English Dub Review: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: “Octagram”

Overview: Rimuru (Brittany Karbowski) concludes his battle with Clayman (John Burgmeier) while also addressing other matters during the Walpurgis meeting with the other Demon Lords. 

Our Take: The power disparity between Rimuru and Clayman has been clear from the beginning, even before their battle began. Everyone and their mother knew that our slime had the advantage and, if you didn’t, then Shion casually using Clayman as target practice confirmed it. And if you are real stubborn Rimuru absorbing every magical attack Clayman throws at him should prove otherwise. There’s also a genuine satisfaction through the sheer simplicity of Rimuru unleashing an onslaught of punches and beating the absolute crap out of him. While it is fun enough, it is also an incredibly short lived fight (if you can even call it that) and leaves you wanting something grander, especially with Rimuru’s uptick in power with his ascension to a true Demon Lord. The commitment to Rimuru’s development makes the lessons he learned well-founded in how he does not disregard the threat of Kazalim, even when Malim reassures him that he is immensely more powerful.  

When Walpurgis does continue, it addresses some new topics and decisions, one of which had me scratching my head in Carrion choosing to serve as  subordinate under Malim. Frey doing so made a lot of sense considering how she always cared for Malim despite how it may have looked initially. However, with the ruler of Eurazania, it is weird because there’s never any real elaboration given on his part outside of his feeling that it’s necessary. Although, at the very least if we see more of his dynamic with Malim which is pretty comical with how playful and energetic she is. After Rimuru came up with the name of Octagram for the Demon Lords, a real sense of comradery is created by how Laplace grieves over Clayman’s demise, with the latter lamenting not heeding Laplace’s advice moments before his death. And while their reactions did more in establishing that, they would have benefited much more had they established more of their emotional connection and/or history beforehand, or at least taken the time after now that Walpurgis has concluded. That would have gone a much longer way in making the Moderate Harlequin Alliance feel more like a familial group and be taken more seriously than the jesting antagonists they have been up to this point. The ending feels very reminiscent of many anime endings with narration from Rimuru recapping his life up to this point and a fun reunion at Tempest of all of Rimuru’s citizens and friends. However, it leaves many threads undone with Kazalim still being a factor as well as Diablo and Youm’s arrival at the Kingdom of Falmuth creating a lot of exciting avenues that still need exploring for their 2022 movie or a hypothetical third season.