***BIG 'OL FUCKING SPOILERS FOR GURREN LAGANN AND TENSLIME BELOW***
I am surprised at how much I enjoy Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime) nine weeks into the fall season. It has my favorite ending of any currently airing show not about Fate & Food, and the way it has rationally mapped out its setup and genre trappings so far has been rather refreshing. 8bit's got a really good thing going, and while I wish the character designs were less cartoony they work, and give the story a distinct fantasy feel. What gives me a bit of pause moving forward is what gave me similar pause through nine episodes of Gurren Lagann. How do you keep me wanting to come back to your story after you kill my favorite character in it?
Imaishi's choice on TTGL was to strengthen Simon into a lead worthy of his own show, while adding a few solid supporting characters around the main cast as they grow into adults. Rimuru (Satoru?) doesn't seem to be undergoing a Simon-esque character arc anytime soon, so TenSlime seems to be banking on these orcs and perhaps a few more miscellaneous players - who wants to bet it'll just be all the people that come out in the ED? - to replace the irreplaceable Shizu.
Shizu E first appears in the story from afar, declared to be Satoru's (Rimuru's?) soulmate/unmei no hito. Given that this is an isekai light novel adaptation, I doubt I was the only one to fear some drawn out will-they-won't-they amid a torrent of harem applications from goblin babes. But Shizu is actually the girl from the very first scene in the show, already close to eighty years old and on the brink of death, not to mention losing her eternal battle to the flame demon living inside her. Shizue's arc is grounded as hell and packed to the brim with nuance and feel, far from the half-baked, regurgitated slosh I have come to expect from so many isekai. Her passing is done with a surprisingly delicate touch, but considering she was far and away my favorite character in the show it is only natural for me to temper my enthusiasm. I would certainly not be surprised if it turns out they blew their load all at the start - á la Re:Zero - but I am hopeful that the quality can stay high.
Now, we are getting a whole two cour, and a show has a much better chance of surpassing my expectations with fifteen episodes to go than with three. Plus, that one twin-tailed girl in the ED (Nava Milim, a quick Google search reveals) looks hella cute - or is it just the climax of the chorus? (narrator: it was the climax of the chorus.) Regardless, thus far the only character 8bit has presented who really grabbed me by the collar and pulled me in has been Shizu. We'll see what 8bit has up their sleeve.
EDIT JANUARY 2019:
Yeah, they blew their load. Not a single new character introduced since episode 5 or so has had anywhere near the humanity that Shizue had, and Rimuru does not develop enough as a character to justify almost 1.5 cour of lame-ass orcs and ogres and fucking Gabiru. The pacing slows to a crawl from ep. 9-15 and what was a solid narrative a couple months ago is now something I have zero interest in going forward. The rationality gets boring quick without interesting characters behind it, and as much as I was looking forward to seeing Milim in action, Hidaka Rina just doesn't bring the second wind to the character that I was expecting. Now that we've finally seen the dragon loli, I have finally dropped this show. light 5/10
Comments