English Dub Review: By the Grace of the Gods “First Time in Town, with the Slimes”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After traveling with the Jamil family through the forest, Ryoma and his companions reach the town of Gimul. He visits a church in order to gain a stats sheet, which is kind of like an ID card in the magic world. He meets with the gods again, who reassure him of his value and tell him about the history of Eliaria’s ancestors in the Jamil family.

Our Take:

After two episodes filled with monotony, the third episode of By the Grace of the Gods continues that pattern. It’s a boring episode filled with boring characters who have nothing better to do than cheer on a protagonist iron clad in overpowered plot armor.

Ryoma is out of his usual territory, so it would be a great opportunity to help make him a bit more relatable by giving him some doubts or some trials to get through in order to keep moving forward. Instead, we just hear more about how wonderful and powerful he is. He excels at everything from taming slimes to shooting arrows to hand-to-hand combat, and this makes him maybe the most boring lead I’ve ever had the displeasure of watching. When someone never fails, it makes their successes become meaningless, and that’s the case currently with Ryoma.

There are a few bright spots in this week’s episode. Ryoma’s encounter with the gods isn’t quite as fun as it was in the premiere, but it still provided a bit of levity in an otherwise dismal episode. It was also kind of interesting to learn about the long history these celestial beings have with transferring people into this world and the powers they’ve been granted while achieving big things.

After realizing how much raw magical potential this boy has, the Jamil family advises him to be careful. Apparently, those with an abundance of magic are often hunted in this world. I was hoping that Ryoma might meet a rival or a villain of some sort, but it looks like that is merely a tease for now. Besides, Ryoma would probably prove to be much too powerful for any would-be attackers. When he has to hit five targets in order to pass a guild test, he nails all of them right in the bullseye, of course.

It’s hard to be this harsh about such a passionless show, but that’s how I feel after going through three episodes. There’s just nothing noteworthy in this show that would make anyone want to watch it. The plot is not exciting, the one-note characters are all made of cardboard, and the slimes barely even make an appearance this week. It’ll certainly take the grace of the gods to get me through the rest of this season.