If I’m honest, I think it’s pretty unlikely that I’m going to cover Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken.  And in different circumstances I might not even have done a second impressions post on it.  But the irony here was really too good to pass up – two hugely popular LNs premiering within days of each other, each using goblins as a plot device.  And they couldn’t possibly have gone about it more differently.  It’s funny to be sure, but it also presents a striking contrast that’s impossible to miss (or ignore).

I’m not going to keep gnawing at the bones of that other show – I voted by dropping it, and if people enjoy it more power to them.  But it certainly lends a contrast that makes it clear just how good-hearted this one is by comparison.  It’s pretty fun too, in its unaffected sort of way.  “Slime” isn’t exactly groundbreaking or visionary, but its personality is rather more unforced than most of its light novel compatriots.  And it presents the odd bit of funny dialogue here and there, as Satou disappears more or more into the creature he’s become.

Much of the humor has been drawn from Satou’s conversations with Vedora the tsun-dragon.  Eventually he offers to eat the dragon and let his ability try and figure out a way to free the dragon from his imprisonment (which will kill him in another hundred years or so, when he runs out of magicules).  Veldora agrees – what does he have to lose, really – but not before a bro-ment where the two confer names on each other.  Satou decides Veldora shall be called “Tempest” and Veldora dubs Satou “Rimuru” (with Tempest tacked on as a last name).  Dragon in tow (and gut) the slime sets out to find a way out of the cave.

It turns out that the disappearance of the dragon (into Rimuru’s belly) has set the fox among the chickens in the outside world.  The humans are going crazy with angst, and the local goblins are being mercilessly savaged by dire wolves emboldened by Veldora’s removal.  Rimuru’s aura announces his presence (whether that’s because of what’s in is stomach or his inherent powers I don’t know) and he agrees to help the timid goblins.  Because after all, goblins are people too (though they make useful tools for dehumanizing if an author is so inclined).  None of this is exceptional, really, but it’s all executed with some wit and a bit of flair – and pretty nicely produced, too.  We’ll see if there’s anything to talk about next week, but if nothing else I can admire Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken for what it isn’t, if not so much for what it is.