English Dub Review: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime “Evil Creeps Closer”

Where’s Scylla, anyway?

Overview (Spoilers Below!)

Around a campfire in the woods, Phobio rages about Milim’s attack but also laments his own behavior. He and his second-in-command wish they’d tried to establish diplomatic relations with Rimuru. Tear and the harlequin Footman appear out of the woods, offering Phobio control over Charybdis in order to defeat Milim. Phobio accepts and resigns from the Beastsketeers, sending his subordinates home without him.

Milim, Shion, and Shuna hang out in the bath, arguing over who won their breath-holding contest. In another bath, Rimuru is pissed off that Fuze has just been relaxing instead of helping with their plan. They remind Fuze that Youm and his group have left to build their reputation. Fuze reveals that he’s already laid all the groundwork to make Youm seem like a champion. Rimuru woud like to build a road to Blummund and asks Fuze to introduce them to someone who can help with trading advice.

Phobio and the harlequins stand outside Charybdis’s cave. Footman admits that, in order to gain power from the beast, Phobio will need to take Charybdis into his body and merge into one being. Phobio determines to do it anyway.

Cabal, Erin, and Gido help Milim transport the remains of another giant crab. Treyni’s younger sister Trya appears with a warning: Charybdis has indeed been revived, and it’s heading for this town. She explains that Charybdis is related to Veldora, and Rimuru worries that’s the reason for the monster’s approach. Charybdis has the power to summon megalodons from the spirit world, and thirteen have inhabited the dragon corpses left out by Tear. Milim says she’ll take on the monster, but Shuna and Shion insist that Rimuru should handle this on their own (why though??).  Rimuru tells the humans that they’re an otherworlder like Shizu and announces their plan to take down Leon—but first, Charbydis.

Our Take 

And so our friends prepare for yet another battle against another calamitous foe. Despite the fact that this episode is merely buildup for what’s to come, it’s reasonably entertaining and seems necessary for the story to progress.

I’m surprised by the maturity Phobio displays in the episode’s opening scene. After charging into Rimuru’s town full of haughty ideals about subjugating the natives, it’s pretty big of him to admit to his mistake and reflect on how he could have behaved better. However, instead of resolving to become a better man, Phobio’s storyline devolves into a cliché and not particularly interesting revenge plotline, where he’s predictably obsessed with becoming stronger. I’m not totally sure how Phobio thinks he’ll be able to make it up to Rimuru by taking down Rimuru’s self-proclaimed “bestie,” and it’s weird that he’s so apologetic to Rimuru but so hateful towards Milim. Plus, I’d love to see more of his companions—the smaller two don’t speak at all in this episode, and I want to know what their deal is. If they’re not going to do anything, why even include them in the show? (Answer: they have cute animal ears which flop down when they’re disappointed with Phobio’s actions. Is it plot-necessary? Not at all. Is it cute? You betcha.)

Milim, too, continues to be adorable in this episode. Her new casual attire includes a cute overalls-dress and a necklace shaped like Rimuru themself (I kind of want one of those?). Her boisterous enthusiasm for all things continues to endear her to me. I really don’t understand why Rimuru decides not to accept her offer of help in the upcoming battle, though. Their given argument is “I guess Charybdis is after me, so it’s not fair to rely on Milim,” but it’s not like Rimuru would be forcing Milim to do a favor against their will—she proposed her services eagerly and seemed very upset when Rimuru turned her down. It seems like a way too obvious excuse to write Milim out of the picture so that the battle will be more difficult for Rimuru—and therefore more exciting to watch. While I’m glad the battle won’t be over in one blow, surely the writers could have thought of a more believable reason Milim can’t get involved.

This episode’s production value is reasonably successful. We see some highlights of the new town—various streets, a fountain, the baths—which are animated attractively. Sonny Strait’s performance as the weird clown Footman is just weird enough. The scene with Fuze, though, initially left me scratching my head, because I couldn’t for the life of me remember who he was. It’s an unfortunate symptom of the number of characters in this show—when Phobio, Youm, and Fuze all show up at the same time, I’m bound to lose track of at least one of them in the shuffle, and it’s not like Fuze has ever been an interesting character in any way.

This episode still doesn’t bring back the laugh-out-loud humor of this show’s first few installments, and Rimuru’s anachronistic slang feels a little forced here. But this story does successfully build tension and set the stage for a new battle to come.

Score
7.0/10