English Dub Review: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime “The Great Clash”

A bat’s eye view.

Overview (Spoilers Below!) 

Rimuru, Ranga, some goblins, and the ogres ride towards the lizard village to form a treaty. Souei spies a lizardman guard fighting an orc, and Rimuru orders him to help out. Rimuru arrives with reinforcements, but Souei has already slaughtered all the orcs on his own. Rimuru heals the lizard with a potion, and she begs for their help—she’s Gabiru’s sister. Once again, Shion jumps the gun and accepts the offer for them. Rimuru forges an alliance. Souei departs to rescue the lizard chieftain.

On the battlefield, orcs surround Gabiru’s army, and Gabiru discovers their “starving” skill. Gabiru faces down an orc with a terrifying aura, and Gabiru assumes that he’s the orc lord, but the orc reveals that he’s merely a general; the lord is far more powerful. Meanwhile, Laplace gloats to Gelmud—but they’re interrupted by Treyni. She uses the skill “aerial blade” to slice off Laplace’s arm, declaring that these men are a disruption in her forest. In a puff of smoke, Laplace and Gelmud vanish, escaping from Treyni’s grasp.

Gabiru and the orc general battle it out one-on-one. Although Gabiru puts up a valiant fight, the orc general’s power is too much for him. The orc swings his axe down at Gabiru’s head—but it’s stopped by Gobuta’s club!!! Huge explosions set off across the battlefield, burning large numbers of orcs to a crisp. Benimaru is setting them off, finally achieving his revenge. Ranga growls, and tornados strike down from the clouds, sweeping up orcs by the hundreds. Lightning strikes the orc general, ripping him apart. Ranga evolves into a tempest star wolf, growing another horn. Shion and Hakuro slice through some more orcs. Rimuru watches the whole scene from above, now sporting bat wings.

In the caves, Souei easily kills dozens of orc guards, freeing the lizard chieftain and gifting him a potion. They escape together—but a massive orc general blocks their path. Souei instantly immobilizes him with his thread, bursting him into a million pieces. Souei sends a threatening message to the majin in charge of the orcs. Gelmud laments his failure and forms a new plan, fearing death at the hands of an elegant man drinking wine in a gothic castle. Rimuru puts on their mask and heads down to defeat the orc lord.

Our Take

Reading through the summary I just wrote up, this episode sounds a lot more epic than it felt while I was watching it. Ultimately, conflict is what keeps a story moving, what provides intrigue and prevents it from growing stale. And while, on paper, there’s plenty of conflict here—the episode is dubbed “The Great Clash,” after all—Rimuru’s army defeats the orcs so soundly that there’s no struggle at all. Rimuru’s side suffers no losses, and no one appears to suffer any fatigue after unleashing massive, world-shaking attacks. It’s all just too easy. Why was Rimuru so worried about this battle? Why bother to strategize? The war was won before it even begun.

I guess I have to be careful what I wish for. I thought I wanted characters other than Rimuru to have chances to shine, but in this episode, it’s just confusing—why doesn’t Rimuru contribute to this battle at all? I thought fleshing out some other characters would help to make Rimuru feel less OP, but instead, we’re just adding more characters—Benimaru, Ranga, Souei—to the list of ridiculously overpowered figures. Their new powers come out of nowhere—we’ve never seen Benimaru make explosions before, or Ranga produce literal tornadoes—and before this episode, I had no idea that monsters were capable of evolving on their own, without being named. It’s admittedly satisfying to watch Gobuta save Gabiru’s ass, but honestly? Gabiru is the only character here who’s convinced me he’s brave enough to fight even at the risk of losing.

When Treyni faces down Laplace and Gelmud, the opposite problem presents itself. Exciting, 8-bit style music begins to swell as Treyni pulls out a truly epic attack—but before she can finish, Laplace and Gelmud vanish, ending the battle before it’s even really begun. Will I ever get to see a cool, evenly matched fight play out on this show?! Trenyi’s druid powers are so tonally different than nearly every other character, and I’m frustrated we don’t get to see more of what she can do. For an extremely powerful and passionate woman, she sure gives up easily, shunting all the responsibility onto Rimuru after just one setback (I mean, she must have had some method of finding Gelmud in the first place, right? Why couldn’t she just do that again?).

In more positive news… Rimuru’s new wings are cool. The animation while Gelmud soars through the sky is fun and inventive, and I love the over-the-top gothic nature of the new character Gelmud’s afraid of. He’s like a campy anime Dracula, and it seems like he’ll be a great time.

So is this episode terrible? Nah. If you like watching cool anime characters decimate pigs, then you are going to love this. But if you’re looking for excellent comedy or compelling plot-lines, then you’re not going to find that here.

 

Score
6.0/10