English Dub Review: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime “The Black Numbers; An Unsettling Feeling”
OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
Diablo recruits powerful demons to join Tempest under his command. Later, Rimuru visits the school and sees how Shizu’s old class are doing.
OUR TAKE
Double episode time, and it’s probably for the best because the first of these two episodes is pretty thin in terms of actual story. Just like last week, which saw Veldora picking out an assistant, this time it’s Diablo’s turn, so he decides to pick from some old acquaintances from his time among the demons. He recruits three who all have their own names already, but don’t bother learning them because Rimuru replaces them with the names of super cars like Diablo, so now they’re Testarossa, Ultima, and Carrera. Plus, those you saw the recent movie will recognize the blonde one, now Carrera, from the post-credit scene, apparently even just lifting that scene directly into the show. Or maybe they just put it in the movie but it was originally for the show? Either way, those three join Tempest, along with their hundreds of minions, and it doesn’t even take them any convincing or deal making whatsoever. They just meet Rimuru and feel how strong he is, and thus are instantly on board working for him. And considering none of them have much to their respective personalities besides a stock character trait, it just seems like they wanted to add more cute girls with undying devotion to the main character.
Luckily for me, that’s not all there is to talk about this week, as the following episode provides us with some clear set up for the next major arc of the story. Yuki and his usual forces are still plotting for their own gains, and it turns out one of those plans involves trying to negotiate with Demon Lord Leon Cromwell, who seems to have some specific familiarity with Chloe, one of the otherworlder kids that Shizu used to look after. See, there’s another connection to Shizu, but also apparently there’s an adult version of Chloe locked naked in glass where Luminous lives. Yuki takes note of interest while also next speaking to Granville, who himself is looking for Luminous as well in order to find her treasure (maybe Chloe?) and use it to exact revenge for Mariabel’s death. And because Yuki is just that big of a snake, he makes sure to tell Granville about how Mariabel died and he barely escaped with his life (not revealing that he’s the one who killed her and took her power), probably in hopes of these forces fighting so he can take out the winner, but at least he’s proving to be a smarter and more cunning villain than Mariabel did. So yeah, a solid start to his arc, and hopefully we’re down with these recruitment episodes that feel like they’re just twenty minute introductions for flat characters. There was no sub episode this week which means the dub will probably take a week off pretty soon too, but we’ll be back when it’s back.
