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EP. REVIEW: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2


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JaffaOrange



Joined: 01 Apr 2011
Posts: 250
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 2:03 pm Reply with quote
TarsTarkas wrote:
Yes, Rimuru requested the extraction of information from the former King, and the other two prisoners. But how that was done, was all on Shion. I don't think even Rimuru knew you could do that to human bodies, much less order it done. That was some imaginative use by Shion of her new skill. And yes it was a true horror fest. But Shion is Shion, and these evil villains caused her death, hurt her Rimuru and attacked Tempest. We all know that even Rimuru and the other Oni fear Shion's anger. spoiler[Rimuru knows what was done, he saw first hand Shion's handiwork. But what's done is done. Rimuru will parse his orders better next time.] I can't really be mad at Shion anyway. The King of Farmus' machinations was what caused her death.

Not going to debate the tonal whiplash. It is on each individual viewer as to whether you like it, don't like it, or simply don't care. It doesn't bother me at all, and when I think about it, I remember that there have been other anime series that start out light hearted, but become much darker as time goes on.


Just because Rimuru destroyed all the plans of the Kingdom of Farmus, and the simple killing/raping hopes of the soldiers of Farmus, doesn't invalidate what the Kingdom of Farmus and it's soldiers were going to do just because they failed to follow through. Since Tempest is not going to do to Farmus, what Farmus was going to do to Tempest, Farmus in the end is going to have a much kinder fate than what was intended for Tempest.


Again, aiming to be slightly less despicable than your neighbours is not a good measure of how, well, good you are. Why is Rimuru puppeting Falmuth again? They clearly aren't a threat anymore now that Rimuru's wiped out their standing army and were perhaps never a real threat. Even if they raised another army, Rimuru's stronger now and less naive. He's already got control of what seems to be a lot of the ringleaders. Yes he's not directly destroying them but it's hard to imagine how a civil war that'll probably end up as a drawn out proxy war between Tempest and the Church is any better. Rimuru won't personally rape and pillage Falmuth, he'll just get the citizens of that country to do it to themselves. How merciful!

I don't mind the series tackling darker themes but the issue is that they aren't doing that at all. Crazy stuff is happening but the show treats it as though it's natural or even 'good'. At best it's clumsy and at worse it's tacitly endorsing these kinds of policies. Were I more generous, I would consider the show a sharp and pointed critique about how self-serving bureaucrats can drive a nation to authoritarianism and imperialism with smiles and backpats. For all of Rimuru's bleeding heart sentimentalities, he does not allow any meaningful dissent. It's his way, or the highway. Anyone that he encounters either befriends him, serves him, or ends up marked for extermination.
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3627
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 2:20 pm Reply with quote
While another enjoyable episode, a little bit disappointing that it looks like next week will be more of the same if the title holds true and carries through the entire episode.

Did I miss Rimuru saying he was planning to attend the conference? Watching after a long day at work it's definitely possible I missed it, but I didn't get the impression, just that he would have like to deal with Clayman before, but might not be able to in 3 days and counter the army that's 2 days away from the Beast Kingdom. Are the Walpurgis conferences just an open invitation and it's on the Demon Lords to learn about them and attend on their own?

If Rimuru wants to take out Clayman at this point with some speed, you'd think he'd just teleport over to him and take him out personally...

I suppose Rimuru attending the conference would be a good way to keep him from "stealing the show" though when fighting Clayman's army

While it makes sense to send someone capable like Diablo to Falmuth, I agree that it seems like poor timing to send him right now. Why not wait until the current conflict w/ Clayman is resolved?

I wasn't a fan of what we were shown of the prisoners. That seems to too far to me. If it was an application of Shion's skill as mentioned above, then I think that should have mentioned as I feel that lessens the impact a bit. As of right now, to anime only watchers, it just looks like they were brutally and physically torn apart. If I didn't know a skill was involved to make them that way, I'd be wondering how they kept talking about bringing the 3 back to Falmuth when they look like dead piles of meat

Quote:
Between revealing Clayman's goal and Razen's body change ability, I think it's safe to view Raphael as Rimuru's personal plot spoiler at this point.

A bit too much of one imo. It almost makes Raphael omniscient or some kind of author stand in. "How can Rimuru know X? Oh, just have Raphael provide the info!" I'd worry Raphael could become and easy (ie boring) way to provide exposition :/
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halo



Joined: 11 May 2004
Posts: 356
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 2:50 pm Reply with quote
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Has Shion ever had problems remembering names before or is this a new gag?


I interpenetrated this as her not being able to read her own handwriting or notes. I might just be projecting...
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1529
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 2:56 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, this series keeps gettign worse. At least it isn't boring, but it's pretty bad about everything it's trying. The politics in this show have always been poor and too easy on Rimuru, but with the escalated consequences and scope it has gotten to the point whether the show hasn't realized the huge disconnection between planned actions and tone, or is actively endorsing tyranny. Other nations were initially cartoonishly friendly, but the way they are endorsing big scale conspiration, massacre and ambition with no objection, wariness or meaningful feedback is just a bad joke. (and something that always stuck to me is how the forest-protecting dryads are fine with Rimuru clearing large swats of it for homes, fields and pathways).
And unlike other shows, it has a very bad sense of dark humour.

I had a better time with Tensura Nikki, at least the events there fit the tone.

Covnam wrote:
I'd worry Raphael could become and easy (ie boring) way to provide exposition :/

Always has been.
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GhostD



Joined: 07 May 2016
Posts: 998
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 3:08 pm Reply with quote
Covnam wrote:
While another enjoyable episode, a little bit disappointing that it looks like next week will be more of the same if the title holds true and carries through the entire episode.

Did I miss Rimuru saying he was planning to attend the conference? Watching after a long day at work it's definitely possible I missed it, but I didn't get the impression, just that he would have like to deal with Clayman before, but might not be able to in 3 days and counter the army that's 2 days away from the Beast Kingdom. Are the Walpurgis conferences just an open invitation and it's on the Demon Lords to learn about them and attend on their own?


Its basically a requirement for all Demon Lords to attend hence why Rimuru not attending would be a disadvantage for him now that he's declared himself a Demon Lord too

Quote:
A bit too much of one imo. It almost makes Raphael omniscient or some kind of author stand in. "How can Rimuru know X? Oh, just have Raphael provide the info!" I'd worry Raphael could become and easy (ie boring) way to provide exposition :/


It gets worse than that. One can even argue that Raphael practically carries Rimuru through the story. And since Raphael is Rimuru's most well-kept secret (by his own admission), a lot of the former's feats and accomplishments are credited to the latter which only further fuels Tempest's undying faith in him.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 3:42 pm Reply with quote
@JaffaOrange
I believe the light novel got down into the details about why. But that doesn't really help anime only viewers.
I don't think the Slime anime was ever supposed to be deep political thriller. I find it to be good entertainment for an anime series. One of my favorites, though I would rate Re:Zero higher. Have had no problem with what Rimuru has done. Though Shion went overboard, they deserved it.

@halo
Guess the anime cuts alot of detail out, it was pretty horrific, but that is Shion for you.
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Norbuck



Joined: 19 Apr 2021
Posts: 19
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 3:44 pm Reply with quote
halo wrote:
Quote:
Has Shion ever had problems remembering names before or is this a new gag?


I interpenetrated this as her not being able to read her own handwriting or notes. I might just be projecting...


There is a scene in this episode where Shion lets the book hang down and you can clearly see the page just has doodles of Rimuru on it, so I'm assuming there is no actual useful content in the book and she is trying top recall it all from memory Smile
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Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 983
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 5:19 pm Reply with quote
Can somebody explain to me exactly what did Shion did to those 3?

Did she "cook" them or something?
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Ryujin99



Joined: 21 Jul 2010
Posts: 185
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 5:58 pm Reply with quote
Minos_Kurumada wrote:
Can somebody explain to me exactly what did Shion did to those 3?

Did she "cook" them or something?


I think that's the idea. Since her unique ability or whatever can now guarantee the desired outcome, no matter the methods or appearance.

Not sure I'd consider it "cooking" per se, but that seems to be how she sees it, so... yeah.
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Cryten



Joined: 19 Jan 2019
Posts: 978
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 7:20 pm Reply with quote
Review wrote:
This episode reminds me how much I love Mjurran's true form and how disappointed I am that she's sticking to her human form in her recent appearances.


This is my feeling my basically all the designs before they became more human. They looked so much cooler and lost something in their humanisation. Cuter for some sure but compare princess shuna. Probably the best human design but her ogre form had a brutal cuteness that reflected her species so much better. It was striking.

Diablo in particular lost everything that made him an interesting design.

I imagine it would of been hard to draw and animate regularly though.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 7:28 pm Reply with quote
Ryujin99 wrote:
Minos_Kurumada wrote:
Can somebody explain to me exactly what did Shion did to those 3?

Did she "cook" them or something?


I think that's the idea. Since her unique ability or whatever can now guarantee the desired outcome, no matter the methods or appearance.

Not sure I'd consider it "cooking" per se, but that seems to be how she sees it, so... yeah.


spoiler[Shion turned all three of them into "living slabs of meat". Using her "kitchen skills" she fillet them repeatedly over time, using health potions to keep them alive. Eventually turning them into living, breathing slabs of meat. Broken men in mind and body.

Even looking at them was a true horror, making grown men cry.]
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Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 983
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:48 pm Reply with quote
TarsTarkas wrote:
Ryujin99 wrote:
Minos_Kurumada wrote:
Can somebody explain to me exactly what did Shion did to those 3?

Did she "cook" them or something?


I think that's the idea. Since her unique ability or whatever can now guarantee the desired outcome, no matter the methods or appearance.

Not sure I'd consider it "cooking" per se, but that seems to be how she sees it, so... yeah.


spoiler[Shion turned all three of them into "living slabs of meat". Using her "kitchen skills" she fillet them repeatedly over time, using health potions to keep them alive. Eventually turning them into living, breathing slabs of meat. Broken men in mind and body.

Even looking at them was a true horror, making grown men cry.]


Oh...well, they deserved it and Shion is not human but an ogre and has a way more brutal view of the world and less morals so I don't get what the controversy on what she did is.

It's perfectly in character.
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Cryten



Joined: 19 Jan 2019
Posts: 978
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:57 pm Reply with quote
Minos_Kurumada wrote:
Oh...well, they deserved it and Shion is not human but an ogre and has a way more brutal view of the world and less morals so I don't get what the controversy on what she did is.

It's perfectly in character.

That an interesting question actually, what is in character for Shion. We certainly havnt seen her have a prediliction for horror levels of torture. Her main traits shown in the show are even higher levels of loyalty and devotion to Rimuru then the rest of the cast (and thats saying something), being a clutz and being super strong except when caught in a magic beat all the monsters field. For all that they where initially described as a violent people back in their first encounter with the ogres / Kirin, they have shown great care and pride in their actions. With little indication of a fondness of the worst of human behaviours.

At best we could say she has always wanted to defeat / kill anyone who would challenge Rimuru.

I would also note that as the conversation has been saying, its not so much controversial as it is a continuing of the shows disconnect with its presentation vs's its actions. There is little catharsis that other series about monsterous acts get (death note, overlord) because it keeps flipping between happy times worshiping rimuru and feasts, standard shonen action battlers and those brief moment of very very dark things still presented like it was in the first bit. That is what feels wrong.
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JaffaOrange



Joined: 01 Apr 2011
Posts: 250
PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 1:45 am Reply with quote
The torture stuff is like one of the joke memes where something horrifying is casually slipped in middle of a montage of cute but unremarkable images. Like, "Hold on a second, can we talk about this?" But the show is like "na, we have this killer joke about Shion calling this guy Ramen and Rimuru getting hungry that we need to focus on". Maybe the show will deal with it next episode but I can't imagine how it'll treat such a scene when this was how it was introduced to us. Perhaps they'll put in looney tunes sound effects when they do.
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Zefram



Joined: 02 Oct 2019
Posts: 106
PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 1:41 pm Reply with quote
JaffaOrange wrote:
The torture stuff is like one of the joke memes where something horrifying is casually slipped in middle of a montage of cute but unremarkable images. Like, "Hold on a second, can we talk about this?" But the show is like "na, we have this killer joke about Shion calling this guy Ramen and Rimuru getting hungry that we need to focus on". Maybe the show will deal with it next episode but I can't imagine how it'll treat such a scene when this was how it was introduced to us. Perhaps they'll put in looney tunes sound effects when they do.


The books were quite casual and tonedeaf about this and unfortunately it seems that the anime is pretty faithful to the books on this point. It might have been better for anime to diverge a little to take some time to address aftereffects on doing such violence on main character, afteraffects of being dead on Shion, avoid unnessary cruelty from protagonists instead of playing it as a light joke.
Its not like this season will include more than majority of political conferences and conversation intercepted with couple of eps spent on invasion of Eurasia. Since this will be followed by Walpurgis event which sounds more of the same, only demon lords there don't know or like Ramiru.
The way this season is paced, I don't think there will be time for anything else including invasion of Fulmouth and dealing with Western Church as was planned during this meeting.
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