That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2

Episode 40

As the credits roll on this episode, one thing has become hard to ignore: the fact that we just spent the first four episodes of this cour watching what amounts to an hour-and-twenty-minute-long conversation. Now that's not to say that the conversation has been boring or unimportant. The first three episodes were spent dealing with the fallout from the first half of the season and establishing what our heroes plan to do as a result. This episode, on the other hand, is all about the looming threat our heroes were unaware of: Clayman's bid to become a True Demon Lord in the vein of Rimuru and Milim.

On the surface, Clayman's plan is a clever one: draw the other demon lords—including Rimuru—into a conference designed to unify them against the little slime. Then, with no one in any position to stop him, he'll launch an invasion to slaughter the civilians of Eurazania with impunity.

Unfortunately for Clayman, his intel is incredibly lacking. The last thing he saw personally from within Tempest was the death of Mjurran. And while he has learned of Falmuth's defeat and Rimuru's ascension, he has yet to discover Mjurran's survival—something that turns his invasion from a justified one into the very rule-breaking action he is accusing Rimuru of.

But what's even worse for him is that, even if Clayman's plan works and his men kill the 10,000 needed for becoming a True Demon Lord, the ritual won't be successful. Somehow, Clayman has chosen to ignore one important detail of Milim's legend: the fact that she killed all 10,000 personally. Sending his army to commit genocide will do nothing. Just as Rimuru did, Clayman needs to get his hands dirty—which is the exact opposite of his modus operandi.

In a bit of a cool storytelling twist, learning all this information creates a cliffhanger of sorts—despite the absence of any action in the half-season so far. The Walpurgis conference is set to begin in three days while the invasion of Eurazania is set to occur in two. Due to the distances involved, if Rimuru attends the conference, Rimuru's friends (namely the ones fast enough to even reach the battlefield in time) will be left to face 30,000 soldiers lead by Clayman's strongest warrior. However, if he goes to the battlefield instead, the other demon lords will summarily rule against him—something that could threaten the very existence of Tempest. It's a solid dilemma, and one that will no doubt be addressed in next week's likely-to-be-actionless episode (if the title is to be believed): “The Eve of Battle.”

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• There is a chance that Rimuru could be in both places at once. We have seen him make clones of himself, after all. However, we still don't know about the limits of that skill. Can he make more than one clone? Does Veldora's body still count as one? Is there a maximum distance between the original and clone? I think it's time for the series to spend a few seconds laying all this out. It's hard to know if this is actually a genuine dilemma or not without knowing what Rimuru is capable of.

• Between revealing Clayman's goal and Razen's body change ability, I think it's safe to view Raphael as Rimuru's personal plot spoiler at this point.

• Has Shion ever had problems remembering names before or is this a new gag?

• Those Yukata designs are awesome—especially Veldora's black one with gold dragon accents.

• Veldora doesn't say a single word this episode. He's basically doing what he did while trapped inside Rimuru i.e. keeping himself distracted while waiting for the action to start. Of course, now he gets good food and all the manga Rimuru can remember so I imagine he's pretty happy.

• I like Rimuru's offhand comment that as long as Veldora is in Tempest, they don't need to worry about invasion. Not only does it show the level of trust between the two, but it also implies that Rimuru believes Veldora, even in his new slime body, can beat Hinata—which is a match I am dying to see.

• Is Rimuru really planning to send Youm, Mjurran, and Diablo to Falmuth before all this Walpurgis stuff is sorted out? I mean, Mjurran is his key witness. I wouldn't let her out of my sight for a second.

• This episode reminds me how much I love Mjurran's true form and how disappointed I am that she's sticking to her human form in her recent appearances.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of experience living and working in Japan. For more of his writings, check out his Twitter and blog.