「忍び寄る悪意」 (Shinobiyoru Akui)
“Evil Creeps Closer”

It was only a matter of time until Rimuru’s peaceful days were interrupted.

General Impressions

After a few episodes of Rimuru just lounging around and having fun, I don’t think anyone was caught off guard with some new big baddie knocking on Rimuru’s doorstep. However, just like every battle up to this point, there was an interesting concept behind the source of this newest problem. For starters, it was a little weird to go into the battle knowing just who and what was behind things. However, by weird, I mean different since the impact of what’s going on was still fully felt. Looking back at things, I suppose it wasn’t all that surprising to think that Phobio would do something crazy to try and redeem himself after his embarrassing display in-front of Rimuru and Milim.

That said, I’m not entirely sold on Phobio letting his personal desires take precedence over his duty to be a representative of Demon Lord Carrion. Based on his actions and motivations behind why he wants revenge, I was really surprised that the lure of power won out in the end. And let’s not forget that Charybdis’ is known as a fearsome calamity monster — who in their right mind would think that they’d be able to tame a beast that even Demon Lords’ fear? If I’m being honest though, I think what might have irked me the most may have been just how easy Footman and Tear had it. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that people wearing masks that suddenly appear in front of you in the forest probably aren’t the best of people, but it pains me to think that Phobio would take their words at face value. Especially since it looks like he’s a rather intelligent guy.

Unfortunately intelligent doesn’t necessarily mean clever and due to his lust for power, it looks like Rimuru and friends have a pretty big issue on their hands. Not only is the calamity level monster Charybdis knocking on their doorsteps, but his posse of lesser dragon/whale things sound like they’ll be a pain to deal with. At the end of the day though, there still hasn’t been a problem that Rimuru hasn’t been able to solve. Luckily Rimuru has also been preparing himself for something just like this with allies from various countries ready to come to his aide. At this point I suppose all that’s left for us to do is to wait and see just what happens when a calamity level monster goes up against the one and only Rimuru. I can’t wait to see and I’ll catch you guys here next week when it all goes down. See you then!

 

Preview

15 Comments

  1. https://randomc.net/image/Tensei%20shitara%20Slime%20Datta%20Ken/Tensei%20shitara%20Slime%20Datta%20Ken%20-%2018%20-%20Large%2036.jpg
    I am sort of laughing that an idiot thought he can control a GREAT power only to be used as a pawn in the end. Can’t believe he fell for such a suspicious offer.
    https://randomc.net/image/Tensei%20shitara%20Slime%20Datta%20Ken/Tensei%20shitara%20Slime%20Datta%20Ken%20-%2018%20-%20Large%2011.jpg
    Curious if that girl is cute under that mask.

    Greed
    1. Magical sharknado…
      Tear probably is cute but she’s 100% Evil with big E.
      I am wondering what is moderate about bunch of evil clowns… seemingly wanting nothing more than to watch world burn.

      ewok40k
  2. I really like the voice actress for Rimuru. Dunno if anyone notices, but
    Rimuru as a slime sounds slightly different than Rimuru as Shizu teen(ish)
    form. She’s doing a great job!

    Anyway …

    Yeah, the introduction of a Charybdis in the (original) story line didn’t
    really make sense (but the author did manage to make it work), and even in
    the Anime, it seems like a random enemy event.

    Phobio’s seduction seems weak at best; Gabiru’s wanting to be the chieftain
    had a lot more story-telling credibility, IMHO. The son always wanting the
    right things but acting on youthful ambitions is what led to his downfall.
    I mean, if Phobio really understood Milim’s power, would he really believe
    that he could win against her? I mean, there’s no real back story to the
    tension between them, and Milim hasn’t acknowledged anything like that either.

    Oh well…

    This is a series that in hindsight, should have been 3 or 4 cours with the
    pacing a little faster in the introductory episodes. Still a good series,
    but I feel that it will end without realizing its full potential.

    mac65
    1. Yeah, I can tell the difference in the voice as well. They do a good job of that. Agree with you about the rush of the series as the stories aren’t getting the attention they deserve to flesh out character motivation and growth. Still enjoying it though unkike K.Circus which I dropped (and I never dropped an anime before).

      Kurik
  3. In this episode we saw part of the director’s incompetence for distributing the pace badly, there is really no way to deny it could really show something better, but remember we talk about the director of infinite stratos so he prefers to invent fan-service scenes that do not even exist , the novel or the web novel, it’s a shame this could have been an excellent anime but it is enough with to see the criticism and the poor reception that the anime has if we compare it to the greats of the season like MOB psycho, dororo (a manga forgotten decades ago) and tate no yuusha, 8bits can not do anything compared to big Studies with great productive values and a superior work staff such as MAPPA, Bones and Trigger.

    Bertz
    1. Honestly I think it’s still better compared to the cuts they’re making to Tate no Yuusha. This is only the second or third time I feel like even part of an episode has been a problem.

      Aex
      1. I am not talking at the level of history but at the level of technical production, it is a matter of seeing how studies like trigger and mappa always call more attention and show constant sasuga and visual madness, at the end of the day calling attention is much more important…

        Bertz
  4. Showing Phobio’s “fall” felt like a waste of time IMO. Having the clowns approach him and then having Charibdys appear would’ve had the same impact and freed up like five minutes for the episode to do something else with instead of showing us again and again that he’s both headstrong and arrogant. The first scene around the campfire was plenty even before he sent the smart people away.

    He’s still an idiot, though. His boss won’t fight Milim 1vs1, but somehow he’s going to beat her by controlling a superpower offered up by suspicious people he just randomly met in the forest? Nope, don’t feel bad for this mook at all.

    And damnit Shion, we know you’re a Rimuruholic, but come on! There’s a different between not relying on Rimuru’s cute, berserker bestie and not letting her go out and play at all! Milim’s already said she wants to basically live in Tempest, so I really don’t see the harm in letting her take down a megalodon or two. That still leaves plenty for everyone else to get some experience off of…

    Aex
    1. … you’re a Rimuruholic …

      There’s actually a good plot-reason for (all of) this, but
      the author (IMHO) didn’t give it the fine polish it deserved.
      This is one of the minor imperfections in the whole story arc;
      it’s a clever idea the author had but for whatever reason,
      wasn’t able to make it a smooth as some of the other side
      stories, IMHO.

      mac65
      1. Not really too much of a spoiler if you follow closely what’s
        happening in the Anime, but …
        Show Spoiler ▼

        mac65
    2. Don’t understand Milim not being allowed to help defend the village. Encountered almost exactly the same thing in Overlord with Carne Village, they were willing to accept all the aid that Nazarick wanted to provide in rebuilding the village but once it came under threat of attack they insisted on defending it themselves. Is this something from Japanese culture?

      Kling Klang
  5. What I like about this whole episode is that Rimu is clearly not the strongest anymore. Still the entire race of various beasts and humans would rather put their faith in Rimu. Being the strongest doesn’t guarantee that others will follow, it’s how you lead, delegate, and assist others that build relationships.

    The demon lords may be powerful individually but Rimu has a stronger nation.

    https://randomc.net/image/Tensei%20shitara%20Slime%20Datta%20Ken/Tensei%20shitara%20Slime%20Datta%20Ken%20-%2018%20-%2032.jpg

    RenaSayers

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