That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Tensei Shitara Suraimu Datta Ken) is an anime series from 8-Bit, it is directed by Yasuhito Kikuchi and Atsushi Nakayama, produced by Yōhei Itō and Shigeto Sugimoto, and written by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime started as (and continues to be) a fantasy light novel series written by Fuse, and illustrated by Mitz Vah. It also recieved a manga adaptation, which is written by Fuse but with art by Shō Okagiri.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime begins as the story of Satoru Mikami, a regular 37 year old office worker who lives in Tokyo. His life is rather mundane, but it’s not terrible, he has his complaints but he’s overall content with it. Everything is ordinary for Satoru – until he gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong, gets stabbed protecting his kohai (his junior at work), and dies. As he’s dying though, Satoru hears a voice, and in his delirious state from blood loss, he doesn’t question it responding to his thoughts, thoughts that lead to his reincarnation in another world as, you guessed it, a slime.
As a slime, Satoru is virtually useless, until he meets and befriends the Storm Dragon, Veldora. After they forge a friendship and agreement, Veldora gives Satoru his new name: Rimuru, and in return, Rimuru gives Veldora a family name: Tempest, and so Rimuru Tempest absorbs Storm Dragon Veldora Tempest. And by absorbs I mean Rimuru’s predator ability is slowly destroying the magical prison Veldora is trapped in and eventually he’ll spew Veldora back out. Anyway, forming this bond with Veldora makes Rimuru INCREDIBLY strong, and it also makes him a target for other monsters who want dominance over the forest. The story really takes off once Rimuru meets a small goblin village and helps them defeat an invading force and also begin to grow and establish themselves into a real town. It becomes Rimuru’s goal to see the village flourish and grow, but through his adventures, he meets other creatures who seek his aid and eventually join his growing kingdom. In particular, Rimuru meets a woman, a hero, named Shizu, who gifts him more than just her incredible power. But you’ll have to watch her story yourself. It’s a real sad one, just to warn you.
This show has a lot going on in it, and all surrounding this unlikely and crazy over-powered central character that’s a cute little slime. It makes it a unique fantasy story among all of the fantasy anime that exist out there. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always be a fan of the chosen hero that saves the world with his or her sword that slaughters enemies, but it’s a nice change of pace for the hero to be an adorable blob that can shapeshift and has various awesome abilities to call upon, all coming from different creatures he’s killed and absorbed. For a show with such an adorable protagonist, it’s actually pretty bloody. And while Rimuru is kind and good, he isn’t afraid to do what’s necessary, he isn’t afraid to kill. He does try to avoid killing, but if reasoning doesn’t work, he will kill without remorse. Which I like because, man, I do get really sick of the tragic hero that has a whole mental breakdown over killing someone who was evil incarnate.
The show is not without its faults, a little over halfway through this first season, the show definitely hit a lull. While it is really cool to watch Rimuru use his abilities, he didn’t have anyone he actually had to work hard to beat for a stretch. And then there was the whole thing with Shizu’s students and that was sweet and all, but honestly, it got a little boring. However, the final episode offered us a new foe, who seems like he’ll be quite the obstacle for Rimuru considering how easily he beat Shizu in the past. I’m really excited to see him, and to learn more about the person Rimuru fights in the intro who we saw skulking about after Rimuru left the school.
OVERALL SCORE: 8 / 10
