Today is a blessed day. Hopefully for you, dear reader, but definitely for me, because I found excuses to talk about That time I got reincarnated as a slime – Tensura – again. And if there’s anything I love, it’s talking about this show. In this post that you’re reading right now I will walk you through the plot of the first couple episodes and explain why you should watch this series. With 5 cours confirmed to come out, starting in April, it’s a better time than ever to invest in Tensura stocks. The second post that will go up shortly after this will be a more indepth recap of the first three seasons, and will contain a lot more spoilers than this one. If you haven’t watched the show at all, this post is for you. If you have watched the show before but it’s been a little while and you need a recap, then check out the other post instead. All clear? Let’s get stabbed in the streets of Tokyo and wake up in a dank cavern together.
32 year old Satoru Mikami has a pretty good life. Work can be tough at times and he’s single, but besides that he’s a reliable salaryman who seems to be doing well for himself. After meeting up with his junior, they suddenly get attacked by a random knife wielder. Satoru protects his young coworker and gets stabbed. After asking for his computer to be scrubbed – wonder what that’s about – he ends up dying. While he’s dying, a computerized voice listens to the thoughts he has while dying and gives him skills to deal with it. Later he wakes up in a cave, completely in the dark and seemingly in a different body. It turns out he’s been reincarnated as a slime and now has to find his way in this new world. He meets the Storm Dragon Veldora and the duo hit it off, becoming friends before Rimuru sets off to explore the world. Outside of the cavern things are turning into chaos as Veldora’s influence on the Jura Forest is gone now that Rimuru has absorbed his friend to try to let him out of his prison. With things out of whack, the goblins that Rimuru – which is Satoru’s new name, given to him by Veldora – encounters ask for his aid, which he gives. This is how they start to become friends and build a town of monsters together.
Tensura moves at a slow pace most of the time and takes its time exploring the mundane while the crazier things also loom on the outside. The story focuses on the nation of Tempest as Rimuru and his friends keep getting more and more allies while enemies get dealt with pretty successfully. Some people have compared this show to the Civilization games and that’s very accurate. It’s a city builder anime with some action spliced in now and then to keep things from getting stale. Many episodes are spent on things like keeping the city running, making diplomatic agreements with nearby nations and having lots and lots of meetings. With a diverse cast of characters who all have their own skills and worries, this show does an incredible job at making the city it takes place in feel like a living and breathing city. We know the blacksmiths, the alchemists, the farmers farming herbs in the caves and even the goblin riders who patrol the region. We know the builders and the cooks and we know who all the people within the town center are. It doesn’t shy away from taking its time with things and even despite all that, one of the main criticisms that light novel readers have is that the anime can feel rushed at times.
With all this, you might think it’s a boring show and I think some people have made that argument and I don’t think it’s a crazy thing to say. But I’ve often said that Tensura as a show feels like it was written for me specifically. It has cool action where the characters get put in dangerous situations but ultimately end up coming out the other end victorious. It has a chill vibe to it as it just strolls through life like a good friend that you’re happy to see after a long day at work. This show is about as comfortable as anime gets for me, and it’s no surprise it ended up making it into my top 10 anime last year.
If all of this hasn’t convinced you yet, please give the first handful of episodes a watch and decide for yourself. As of right now, there are three seasons which total around 70 episodes all together with another 60 coming up. There’s also a movie as well as a spin-off series that is even more slice of life than the original show. So there is enough content to keep you occupied for a while. As for what it was that happened in all of those seasons… you’ll have to read the other, spoiler-filled post that will pop up shortly. Thanks for reading.
Opal Kaharis 