Tag: Charybdis

Animini: That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime -Episode 19- Charybdis

Steam Powered Salutations and engine sounds driving out my frustrations. Slime has been in a slump during this whole Charybdis mini-arc and in this episode we get the finale. One big final battle filled with cool visuals and people making their last stand.. Let’s close this arc off in style… or turn Charybdis in Sin from Final Fantasy X and have the OP character that is NOT the main character oneshot it..that will close it off as well. The weird thing is .. I kinda like that it went this way.. but also not?!

The Summary

Rimuru’s troops fight Charybdis and the Megalodon in this episode. Along with some troops sent by Gazel Dwargo on Pegasi the final battle goes relatively smoothly showing how far everyone has come along. Turning those Megalodon into mince meat within the first four minutes of the episode. Only Gobta’s group of tiny goblins  struggles and a disappointed master looks onto him, finishing the creature off. Shion, Ranga, Souhei and the Pegasus Knights take down the other Megalodon and Souhei is called a dreamboat again. I love how into him Rimuru is still and he is an insanely capable guy!   When everything is said and done and the sharks lie in defeat Sin.. I mean Charbdis is beginning to shoot it’s scales at people swarming them and cutting them up.   It is time for Rimuru to step in.

Rimuru fights Charybdis on his own but doesn’t manage to do enough damage because this monster has “ultra” regeneration.  Rimuru uses a new ability called gluttony to absorb all the cells and the group now can go for all out attacks… which is skipped.  We see people laying on the floor all tired out and Rimuru guesses that they did no more than 30% damage to  the thing. The monster yells the name Milim in frustration and Rimuru realises the thing is not here for him but for Milim.. seeing that Phobio is inside he now asks Milim to join the frey and take it down carefully.  Trying to save Phobio.. she one shots it and saves Phobio and Demon Lord Carrion shows up t o take back his apprentice.. after shoving his head through the floor hard.  He seems like a swell guy and calls himself the king of all beasts and happily enters a non aggression pact with Rimuru. Milim is happy she did Milim stuff. So all is well that ends well.

The Positives

By the brief summary and some critical lines you may have already noticed I was not the biggest fan of this episode, but in fairness.. I do like this episode best in the current mini arc. There are lots of satisfying actions and Milim is actually fun in this episode and USED for what she is set up to be used for. I like how she is eager to fight and the irony of Rimuru denying it from her because he suspects the creature is after him. Rimuru has been very central and this form of “arrogance”  is somewhat entertaining. I don’t like it from his angle..  but more on that later. I do like this episode from Milims angle though.. her apathy and not caring if people die is something I kind of enjoy! She can sleep while peoples life are in danger.. because Rimuru orders her to stand down. It’s on him.. and because of this weakness on his side I really liked it as a positive on hers.  I also quite like how Charbdis who is said to have the strength of a Demon Lord gets squished so easily.. showing that that analogy might be true.. but demon lords vary so much in power.. it does not say anything. I do enjoy that kind of power scaling. Especially since RImuru was not good enough to face it. It implies higher stakes later on.

I really enjoyed a lot of the fight scenes.. though most of the truly satisfying action was against the Megalodons instead of against Sin.. I mean Charybdis. Glutonny was sweet to see as well and Carrion’s raw physical strength also had a nice impact. I was not bored this episode. Shion Souhei and Ranga making a stand against the scales wasn’t bad either.. so in terms of events.. all of them provided ample entertainment.  Milim’s final attack was a bit lackluster.. but hey she was holdhing back so  that actually works for me.. it can be lackluster if it’s meant to be I guess. Though it did not feel satisfying.. I can live with this .. I think!  The fact that Clayman is being outed as the possible instigator in this event is also interesting and will help drive the plot further. So there is excitement on both a visual and narrative level. However.. there is a big problem.. with the engine that drives this episode.

The Negatives

Where this show really fails for me is with consequences.. there are non.. for no one. If Rimuru  was not in this episode nothing would have really changed..okay Phobio might be dead.. but he would not because that is not how this show is written. Rimuru makes a tactical error in this episode assuming it is him the calamity creature is after.. as a result HE wants to be the one to deal with it. I already think this is a bit out of character for RImuru because the entire idea of all these alliances and bonds and stuff is so he can keep everyone safe and the reason he adopted Milim in his village is to keep the village safe from big threats beyond him. Yet for some reason he wants to fight for himself..  his followers kind of made him. The fact that Phobio is inside does not change that image so letting Milim fight now.. fits neither mindset. Not the mindset to look like a strong leader, not the mindset to keep everyone safe. To make matters worse they make a joke that people do not believe Milim is a Demon Lord and she is just one of the tools at Rimuru’s disposal.. so this plan was useless TWO TIMES over. 

A bad plan I am fine with.. but then let there be consequences.. let Ranga die in the attack , heck even Shion or Souhei, let the city of Dwargon be mad that he risked their lives while he had such a weapon. Let there be something.. but no everyone gets neatly potioned up and when Milim one shots the monster everyone is okay with it. So what is the point of this episode then?!  Rimuru doesn’t seem to learn from his misinterpretation, Milim doesn’t change and no one is hurt and no trust was violated so the status quo has not changed at all since they met Milim.. everything is still the same.. like we are trampling water. To add insult to injury we also see Treyni walk up to the group unscathed. Her sister told them they were fighting the calamity but would lose.. but losing against a giant calamity style creature .. apparently also means walk away unharmed.  So all we get is entertainment ..but with no impact.. I am happy to be entertained. I also like the intro and outro.. that keeps me entertained as well.. and this last arc is basically just like a 60 minute intro song.

The Score

I did like what I saw.. I just did not like what I saw between the lines.. and for an episode it was still entertaining.. it just was very superficial and empty.. like the eggshells of a cool painted easter egg sitting on your plate in pretty colours. This episode is really greasy Kebab.. as long as you eat it you enjoy yourself.. but as soon as that final bite has been taking the regret and the slightly icky after taste comes in. Does that make Kebab bad food.. no  not really!  So I don’t think it is really a bad episode either.. It’s just a bit to fillery for my taste. Not as in.. not relevant to the plot.. but it has the same circle of no consequence a filler arc has.

 I am happy this did not turn out to be the final story in the first season because if that was true I will be honest I would probably not return for season two. So I am kind of happy this stuff happened the way it did now we can move on , into better and more epic things.  I love that it’s light.. but I also loved that I cried for Shizu.. I love when the village grows and when new monsters get added and I want more of that.  So all in all I have very mixed feelings about this episode. It serves my needs very well.. but it is also nothing. So  I will just say that it is okay. Depending on your mood and your need for continuity this can either be a perfectly fine episode to turn your brain off… or a frustrating one if you want to see anything in terms of character growth or overall development. It exists.. and for a show you hold dear just having an extra episode can be good enough.. for me  that sentiment went out of the window with the last two episodes though.

Animini: That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime -Episode 18- Evil Creeps Closer

Konichi-well-this-hasn’t-certainly-been-my-best-week-for-anime everyone! I haven’t been impressed with Slime for a fair few episodes now ..well two to be exact.. it just feels longer because of the move.. but still this current chain of events of Slime feels a bit Meh to me. Where last episode could at least keep me entertained.. This episode was the equivalent of shaking a can of cheap peanuts to check if there are more. “This can’t be all right?” I shook the can with all my might and no additional peanuts dropped out.. it still was a fairly okay snack.. but more and more Slime is devolving into just that for me.. a snack! Bear in mind though I watched this after that shower, and after Digimon and Samurai Flamenco had such “bummer” episodes. 

The Summary

Phobio, that beast guy ..is really angry at Milim for insulting him and punching him. Everyone in his beast troup thinks it would be best to discuss a peace with the Slime creature because they have craftsmanship that completely blows theirs out of the water.. but Phobio can’t seem to let his thirst for vengeance go. He wants to attack the village.. in his own name so he doesn’t involve his Lord.. but also that.. by doing that he can tell his lord that at least something .. happened?!?   He wants to make his lord proud..but because Milim is there and she annoys him.. peace was never an option.  Two members of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance show up.. being Tear and Footman who tell Phobio he can be strong enough to be a demon Lord by freeing the creature Charybdis and claiming his power.. hungry for vengeance the beastman things on this and eventually agrees. Sending home his troops because they should not be involved. He then follows the two masked Majinn to a Mysterious cave.

Clearly the two are setting him up to be some kind of sacrifice to release this powerful being.. which I think.. ends up working.. as we see the creature take flight just a little while later. Tear also killed some young dragons which they fed to Charybdiss so it can spawn 12 Flying Megalodon.. so now we got one organic sky fortress that is rumored to be the son of Veldora with 12 flying sharks heading for the village of Rimuru. The Dryad try to stop him but seem to be growing weaker by the minute.. so Treyni’s sister tries to contact the village.  She is covered by a murderous aura.. which apparently comes from  Charybdiss being close.. so there are a few trust issues at first. Milim offers to take down the Calamity class creature..but Rimuru’s followers ask her to stay out and let Rimuru resolve this instead. To prove his worth to the humans so they can establish trade roads in good trust. Rimuru doesn’t seem on board with this idea but eventually asks Milim to stay out of this, making everyone else fight at a mountain that is at a crossroads to Dwargon Rimuru and whatever direction the monster is flying in from.  Battleplans are being made and that is where this episode ends.

The Positives

I am not happy with this episode!  There is so much wrong with it.. and I mean SO much! It is however not without it’s merrits. Eren and her group finally get some nice interaction with Rimuru which I had been craving for last week.  The hot-tub scene this week is actually pretty funny with the humans liking this village so much they basically are taking a vacation in town and the girls taking a bath so much that even Shuna is beginning to give up etiquette.  The comedy this week is quite solid! The jokes with Milim are also fairly succesful.  Her drive to prove herself to her besty and not being able to hurts her which feels in character.. but now she is adapted enough not to cause a tantrum. So we just see her switch in her battle outfit.. and then being upset. I do like that! It makes sense Milim would wear her battle outfit underneath her clothes just so she can clobber enemies! I had a good chuckle.

The manipulation that Tear and Footman do towards Phobio is also quite nice, the dialogue is nicely written and you can sense them testing the waters to find the correct buttons to press.  Digging deeper and deeper getting underneath his skin, eventually you know there is no more escape for him.. they successfully manipulated him into doing their bidding. His troup caring for their leader and trying to talk him out of it also made this scene a lot more interesting… they do make them a bit too “goody-good”  for my taste.. because with this mentality the conflict of the week before would never really have happened..  but all in all they do a good job of fleshing out this group and making you feel that the bigger evil took a win here today.  Ill intent has prevailed.  I do think Phobio could have Ill intent enough.. but making the Harlequin Alliance more depraved gives us something to worry about in the future and I do like that.  Rimuru establishing his beef with the Demon Lord Leon was also one of the episode highlights.. Unfortunately that is also where those end.

The Negatives

Jeez-Louise there was a lot of stupidity in this episode. While some scenes were very strongly written .. the big picture is completely messed up and kind of angered me. Let me start with the very idea of Rimuru fighting Charybdis without Milim. That feels insanely stupid..instead he is going to risk his own citizens and that of his only ally… just to proof their worth for a trade deal?! .. How about protecting the lives of everyone in this village?!    Didn’t you adopt Milim into the village for exactly these kinds of situations?!   What’s the point of her being there if you are not going to use her?!   I do get that for the tension arc in the show you need to pull these kinds of Shenanigans …but that could have been done so much better. Say for example that Charybdiss can absorb the energy of Demon Lords.. so Milim CAN’T be there.. or make clear that it is after her and it will become super powerful if it succeeds. Rimuru so far always wants to fight using every strategic advantage he has.. so no using your nuke ..at least as a backup seems.. odd and just done in favour of the show’s tension.

Other than that.. the episode was also quite boring. We did not see what happened to Phobio, seeing him being consumed by darkness and transformation would have been super cool, we do not see the fight of the dryads against Charybdis. .not getting a sneak peak of its abilities, instead we just get exposition and bathhouse scenes. Why does Charybdis have to have flying sharks, it seems kind of random.. and I do like random but this doesn’t feel whacky enough.. the design of Charybdis is very otherworldly so I would have loved to see matching adds… just big sharks.. is kinda boring. We do not see what happens to Phobio’s group, we do not see Tear feed Charybdis those dragons, all the important stuff happens trough exposition and we get  “the girls having a holding the breath contest” or “Rimuru talking about trade routes”. I like both scenes but when you find out what was happening at the same time.. I can not help but feeling quite screwed over.. you showed  the wrong thing. I get the other thing is harder to animate but this really felt like a cop-out.

The Score

I had a few chuckles with this episode of Slime.. it still has its charm and I still want to see the rest of the show.. I do feel like next episode it will pick up again..but this block of three episodes has been fairly weak! They all have something to offer.. stand alone and it has enough charisma to sell itself.. but that doesn’t change the fact that it made some big fudge-ups in terms of how the story is connected.. character roles and overall narrative flow of things. It feels a bit directionless… as if the writer was throwing stuff against the wall and see what sticks. Thus Milim feels a bit like an overpowered Jarjar and Rimuru’s actions don’t make that much sense.. and that is a shame, because there is so much you can do here.

I do feel that the writer tried to take a page from Oda’s book and create a long lasting epic, in the same vein as One Piece.. with introducing new hurdles to overcome. I do feel that letting Rimuru go after the Demon Lords instead of all this new stuff would be more satisfying. Now we get one Demon Lord  awakening an Eldritch abomination basically to fight Rimuru, while another doesn’t even seem to know he is a slime sending a footsoldier to deal with him. Which could make sense..if not everyone has heard of Rimuru.. but both the dwarves and the humans also heard of a slime defeating the Orc Lord.. and since the demon Lords still are in an Alliance and can’t interfere with each other,,, this seems a very improbable chain of events. Oda makes the world move separate from the main characters as well but he writes them as to how they interact with the world.. here everything moves seperate but it’s written how they interact with Rimuru and we get a less cohesive world as a result.. and in this episode that caused a major conflict for me that made this one of my least favourite in the series so far.