That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 4

Introduction

Last week I predicted that we would be meeting our main heroine in today’s episode of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, but as Azerty09 mentioned in a comment on that post, there actually is no main heroine. While some of you may think that’s a spoiler, we would have met the heroine by this point in the season if one existed.

However, this calls into question the cover art for the anime. For what reason is the girl with black hair featured so prominently? On Crunchyroll‘s cover art, she’s in the center along with both the slime and human forms of Rimuru, and on the MAL version, she stands alongside Rimuru as his equal.

At this point my next prediction is that she’s the hero who’s been brought up multiple times, but just because she’s a hero doesn’t mean she’s an important character. I’m interested in seeing exactly what role she’ll play when she is finally introduced.

In the Kingdom of the Dwarves

This week we meet both the dwarves and the elves, and unfortunately, neither one of them was anything other than the standard. I had hoped the dwarves and elves would be nothing like Rimuru expected, but sadly that isn’t the case and both races are pretty stereotypical.

After making their way to the city of the dwarves, Rimuru learns that multiple races all coexist within the city in peace. This is due to the rule of the dwarven king and his military which has stood undefeated for 1,000 years. But while fighting is prohibited within the city, the same isn’t true just outside.

While waiting in line to enter, Rimuru and Gobta are confronted by some human adventurers who decide it’s about time to beat up some weak-looking monsters. As expected, Rimuru makes quick work of these adventurers, but causes a commotion in the process and ends up jailed by the dwarves.

I assumed this fight would have been where Rimuru uses his Predator skill to eat a human and gain his human transformation, but this wasn’t the case. It seems that as with the girl I assumed was the heroine, we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see Rimuru finally gain his human form.

While in jail, Rimuru hears that a number of dwarves have been injured and the city doesn’t have enough potions to heal them. He decides to give the dwarves the potions he had stored inside his body, and in return they set him free and promise to help him find a skilled craftsman.

The jailer, whose name I’ve already forgotten, leads Rimuru to the most skilled craftsman in the city, who also happens to be his brother, Kaijin. Unfortunately for Rimuru, Kaijin is busy with an order for magic swords which he doesn’t even have enough time or material to complete, and so he can’t help the goblin/tempest wolf village.

But, Rimuru has an offer Kaijin can’t refuse. Stored within Rimuru’s body are magic ores which he’s turned into magisteel, the material Kaijin needs to craft the swords he’s working on. Rimuru trades some magisteel to Kaijin in return for information on some craftsmen who would be willing to join him.

Now, the fact that Rimuru has everything everyone needs at the exact moment they need it (e.g. potions for the wounded dwarves and magisteel for Kaijin) is pretty lazy writing. I know that he collected all of the necessary materials in the first episode of the series, but still.

However, despite how stupid I think that “plot” development is, what comes next is even worse. Kaijin has one magic sword already complete, and Rimuru borrows it so that he can assess its components and construction by using his skills.

He then spits out 20 exact copies which he forged within his own body by using the materials he had within him. If you’re going to defend that as good writing, then be my guest, but here’s the part that really doesn’t make sense: if he can do that, why does he need a craftsman?

Rimuru is looking for someone who can make clothing, shelter, and weapons for his villagers, but as we just witnessed, he can do all of those things on his own. He doesn’t need a craftsman to go back to the village with him, he needs a craftsman who will let him borrow things so that he can make them himself later on.

And that, dear readers, is what we call a plot hole.

Next up, the dwarves decide to celebrate Rimuru’s work by taking him to an elven gentlemen’s club, which is probably the best part of the entire episode, and perhaps the series up to this point. And, while it’s the best part for all the reasons you may be thinking, there’s also more to it than that.

Yes, there’s fan service, and yes, that’s I’d be lying if I said that played no role in my determination that this is the best scene in the series to date. However, we need to keep in mind that this isn’t an ecchi anime and has no plans to become one.

Why is that important? Because this series would work so much better as an ecchi anime, and the fact that it’s not one is holding it back. A lot of people see ecchi as something that solely takes away from anime, but if you’ve read my post on ecchi in anime, you’ll know that isn’t the case.

This series in particular would greatly benefit from using ecchi as a source of comedy, much like How Not to Summon a Demon Lord did last season. But, since this is neither an ecchi nor a true comedy, it’s wasting the best parts of the series by simply being a shounen fantasy.

Maybe you’ve forgotten, but the basic premise which was set up in episode 1 goes as follows: a 30-something-year-old, single man whose dying wish is to be more aggressive in going after girls in his next life is reincarnated as a slime in a fantasy world. That’s the perfect setup for an ecchi comedy.

So what’s the true reason this elven brothel is the best scene in the series so far? Because it gives us a glimpse at what this anime could have been.

At the very end of the episode, it’s foreshadowed that something bad is coming, and we get an ominous scene of someone’s boot as they appear outside the elven brothel. Maybe this is that girl I thought would be showing up in this week’s episode.

Conclusion

Amazingly, this series is still rated at an 8.20 on MAL. For reference, I currently have it rated at a 5. I guess that just goes to show that all you have to do to get good ratings is write the most generic isekai plot imaginable, but we’ve already known that for a few years now.

But what do you think of this series so far? Is your rating of it closer to mine, or to the masses of MAL users? Let me know in the comments, and while you’re down there, click the like button if you enjoyed today’s post.

And finally, as always, follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama. Everyone else is doing it, don’t you want to be popular?

My review of the next episode is available here.