12-05-2018, 03:25 AM | #1 |
我が名は勇者王!
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Slime Tensei
It's time.
I saw Episode 10 yesterday and I'm pretty confident in calling this the best show of the Fall 2018 season. While the highs are not stratospheric, it's plenty good, and the lows are not very low. It has a slow pace without drawing attention to that pace, and enough unique appeal (like the name mechanic) to separate itself from other RPG-like animes. Heck, outside of the "Great Sage" internal monologue, I don't see a lot of blatant RPGness here. Brief summary: guy dies and gets reincarnated as a blue slime critter. That's it! Discuss this brilliant show.
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12-05-2018, 04:13 PM | #2 |
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I have a vastly differing opinion on the series thus far.
Currently, I feel the show is dull and meandering. I think the biggest issue is that slime doesn't have any goal or purpose. He just kind of goes from one problem to the next and he really has no reason to care, but does it so anyway. Add in the fact that this is truly an isekai, he's so overpowered that the action has no tension. So I generally find Rimuru to be a flat character overall. Spoiler: show TL;DR - The show is an isekai with the hook of the main character being a slime. Main character is aimless and the bulk of the show is boring. |
12-07-2018, 04:51 PM | #3 | |||||
我が名は勇者王!
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I maintain that it's impossible to tell this from the OP, which isn't linear and shows Shizue quite a bit. You also would have to be making a stretch claim about anime character designs, because anime is notorious for sameface. Liiike... Also, I disagree with your disgruntlement on Rimuru being OP. Actually, I have some canned arguments from a recent discussion on isekai on why this isn't a problem. Basically, video games serve a purpose - to be a power fantasy. Almost all video games, especially RPGs, focus on people doing things they can't in real life. It's the whole purpose to the game. Anime/manga doesn't have to subscribe to this notion...it can focus on Goblin Slayers or Kaijis who live miserable existences that might be pretty tough for people to experience first hand, video game or no. But isekais as video game imitations can't escape from the power fantasy nature, because that's the very essence of what video games are. If you reject this, you're setting yourself up for disappointment because it's fundamental to the show. Rimuru isn't upsetting to me just yet because while she(?)'s solved all her problems, they've been relatively small in scale. The only thing that struck me as dumb was the immunity to fire, which should have been explained ahead of time. That's super lame. Yeah mustard jellies are immune to a lot of stuff, but it felt like an arse-pull anyway. Compare this to other isekais... Sword Art Online - Kirito is humanity's savior Re:Zero - Subaru is "the difference" Overlord - Ainz is basically a god Kumo desu ka - spider goddess No Game, No Life - gods Konosuba - rich harem noble Slime Tensei isn't there yet, and I doubt it ever will because there's already designated "Hero" and "Demon King" characters. There's strong appeal in restraint. Quote:
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-Veldora (Episode 1): "This world is ruled by survival of the fittest" -Lizardman King (Episode 10): "Tell the Goblins to come to our aid!" You don't need much more explanation than that to understand what's going on. Quote:
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12-07-2018, 06:46 PM | #4 | ||
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Seems they bounced around topics so much in her death scene I forgot about it. She doesn't say to punish him, but ask that he acknowledge her and return the children to their own world. So we're both wrong here. I blanked out on this scene after the "Eat me," request I guess. @Video Games + Isekai Genre There's a big difference between an Isekai character being OP and a Video Game Power Fantasy. In a video game, you build up to the power level where you start One Punch Man-ing everything. Also, you can die plenty of times building up to your end game form. Even if a game isn't an RPG, the player doesn't start godly, they learn to become godly through experience. The game is exciting because you could still die in the game. And it becomes all the more rewarding the closer you came to death rather to instantly winning. OP Isekai characters are at that overpowering level right at the start, like Momonga/Ainz, Kirito and Rimuru, avoiding the sense of accomplishment that characters build up and get us to like them. They're just strong. They started this way. There's no drama or tension and it drives down my excitement when things happen. Overlord's Ainz is a bit more enjoyable not because of how powerful he is, but for the feelings of nostalgia and his bond with his guildmates that as a fellow MMO player, I can sympathize with. The opening scene when Herohero left leaving Momonga alone and frustrated; the scene of the campfire with the Sword of Darkness party talking about never encountering friends like that again; and the mausoleum in the Treasury of Nazerick were Overlord's highlights for me, not so much his conquests and action scenes (and I label them as action scenes and not fight scenes because they're all so one-sided). The only exception is the Shaltear fight, where the fight was more about Ainz's insecurities as leader of Nazerick rather than actual combat. His use of his guildmate's equipment symbolized the culmination of their work together in Yggdrasil. Also, they do state the battle could potentially be fatal for Ainz. We all know he's not going to lose, but even the threat of losing makes scenes more interesting in general. I would argue ReZero portrays video games better because the main character has to die and try again. He learns from his experience and then builds up to a more successful outcome. Just because he dies and is reborn hours prior doesn't make him OP. He is literally in a video game and reloading after each failure and keeps trying to get better. While I do get that the only qualifier for an isekai is to be transported to another world, I would probably put ReZero into a slightly different (sub?)category compared to SAO or Overlord. Rimuru is just born OP. It's like he went into an MMO and bought the most powerful character from an account selling website and just went around stomping rabbits in West Ronafure. I honestly don't see the entertainment factor in this. We can't sympathize with him because we know so little about his backstory and his character. We don't really see him in any real danger and he doesn't change in any meaningful way as a character. He only just gets more powerful, but he already started extremely strong so... Don't get me wrong. I do still watch it. I'm hoping it gets better. The premise is interesting enough. I don't really expect it to pick up before maybe episode 12. Can you explain why you hold the show do highly? What makes it best show of the season for you? How is it better than say SSSS.Gridman or JoJo's or Bunny Girl Senpai? Your original post is pretty vague and I personally don't see the highlights of the show, so can you explain it to me so I may learn to appreciate it as much as you. |
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12-07-2018, 10:03 PM | #5 | |||||||
我が名は勇者王!
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Baldur's Gate is one of the few games I can think of where due to the open world, you can wander into an area with super powerful enemies you stand no chance against. The vast majority of linear games scale to the player's strength, and they're always weaker than the player. What I'm getting at is that the protagonist in any video game is always overpowered, it just doesn't seem that way because the degree of difference isn't blatantly obvious. For example, a +10 level difference with higher BST is often considered insurmountable in Pokemon, but nobody bats an eye to a Level 30 Rhydon eating up Level 23 Pidgeotto. Rimuru proved that she wasn't OP when she outright lost to the Ifrit, if not for the fire immunity arsepull. That turned what was an even fight of exchanges into a one-sided execution, but because it happened at the end of the fight, it wasn't the worst thing in the world for me. Quote:
Kirito began the series as the strongest player in Aincrad, and Nazarick is described as so overwhelming, "if the entire New World attacked the moment Nazarick spawned, they could have kept Ainz in the tomb". Maruyama was criticized for this and his response was, "I hope you're not reading this story expecting the hero is going to win". Quote:
Unfortunately, it was all from Overlord season one. Quote:
He's overpowered in the sense that his ability means he can never lose, and he has a hidden connection to the villainess that we viewers still don't know about (light novel doesn't count since things were changed). Quote:
And, when it comes to things like farming, smithing, and building, Rimuru brought outside help instead of asking the Great Sage Ex Machina for all the answers, or knowing them herself. So you've got a character strong enough to handle incoming threats, with some clear limitations. I guess her personality could use more development? But I find the gender confusion to be an interesting exploration itself: -formerly human male -biologically asexual -transforms into a preadolescent girl derived from a woman he bonded with Like she kicks Gobuta for insulting her breast size, which is something men won't do. The male reaction is, "Dude, shut up." Rimuru still uses "ore" and blushes when she sees/is hugged by breasts, but otherwise doesn't exhibit many other male mannerisms. It's Dr. Manhattan syndrome! Quote:
Here's my quick run-down of what's going on: Spoiler: show ... Why Slime Tensei: 1. Production value Slime Tensei has the highest production values of any show I've seen this season. You see OP/ED quality in the battles without having to degrade into off-model sequences. It's very colourful, and the director is very smart about when to conserve budget, subtracting resources from scenes where there's little going on, and adding it back to fight scenes. 2. Inoffensive content Suspension of disbelief breaks for me very easily these days. Actions that don't line up with how I understand humans to behave makes watching anime uncomfortable, so a lot of shows with poor/inconsistent writing are tough to get through. When you have an overwhelming impression of "this is stupid/cringeworthy, get me out of here" 3. Stereotypes & Steriles One of my biggest beefs with Overlord is Albedo, who is totally obnoxious and unnecessary. She feeds into a lot of stereotypes and warps scenes she's in around herself. I know the in-universe explanation is she was designed this way, but when you pair Albedo around characters like Climb, Brain, and Gazeff who don't have over the top personalities, it becomes harder to find characters you like if you want a middle ground. Slime Tensei's characters might not be super deep, but they're not painfully shallow either, and all of them are distinct. They are stereotypes, but muted and not exaggerated to the degree of an Albedo. This helps me as a viewer get reaccustom to the characters each week without needing memetic recall of their past actions. 4. Pacing I don't think this show is slow at all because there aren't high stakes right now. The show takes its time to introduce characters and properly integrate them into the cast. It doesn't try to distract the viewer with unnecessary subplots and properly foreshadows introductions so characters don't appear out of nowhere. ... I think Golden Kamuy, based on prior history, will still crush this season when I finally get around to watching it, purely on the basis that it aspires for much more and meets those aspirations, but Slime Tensei checks everything for me without any negatives.
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12-18-2018, 12:38 AM | #7 |
我が名は勇者王!
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I think Rimuru swings both ways. I wish this was focused on more, though.
To the Overlord anime's credit, it was very good at depicting Ainz's erosion of humanity. With Rimuru, I'm not sure what's going on in his/her head. Still mas a masculine speaking style, but has some girly mannerisms I wouldn't expect out of a guy. Maybe it's just an ogre fetish.
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12-18-2018, 03:43 PM | #8 |
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Not enjoying the idiot Gabiru. I guess I've seen the trope too often, but it feels like the whole scenario is starting to feel fabricated. I know he's being manipulated by the demon lord, but the whole thing doesn't feel natural to me. Set up failure so the hero can clean it up.
Why would you give up a defensible siege position with a promise of reinforcements in less than a week? The orc army is 200k strong, so even if the orcs didn't have the cannibalism, fighting in narrow passages is the best way to defend since it limits their strength. Fighting in the open fields opens you up to getting flanked and overrun. I really hope it doesn't just lead up to Rimuru showing up and stomping shit easily. |
12-18-2018, 05:29 PM | #9 |
我が名は勇者王!
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I think it's a flaw of the entire lizardman race, that they're very arrogant. That much was clear when Gabiru tried to recruit the goblins and where the slightest provocation eggs him in to instigating a coup after the war, then instigating the coup before the war. Only the chief and the captain were shown having any kind of restraint.
I think the subs exaggerated this a bit though - the lizardman chief in the sub asks if Rimuru is a superior "species" to the kijin, but in Japanese he says "sonzai" which can just mean existence, so there isn't as clear a racial consideration. I think it'll be a curbstomp given the individual orcs don't look that strong. "like an ogre" says the lizardman who slay the orc. The Orc Lord may be two evolutions higher than a regular orc, so he could be the strongest monster seen yet, Veldora and Ifrit exempted.
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12-24-2018, 05:33 PM | #10 |
我が名は勇者王!
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This topic is cursed! It's not like there was a huge quality drop after I posted this, but things haven't been quite as fun.
I'm in Episode 13 and I can already tell what's going to happen: Spoiler: show Basically, cringe. I hate cringey things. Daikirai. This is why I can't stand Bunny Girl Sempai anymore. Nails on a chalkboard as pigs scream.
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12-25-2018, 12:20 AM | #11 |
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The episode was everything I feared. Just an absolute one sided affair that wasn't even enjoyable to watch. I don't know about you or others, but I don't think watching a nuclear bomb explode as an exciting or thrilling action scene, and that's pretty much what they basically did. Thousands of orcs? Make a cluster of tornados! Still have more orcs? A dozen fireballs! A slash dash that kills a whole line of troops! A super cleave that pretty much makes a canyon! Gabiru's fail fight was more interesting!
I don't see how you came to your conclusions of Bunnygirl Senpai, but Slime Tensei is pretty much everything I kind of predicted. It's thus far proven to be just a regular isekai with a slime main character gimmick. I'm fully dropping this. I hope it picks up those who keep up with it. |
12-25-2018, 03:32 AM | #12 | ||
我が名は勇者王!
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However, I feel like you were setting yourself up for disappointment. In the history of anime, I can't think of a large scale battle that was depicted in an interesting, gripping way visually. Such battles are usually simplified with nukes like this, or they're shown from the command post, using graphics and diagrams to explain the movements of the troops with some cut aways to on-the-ground action. For the earlier battles like against the wolves, the number was considerably more manageable than 200,000 armoured orcs. The Gabiru battle was a good one and sort of like a Pokemon battle (in fact, this series reminds me of Pokemon) and is what you should expect. Quote:
I don't think Slime Tensei makes such claims, it is what it is. Unfortunately, ever since the ogres became a focus I haven't had as much fun with this show.
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12-25-2018, 12:39 PM | #13 |
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Large scale war has been depicted in anime though. Berserk, Berserk trilogy films, Grancrest Seki all have good and realistic depictions of large scale battles.
I understand that showing a fight with a dozen people against 200,000 isn't going to be realistic, but the whole scene isn't even a fight. We don't see swords clashing or narrow misses or perfect parrying. We see Michael Bay explosions. Also, how does like a dozen tornadoes not take out 200k orcs by themselves? The whole scene (I won't call it a battle) could have been done better, but then we would need to build up the ogres more. We'd need to see their emotions about losing their village to the orcs and see how truly defeated they were, how horrible the loss is, how powerless they felt. Actually see their losing battle against the orcs, like them giving their best and still losing despite their efforts. Then once this battle comes around, they showcase their improvements thanks to Rimuru's naming. I know this was what they were probably going for, but they skipped the first part and we're not really given any emotional bond with the ogres. |
12-25-2018, 06:19 PM | #14 | ||
我が名は勇者王!
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I've never seen Grancrest Seki but you can't compare TV anime to a film. There's inherently not fair. Even in Youjo Senki which had nothing but large scale battles, it usually took the narrative focus rather than actually showing huge troops dueling in a visceral way. I guess that's the form to imitate - going forward and killing the leader so you don't have to deal with the rest of the army. I'm not going to expect that out of anything but a war anime, but it's fair to think about I guess. Quote:
In Baldur's Gate, you'd run out of spells and run out of consumables before you could finish an army that big, even with full access to epic abilities. Maybe show tension by consuming magicules or something??
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01-15-2019, 06:52 AM | #16 |
我が名は勇者王!
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Slime Tensei - 15
I didn't discuss this last week but privately I was curious if Rimuru would punish the orcs. Even though the orcs were "innocent" in that they were bloodlusted and mindless, they still committed the war crimes of genociding the ogres and slaughtering the lizardmen. There needed to be punishment of some sort, like making them slaves but not having their children as slaves, just so the surviving orcs will go through punishment but not the species in perpetuity. I get that Rimuru is a salaryman, but an intelligent one unlike Ainz, but anyone who's operated in society should know that this is how resentment is fostered. A sense of one-sided injustice. Wasn't that one of the take home messages of Youjo Senki? In a unique twist, I found Rimuru's speech cringeworthy. I mean, in the end, Rimuru did end up enslaving the orcs by using them as forced labour, but the fact that it wasn't explicitly outlined as a punishment was problematic. Geld himself recognized this when he asked the ogres to slay him. As for Geld, this was the second time this twist surprised me (that the Orc Disaster was his father), since we had the same thing with the Lizardman King Abiru and his daughter, the captain of the guard. But it was a moving scene nonetheless. I thought it was stupid Gazel Dwargo would waltz into Rimuru's country with an armoured entourage. That's a declaration of war, and not diplomatically friendly. The whole fight was silly. Oh, and apparently DIO BRANDO is in the show now.
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01-21-2019, 07:51 PM | #17 | |
我が名は勇者王!
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01-28-2019, 05:48 PM | #18 |
我が名は勇者王!
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Hey, Youm is none other than Sugimoto the Immortal!
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02-04-2019, 04:02 PM | #19 |
我が名は勇者王!
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This show continues to be great. I can't really think of an anime in the recent past that was this consistently good. Manga-wise...Spirit Circle was the only thing recently that never declined and stayed solid every single release.
Spoiler: show
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03-11-2019, 12:29 PM | #20 |
我が名は勇者王!
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NO! It's over? But...how?!
Out of nowhere?! And all those plot points...unresolved! Why?! This is too cruel!
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