That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 24.5

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 24.5

Veldora’s Journal

Today’s episode of TenSura wasn’t exactly what I expected, a recap episode. But, since I didn’t really have any other topics ready to go, here we are. Luckily, this wasn’t the worst recap episode out there, and as we’ll see, it was actually one of the better episodes of the series.

As the title implies, this recap is told through the eyes of Storm Dragon Veldora as he’s sealed inside of Rimuru’s body. And, since Veldora is one of the best characters in the series, this is the main reason this recap episode was actually so good.

Ever since he was sealed away, in episode two I believe, we haven’t really seen nor heard from Veldora. It’s almost easy to forget he even exists at times, but I have faith that at some point in the series he’ll finally be unsealed. After all, we saw Rimuru riding him in the first OP.

So, if Veldora has been absent for most of the series, why do I like him so much compared to the rest of the characters? Mainly it comes down to the disconnect between his personality and his power and appearance.

Veldora is one of the True Dragons, which he claims is the most powerful race there is. And, it was only due to him being careless that he was sealed away by the hero 300 years ago. Yet, despite all this, he doesn’t act like a member of the most powerful race.

Yes, at one point he probably actually acted as you would expect a True Dragon to, but his 300 years of solitary confinement have broken him down into the hollow shell of a dragon we see today. He just wants friends so he no longer has to be alone, but his pride as a dragon won’t let him admit this.

He also says that he talks in a tsundere fashion because he thinks it’s cute. And if that doesn’t make you like Veldora, nothing will.

Shogi

But, Veldora being the narrator for this recap episode isn’t enough to save it alone. This is where the shogi matches between Veldora and Ifrit come in. And, I have to admit that this was a great way to spice up the recap even if most of the time we didn’t see the pair.

Rather than Veldora simply recounting the entire season to us, he begins by telling Ifrit everything that’s happened between his first encounter with Rimuru and when Ifrit is defeated and devoured. However, after this point the tone shifts slightly.

Since now the pair of them are within Rimuru together, there’s no need for Veldora to continue on with his monologue. At this point, we instead get the pair commenting on the events they see unfolding in Rimuru’s life through his perspective.

I especially liked how Veldora was upset that he wasn’t paying attention when Rimuru gained his human form, and when he and Ifrit were cheering on Rimuru’s students as they summoned their superior spirits. This commentary was so much more entertaining than a simple narration over the recap scenes.

Veldora and Ifrit playing shogi from the anime series That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
Veldora and Ifrit playing shogi

So, where does shogi come into play in all this? As I mentioned, Veldora and Ifrit are playing shogi matches while all of this is going on, but does it really matter what they’re doing? We don’t see them for most of the episode anyway.

I’d argue that the shogi matches are actually the most important part of the recap because this is what allows the true natures of the characters Veldora and Ifrit to come out. Yes, we get a sense of their personalities from their commentary on the recap, but it’s mostly through their interactions with each other.

Despite never having played shogi against an actual opponent, Veldora proclaims himself to be the best, while on the other hand Ifrit is just learning of the game’s existence. This made the part when Ifrit wins a match just that much better.

In classic tsundere fashion, Veldora refuses to admit defeat and proceeds to use his secret weapon, which is to illegally promote his Gold General to an Emperor (this isn’t a thing you can do in shogi). He explains his use of this made-up move by saying that he isn’t bound by rules created by someone else.

While I did like how this portion of the episode was played out, I was really expecting Veldora to flip the shogi board and declare the match a draw.

Is That It?

Despite thinking that this recap was pretty good, all things considered, there was one small issue I had with it, which was the ending. Normally at the end of TenSura episodes we get a frame showing the title of the next episode, but not this time.

This series was supposed to be 25 episodes long, and had this not been a recap episode, this would have been the 25th. For those who aren’t aware, recap, or “.5” episodes don’t actually count toward a series episode count.

So, since this wasn’t actually the 25th episode, that implies that there’s still going to be one final episode next week. But, as I mentioned, we weren’t shown a title of that upcoming episode, nor were we shown any other information hinting that another episode even exists.

Is this the final episode? Was the episode count for this series wrong, and there should have only been 24 episodes listed? Is that it? Are we really ending a series with a recap?

Remember how I said episode 23 should have been the final episode of the season? Well, the fact that a recap episode may turn out to be the true final episode just furthers my point.

You don’t end a season with a recap. You either start a season with a recap to remind viewers of what happened previously, or you put a recap in the middle because it’s just common practice. Personally, I think recap episodes should only come at the start of a season.

Conclusion

So, did you decide to watch this week’s episode of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime once you learned it was a recap episode? And, if so, what did you think of it? While I currently have this series rated as a 5, I’d say this episode in particular was about a 7.

If you enjoyed today’s review, be sure to click the like button ❤ down below. Also go follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any of my future content both on this site and elsewhere.

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My review of the first episode of season 2 is available here.

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