Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken First Impressions

“It amazed me that you would say such a thing after seeing me, but it turns out you can’t see me, eh? All right. I will give you sight.”

Ah, like the changing of leaves, one of the hallmark signs that it is now properly Fall is when the first isekai of the new anime season rolls out on its bulbous blue body and proudly proclaims, “I am here!” Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken, or That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, is a bit of an odd duck. I saw someone comparing the source material positively to Log Horizon, so I found myself more hopeful that I would have been had my anticipation been solely derived from the plot synopses I read. The concept of being trapped in another world has long been a staple of anime. Classics like The Vision of Escaflowne or The Twelve Kingdoms could both technically fall under the isekai category, but there has been a constant stream of them in the past few years. I’ve had the pleasure and displeasure of reviewing a few of them in the past few years, and there is a common question evoked whenever a new one is released, “What sets this one apart?” Fortunately, despite having a first episode that feels like it’s one part awkward video game tutorial, Reincarnated as a Slime seems to have a halfway decent answer to that question, even if it might be burying the lead a little.

Reincarnated as a Slime (Look, isekai series are entitled to their long-as-hell titles as long as I’m entitled to abbreviate them) follows the trials and tribulations of Mikami Satoru, a 37-year-old businessman and mildly frustrated virgin who finds himself randomly stabbed in broad daylight and dying on the street one day. Right off the bat, I took issue with the show’s handling of this event. In practice, it comes across as the show rushing to get to the other world setting. Maybe the attacker was magically influenced, but there isn’t anything hinting towards that, so it seems to just be a bizarrely brazen and random act of violence. As he loses consciousness, an unknown entity begins tallying abilities and resistances for him based upon his dying thoughts. He wakes up to find himself in a cave with no sense of sight or even a clearly defined physicality. As he explores his surroundings, he begins to learn more about the “skills” that had been bestowed upon him, and how he can apply them. This is not entirely unlike watching someone exploring their surroundings in Minecraft for the first time, though it helps establish Satoru’s abilities and limitations. From there, he meets an ancient dragon with a tsundere personality, and we learn a little more about how individuals can gain power by entering into that world, though doing so via regeneration is evidently unusual.

I may have rushed through that last section of the episode, but Verudora, the dragon, is such a fun character that going in blind might be for the best. I feel the animators did us a disservice by showing us his silhouette early on, as it ruins any potential surprise that could come from his identity as a powerful dragon. The production is crisp, but it doesn’t have much to do in this episode. There are only two locations. One is a rather generic city street and the other is a cave. I’m actually eager to see Satoru get out and interact with other people, as his role as a sentient slime seems like it would lead to some fun interactions. To top it all off, from what I understand, this is NOT a harem anime! Isekai have a bad habit of falling into the harem comedy genre, so it’s nice to see that this one isn’t tagged as such. Admittedly, claiming that something isn’t a ‘harem’ can be a pretty loose assertion since plenty of non-harem series still feature a plethora of females who are still drawn into our male leads orbit. Still, I find most of my anticipation is due to what I’ve heard about the series, and not what I’ve actually seen as of yet. I fear this show may be burying the lead, as we only have two major players in this first episode, and they spend most of their time on “Press A to Jump” level basics. As interested as I am in where it may go, as a starting point, this episode is just functional, and little more. I’m also a little wary of 8-Bit as a production company. The last time I encountered them was during my review of Rewrite’s premiere, and that initial exposure didn’t leave a positive impression.

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• I don’t necessarily envy the challenge that 8-Bit faced in adapting this opening installment of Reincarnated as a Slime. Satoru spends much of this opening episode completely blind, and as our point-of-view character that has some obvious stumbling points in a visual medium. I’m not fully on board with their handling of it though.
• The OP shown at the end of the episode depicts Satoru being able to transform into a human form, but I hope the show isn’t too quick to give him that ability, or that the ability comes with limitations. I don’t want to see this series undermining its own premise right out of the gate.
• Is it just me or does the music that plays while Satoru is learning about his abilities sound like music from a Pokemon game? It really hits home the tutorializing quality of the segment when it sounds like I’m about to leave Pallet Town.