That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime – Ep. 1 (First Impressions)

Oh good, another isekai anime.

I suppose if you’re a fan of isekai than the continued influx of more anime of the like is good news for you. But me personally, I really want this genre to take a break. It’s honestly gotten as bad as video games’ obsession with first-person shooters. I wouldn’t mind it so much if someone would at least do something other than the “guy dies but now he’s reincarnated in a fantasy and with a harem to boot” routine but since this cash cow is still giving milk, the best anyone does to stay competitive are add gimmicks. And I mean really trite gimmicks, like giving your protagonist a fucking smartphone for example.

Oddly enough though, that does bring me to one thing I do kind of like about That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. At least the gimmick is unique. I certainly can’t think of many isekai anime where the protagonist is a monster straight out of Dragon Quest. 99.9% of the time, it’s the same generic teenage boy so points for creativity. And visually, I quite like how expressive Satoru (Takuma Terashima/Miho Okazaki) surprisingly is a slime. His eyes bulge out and his body shakes whenever he’s stunned or in a panic and I like how his slime creates exclamation points and light bulbs to better visualize what he’s feeling.

But the gimmick is just that, a gimmick, and beyond it is just another isekai anime. Satoru dies in our world (and good grief does his death scene take forever) and spends time figuring out his new form and powers. If you’ve seen any other isekai anime, you’ve seen this shtick done before time and time again. And of course, there’s RPG jargon thrown along the way because that’s apparently the only way viewers will understand a fantasy-based mythos.

I worry that Satoru may even fall into the overpowered protagonist pitfall isekai commonly suffers with. His ability to gain skills from anything he devours could theoretically make him good in just about any situation. What concerns me more is that the OP reveals he does regain a human form? That honestly sounds like a massive mistake to me. Why even bank on a gimmick such as a slime monster if you’ll only commit halfway?

There are admittedly a few moments that I did enjoy. I’ll admit that some jokes were pretty funny such as when Satoru tells his friend to destroy his computer after he dies (can’t let anyone find that porn). This episode also does pick up when Satoru meets the dragon, Verudora. Never in my life did I ever think I’d see a tsundere dragon (and I mean a real one, not a hot dragon girl) but clearly, I stand corrected. And you know what? Seeing a slime monster and a dragon become friends is pretty darn charming. I’ll give this series that much.

Frankly, I’m leaning towards dropping this anime but we’re very early in Fall 2018 so I won’t make that decision just yet until more stuff premieres. If I happen to have time during that, maybe I’ll watch another episode.

OP: “Nameless story” by Takuma Terashima

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Watch That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime on Crunchyroll and Funimation

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