Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well April is here which means the new spring anime about to drop and one anime I’m excited for his Reincarnated as a Slime. While the second season wasn’t as good as the first season I still consider this one of my favorite isekai animes out there. This idea could have easily failed and been another generic OP isekai anime but the author made the characters interesting and gave us a fun story to follow. Between season 2 and season 3, 8-Bit decided to release an OVA series as well as movie to keep the series fresh in people’s mind. The OVA went unnoticed by many but the movie did get people’s attention. Dubbed the Scarlet Bond, it was released in 2022 and did alright at the box office to become Japan’s 10th highest-grossing film that year. Reviews were mixed and technically this is canon as it was written by the author themselves. Let’s enjoy some more slime. This is Scarlet Bond.
The movie begins with them stimulating flying through the air (feels like I’m on a rollercoaster) before we see a group of ogre mercenaries being attacked by goblins. One by one the ogres are defeated (oh the humiliation) except for one who manages to kill them all before getting taken out by a masked soldier who leaves him for dead. The ogre gets rescued and taken to the kingdom of Raja where their queen, Towa, gives him the name Hiiro to help him recover from his injuries and make him stronger. When he finds out he’s been out for 10 days, he rushes out to the ogre village only to discover that it’s too late. The village was destroyed by the orcs (during their hunger march. If it’s any consolation, we got some bacon for you). Four days later he returned to Raja swearing loyalty to Towa and vowing to get revenge on the orcs who took everything from him. Fast forward to the Tempest Federation and we see Geld get attacked by Hiiro and his men who believe them to be spies targeting Tempest. At first, Geld fights back but when he finds out Hiiro is a survivor from the village he drops his sword and accepts his punishment (this is actually a good moment as it really gives us insight into Geld’s mind. He’s still haunted by the past deeds of the orcs. Despite all the good he’s done in his mind it’s still not enough to make up for the past and is even prepared to offer his life as penance to any ogre that he and his clan wronged. I can’t help but wonder if he offered the same act of penance to Benimaru and the others?). Benimaru arrives just in time to save him and we find out that he and Hiiro are childhood friends. Once Benimaru explains that they squashed their beef with the orcs, Hiiro’s anger resides and he apologizes for blindly attacking (don’t be, you had every right).
That night, they invite Hiiro back to Tempest where we find out that he and 10 other ogres left the village in the hopes of making money. They became mercenaries and got employed by Clayman, but when they heard the village was about to be attacked they deserted his army. Clayman didn’t take too kindly to the desertion and sent assassins to kill Hiiro and the others which led to him getting rescued by Towa and brought to Raja. Hiiro came to Tempest in the hopes of asking them for help. In the past, Raja was a prosperous country that specialized in mining gold but the caves have now gone dry and their lake filled with toxins caused by the mining. In order to save her people, Towa uses a tiara to purify the lake and is now infected by the poison that will slowly kill her each time she uses the tiara’s power to purify the lake. Rimuru agrees to help and goes to visit Raja with Benimaru, Shion, and Shuna. He meets Towa and examines the tiara in the hopes of finding a cure for her but only the person who put the curse on the crown can remove the poison from Towa’s body. If she stops using the crown she’ll gradually recover but with the lake becoming toxic all the time that seems impossible. Luckily, Rimuru investigates the lake and reveals that the toxins aren’t coming from the mine but instead a hidden structure within the lake producing the toxin (sounds very Zelda). Rimuru destroys the structure purifying the lake and the kingdom celebrates that night (free booze for everyone).
The next day we meet Lacua a merchant who was behind the poisoning of the lake in order to earn the praise of a primordial demon named Violet. Wanting to cause chaos, Lacua poisons the lake again forcing Towa to use the tiara to save everyone and causing her to collapse. As if that wasn’t bad a neighboring kingdom takes advantage and attacks Raja to steal their gold. Rimuru prepares the troops while Diablo (Rimuru’s number one fanboy) returns to the underworld to confront Violet and get the curse removed. Back in Raja, Lacua tricks Hiiro into swallowing a dark orb that turns him into a rampaging fire ogre. Benimaru fights against Hiiro while Rimuru and Ranga pursue Lacua (where he’s definitely showing off that Saiyan mentality. If Rimuru wanted to he could have killed that guy at any time). Diablo confronts Violet who reveals that she gave the tiara to the royal family of Raja as part of some twisted game. In the event a member of the royal family becomes fully inflicted by the curse poison, Violet gets possession of their body so that she can be reborn into the world. For years she’s been waiting for someone to get inflicted and it looks like Towa will be the one to end this game. However, Lacua’s interference violates the contract. He was only supposed to observe, not interfere thus nullifying the contract (and demons are serious about their contracts. This is why all lawyers go to Hell). Violet severs her ties with Lacua and Rimuru kills him. Rimuru’s army manages to push back the neighboring kingdom’s army and Hiiro regains his senses and pulls out the dark orb himself (time to use the finger in mouth technique). Sadly, the orb has destroyed his body and he begins to fade away but Towa sacrifices her life using the tiara to save him. Her body vanishes and becomes Violet’s new body, but she knows this was an unfair game and thus gives the body back to Towa allowing her to be revived and fully healed. We end the movie with them finding a large deposit of iron ore beneath the castle and Rimuru buying it from them (you can always use iron ore). Everyone returns to Tempest where they see the place is a wreck thanks to Veldora and Milim’s roughhousing (so, what did we learn today? (Yume): Never leave two non-housebroken dragons alone in your kingdom).
Final Thoughts
And that was the Scarlet Bond and it’s okay. It’s nothing really special. The movie does feel like another arc in the anime and that’s it. Seeing another ogre survivor is nice and while the ending of Hiiro and Towa both surviving is a little corny I’m happy for them and the reason they live is valid and makes sense. The animation is decent. Near the final act you can see where the budget for this movie went into. My biggest complaint is that these villains suck. There is nothing remotely interesting about them. Aside from Violet who has a code of honor, these villains do nothing for me. Same with the fights, they do nothing for me. I was hoping Benimaru and Hiiro’s fight would be epic but nope, their fight didn’t do much for me at all.
Final Score
The final score for Scarlet Bond is a 6/10. If you liked the anime I think you’ll like this movie. While not as good as the anime there are a few enjoyable moments and it feels like you’re watching an extended episode. Will there be more movies down the line? I’m sure there will be and it’ll be better than the first one. Hopefully. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.