It’s hard not to feel at least somewhat conflicted with this first part of the Slime’s 2nd season. Part of it comes down to how inconsistent and middling the show is, but there’s another reason for this. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime is a series built around its novelty value.

The gimmick of a slime building and ruling a nation from scratch was a refreshing one, as it allowed for straight-forward fun and more vibrant animation than what one would expect from most isekai. Of course, when the charm of its premise wore off, the latter half of the first season petered out with less interesting arcs. However, the presentation still had some fun tricks up its sleeve to keep the experience less dry than some of its contemporaries.

With Slime 2, there’s novelty in watching a seemingly benevolent leader witness everything crumbling down before he administers karmic, cataclysmic retribution. Despite the show’s reputation as a charming, vibrant isekai that’s more palatable than most of its brethren, it’s never been a stranger to darker storylines and plot points. Rimuru himself was never averse to combatting enemy armies in order to protect his kingdom and forcefully expand relations. It’s just that this time, things are personal and as such, this first cour is the story of how Rimuru becomes a triumphant and mildly tragic war criminal who has to rethink his approach to inter-kingdom relations. It makes for a fun experience on the surface once those moments hit, but that’s more so because RImuru and the show extent actually have the balls to get this bloodthirsty, rather than due to good writing.

In spite of the main gimmick being warped into something far darker and more dramatic than usual, the show never quite lives up to the heights of S1’s first arc. Where that arc was well-paced and laid down its more dramatic moments with tact and not a lot of redundant exposition, Slime 2 does the opposite. This is most apparent with Youm’s subplot with newcomer Myulan, as she constantly monologues about how in spite of denying her own feelings for him, Youm is such a fool for trusting and loving her considering she’s being sent by Clayman to assist in Tempest’s destruction. The entire middle portion, once the show transitions into its big arc, is a slog where the fights become more about the inner monologues and explaining each other’s powers and positions than the actual fights, which aren’t that well-animated outside of a few solid cuts, anyway. The pacing also feels really weird, as in we get moments like the aforementioned that linger on extraneous nonsense or how episode 9’s conversations and pity party could have been truncated if not for how it inserts a recap at the very start with S1 footage. At the same time, some scenes don’t get enough time to breathe in the middle episodes, like with Youm’s romantic subplot developing way too fast.

Perhaps the most distasteful moments in the mid-section involve the otherworlders, a pair of humans from our world who act as repulsive brats that try to purposefully and falsely accuse some of the Tempest goblins of sexual harassment in the case of Kiara, and comment on how they want to makie Shion and Shuna into his sex slaves in the case of Shougo. Disregarding how the latter feels even more discomforting given the existence of a certain Healer show this season, this is just a really gaudy attempt at getting us to further hate characters the show already convinced us were pieces of shit. Clayman, the main antagonist of both cours of S2, has far more restraint with how he’s presented, allowing him to maintain a level of presence and villainy without the show having to go overboard on him being a manipulative scumbag. Even the king of Farmus, the antagonistic force of this cour, doesn’t feel this gratuitous, considering how the otherworlders reek of more rancid LN titles like Akashic Records. It’s fun watching them get their comeuppance thanks to the final ⅓ of this cour having some solid cuts as the baddies get squashed. However, it’s not the easiest to get invested in.

Part of the problem is also the show’s cast. Slime has never had a particularly memorable cast, as most were just Rimuru’s lackeys with a few personality differences that get exploited for some decent gags and explosive moments. However, they certainly don’t get a chance to be more interesting this season. Even in the set-up phase of the first 4 episodes, we still have particularly embarrassing moments like Shion wailing cuz Rimuru wouldn’t take her with him. A lot of this was easier to deal with in the less dramatic arcs of S1, but since this season becomes more focused on serious storytelling, it’s hard not to feel at least a little empty when the show doesn’t tighten up its characterization or even feel particularly brutal when shit hits the fan.

Rimuru himself has some cool shots to express his sorrow and silent wrath in the final few episodes, and those imposing moments land quite nicely. However, the novelty of his charm has worn off now and he’s kind of a boring protagonist without too much to make him particularly compelling or memorable when the show switches from cutesy hijinks to serious warfare. The finale does bring back the charm of him being very reactive and willing to use his previous world’s knowledge in quirky ways like with the naming of Diablo. However, moments like this and him being a bitter, sore loser in ep 6 are a bit too rare.

When he crosses that line to get revenge on Farmus by mowing down hoards of soldiers that weren’t even part of the initial invasion that burnt his kingdom, even though there are more benevolent reasons attached to this, it’s not as easy to get on-board with as the show wants it to be. In fact, no one objects to or feels reservations about this, not even Youm, who hails from Farmus. Actually exploring the morally gray nature of his actions this season considering he’s forced to rethink his stance on humans, would go a long way to add weight, drama, and humanity to this conflict. However, tension is only allowed in the shortest of bursts, and it favors an explosive ass kicking gauntlet with a tinge of vague tragedy, as opposed to doing anything that would prevent it from both having its cake and eating it too. The least it could do is be more ruthless in some of the violence on display in the final few episodes, but alas, that’s not the case. Slime 2 is a bit too toothless for what it shows outside of some cool finishers.

The presentation in S2 is passable on its own merits, but pales in comparison to the vibrance of S1, even if both entries are rather inconsistent in terms of artwork and sometimes animation quality. While there are some sick moments like Hakuro’s final move against Kyouka or the explosive final move Hinata lands on Rimuru before the latter escapes, there are also several jank moments throughout even the better episodes. Atsushi Nakayama went from assistant director of S1 to the primary director here, and the vibrant animation and fun, playful multimedia menu explanations for Rimuru’s powers have decreased. Both that and Rimuru’s playful visual interactions with “the great sage” are dramatically doned down outside of the finale and maybe one other moment this season. Additionally, some of the fights this season, particularly in the middle, look downright terrible compared to most of S1. Moreover, there is a surprising amount of lackluster CGI, particularly for the invading army of Farmus. There’s also just generally less visual flair here, which is best evidenced in the character of Diablo. In S1 ep 24 and the OVA episodes, his introductions had a sinister, grand presentation with some of the most striking visuals in each of these entries. He commanded a serious, sinister presence, even when the visuals of S1 sometimes failed to match that in his big fight scene. His summon in S2 had some shades on that, but he feels far more subdued compared to before since the visuals barely capture how imposing he is. There are some fun moments with how flamboyant and eccentric he can be, but the point still stands.

Even the audiovisuals of S2 are at least a little weaker, but that’s mainly thanks to “Storyteller” being one of the weaker TRUE anisongs, and “STORYSEEKER” from STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION being a far cry from S1’s EDs. It’s a shame that neither Azusa Tadokoro nor Takuma Terushima had songs this season, but eh, maybe in the next cour we’ll get something from them. The actual OST done by Elements Garden is still fine, with some suitably somber or epic-sounding tracks that feel more notable in the last 5 episodes. The series doesn’t even reuse as many tracks from S1 as expected, which is nice, and the sound effects are as crunchy and bass-boosted as ever.

To move onto another positive note of Slime 2, the first 3 episodes do still retain the magic of S1’s early episodes, barring the aforementioned scene of Shion crying. Revisiting the Drawf kingdom and the Elf tavern was pretty entertaining. Jokes such as dwarf king Dwargo lecturing Rimuru for his apparently weak speech towards the former’s kingdom, and having that echo in the back of Rimuru’s mind when his apology towards Shion and Shuna for sneaking out with the boys to the Elf tavern result in him eating Shion’s food for a weak are pretty fun. Watching Rimuru navigate politics with the Eurazania kingdom with liquor and some 1 v 1 battles with Shion and Youm against some of Eurazania’s best was cool. There are other fun gags and moments here, and even a few glorious bits later on like with what Rimuru decides to do with Youm, Myulan, and other newcomer Grucius in episode 8. However, the show can’t exactly go back to all of this without cheapening some of the drama presented here, even if the end game of the season inherently does that to some extent despite how brutal a lot of moments in the penultimate episode were. Well, the show does go back, and that’s part of why the show being somewhat toothless and completely unnuanced in the handling of its more serious and grim moments stings so much.

This is actually where the structure of the series comes in. On some level, this is the fault of the original material, but it’s taken to a whole new level with this adaptation. With S1, the creative team and producers had a hard time settling on how long they wanted the adaptation to be, which led to a very jittery 2nd half that had to skip the first half of arc 4 just so it could get to the part with the kids to end the season on something resembling a climax. This left the Eurazania and Farmus set-up for this season. Given that S1 ended right before the arc everyone had been waiting for, a lot of people were frustrated when S2 had to come back to what was left behind just to provide context for what the rest of the season was poised to adapt.

A problem that was averted by the finale was the seeming lack of presence Millim had this time around. In episode 8, Eren details a fairy tale to Rimuru after explaining the truth about her and the party she traveled with back in the first arc. This fairy tale meant to give Rimuru some hope, just so happened to be Millim’s tragic backstory presented in a form reminiscent of a hybrid of motion comics and stained-glass windows, and adds a lot to the show’s worldbuilding. In spite of what the entire scene means for the narrative, it was one of the best moments in the show for the sheer level of context it provides that add to some of the more likable side characters (who kinda just show up here) and to elements that could be exploited in the future. Up until this point, Millim herself only appeared once this season...in a 2 second scene with no dialogue because the anime wanted to show that Clayman is sending her to wage war on Eurazania that way Rimuru has his hands full with two war conflicts to resolve. However, the finale brought her back to fight Eurazania’s lord, Carrion, in a big way with one of the coolest battles in the series. Her finisher was particularly glorious to witness, more than rectifying what was initially a strange issue with this cour that could have been indicative of the structuring of the adaptation.

The finale itself is probably the best episode of the season, with how it sets up the future conflict in an exciting fashion while showcasing some of the vibrance and charm the series strove to have with RImuru’s and Benimaru’s “password” fiasco as well as the last two scenes of the show. In spite of the myriad of issues the arc itself had, it at least ended on a high note.

The 2nd Season of That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime is a rather conflicting experience. Before and at the end of the big arc the season adapts, there’s still some of that charm that made early S1 so refreshing. However, the arc itself, and even some of the build-up to it, are rather laborious at times and laden with obnoxious issues reminiscent of the worst LN anime. It’s not even as boring as some of latter-day S1, let alone as unenjoyable as the frustrations mentioned above could make it seem. There’s still some enjoyment to be had with Slime 2, just like before. While S1 definitely petered out after a while, it was perhaps the most charming isekai anime out there prior to Bookworm. However, now we have better options, and the show really does begin to stumble under the weight of a more serious direction and the structuring problems it dealt with as an adaptation since S1. There is some mild satisfaction and surprise in watching a show like this get as dark as it does by the end, but it doesn’t entirely stick thanks to certain plot points, the suboptimal writing of the show’s villains and drama, and how the show never goes hard on its morally gray ideas and sheer brutality.

There are several hilarious moments, especially early on, and some of the fights are relatively entertaining. Unfortunately, the show’s foundation really needed to be better if it wanted to execute a more expansive and dramatic arc with the finesse it once had in simpler times. Slime 2 part 1 isn’t a complete waste, but it’s about on par with S1’s weaker arcs and it doesn’t even look as good as before. There are several fun and amusing moments, but once the straightforward fun and novelty wear off and it’s time to be more critical, it’s hard not to acknowledge that we’re left with a bit of a mess. Hopefully the second cour picks up and the Shizue arc can finally have some real competition for "the best arc of Slime".