English Dub Season Review: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime – Visions of Coleus

The Slime Train shows no signs of slowing down as That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime barrels towards its third proper season in Spring 2024. With the smash success of the first season came a buttload of further material, such as numerous OVAs, an obligatory comedic spin-off, and a feature film on top of a second full season (that got delayed due to the pandemic). And as we wait for that third season, fans need something to tide them over, so why not a three part side story taking place between the first two seasons? What a good rhetorical question that was. Anyway, yeah, that’s what we’re getting. Adapted from a…manga? Light Novel? Something? Well, it’s unclear what exactly it’s adapted from, but it was apparently divided amongst the four blu-rays of Season 2 in some form before being adapted into animation in three parts. It taking place between the first two seasons puts it in a specific point in the timeline, which might be pretty interesting…if I had watched either of those seasons aside from a scant few side stories and the movie. I don’t know why I keep getting thrown into the Slime Hole™ when I don’t have all that much insight on the franchise itself, but okay, I guess.

Without much in the way of prior context to work with, I instead must look at this story on its own to see if it feels self-contained enough to work. The plot focuses on protagonist Rimiru being tasked to oversee a growing civil conflict within a neighboring country, with two brothers vying for power and gaining factions as their sister lies sick and blind in bed. It soon becomes clear that something bigger is going on, forcing Rimiru and his team to take action and get to the bottom of things. So, is this self-contained enough that you could just jump into this story with no problems? Well, of course not, this is pretty much just for fans of the highest dedication, as with any interquel. But I can say that these three episodes do have a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end, resolving the problems of the characters introduced in them. The problem is that, as this takes place between two seasons, it can’t change the story that has already been established in the second, effectively making whatever happens in it a filler arc. Normally that would be a strike against it if it were placed in the middle of the season, but being a separate set of episodes means it is very clearly supplemental, which is a plus.

All in all, if you’re looking for more Rimiru and friends and don’t really care what they’re doing, this is certainly not the worst way to spend your time. It’s basically another movie like Scarlet Bond (also a story that takes place between seasons), just split up into chunks instead of one large ninety minute thing. It also seems like it sets up or hints at things that may be addressed in later seasons, since they have the hindsight to do so, but it’s hard for me to confirm this considering I have not seen either season. But there’s three and a half months until that season premieres, so hey, maybe I’ll bite the bullet and go through it all in chronological order, now that I have a clear list to work from. This show has been popular for half a decade now, so certainly there’s gotta be some clear appeal to it. And even if there isn’t, it couldn’t be worse than some of the stuff I’m actually watching!