That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 16

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 16

Demon Lord Millim Attacks

The day has finally arrived. The TenSura anime has been saved by the presence of new best-girl Millim Nava. Dark were the days after we lost Shizue, but the light has returned, born on the wings of a pink-haired demon lord.

But, seriously, Millim is probably my favorite character in the series, along with Gabiru, who I find both entertaining and infuriating at the same time. Why do I like these characters? Because they’re actually entertaining. They have personalities.

As the title suggests, Millim is a demon lord, just like the one who enslaved Shizue, and like Geld, the Orc Disaster. However, there’s one difference between her and them, she’s much more powerful. In fact, she’s said to be the strongest of all the current demon lords, and even without using her full power she’s 10x stronger than Rimuru.

So, why did Millim show up in the Forest of Jura anyway? She was simply bored and wanted to introduce herself to the one who defeated Geld. But, while Rimuru didn’t really seem to mind Millim’s appearance, the same can’t be said for Ranga and the Kijin.

Soon after Millim’s arrival at the outskirts of the village, the Kijin appear to fight her off, thinking that she’s come to destroy the village and kill Rimuru. After all, her she’s known throughout the world as “Destruction” itself.

After tanking the attacks from the Kijin, Millim acknowledges their strength by telling us that any of the other demon lords wouldn’t have come out unscathed. But, before Millim can counterattack, Rimuru tells his subordinates to stand down so that he can face Millim alone.

How To Train Your Dragonoid

Rimuru knows he stands no chance against Millim in actual combat, and so the two of them make a wager. Since Millim is so sure of her defensive capabilities, Rimuru will fire off one attack at her. If his attack is successful, she’ll stand down; if it fails, he’ll become her subordinate.

This is the point of the episode at which I assumed Rimuru was going to pull out some previously unknown, super powerful attack to defeat Millim, but I’m glad to report that wasn’t the case. Instead, he shoves purified honey in her mouth, and then tells her she can only have more if she accepts defeat. In the end, a tie is called.

His reasoning for using this “attack” on Millim was due to her physical appearance, and this is something I actually took issue with.

Based on her character design it’s clear that Millim is very child-like, and children generally like sweet things, such as honey. But, Rimuru doesn’t base his assumption about her tastes based on her outfit or personality, but instead on her physical attributes. He assumes that since she’s “flat,” she must like sweet things, like a child.

While I still think this line of reasoning is inherently flawed at the core, let’s pretend it isn’t for a moment. Millim still isn’t “flat.” Maybe she is in the light novel and manga, but not in the anime. The idea that any girl or woman below a D-cup is “flat” is something I really don’t understand or like.

It doesn’t send a very good message, and it’s only use is to put female characters down by comparing them to others who are deemed “better.” TenSura isn’t the first series to do this by far, but that in itself is part of the problem.

Rimuru Tempest and the demon lord Millim Nava from the anime series That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
Rimuru Tempest and Millim Nava

Demon Lords

Anyway, once Millim is “tamed” and back to her cheerful self, we start to learn more about her as a character, and about her title of demon lord.

And, before anyone starts to think it’s strange for a “young” girl to be a demon lord, it’s actually extremely common in anime. Just within the past 6 months we’ve had at least two other examples in Klem from How Not to Summon a Demon Lord and Mao from Endro~!

It turns out that anyone with sufficient strength can theoretically take on the title of demon lord, although only those who are truly strong will last for long. This is because once you begin using that title, all sorts of adventurers who want to become heroes begin appearing to try to defeat you.

Though, as Millim puts it, this is actually the greatest perk of declaring yourself a demon lord because it gives you a constant stream of powerful opponents to fight. The other, more minor, perk is that you also get to boss around everyone who’s considered weaker than you.

So, basically, although Millim is considered the strongest and most feared of the demon lords, the only reason she holds that title is because she wants something to do to pass the time. At the end of the episode she joins Rimuru’s village and declares them “besties” because she thinks it’ll be fun.

But, Millim isn’t always the carefree girl I just mentioned. Not only is she extremely powerful, but she has a temper befitting of the demon lord known simply as “Destruction.” Specifically, we see that she doesn’t appreciate being talked down to, as Gabiru learns the hard way when she punches him across the entire village.

As a final note on Millim, I really like her character design, although she does have the stereotypical giant twin-tails we often see on childish female characters. I like her armored boots, and the fact that her outfit is slightly asymmetric makes it feel less generic, even though it still very much is.

On the Evolution of Species

Other than the introduction of Millim, we also saw Rimuru name the Lizardmen who showed up at his village (both Gabiru’s men and those sent officially by the chieftain). This prompts the Lizardmen to evolve, and even Gabiru gets a new evolution despite already having a name.

But, what’s so special about the fact that the Lizardmen evolved? We’ve seen other species evolve, such as the Oni, Goblins, and Orcs, so why do the Lizardmen matter?

Well, the Lizrdmen in particular don’t really matter, although their evolutions were another example of non-Human species losing their unique appearance upon evolving. While some Lizardmen, such as Gabiru and the chieftain, evolve into dragon-like beings, it appears that most of them now look very “Human.”

We saw this previously with the Oni when they evolved into Kijin and lost their colorful skin pigmentation, as well as with the Goblins when they evolved into Hobgoblins and Goblinas which have more human-like figures. Aren’t all the different races a major selling point for fantasy series? Why would you want to take away what makes them unique?

This also made me think of the Dwarves and how they may also undergo some evolution process similar to when monsters acquire names. Since Dwarves aren’t monsters, naming them shouldn’t cause them to evolve, but there are some Dwarves which look much more “Human” than others.

For example, King Dwargo looks much more like a Human than most of the other Dwarves, and in my review of episode 5 I gave a theory on why this is the case. However, now that there have been more cases of different species evolving to look more like Humans, I may need to reconsider that theory.

After all, as the king, Dwargo is more powerful than his subjects, and therefore may be more evolved than them which could explain his different appearance.

Conclusion

And, that’s all I have to say about That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 16. What did you think of this episode? Do you like Millim as a character? And, what are your thoughts on the evolution of the different races in this series? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

One Reply to “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 16”

  1. Milim is very appreciated not only for his charisma but also for being important in the story because it means a part of inflection in the plot since it is the first character that Rimuru has to deal with which is totally overwhelming in strength, besides being able to create a real friendship bond because she sees him as her equal. Still declaring as his BFF his intentions remain clear she wants to create someone powerful with whom he can fight for that he participated in the plan of the orc disaster.

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