English Dub Review: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime “Saint and Demon Clash”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Hinata and her group investigate towns impacted by Tempest and find that humans and monsters are truly beginning to live peacefully alongside one another. However, another of the Holy Saints was sent after Hinata in secret and, believing the only way to protect her is to defeat Rimiru, spark the first battle before Hinata can get there. She and Rimiru face each other down and prepare to move somewhere else for their battle.

OUR TAKE

Okay, the way this episode started off, I was a bit concerned we were going to get YET ANOTHER episode just about people sitting in rooms and talking about what to do next instead of actually doing anything. Thankfully, we got to some action near the end and, barring some sudden segue into another recap episode, we WILL be getting the much hyped battle between Rimiru and Hinata this time next week. But even if we didn’t get that assurance and this episode was mostly just Hinata touring the new Tempest territories and seeing the physical embodiment of what Rimiru is fighting for, that would already be a major improvement over what we’ve gotten. I don’t think I necessarily NEED to clarify this, but just in case I do, my increasing frustration with the last few episodes is not the lack of action action, but the lack of MEANINGFUL movement. Simply sitting around and making verbal assessment of what to do next has its literary use, as do big flashy fight scenes, but it’s moments like Hinata finding a ramen shop and eating Japanese food for the first time since she probably got to this world that are what tie all this together to make it mean something. It’s not just a sign that Rimiru’s ideas of coexistence may just be viable, but also a direct connection between him and Hinata as two Japanese people living on in this other world.

But of course, we were promised a big damn battle and by god, we’re getting one. So while the peaceful resolution is floated for a tempting amount of time, we can’t get there quite so easily, which is where Leonard (Reonard?) and his being manipulated by Seven Luminaries to kick the battle off before any proper negotiations can begin. This complicates things for both Rimiru and Hinata in an interesting way, with both feeling that they are forced to battle, but also both knowing there is definitely some necessity to do so. That said, the battle between them is most definitely the main event, with whatever small skirmishes between the other Saints and the forces led by Shion not really being all that interesting to watch on their own. So, with five episodes left in this first half of the season, it’s more than likely a lot of that will be focusing on the two friends of Shizu, the most powerful Saint and the gelatinous Demon Lord, fighting to an inch of their lives for their respective sides. And it all starts…next week.