English Dub Review: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime “The Nations and Invitations”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Rimiru continues organizing the festival while Elmesia, the ruler of the Sorcerous Dynasty of Thalion, considers joining the festivities.

OUR TAKE

After an odd week off, we’re back to Slime and…we are really not continuing on this new arc on a very strong foot, are we. Like, say what you will about the first half of this season, I sure as hell have the past few months, but at least there was a well telegraphed direction that it was going. The way it managed time getting there was not really used to its best ability, but the end point was clear: It was all building up to a much anticipated showdown between Rimiru and Hinata, the two other worlders on opposite sides of the conflict. This was also bolstered by the reminders of Rimiru’s recent ascension to Demon Lord and the goal of growing Tempest into a monster-friendly country, which Hinata’s side at least seemingly opposed. And maybe it’s because it’s a bit too early on to tell, but I can’t read what this arc about a festival is going to be leading to. I mean, besides it leading to a big festival that is done with the purpose of inviting people to come see Tempest is a viable country and then visit many more times forever and ever. There is certainly some potential in that premise for interesting storytelling, but we haven’t really seen that tapped into within these first two episodes.

As for what that potential storyline could lead to? Well, there are a few different possibilities. We could see the plans for the festival end up inadvertently leading to a territorial dispute that jeopardizes the fun by triggering anti-monster sentiment and has to be quelled by some big character moment. Or maybe it isn’t accidental and is instead manipulated by forces outside the kingdom like how the big fight with Hinata almost got way worse. Or perhaps there are machinations that try to use the upcoming fighting tournament to cause chaos towards the same ends. Those are just some of many different story avenues that I would be willing to get behind, but for some strange reason I haven’t seen any nods or hintings towards that or…really ANYTHING at this point, other than the fact that they’re currently putting together an arena and labyrinth AND there’s a new character coming to throw on the pile of other weakly developed characters. Still, we’ve got eleven episodes to go, so perhaps things can get some momentum going before it’s too late.