Slime Tensura S4

Rimuru now knows about Maribel

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , ,

That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 Ep 7 Review

You know what’s awesome? Ninjas! Part spy, assassin, and warrior, ninjas have become a staple of pop culture in the East and the West, with everyone having their own intepretations of them. As someone who played a lot of Assassin’s Creed in its heyday, am a big fan of Naruto, and even trained in martial arts for a while, seeing ninja’s fight is awesome. Why am I mentioning this? Because that’s basically what we got in this episode of Slime Tensura as, thanks to Souei, Rimuru learns about the existence of Mariabel Rozzo.

The entire meeting between Tempest and the Council of the West was a twofold trap. Maribel’s ultimate goal was to either force Tempest to bend the knee and do what her puppets wanted, or off the Prince of Engrassia and frame Rimuru for it. Being Rimuru, though, he and his friends foiled it without breaking a sweat. Even better, the would-be assassin was dumb enough to stick around after she failed to get her target. And that mistake was all that Tempest’s best ninja, Souei, needed to move in for the kill.

The fight between ninja and assassin is pretty subdued compared to other fights we’ve seen in the anime. However, I think that’s in line with what they both do. Assassin’s are supposed to keep a low profile and not get caught. By that logic, they’re not going to attract attention with flashy techniques. That being said, I was impressed by how that assassin was able to use her magically-created bullets and spatial magic to push Souei into a corner. Too bad for her, he was using the shadow clone jutsu. Still, not bad, lady!

Here’s the fun part, though. I didn’t recognize her at first, but it turns out that we’ve seen this woman before, from back in season three. And it gets better. Not only is she an Otherworlder like Rimuru and Hinata, but she was one of her old subordinates in the Ten Great Saints before Tempest humiliated them: Glenda Abbey. She had run off after getting beaten by Diablo during the Falmuth Civil War, but it seems that she was working for Maribel the entire time.

And when she sees that Rimuru is accompanied by Hinata, she is (rightfully) freaked out and convinced that she’s going to die. But not necessarily at their hands.

This was all Maribel’s Fault

As Glenda confirms, the fiasco at the Council meeting was the handiwork of Mariabel of Greed. Her whole plan was to either make Rimuru her puppet, or make him look bad to everyone with that assassination plot. And she used her Skill, Greed, to make sure everyone would act the way she wanted. She never expected that Rimuru’s own Skills would allow him to cancel hers out. But neither was Rimuru expecting to learn that the former hero, Granville Rozzo, is still alive and the one pulling Mariabel’s strings, either.

Rimuru and the others also learn that when the Rozzo family summons Otherworlders, they put a curse on them that makes it impossible to disobey under the threat of death. They’re basically being used as slaves.

Obviously, Rimuru isn’t cool with either of these things, so he decides to do something about them. First things first, he cancels out the curse that Glenda is under, setting her free. She then proceeds to ask him for a job, much to his surprise. The man just can’t seem to stop making people want to be loyal to him!

Elsewhere, Maribel is left stewing over how she failed yet again. And even though we already know why she and her grandpa are doing all this, she gives this monologue about how a Demon Lord like Rimuru can’t be trusted. That with the way things are going, the Western Nations will bend the knee to him without even realizing it, and they can’t let a Demon Lord do that to them. Granted, those are valid points, but they overlook the fact that Rimuru isn’t like that. He just wants to chill and enjoy himself; he wouldn’t abuse that kind of power even if everyone offered to let him. But now that she’s picked a fight with him, Rimuru is going to be coming for Mariabel.

If I were her, I would do one of three things right now: get down on my knees and apologize, run for it, or get my affairs in order. There’s no scenario in which she’s getting out of this without some form of punishment.

This was one of the slower episodes of Slime Tensura, but as always, it’s the intrigue and the characters that make it interesting to watch. I can’t wait to see what Rimuru is going to do to Mariabel.

I Give “The Mastermind’s Identity” a 3/5

How did Mariabel Think this Plan would Work

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews, Crunchyroll , , , , , , , , , ,

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 Ep 6 Review

Okay, who’s bright idea was it this time to try and antagonize Rimuru? Because this is just getting embarrassing. Well, not for us; it’s hilarious. But for them, it’s just embarrassing.

If you’re wonder what I could possibly be referring to, then I’m talking about what some of the people in the Council of the West just tried to pull with Rimuru. It was another attempt by Mariabell Rozzo to manipulate Rimuru into a corner, but just like her other attempts, it didn’t work. Why? Not just because Rimuru is GOATED. He’s also surrounded by GOATED people!

WHAT KIND OF DEMANDS DID THEY MAKE?!?!

So, I remember mentioning last time that I couldn’t remember what it was that pissed Rimuru off. Thankfully, though, the new episode doesn’t waste any time in explaining to us why he’s angry. The new terms that the Council gave for admitting Tempest were as follows:

Basically, they’re trying to rob Tempest of everything and make them their servants. Or rather, the ones pulling the strings made these unreasonable requests knowing it would set Rimuru off, and thus make him look bad and justify a forceful response to make him kneel. Which they were going to do using some half-baked plan involving the Prince of Engrassia, some armed guards, Team Green Fury, and that one jerk from the Tempest Opening Festival. Oh, and they wanted to use this magic bracelet to make Rimuru serve them.

I’m sorry, but exactly what part of this plan did Mariabell and her puppets expect to work? Because I fail to see any scenario where this would work on Rimuru. But it does make it incredibly satisfying to see him and his friends pull up and put everyone in their place.

Rimuru Pulls the Uno Reverse Card

Firstly, Rimuru realizes that everyone is being manipulated by some mental magic, so he cancels it out. Suddenly, most of the room realizes “wait a second, what the heck are we doing? This is completely unreasonable of us! We can’t expect Rimuru to agree to this!”

Second of all, when the Prince of Engrassia comes barging in and yapping about getting everyone to agree to subjugate him, hardly anyone agrees to it. And the ones who did had to be bribed. Not that it would’ve worked, anyway. Raphael confirmed that their trinket wouldn’t have worked on Rimuru.

Finally, thanks to Souei, Rimuru is able to produce documented proof that a bunch of the Council members were bribed. Busted!

Again, we shouldn’t be surprised to see Rimuru and his friends embarrass their enemies. That’s nothing new. But what makes it so much fun is getting to see the look on the faces of whoeverโ€™s antagonizing them when they realize they messed up. Priceless! He didn’t even have to retaliate; his friends did that for him!

So, the personal knight of the Prince of Engrassia is incredibly rude and disrespectful towards Hinata, putting hands on her and making crude remarks. So he gets humiliated.

But the real highlight of the episode has to be what Shuna did to Gaiye.

Shuna is My Favorite Girl in this Series! Here’s Why!

I know that despite her young age, Shuna is sort of like the mother to everyone in Tempest, given now sweet and kind she is. But I saw a YouTube short saying how there’s a golden rule all Tempest citizens follow: donโ€™t make Shuna mad. Even Rimuru is not safe from her when she gets angry! And if you manage to piss her off beyond belief, then you might as well dig your own grave, because she will end you! Case in point, Gaiye makes her so angry that she summons a killsat attack on him guaranteed to leave no trace behind! And she didn’t even kill him! She just destroyed his clothes!

It’s like Isseiโ€™s dress break from High School DxD, only funnier!

So, after thoroughly showing everyone the error of their ways, you’d think everything gets wrapped up? As it turns out, Mariabel had a few extra contingencies. She had an assassin with spatial magic attempt to put a bullet in Prince Idiotโ€™s brain, planning to frame it on Rimuru. And this was actually pretty scary because of how close it came to succeeding. Using spatial magic to teleport a bullet until it’s point-blank is pretty effective, not gonna lie. If it weren’t for Raphael, the plan might have worked!

After that mess is solved, though, everything gets wrapped up. The Council gives terms that are heavily in Rimuruโ€™s favor as recompense for what’s happened. The Prince of Engrassia is grateful for having his life saved and decides to turn over a new leaf. And Rimuru decides that he hates this kind of cutthroat politics and decides to let Raphael handle it. The episode ends with Souei going to confront the wannabe assassin, and, given how it’s Souei, they will be dragged back for interrogation very soon. After that, it’s only a matter of time before Rimuru is onto Mariabel, and she is screwed.

I really like these kinds of episodes of Slime Tensura! I know the politicking isn’t for everyone, but I find watching the heroes outwit their foes to be as interesting as an actual fight. And I especially love seeing a villain have that smug look wiped off their faces!

I Give “The Council of the West” a 4/5

Some Lowlife Power Gamers are Ruining the Dungeon

Aside Roderick J "Jay" Friz Anime, Anime Reviews , , , , , , , , ,

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 Ep 2 Review

You know what the hardest thing is when it comes to developing video games that are getting constantly updated? Having to one-up players who find exploits and ways to cheat. Itโ€™s like a never-ending battle between players and game developers, because every time one problem gets solved, another gets exploited. The reason why Iโ€™m bringing this up is that Rimuru has just found a new problem to deal with regarding his nationโ€™s Dungeon. Two problems, more accurately.

Hinata almost Ruins the Dungeon

So the good news is that ever since installing Masayukiโ€™s suggestions to help adventurers, the Tempest Dungeon is starting to turn a profit. The save points, rest stops, and the inn are raking in the dough. Masayuki even managed to clear the 30th floor, albeit he did it in a way that reminds of something that Buggy the Clown or Mr. Satan would do.

I know that his special skill, Chosen Hero, makes everyone think heโ€™s that guy, but this level of hype is ridiculous. But thatโ€™s not the problem. Rimuru wants Masayuki to do well so it makes the Dungeon look good and brings in customers. The main problems are Hinata almost wrecked everything, and that thereโ€™s a team thatโ€™s using an exploit to clear the bosses.

Firstly, we have Hinata. After the Crusaders started using the lower levels as a training ground and got their butts handed to them, one of them mouthed off that Hinata couldnโ€™t handle it. So she took that as a challenge and just went on a massive tear like sheโ€™s Sung Jinwoo. She wasted the bosses on the lower floors, killed all the dragons Millim caught, and then just chilled at an inn on the 95th floor just to troll them. Veldora beat her, but Rimuru refuses to give her the prize money.

This is what I meant when I said how games like this need to be constantly updated. A dungeon like Rimuruโ€™s needs to be balanced and ensure that the participants have a fair chance of winning, while also making sure that itโ€™s not too easy. First things first, Rimuru decides to give Adalmann some cool new magic.

Freaking Power Gamers!

The real issue, though, is this new party, Team Green Fury. They managed to catch up to the progress of Masayukiโ€™s team, not by being that good, but through an exploit. Apparently, by using a combination of them and the return whistles (escape ropes) to exit and re-enter the Dungeon, they can gather party members far past what should be the limit. In other words, theyโ€™ve made a party of dozens capable of clearing the Dungeon bossesโ€ฆby save scumming and zerg rushing.

Look, Iโ€™m a gamer. I have used tactics like this before. I know other people do this. But there has to be a limit to how much players should be allowed to exploit without ruining the challenge. And then they managed to beat the 40th floor! If that keeps up, theyโ€™ll reach the lower floors, find the bosses are wrecked, and the Dungeon will be ruined. This calls for admin intervention!

Rimuruโ€™s ultimate solution is a pretty cool one, albeit it copies the concept behind the Avatar films and Pixarโ€™s Hoppers. He, Veldora, Ramiris, and Millim, who just got back from tort-training Gobta and Ranga will put their souls into monster avatars, and crush them on the 49th floor before they wreck everything. Itโ€™s a good planโ€ฆif they didnโ€™t get their butts handed to them. In a surprising twist, it seems the three Demon Lords and one True Dragon are way weaker in their avatar bodies. Which means now they have to train!

So these last two episodes have been pretty lowkey as far as stakes go, but thatโ€™s not why people like Slime Tensura, I think. They like it because of the humor and world-building. Iโ€™m looking forward to seeing how Rimuru deals with these borderline cheaters, and I hope we get some more action soon.

I Give โ€œThe Dungeon Evolvesโ€ a 3/5