that there’s something called sarasa a type of sand that’s just as smooth as Rimuru found in a lake deep within the forest that’s said to be the home of a dangerous monster (oh boy, a new friend). Rimuru goes to the lake inviting a number of notable characters. When they arrive, they have lunch where we get to see a new monster created by Shion. We get some fanservice by seeing the females in bikinis based off of Rimuru’s designs (my man. Or slime in this case). Of course we get to see the guys in swimsuits and speedos as well (Yume: My slime. I’m gonna grind me some meat on those abs). They swim to the center of lake where the sarasa is but along the way they get attacked by the monster of the lake (Yume: Hey look, it’s the Loch Ness monster). Well I didn’t think it was possible, but they actually found a way to work in a tentacle scene into this anime (bravo). Rimuru goes to face the monster where we out it went berserk after tasting Shion’s riceball (that poor creature). Rimuru heals the creature where it returns to normal and discovers that it’s blind and is lonely. Rimuru befriends the monster and promises to come and visit it in the near future. In the end, Rimuru gets the sarasa and makes the plushies for the girls but they still fight over Rimuru (Yume: There’s no substitute for the real thing).
Final Thoughts
(Nitsuj): Guys, what can we say about this series that hasn’t been said already?
(Yume): It’s fantastic. A complete masterpiece of an anime that reinvents the isekai genre and shows us that there’s still a lot to be explored and discovered with this genre.
(Nitsuj): The series can be funny, creative, exciting, and heartwarming. I really do enjoy all of the characters in this anime. Rimuru is hands down the best and has become one of my favorite anime characters. This is how you do an OP character in an isekai anime. Despite Rimuru being OP he has a personality to him. He’s noble, goofy, a little perverted, easy-going, and is totally relatable. His reactions to everything that happens to him are all genuine and great. Some people have complained about him not really having a goal or objective like other isekai protagonists out there but here’s the deal, Rimuru isn’t your typical isekai protagonist. He’s an adult, not a teenager. He’s not on this big quest of self-discovery, trials or worth. He’s been through life, he’s had his trials, and knows the person he is. In the end all he wants to do is just live a peaceful life in this new world with those he cares about. He just keeps getting roped into dire situations that require him to take action and bust heads. I said this before in the past, but Rimuru is basically an adult version of Kirby.
(Yume): While the world Rimuru is pretty basic, it’s what they do with their inhabitants that really sets it apart from other isekai worlds. For starters, not all the monsters are evil and display a level of intelligence. The goblins and orcs which are viewed as some of the most ruthless monsters out there are all peaceful and weak creatures. The ogres who are seen as a violent race who value brute force over everything else are well-mannered, strategic, smart, and are skilled in the arts of magic, ninjutsu, and swordplay. Instead of one demon lord there’s multiple demon lords who are different from each other. Some are straight up evil, others are childish and easy to manipulate, and others are sneaky and constantly plotting. This anime shows us that just like humans are capable of good and evil so too are monsters. This could have easily been a black and white world but instead they actually show us how everyone can be in the gray area of life.
As far as animation goes it’s really not all that impressive but it does look good and the fight scenes are nice as well. Although some fight scenes are better than others and they do downplay a few from the novel, they’re still good with action and strategy. Throw in a good soundtrack and you have a fantastic anime with no faults.
(Nitsuj): Well except for one. The last arc of the season with Shizu’s kids is very rushed as they left out a lot of stuff they knew they couldn’t fit into the season and just wanted to end the season on a high note with the kids being saved. While a nice note to end the season on, I really did want to learn about these kids such as what they were like in our world, what were their initial reactions being bought to this world, how did they meet Shizu, what would they like to accomplish in this world, and just seeing them slowly build a relationship with Rimuru. All this was stuff I really wanted to see and feel that they could have used episodes 24 and 25 to work that in and keep the Shizu story as an OVA.
Final Score
(Nitsuj): My final score for this anime is a 9.5/10.
(Yume): My final score is a 10/10 with a must watch paw of approval. While I agree the last arc of the season was rushed it didn’t ruin the experience for me and I believe they’ll make up for this in the second season.
(Nitsuj): That’s right folks, in 2020 this series will be picking up where it left off. Just imagining what happens next in this great series gets me excited and I can’t wait to see what happens next. If you haven’t watched this anime yet definitely see it. It was the best anime in 2018 and it’ll go down as being one of the best isekai animes out there.
(Yume): Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj. So Nitsuj, what’s next for you?
(Nitsuj): Well this review has inspired me to take a look at another great isekai anime that revitalized the genre.
(Yume): Really? Which one?
(Nitsuj): Oh I think you know which one it is. Till next time.
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