This is the Gabiru Show.
What They Say:
“The Gears Spin Out of Control”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
In theory, the focus of this episode should be the arrival of the dryad Treyni and her request for Rimuru to lead an army against the Orc Lord and his overwhelming forces. Indeed, she is an elegant presence, and her decision to reveal herself before Rimuru and company for this purpose demonstrates both the gravity of the situation and the renown Rimuru has already accumulated as a powerful leader of reasonable creatures. As always, even someone of Treyni’s standing isn’t at odds with the general tone of the series as much as it might appear at first; it’s not long before she’s cutely popping potato chips into her mouth, and by that point, she feels like one of the gang. On the other hand, the eating habits of the Orcs in question are significantly less endearing; the Ogre brethren of the now-Kijin and even the Orcs’ own comrades have served as the food for the Orc Lord and his massive army as they fall, some perhaps earlier than that, as necessary. As gruesome as that sounds, though, Treyni is quick to remind Rimuru that their own tendency to consume enemies and occasionally even allies to gain their powers is hardly different; it just comes across as more acceptable when an adorable little slime uses their Kirby powers rather than an effectively infinite army of identical, mindless boar-people viciously chomping into the flesh of the colleagues they were only just fighting alongside.
Don’t let such heavy thoughts and potential moral dilemmas weigh too much on your mind, though. That may all be critical to the progression of the plot in this arc bridging the two cours of this adaptation, but all else is drowned out with the glory of Gabiru at hand. Yes, while Gabiru may not be as much of a focus as in the previous episode, he is by no means forgotten already, and it’s not long before we cut away to the buffoon that Rimuru shudders to imagine representing the Lizardmen at large. Gabiru’s defeat at the hands of Gobta has done nothing to humble or enlighten the former; instead, he puts his subordinates’ worries at ease by declaring Gobta to be the true leader of the goblin village. They pulled a dirty trick, of course! The fact that his men instantly believe this is obviously due to their stupidity that perhaps even outweighs that of their fearless leader, but to be fair, Gobta being the ruler and most powerful of the monster coalition is still substantially more believable than those roles belonging to a slime, so it’s not as if it would be an impossibility under different circumstances.
Gabiru isn’t just here for fun, though. Believing that the Lizardman chieftain must be a more sensible sort than his idiot son, Rimuru deems the Lizardman tribe worthy of allying with in the battle against the Orcs. Seeing the might, loyalty, and goodwill (until provoked) of the messenger Souei as well as the general impression that this would be equally beneficial for the Lizardmen, the wise chieftain accepts. It would be boring if everything worked out so easily, though, so our hero Gabiru is here to initial a hostile takeover and take the reins from his much wiser father and charge headlong into sure disaster. Such is the Gabiru factor; Rimuru’s ragtag team has become a well-oiled machine, and we can’t have everything be so organized. We need a little chaos to inject into the mix to see just how crazy this can all play out.
With 24 episodes announced since before the series began, this puts us at the halfway point, which always offers an interesting perspective to look at where we are and what we anticipate the second half accomplishing. In terms of the manga, we’re partway through volume 4, so we’re likely to cover the first seven volumes, perhaps touching on volume 8 by the end. As this is all released in English and I own it all, I can imagine which places would be chosen to finish the season on, and I could see them working well. I’ve been appreciating the pacing thus far; it’s never rushed but is always doing something new and fun with its time, so I have a good amount of faith in the second cour at this point.
In Summary:
As Rimuru starts to become a well-recognized leader of an organization, they remain highly likable but not always the center of hilarity. Fortunately, Gabiru has taken it upon himself to keep things chaotically fun, countering Rimuru’s high degree of competence with an undeserved amount of self-confidence and poor decisions that promise to keep us all on our toes. At the halfway point of the series, it’s nice to have.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
LG Electronics OLED65C7P 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick
