Here’s your bunny girl excuse right here.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Sho Okagiri
Original Story: Fuse
Character Designs: Mitz Vah
Translation/Adaptation: Kevin Gifford
Lettering: Barri Shrager
What They Say
With all its innovations, the kingdom of Tempest-founded by the demon lord Rimuru-is a veritable paradise for travelers such as Framea, the rabbitfolk chief’s daughter. Framea has always had a nose for adventure, an inquisitive mind, and a knack for discovering and identifying the latest and greatest the world has to offer! Her notepad is open at all times, ready for any three-star delights she may encounter, so when Rimuru himself gives Framea a mission to catalog the area’s attractions, she’ll have her work cut out for her-and tons of stars to hand out!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’m going to start with a word of warning to Slime fans: This story takes place after volume 9 of the novels. Framea is introduced in passing in volume 8 of the novels but the events of this manga take place after the festival is over. So if you’re committed to not encountering any spoilers take that into account, because volume 9 of the novels comes out months after this manga!
Or I should say committed to not being confused because this series basically tosses you into a situation that only fans would understand. There’s no context for anyone new to the series and little to no background to clarify. Who is this bunny girl and why is all of this stuff so new and interesting to her?
The reader follows Framea as she takes in the sights, smells, food, and culture of Tempest. While I was hoping for an experience closer to English language travel and culture shows, what you get is more of a Japanese actress squealing vapidly over mundane delights. There’s nothing wrong with Framea herself, she’s perfectly adequate as our host… but I can’t help but feel that her guidebook entries are lacking in substance. The novels are exhaustive in their descriptions of everything, and this reads more like a pamphlet pocket guide than a Lonely Planet.
So what exactly does Framea experience in her journey? A new wardrobe, oodles of food, and an experience in the kingdom’s newest attraction, the labyrinth. For a timid bunny-girl, the more adventurous activities are far out of her comfort zone. Yet she puts aside her fears and takes in as much as she can. She is, after all, under the employ of the Great Demon Lord Rimuru to create a visitor’s guide. Work and play, together at last.
Taking a look at this from another angle, a slice-of-life one, is more apt. Yet it falls short there as well. Many of the characters in Slime are shallow, due in no part to how many characters there are in the series. This would have been a good time to flesh them out, and I honestly would have preferred a series of short stories focusing on the side-characters of the cast and giving them their own mini-adventures. While Framea does meet and interact with all of these characters, there are no additions to their personalities. They remain passing strangers who exist to serve their lord and master and not much else.
Okagiri’s artwork is entirely serviceable. That characters look a good deal cuter than their novel origins, as Okagiri has a much rounder, anime-style to their artwork. All of the cast are instantly recognizable. The moments of action are easy to follow and the cheesecake moments are harmless and not off-putting. (Case in point, Shion’s chest is actually reasonably sized! Shocking, I know!)
Kevin Gifford reprises his role as the translator for this manga, maintaining a level of consistency with the novel translations. (To a point, Yen always maintains a policy of honorifics in the manga translations, which are absent in the prose adaptations.) Of course, he has a lot less to work with here, but the character’s at least maintain their corresponding attitudes.
Overall, this release is perfectly fine from a technical aspect. No matter how proficient the skill involved, it still feels perfunctory.
In Summary
Monster Nation is all fluff, no substance. It is fan-service in its most original form consisting of a bunch of cameos, some light sexual pandering, and plenty of insider baseball. There are no threats, there is no conflict, it is just a travelog. Yet it lacks the wonder and wanderlust that the best travel and food shows employ to draw in viewers. We aren’t given any deeper insight into the main characters from the novel, making it emotionally vapid. Framea is a cute girl doing cute things but it’s not enough. There’s nothing here to recommend to non-Slime fans who are already at this point in the story, and Slime fans miss out on nothing by skipping this.
Content Grade: C +
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: July 21, 2020
MSRP: $13.00 US / $17.00 CAN
