Remember how last week I said that this would be the big battle. I lied. I can only apologize. Instead we get a little bit more world building and character introductions. And some fun ones to top it off. Before the episode really gets going we see the different groups go on their different missions. The army goes to Eurazania, Elalude goes home to Thalion, Youm and Diablo go to conquer Falmuth and Veldora gets explicitly told to stay at home and watch the kids. Then the opening sets off. I’ve been listening to the opening a lot, and it’s been continuously growing on me.
Clayman talks to Yamza, who has heard rumours about Veldora waking up again. Unfortunately for a lot of the parties involved, they end up hearing the fake story that Rimuru made up. It surprises me that it didn’t leak what actually happened. On one hand it’s not been long so it somewhat makes sense, but the idea that not a single person at that meeting was either a spy or able to be bought surprises me. Gives me good hopes. And good on you Clayman, for not falling for his bluff by falling for his bluff. He’s not being built up as a particularly smart character.
Speak of the devil, we finally learn about why Milim has been working with Clayman. Demon Lord Frey tricked her into wearing a brainwashing magic item. The show portrays her as a little bit remorseful, but this betrayal stings. Milim is so lovely and trusting, and to be betrayed like that is awful. Especially seeing how Clayman treats her afterwards. He promises to make Sky Queen Frey the ruler of the heavens, which seems to be the reason why she’s working with Clayman, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she at some point takes off the necklace to release Milim on Clayman. We’ll see what happens when Rimuru gets involved. Clayman and friends still certainly seem to be underestimating him.
Now here’s a familiar face. I don’t believe we’ve seen Leon Cromwell in action since Season 1. He’s visiting an ice themed demon lord, who we quickly learn is called Guy Crimson, the lord of darkness. He is a big shot, one of the strongest demon lords alongside Milim. He has a whole host of weird looking underlings, and he seems to be demon-themed. That’s honestly a better theme than clowns or harpies, so he’s got that going for him. Vampires have also gotten a bad rep, so he might be the coolest one out there right now. He’s also the guy with red hair that’s been hinted at in the opening. Both Leon and Guy don’t seem like particularly bad people to be honest. And Guy seems to think the same about Leon because he’s definitely interested. Unfortunately for him, Leon does not reciprocate.
We get a lot more talk about Walpurgis, the expectations they each have and Rimuru’s existence as well as Veldora returning. And we meet Veldora’s older sister, White Ice Dragon Velzard, Empress of Ice. She’s teamed up with Guy, which is probably one of the reasons why he’s so strong. Having one of the four strongest dragons on your side will definitely help. My prediction is this will become some sort of counter balance against Rimuru if these two end up clashing in the long term. But Guy seems to be several steps above Leon, who himself seems to be several steps above Cromwell. And Leon has a very specific goal involving the summons. Maybe he can even come to an agreement with Rimuru.
It also sounds like the two of them have figured out that Rimuru might be a reincarnation, seeing as he’s so against Leon continuing his projects.
In an interesting parallel with Rimuru and Veldora, Velzard decides to stay at home and watch the kids as well, as opposed to accompanying Guy to Walpurgis.
Now I haven’t read the manga nor the light novel, so all of this is just guesswork, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this upcoming arc is going to set up some light banter between Guy and Rimuru, and give us a little bit of an expectation that the two will eventually clash. But I also thought that Diablo was for sure going to double cross Rimuru and so far that seems like I’ve been wrong, so who knows. Either way, as much as I have been enjoying this exposition, and I think it’s really well done, I honestly can’t wait to see the actual confrontation. I also plan to start reading the light novel in the near future and I might do some reviewing of that on here as well, perhaps to remind some of you about what happened in season 1, since a lot of it seems to have slipped from my memory overtime.
But enough about me, what did you think of this week’s episode? Did it go by too slow or are you enjoying the lengthy set-up that will inevitably turn into a great pay-off? Let me know in the comments down below and as always; thanks for reading!
Opal Kaharis 