English Dub Review: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: “A Meeting of Humans and Monsters”

Overview: Rimuru (Brittany Karbowski), at long last meets with King Dwargo (Bill Butts) and Erald Grimwald to discuss where they stand.

Our Take: With this episode continuing to deal with their allies and enemies alike, the political/social challenges and consequences that Rimuru faces as leader of Tempest continue to be just as engaging as the external threats he faces. The hashing out of where certain allegiances stand was interesting, if not incredibly surprising, in how both the conversation between King Dwargo and Erald Grimwald reflects two different characteristics of their leadership in understanding how they approach situations from both a tactical mindset and an empathetic one as well. Seeing more of the effects of Rimuru’s upstanding moral character more than his combat ability is always a delight. On the other hand though, it’s nice that the story establishes meaningfully character building. They don’t just brush aside the mass murdering the slime committed to Falmuth’s army and instead embrace all of who Rimuru is as a person. And not just Dwargo and Grimwald but Rimuru himself. He chooses to fully accept what he did and has made peace with it. This shows that his choices are weighty and the consequences of those will be accordingly, especially as he grows in power and notoriety. 

Eventually, when the actual meeting of humans and monsters occurs, it, surprisingly and thankfully, delves into the issues that were apparent with Hinata Sakaguchi in her initial debut. She came off as nonsensically short-sided and while she made an impressionable impact, it always felt like a glaring shortcut for conflict between her and Rimuru. It is then when some Gazel and Grimwald’s accounts paint a very different person than the one Rimuru meets on the battlefield and then some scheming that’s afoot is revealed from none other than Shizu’s disciple, Yuuki Kagurazaka. This was a nice twist in I really wasn’t expecting him to factor in based on such little screen time and prominence he has had. But the execution after his ‘true’ character is pretty abysmal with some terrible exposition spouting garbage from Laplace that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Because rather than show us, you should tell us how scary and then we’ll all be quaking in our boots, right? With a battle between the Western Holy church and Tempest possibly on the horizon, the stage has been set for a monumental conflict. And if not with them then most assuredly with Clayman, a manipulated Malim and their forces who have knack for slimy meddling (pun not intended but I’ll take it).