That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

Overview

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken / 転生したらスライムだった件), also known as TenSura, is finally complete, so it’s time to discuss my thoughts on the first season as a whole. And, as any of you who have been reading my episode reviews will know, I didn’t like it.

Before I really get into it though, let me just give a brief summary for those of you who have been living under a rock for the past six months. This is another isekai anime, but this time the protagonist has been reincarnated as a slime. Sounds decent, right? Well it’s not.

The first episode mirrored my initial impression of the series. I figured this was going to be a comedy anime, and that it would throw some ecchi in because the protagonist is a slime after all. There’s no fantasy monster more connected to ecchi than slimes.

However, by the time we hit the second episode it’s clear this isn’t actually going to be the case. Not only is this not an ecchi, but it’s also not even a comedy. Alright, so it’s not an ecchi comedy, that’s fine, it doesn’t have to be.

Then the series starts to pretend it’s actually a shounen battle series, which I’m fine with too. If you’ve looked through the archives on this site you’ll know I watch all sorts of different genres, so whatever this series ends up on should be fine with me.

But, just like the ecchi comedy, the whole battle aspect of the series was also just a bait. There’s no real action like in Naruto or My Hero Academia, or any of the typical shounen battle series. So, then you look at the genres it’s tagged as and it’s just shounen and fantasy.

Identity Crisis

So, this is a fantasy series for a young, male audience. But, it’s not an action, comedy, adventure, or romance series. In fact, it’s not even slice of life. So, what exactly is the plot and why do I care?

Well, at least the genres it’s tagged as aren’t lies. It’s definitely a fantasy series due to the setting, and it’s definitely a shounen because the plot is simply, “the power of friendship.” Literally the plot is just that the protagonist makes friends with all sorts of different people. That’s it.

And, if that sounds boring to you, that’s because it is.

This series tried to sell itself as a comedy with the perfect setup for an ecchi series, and then later as a battle series, but turned out to be neither. And, if I’m being honest, it would have been better if it followed either one of those two routes.

The premise of being reincarnated as a slime is just too perfect for an ecchi series to pass up. And there would have been so many gags that could be pulled due to the protagonist being a slime. It would have been a great comedy anime.

On the other hand, actually having an end goal and conflict that mattered would have made this a good action anime, assuming that some fight scenes were actually choreographed (which they weren’t). But, I get it, the people who like this anime like it regardless of the genre it is.

My only question to those of you who think this anime is great is, what does the original premise of the series have to do with what it ended up being, and how does that make it better? Seriously, what does Rimuru being a slime have to do with anything?

The entire gimmick of this series (isekai always have a gimmick of some sort these days) is that Rimuru is a slime, but that has nothing to do with the plot. The fact that he’s a slime is rarely used in any meaningful way, and he doesn’t even have an end goal related to it like, “I want to not be a slime anymore.”

It’s basically like if in the anime In Another World With My Smartphone, the main character had a smartphone, but that was it. It was just a regular smartphone with no service because he’s in another world.

The big gimmick, the fact that Rimuru is a slime, is completely wasted due to this series having no real direction.

Characters

But, having a real plot isn’t actually necessary for an anime to be good. In fact, slice of life anime often don’t have overarching plots and yet they can still be great thanks to strong character writing. Unfortunately this is another think TenSura is lacking.

Starting off with our protagonist, Rimuru, he’s a slime, yes, but that’s really all there is to him that makes him unique in any way. He’s a bland, overpowered protagonist with a big heart. You know, just like every single other shounen protagonist out there.

As for the rest of the characters, they’re all pretty bland as well. The best character in the series we’ve met so far is Milim, and that’s mainly because she has a nice character design and is the embodiment of pure chaos. You never know what Milim is going to do next, and so that makes her fun to watch.

I think the worst part of most of the side characters are their designs. They aren’t necessarily bad, but they were all much more unique when they were first introduced. Then, Rimuru names them all, and their appearances shift to become much more human.

This lessening of their individuality, combined with the fact that most of them are pretty bland personality-wise, just makes most of them forgettable. Gabiru is a notable example here, but again, the best scene he was in of the whole series also involved Milim, so it was really her who carried the show.

But, I can’t only say bad things about this series because the truth is it isn’t the worst anime out there. I actually really liked the character background episodes, so there’s still hope for the series. By these I mean the episodes on Shizu’s and Black’s pasts respectively.

Conclusion

In the end, I’ll give this first season of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime a 5/10. It definitely wasn’t one of the worst anime I’ve seen, but neither was it one of the best, or even one I would consider good. It’s about as average as a series can get, so that’s the score it deserves.

I know you guys have strong feelings about this series in particular, so I’m looking forward to seeing what the comments are like on this final TenSura review of the year. But, if you enjoyed this review, make sure you click the like button ❤ down below.

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My review of Season 2 is available now.