Last season I considered covering the anime Tensura Nikki on a weekly basis. I ended up deciding against it, since it’s a slice of life anime and I figured there wouldn’t be a ton to talk about. In hindsight I think there was more content than I expected, but there’s no use wondering what could have been. Now that Tensura Nikki has ended, and the second cour of the main Tensura series has started up I want to visit this show weekly. You can expect a review of Tensura Nikki tomorrow*, and if you want to hear some of my opinions about the first cour of Tensura please have a look at my review of one of the episodes, which is when my opinion of the show went from really good to top tier. Are you excited to watch this episode? Because I sure am! Let’s get to it!

We start off right where the previous cour ended off, with the revival of Veldora in humanoid form. In case we forgot, Rimuru ascended to the demon lord last cour and found out how to remove the barrier that was keeping the dragon locked up. I was thinking what would happen when he returned, but it’s good to see that the nerdy awkward dragon is just as wild a personality in this form. I can’t wait to see what is going to happen with them. Also, Rimuru has gotten a new ultimate skill called Veldora, as well as Uriel. Four ultimate skills has to be cheating, doesn’t it? But enough about that, we get to the opening.

I find that walking animations are often hit or miss in opening sequences like these. I can’t say the ones in this opening look particularly good. Having said that, the crew in their new drip look absolutely fire. It’s followed by some characters that I don’t recognize, which is very exciting. We see Souei fighting what looks to be an undead dragon, and Shion is fighting with someone we only see in a reflection of her eye. The creepy clown trio is still there and even Hinata Sakaguchi is showing up in this opening. Finally, Rimuru is walking towards glowing red magic. That can’t be good, can it? The song itself sounds fine, I think I’ll have to hear it a couple more times to see if it really gets me excited to watch the show, but so far it didn’t impress too much. 

This is Episode 37: The Visitors. Pretty standard title, but has it been 36 episodes already? I guess that adds up, I should go back and watch the earlier episodes again, for science. Would be fun to do a review about them as well, leave a comment down below if that’s something you’d be interested in. Veldora is so extra and I love it. Is he going Super Saiyan? Can they do that without breaking copyright laws? Maybe he read one too many manga volumes in Rimuru’s memory. Either way, back to town we go and to introduce Veldora to the gang. I can’t imagine them being too surprised to see the ancient dragon of the forest in the flesh. Treyni is the first one to recognize him and welcome him back. Man, I can’t get over what a character he is, it’s amazing. This show just gets better and better.

Now then, it’s time for a toast. We did finish a pretty harrowing arc right before the end of the first cour, after all. With everyone being safe and alive again, it does feel nice to be back here. I’m not a huge fan of characters dying only to be revived again. Here’s a little spoiler for my own stories that I’m writing, I will only use this very, very sparsely, and generally in such a way that there’s either a heavy cost involved, or strong hints ahead of time. I digress. I think the way Tensura handled reviving people was fine. Rimuru quite literally and metaphorically had to sacrifice his humanity. Slimanity? Sliminess? You know what I mean right? He killed an entire army of humans on his own to ascend to something greater. I hope there are big repercussions for doing so, and it’s not just a powerboost. If it is a powerboost, he’s going to need it to survive Shion’s cooking. I can’t believe she got a master chef skill. Gordon Ramsay is shedding a tear of pride right now.

I don’t trust Diablo. I think most people would agree with me that he’s shady. I really hope he’s just a power hungry demon working for someone he considers to be powerful enough to work under. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he backstabs the gang at some point. Also, Gabiru got a promotion. No one is impressed by the fact that Rimuru is a Demon Lord now, to Rimuru’s own surprise. And here we get the first mention of, what I assume to be, the main villain of this part of the story: Clayman. He’s been a thorn in their side for a little while now, so it’s about time they go on the offense. I like that there’s a very clear map hanging around in the meeting room as well. I don’t remember who lives where in this continent though, so I should brush up on my knowledge. Fuze shows up a little bit late to the party. At least he’s very committed to going down to the ship. You’ve got to respect that. Poor Fuze, ready to die for the cause only to find out that Rimuru singlehandedly wiped out an entire kingdom’s army. And then Dwargon even shows up!

I like that the saint, now turned in to Raphael, seems to have more of a personality than before. I hope this ends up turning into something important later on in the story. She’s got sass for sure, which I like. And who are these new people showing up?
Apparently a homunculus from the Sorcerous Dynasty of Thalion. Is this the first time we’re hearing about this place? I certainly don’t remember hearing of it before today. They seem shady. And about a second later the guy snaps at Rimuru. Makes me wonder who his daughter is. I bet it’s Eren, but I could be wrong.

There we go, I couldn’t think of another blonde girl that would really fit in this place. Luckily it was just a misunderstanding. It’s good to see that Elalude, Eren’s father, is very powerful. It makes me wonder about Eren’s potential. He’s the Archduke of Thalion, so he’s definitely important. Is this where Rimuru is about to forge some big alliances? Next episode we get to see a big meeting with all these people who just showed up as well as Rimuru’s cast. Is it me or was Veldora strangely absent for the second half of this episode? I wonder if that was a coincidence, since meetings don’t seem to be his speed, or if he was already doing something.

The ending sounds great immediately. It’s nostalgic with a hint of foreshadowing. Rimuru looks intimidating with those red eyes.
With the first episode now behind us, I’m ever more excited for the rest of the season than I already was. How about you, what did you think about the start of this season? Please leave a comment and a like and I hope to see you here again next week for the next episode!

*As usual I spoke too soon, I need more time to go indepth on my review of Tensura Nikki. It’ll be there in the near future though!