English Dub Review: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime “Gabiru is Here!”

Gordon Ramsey would be horrified.

Overview (Spoilers Below!)                                         

Shuna teaches the dwarves to weave magical silk while Shion starts her new job as Rimuru’s secretary slash bodyguard, and the two kijin fight over who gets to spend time with Rimuru. Shion prepares lunch, and Rimuru realizes that she’s a horrific cook. They psyche themselves up to eat her creepy concoction, but they end up just feeding it to Gobta, who… dies?

Meanwhile, Gabiru has recruited 7,000 goblins to his cause. He plans to defeat Rimuru so that he can gain command over the direwolves. Kurobe and Kaijin talk forging while Rimuru looks on, unable to find a good time to leave. Rigord warns Rimuru about the lizardmen; Benimaru, Shion, and Hakuro accompany them.

Gabiru makes a dramatic entry, declaring that Rimuru’s village will now serve under him against the orcs. Rimuru summons Ranga, who frightens the lizardmen with his enormous size. Gobta shows up, having survived Shion’s lunch with his “poison resistance” skill, and Ranga forces him to fight Gabiru. Motivated by fear of Shion’s cooking, Gobta decimates him. The others praise Gobta’s skill at fighting, and the lizardmen flee.

Souei spies on the orc army, reporting back that there are 200,000 orc soldiers. Rimuru tells everyone that Gelmud or Leon might be behind it. Benimaru believes there’s an orc lord involved. Suddenly, the dryad Treyni appears in the center of the meeting room to ask Rimuru for help defeating the orc lord.

Our Take

This episode is made up of disjointed bits of filler, and none of them are particularly funny. Of course, the worst offender is the drawn-out and melodramatic plot about Shion’s cooking—even Rimuru acknowledges that it’s a tired and uncreative plotline. “Don’t tell me this is gonna be that overused trope,” they moan. “The one where the seemingly skilled hot woman turns out to suck at cooking.” If the writers knew the trope was overdone, then why use it? Pointing out that something is cliché and boring doesn’t suddenly make it a brilliant narrative choice!

And like Shion’s overcooked lunch, so many of the jokes in this episode are overdone to death. I’m not entertained by watching girls fight over Rimuru, by watching people freak out about Shion’s boobs, by watching Rimuru insult and abuse Gobta and basically not care whether the goblin lives or dies. And the running gag that Gabiru’s men constantly build up his ego to the point where he’s grossly overconfident? Occasionally, it’s amusing to watch a lizardman shout “Yay!” or Gabiru strike a dramatic pose, but again, all of this would be a lot more entertaining if the lizardmen ever made any facial expressions at all.

The comedy highlight of this episode is definitely Great Sage’s wry commentary. Rimuru fears that Shion’s cooking is actually alive, and Great Sage cheerfully responds, “A simulacrum: the tendency to see a face in anything with three distinctly visible points.” When Rimuru begs for advice on how to survive this meal, Great Sage offers, “Answer: if you close your eyes and insert the spoon at an angle to your right, you are less likely to die.” I chuckled a little when Rimuru says that Gabiru “seems kind of dumb,” when they declare, “Rest in peace, Gabiru!” and when the lizardmen are literally frozen in shock at Gobta’s victory.

And his success is gratifying to watch. After ten episodes of Rimuru basically torturing poor Gobta, I’m glad he gets some modicum of dignity.

The animation in this episode is reasonably successful. Rimuru’s slime form stretches and wraps up in amusing sequences, and Treyni’s appearance is accompanied by a gorgeous green light. But—ugh. Rimuru believes that dryads are sexy ladies for them to fawn over, and once again, they manage to be right. Just once, couldn’t one of Rimuru’s fantasies stay inside their head? I’m excited to see what Treyni will bring to this cast, but I also don’t think I can sit through another minute of Rimuru drooling over boobs. There’s a war going on, dude! Keep it in your slimy pants.