spoilers for both parts of Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken 2nd Season

Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken has always struggled at maintaining the same level of interest when it gets going as it has whenever a new arc or season starts. The best story has long since come and gone with the end of Slime S1’s first ⅓. Since the series has shifted its focus from being about a cute slime starting and maintaining a kingdom to facing a new wave of outside threats to his ever-expanding kingdom of diplomacy, it’s been more difficult to let the series off scot-free for any mistakes as things get more serious.

This is where the 2nd Part of Slime S2 should have been a success. This is the series’ first real attempt at entertaining a farce. The outcome is a foregone conclusion and it’s about how a scheming upstart Demon Lord’s plans crumble under the weight of his own hubris as he’s outplayed by an equally egotistical, narrow-minded, and unaware slime. There’s no pretense of fake stakes until we near the end, and none of the new characters are so unbelievably tacky as to damage the series like in S2 Part 1. In all fairness, this is probably the best installment overall compared to S1 or S2P1, but not by much. Slime is still a disappointingly mediocre series only carried by what little charm it has left, as well as the decent audiovisuals despite the “visual” end of that statement becoming dangerously inconsistent once again.

8bit continues being the head studio behind this adaptation, and like with Part 1, the visuals are a step back from Season 1. At times, the art style feels a bit different compared to usual, and unlike P1, there aren’t any new or interesting visual shake-ups to speak of outside of there being more on-screen interactions between Rimuru and Great Sage. There are a couple of pretty backgrounds once again, and there’s less awful CGI. Unfortunately, there’s a similar lack of decent action cuts, let alone nice-looking fights. By the time we reach the penultimate episode, some of the action sequences are as bad as the Rimuru vs Hinata battle from Part 1 episode 6. The designs are still fairly decent for an isekai, but the action animation is still ranging from mediocre to subpar like in P1. There are barely any good cuts, and most of them are localized in the final two episodes like the first-person perspective shot of Clayman getting repeatedly slugged by Rimuru or Veldora performing a Kamehameha. Even then, those bits are surrounded by other moments of bad fight animation. It really does feel like the production peaked in the early episodes and the final one...again. Considering that several episodes in the back half either largely or primarily consist of fights, this issue is not only unfortunate, but a contributing factor to the show growing dull before and sometimes during Walpurgis.

Musically speaking, things do fare better. There are a couple new pieces that continue to be solid for the scenes they accompany. If you’ve watched the series up to this point, the OST is as solid as you’d expect. Additionally, both the new OP and ED are superior to what came in Part 1. “Like Flames” by MindaRyn is a solid action-packed banger, especially when they improve the visuals for the last few episodes, while “Reincarnate” by Takuma Terashima is at least better than the garbage from P1. They’re not quite as memorable or engaging as S1’s OPs or EDs, but they are a step up, and that’s what counts.

What counts more, however, is the writing. If nothing else, P2 is probably funnier than P1. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a double-edged sword in execution. The first half largely consists of meetings and deliberations to the point of weariness, so it's perfectly fine to punctuate those with gags that show off some character chemistry. The big, loveable oaf, Veldora, was practically built for these moments, and the same can be said for the returning pixie Demon Lord, Ramiris. Rimuru constantly threatening to spoil the manga they’re reading is probably the best running joke of the entire series. There are fun new dynamics being explored on top of the tried and true ones we've come to expect from this show. They do become more of a hindrance in the back half when the show still tries to come off as serious despite the farce. It's mainly a problem towards the end of the show when Walpurgis hits and they interrupt or deflate the fight scenes with jokes. It's difficult to get invested in the cathartic beatdowns when the show deflates itself like this and isn't good at selling the farcical nature of the current conflict. It tries to entertain the idea of Clayman being a threat towards the end despite constantly undercutting him with gag ends and punchlines during Walpurgis, so why even bother pretending this isn't a farce?

Speaking of Walpurgis, the general plot is certainly better than the previous arc. After the Farmus invasion and Animal Kingdom devastation that Clayman had a hand in orchestrating, Rimuru begins planning his revenge when he hears of Walpurgis: an event in which a Demon Lord council is called in by the agreement of 3 members. Both Rimuru and Clayman are upstart Demon Lords, with Clayman trying to gather up sacrifices by screwing Rimuru's kingdom and allies over, and Rimuru has not only achieved this status, but has cut off Clayman's main line of communication by replacing Myulan's heart. Ultimately, this arc documents Clayman's unknowing fall from grace in real time as he smugly believes he's got Rimuru pinned down despite being so in over his head that he can't see the proverbial sword of damocles hanging over him.

Interestingly enough, Rimuru himself is rather ignorant and narrow-minded as well. Sure, he’s doing better than Clayman, but by the time he brings Shion and Ranga to Walpurgis with him on account of needing to choose two fellow representatives, it becomes clear that at least some of whom he's about to speak to have a much better grasp of the situation than him. Chief among these members is Guy Crimson, who aside from sounding like an ArcSystemWorks fighting game protagonist, is an entertaining fellow who knows how this whole charade has played out for the most part. Anything he doesn't know is largely unimportant or contextual at best to Rimuru and Clayman, but he knows that this whole thing is a ploy to screw Clayman over. He knows Millim was never actually under Clayman's control and that she didn't actually kill Carrion when she fought him and wrecked his kingdom. Millim was just in on the act Frey and the others set up so that once Clayman's at the height of his big scheme to become a Demon Lord and get revenge on all those who mocked him and called him weak, he'd be outed as a total fool before finally getting executed. Hell, even Rimuru's Great Sage that resides within him and an idiot like Shion start understanding the situation better than him despite his insistence to the contrary. Sure, Rimuru does defeat Clayman, hell even Shion does multiple times before he ascends, but that doesn't mean Rimuru doesn't have egg on his face once everything's revealed.

Amusing as this is, Walpurgis still isn't as entertaining as it can be. Since the fights are lackluster, there isn't as much catharsis in seeing Clayman get his ass handed to him. He actually gets his own flashback power of friendship second wind once he remembers he shoulda relied on the rest of his Clown party more and that he was among their weakest. While a villainous example of this shite trope is more interesting and there is a moment in the beginning where one of them (Laplace) urges him to be careful of assuming he has as much control over Millim as he thinks he does, there should have been more interactions between them. At no point do we need to feel super sympathetic for the scheming bastard, but it would be more engaging considering the bond does exist and it does propel him to one last stand before he gets wiped for good. The group has been a thorn in Rimuru's side since the Orc Disaster arc, and their new boss, Yuki from the school arc, is revealed to be the ultimate bad guy of the series. There are some surprisingly compelling moments with Clayman refusing to sell his friends or clients out, or how Laplace deals with the man who smugly informs him of Clayman’s death, but why couldn’t we explore them and their dynamic more beforehand?

Oh wait. There's no time. The adaptation has always suffered from structuring and pacing issues. Apparently, this entire adaptation was supposed to be either 4 cours or 1 cour, depending on if you were the studio or the producers, respectively, and it took forever for them to agree to a 24-ep S1 and 2 split-cours later on. By that time, S1 was almost over. Of course S2 would struggle in terms of pacing. Both parts are adapting a volume in 12 episodes while also picking up on what S1 had to skip, and they somehow feel too slow in some places while skipping over or rushing others. Part 2 doesn’t suffer from this nearly as bad as Part 1 does, but there are some elements that had to slip through the cracks. Remember in the end of the first half of P2 when Diablo/Kuro, Myulan, Youm, and co. were set to get to Farmus to start a civil war and take it over, only for them to never show up again until the final scene’s montage? Apparently in the manga, we cut back to them a few times, but in the anime, that’s clearly not the case. There are other minor oddities like the fact that Suphia, a tiger, can fly, or how they never explain how Shion felt a sense of familiarity with Carrion’s disguised presence to the point of trying to ask Rimuru if it was him when we’ve never been told or shown that they met before. However, they and the mostly lame evil bad guy lackeys at Clayman’s disposal are minor issues.

All that’s left to cover is the cast. Every returning character is as you’d expect, and perhaps in top form outside of Rimuru being perhaps a bit too cocky and narrow-minded compared to usual. Shuna actually gets a moment to be capable and even show that her views on Rimuru are a bit more grounded than everyone else who just views him as infallible. Most of the new guys are kinda just ok or whatever outside of Guy and the one really angry humanoid dragonewt who leads Millim’s followership. Honestly, the banter is what saves a lot of the characters at this point considering most of them are pretty milquetoast or lame otherwise. This especially applies to Rimuru now that Veldora and Ramiris are thrown back into the mix. He and Millim are more entertaining when being pestered by their friends for whatever reason or nagged on by other Demon Lords considering they pretty much needlessly fucked everything up for everyone. It’s a fresh change of pace from all the Rimuru circlejerking most of the cast did...and sadly still do to obnoxious degrees. The returning Veldora is even more likable and fun than Rimuru ever was, considering he’s this boisterous big bro meathead powerhouse constantly getting distracted by manga and whatnot. He was hilarious when finally given a humanoid form at the end of Part 1, and kept that energy going throughout the entirety of Part 2.

A similar if not even greater amount of props must be handed out to Clayman. This utter clown is the first time a villain in this series has anything going for them. He was a somewhat entertaining puppy-puncher schemer in Part 1, but in Part 2, it’s somewhat entertaining seeing him maintain that while being clueless as to how deep he is in the shitter. Even more amusing is the lengths he’d go to posture and make himself seem intimidating when he’s flying off the handle against a clearly superior Rimuru or beating up Millim who’s just acting. This man is an utter joke and it’s a good thing the show took the more farcical route in this case. However, the final two episodes do present another side to him that was a bit too lightly suggested regarding his closeness with his unit. There’s the aforementioned power of friendship second wind he has, but then there’s also him telling Rimuru that he’d never betray a friend or client when the blue-haired war criminal tries to interrogate him for information before killing him off. Clayman was already way better than, say, the otherworlders or the king of Farmus from Part 1, but this was the first time he was genuinely compelling rather than just satisfying to watch get house by his own petard. Him apologizing to Laplace in his head as he’s dying was icing on the cake. No wonder Laplace snaps once a subordinate of a different Demon Lord smugly informs him of the bad news.

Actually, Laplace himself really ascended this time, as while he was a malevolent powerhouse, there wasn’t much interesting or entertaining regarding him prior to what Clayman brought out of everyone. Laplace killing the lackey in a fit of rage, countering every counterattack from the man before showing him his beautifully juicy heart and crushing it as the gorgeous vermillion gushes out of it, was sick! Him thinking about how the rest of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance will feel when they learn the news as he’s laughing and crying sealed the entire scene. Once again, in Slime’s final moments, it showcases what it had the potential to be. Fun and satisfying as that is, it’s nonetheless frustrating that the series always seems to stumble for a while beforehand. Maybe with better and more consistent presentation, this season would be more than just a mixed bag, but when has Slime ever been known for its consistency?

TenSura is forever too disappointing and rough to truly become good, but too competent and likable to be too hard on. It’s hard to straight-up abandon this series, but it’s hard not to get bored or frustrated when it gets into the thick of things and can’t present or execute things too well. It’s forever trapped in or perhaps settling for mediocrity, and reserving its best for the earliest and latest moments of any given entry. A lot of the action is mediocre to bad, outside of a few particularly sick cuts. Most of the charm is gone aside from some of the gags and banter the main characters have. Things always start out fun, get boring or frustrating in the middle, and come out the other end better than before like it didn’t almost ruin itself. Oh, Slime, what in the world are we to do with you?