It’s a good thing this isn’t the show with the Goblin Slayer this season.
What They Say:
“Meeting the Goblins”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Most of the things worth mentioning about the second episode of Slime are the same as the first episode. The animation continues to stand out as perhaps the most remarkably intricate element of the series, and even manages to deliver some of the finest animation of the season thus far, faced with some significant competition by the one-week mark. The lion’s share of the credit goes to Ryouma Ebata, a long-time animator known for singlehandedly churning out masterpieces of OP animations. Ebata takes on Slime not only as a key animator for many of its slickest cuts in these two episodes and the man responsible for most of the big jobs on the OP but also as the character designer and chief animation director of the series, giving the entire production his masterful aesthetic and ensuring a level of quality that will keep the series delightful to watch from a purely visual perspective.
The continued cuts to highly stylistic text screens are always fascinating, and probably the aspect that surprises me the most. There’s no real reason for so much work to be put into making each one unique, especially when they’re not even related to the Great Sage and therefore don’t require such a cut-away at all. I suppose it’s yet another example of the staff being able to make everything look the best they can, whether it’s through animation or purely effects applied to a text-focused scene. I certainly can’t complain, as I find them fascinating and appreciate them greatly from a design perspective.
After Rimuru receives their name and finishes a highly amusing discussion with Veldora (whose name seems to have been brought into line with the previous translations in the subtitles from this episode), the exploration of this new world can begin! The occasional inclusion of chiptunes for scenes that evoke a particular sensation of classic JRPGs continues to scratch that nostalgic itch in a way that I haven’t quite found in anything else.
In fact, the series of scenes in which Rimuru explores the cave call to mind the joy of playing simple but lovingly-crafted JRPGs of old like little else. There have been several new anime series taking place in fantasy worlds highly inspired by such games, some explicitly dealing with a game and some not, some isekai and some not. But while so many of those revolve more around modern MMO complexity and occasionally even get bogged down in stat specifics, this is a rare exception that truly captures the wonder of exploring the well-realized world of a new RPG for the first time, full of skills more exciting for their ingenuity and the unique ways in which they could be used than for optimizing the very highest damage count or the like. To have this Slime in the player’s role instead of as an opponent gives it a humorous twist, but the breadth of expressiveness given to even this simplistic creature allows you to still relate to the fun that Rimuru is experiencing through this romp.
The depiction of Rimuru’s most important ability, Predator, in animation is especially intriguing to watch. To reference a few Japanese video game series of different styles, Rimuru is essentially the Slime from Dragon Quest with the shape-shifting of the Pokémon Ditto and the absorption ability of Kirby. Fortunately, the most interesting visual components of each are combined to form what we see throughout this episode. Rimuru doesn’t just suck up whatever they need; they have to spread out to the point of being able to cover the entire target, and then morph with them until they’re fully swallowed. Tying back to the dynamism of Rimuru’s physical self, this is an incredible process to watch, and each new enemy Rimuru comes across provides a slightly different twist on the formula.
The plot continues to move along at a less-than-rushed pace to allow for all of these fun moments, but there are still critical pieces of information dropped throughout. Rimuru’s action to remove Veldora from his eternal prison, for example, seemed rather minor at the time but was a very significant development for the world at large. It’s not time to dwell too much on the details of that just yet, but it does provide an important reminder that there’s a major society out there, and Rimuru’s actions will surely affect much more than is immediately apparent.
But the real progression made in this episode is through the introduction of the goblins, a creature bound to show up in any series like this, anywhere on the spectrum of good to evil. These ones are pitiable victims for Rimuru to save, and they quickly become the first major followers of this Slime with entirely more intimidating aura than such a weak-looking creature would be expected to have. Most of this is setup for the coming conflict with the Direwolves, but it’s already apparent that Rimuru will never truly be the weak Slime that the premise had set them up to be. This can be a little disappointing as that sounded like the thing that would most set this apart from the perpetual glut of isekai featuring all-powerful protagonists, but I think by this point it has proven itself to be much more than that.
In Summary:
Another episode passes without a whole lot happening in terms of sheer plot progress, but by no means does that mean that the series is protracted, much less is the episode wasteful. Instead, the developments continue to be accented with world-building that recaptures the captivating joy of playing a classic JRPG for the first time. Even with as many tropes as Slime piles on, it is still not quite like anything else, and the remarkably high production quality certainly doesn’t help its presentation.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
LG Electronics OLED65C7P 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick
