We are currently on the tail-end of the worst heatwave Europe has ever seen in the month of June and these past few days have been some of the hottest days I’ve experienced in my entire life. We never really went to exotic places for our vacations either and temperatures over 30c were a rarity. Having a full week of temperatures (almost) hitting that 30c mark and even going as high as 37c has genuinely been brutal. I’m really glad I was ahead on some of my writing thanks to that hiatus because very little of what I’ve written over the past two days will ever see the light of day. It’s not very good. But today we’ll just power through it and I’ll try to do my best to write a good recap of this week’s episode of Tensura.
Granville Rozzo has to get over the fact that his granddaughter was killed while biting off more than she could chew. You would almost feel bad for their family if their tactics hadn’t been so incredibly underhanded. That dragon would have wiped out a lot of people had things gone poorly but that was a sacrifice they were willing to make. I understand their desire for humanity to not have to fear the demon lords, but even without Octagram and the likes, strong forces seem like they will remain within this world. Still, it looks like Granville has one last plan and it involves Luminus. She currently has a non-aggression pact with Tempest though, so we’ll have to see where that goes. This also really felt like a “new opening” kind of episode, but it seems we’re still on the previous one. I do hope we get a new one before the season is over, considering we’re still only at the halfway point and most of what is visible in this opening has already come to pass. I’m sure we will.
And you’ve guessed it, with all the chaos behind us, we’re back to meetings. Not only have they joined the council, but they’re also immediately the largest member of this council, which means they’re going to get a lot of responsibilities. And Rimuru is going to make sure that all the rights that they enjoy are written into the country’s constitution. For the monsters of this world, it’s a crazy idea that their leader can be held responsible by the law, but for Rimuru coming from earth it makes sense that no one should be fully above the law. It also gives the other countries in the council some amount of faith in the fairness of tempest. We’re doing a classic separation of powers into the legislative branch, the executive branch and the judicial branch. When applied fairly, this is a pretty good system. Making sure that no one has all the power and there’s always checks and balances in place. Of course every system can be abused but I don’t think this show is that political to go into those nuances. I might be wrong though.
Sending Diablo to be Rimuru’s envoy to the council is diabolical, all puns intended. I’m not sure they’re going to go through with that plan. A little sidenote, but a lot of anime have the trope of a little girl who is actually a thousand years old and we have that with Milim. I found her very annoying in some of the early episodes of season 1, as she falls into that annoying category of overly childish while also being very sexualized. But in these later seasons, it feels like the character has come into her own much more. She is very childish but she also gets treated like the child that she is at heart. Rimuru putting a blanket over her and Gaia here is just another sign of that. I think she became a well rounded character with this last arc and I hope to see more growth from her.
A house explodes and we get to see Kurobe, who doesn’t always get enough screentime due to his supporting cast nature. He’s been working on creating a magic sword that allows you to put gemstones into them to allow for magic to be used with them. Different combinations allow for different powers. Also, Rimuru’s own sword has turned into Scarletite. It’s a very rare type of steel that makes his sword a god-grade item. Whatever that means. This show is all about Rimuru getting stronger and stronger after all. Despite all the meetings, we’re still a power fantasy.
We also get to see Geld again, hard at work in Eurazania with rebuilding the kingdom. Learning from Rimuru he shared some drinks with the people and they bonded over getting drunk together. To quote the ever brilliant T-pain:
They made us drinks, to drink, we drank em, got drunk
Can you tell I’m losing my mind due to the heat? Geld managed to alleviate their fears of being disposed of after finishing the job and now the work is going swimmingly. Like I said before, this show is ultimately all about growth and becoming the best we can be. The throughline of this entire story is all about what people can do when given the opportunities they need. Anime isn’t political right? Speaking of politics, Youm is not a fan of being king. He is a fan of Mjullan though, and the two are having their first child. Now the question becomes who will be the king of Falmenace after Youm steps down. I think it should still be Edgar since the kid is already being trained to be a king and Youm wants rid of the responsibility fast.
But enough of all of this because something much more important is happening. Do you hear that? That’s the sound of the train coming into the station. It comes with a free autism diagnosis, as all trains do. I usually like my fantasy to be without too much technology, but trains seem to be more and more popular in fiction lately and I can’t blame people for it. It’s a very convenient way to get around and makes a ton of logistical sense. If you have the knowledge of how trains work, sharing that with the world you find yourself in would be incredibly useful. Who the hell is the weird afro guy? This show has too many characters. We’ll have our railway soon enough and one of Rimuru’s dreams will finally come true. Remember when he was just a little slime who found a village of goblins? That feels like years ago. It was years ago? Then where did all that time go? I feel old. With the train’s completion being celebrated, I’m going to take a cold shower to deal with the heat. Thanks for reading once again, I hope to be a bit more lucid for next week’s recap, but I don’t think this one turned out too bad.
Sike, there’s one more big thing happening before this episode ends. It looks like Gaia is about ready to hatch. I didn’t expect that to happen so quickly. Seeing Milim reunite with her dragon in some strange way is very endearing. I even found myself tearing up at this finale of the first half of this fourth season. I can’t wait for Gaia to become a menace on the level that Veldora is.
Opal Kaharis 