Satoru Mikami, an average 37-year-old salaryman who never had a girlfriend, was stabbed and killed by a passing robber, and was reincarnated into a fantasy world… as a slime. This would be a problem, given that slimes are traditionally the weakest monster in a video game-esque fantasy world, but Satoru also gained a bunch of powerful skills, including the ability to inherit the skills of anything he ingests. His life only gets more absurd when he meets the Storm Dragon, Verudora, one of the four True Dragons who was sealed in a cavern for 300 years. After learning more about the world from him, Satoru befriends the dragon as he was just lonely being in that cavern all that time, and thus begins his new life in another world as a slime.
With the isekai subgenre having established itself as a seasonal constant at this point, it’s about time it had a good joke. So here in That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Japanese title: Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken; TenSura for short) we have the classic isekai elements–an ordinary male protagonist gaining powerful skills–but with the twist that he has to live as a slime. It’s an amusing enough concept that might already interest those who are otherwise tired of isekai, but how does it play out? First of all, be warned that this first episode is largely exposition, going through the various skills Satoru gets and various details about the world itself. While it might set a good foundation for future content, it doesn’t do much for the premiere episode itself, which definitely feels on the dry side with all the telling without a lot of showing. What does work in this premiere, though, is how Satoru reacts to his new slimy life. Gaining a much more childish and energetic voice, he reacts like a child with a brand new toy, though with enough adult sarcasm to comment on how ridiculous things are. Add on how the Storm Dragon is more of a lonely tsundere than an actual evil threat, and the show definitely has a good-natured sense of humor about it that carries it through the drier exposition parts. Given that, I can imagine that this show will pick up greatly once things actually start happening, and I look forward to that.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is streaming on Crunchyroll.
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I actually have read the first 2 volumes of the light novel after being recommended it by a friend, and while there is a lot of exposition, I can guarantee this show will get quite ridiculous with its level of super-powered characters (not just the protagonist, but those he befriends as well). Of course, it is Isekai so we know there’s not much risk to the MC, but if you want to see someone become so powerful in so many different ways while being a lowly slime and having to fight exponentially stronger opponents, this will certainly entertain you.
Sounds like a fun time! I’d like to read the original light novels too, though I’ll wait until after the anime adaptation finishes airing.