Name: A Good Sequel with Notable Flaws
Item: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2
Rating: 72
Author: Groenboys

Waifra

A Good Sequel with Notable Flaws

When Tensei Shitara aired in 2018, I had a delightful time. An isekai that didn’t push the boundaries, but took full advantage of its premise. It basically was progress porn, with how there was a constant progress going on. It was so fun, even if the second half turned out to be pretty boring.

With the second season Tensei Slime is back, and with a new code of paint. This season Tensei Slime decided to go more dark. In the first season the show felt consequence free and full of life and fun, while this second season feels like it is trying to bring this series more back to earth with some horrifying acts happening in the anime.

This produces mixed results. On one hand, the story this season feels like it is very significant. There isn’t just progress porn, there is a genuine story with a begin, a middle and an end, but in the middle is where the anime begins to stumble.

The middle episodes of Tensei Slime S2 can be very frustrating at times to watch, seeing how all the beloved characters suddenly face harsh treatment. It gives a sense of uneasiness that is captivating and annoying at the same time, but when the anime comes to the turning point is when the quality of writing really begins to show its flaws.

So here we go into spoiler into spoiler territory, so if you don't want to see me complain, skip this part.

Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide

After the Falmuth raided our beloved town and Rimuru safely flees from the Holy Warrior, Rimuru returns to the village, only to see legions of dead villagers, including his loyal friend (?) Shien. This reveal is powerful and changes Rimuru fundementally as a person... only the problem is, this reveal is in the middle of the episode, and right after the break a solution is revealed. This solution, alongside some secondary reveals, feels like the anime crawled back to its consequence free nature, and after all the pain and tears the characters went through in the previous episodes, it feels tonedeaf. It feels like the previous episodes did nothing and were wasted only to make the anime more edgy. What's worse, this episode is immediately followed up by another episode which half of it is flashbacks about things we already had flashbacks of. This is, in my opinion, some genuinely embarassing writing and really pulled the anime down for me.

We back? Okay, in short the middle feels not only frustrating, through some questionable writing decisions the middle feels like wasted time.

Luckily, the pace picks back up in the last two episodes, showing what Tensei Slime is all about: Op Slime being OP. With how annoying the middle felt, this ending really feels satisfactory and I am happy I spent my time getting to this point.

Overal, I enjoyed the season for what it is, but it had some notable flaws which frustrated me. If you liked the first season of Tensei Slime, you will have very little problems getting into this season.

Now let's hope they can keep the pace from the ending up in part 2.