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「開宴の合図」 (Kaien no Aizu)
“The Signal to Begin the Banquet”
Finally, a good episode! We all collectively scream at our screens after watching today’s episode of Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken. Even though Rimuru right now is giving out orders from the sidelines, those fighting at his side are playing a pivotal role in this war against Clayman. But before anything could happen, it seems Rimuru has managed to make a living doll out of Treyni no less. Since she’s unable to leave the forest, Rimuru injects her soul into a living doll that she can use to move around freely. Furthermore, he dropped a little hint that Walpurgis would be held in a different pocket dimension. Does that mean Walpurgis starts when this pocket dimension opens up? We have yet to see. But the war certainly took full force in this episode. Rimuru finally got his new outfit change, and the rest of the cast seems pretty confident that they can win this war with little to no effort. It’s all about having the upper strategy so it seems.
There was certainly a lot of action in this episode with little to no time to have political conversations, the pacing really picked up, and the show just flew by, it seems Tensei finally got back what it was missing. The animation also seemed to pick up the pace as there was a lot more acting this episode, from the little laugh Shuna silently gives to herself to the way Benimura acted when talking on the phone, I mean orb to Rimuru. There was a lot more life to the characters, something I was pleasantly surprised about. Maybe the past couple of episodes made me forget how characters are supposed to move and not just be still shots for the whole episode. Speaking of Shuna, she also sorts of demands Rimuru send her to battle as well. This could go either one of two ways, but since Souei is going to be with her until they meet with the Benimaru army, I’m not too worried. And it seems they want her more as a shield to protect them against mental attacks, something we already saw with Milim. Rimuru has no other choice but to comply.
Then using the Orc army under Geld’s command, Benimaru gives the order and they start attacking the Clayman army. Opening giant holes in the ground where they trap almost all of the army, even the ones in the front lines. It really was a planned ambush on Rimuru’s part. The war begins at this point and everyone is free to start attacking. Gabil pulls out some water magic and this show’s us he’s not actually just pretty looks, but can stand on his word. Even if he’s a little awkward at times. I liked how this episode gave everyone a little bit of screen time, but made them actually helpful towards the war, beating up enemies like it’s nothing. Then another fight get’s started with Tear and Footman against Phobio. Nothing really happens in this fight, except that they’re setting it up so we don’t forget in the next couple of episodes that it’s actually going on. Then Geld show’s up at Benimaru’s command, the fight now becomes fair and it’s two against two. But it’s placed at a standstill in favor of going to another side of the battlefield.
Yamza gets a troubling report in his barracks, things are going south it seems. Yamza analyzes the situation and thinks he rather go back home to bring one of his comrades, trying to escape the situation, not wanting to become Clayman’s puppet. But when he tries to teleport it seems someone has placed an anti-magic barrier in the field. He’s unable to teleport and has no choice but to confront lady medusa over here. Albis and Yamza have a little fight, and just when Yamza is about to deal the final blow so it seems, Gobta pops out of the shadow along with his companions and strikes a parry against Yamza saving Albis in the process. I’m glad even Gobta got a little bit of protagonism at this point. He hurries out of that fight, and leaves Albis to deal with Yamza, as he sees her more capable than him. Gobta knows his own limitations and is not going to press harder than he knows he can. I’m glad for him as it seems this war is meant to fight with as few deaths as possible. They are even going to take the ones who survived and imprison them, making them go to work under the premise of building the new nation.
The episode ends with Yamza and Albis having a stare-down! Honestly, I’m very happy that Tensei is back in full force. And now the war is swinging! However, I bet we won’t be seeing Walpurgis until the pre-final episode, as I’m sure the actual final episode is going to be a new dawn sort of thing. I’m certainly looking forward to it, and happy that the hook for this series is back!
Look forward to next week for another episode of Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken!
End Card
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Glad they’re finally doing some things worth animating.
I will say that when I saw what the episode’s title was, I set my expectations low. It wasn’t ‘the banquet’. It wasn’t ‘the beginning of the banquet’. It was a ‘signal to begin the banquet’. All kinds of warning signs went off — if the signalling takes a few episodes and the beginning takes a few episodes more, then the actual banquet won’t happen until next year. And would the middle of the banquet also require signalling before its beginning? But, after a half-season of nothing but rank garbage, it was finally worth watching an episode again. I hope they keep it going full-throttle for a while.
This episode was great we get to see how Rimuru’s planning turned out. If I had one issue with this episode it would be that each scene had to be short to give the battle context. This makes the episode feel like eating an appetizer sampler at a sit down restaurant. The audience don’t get one type of appetizer they get more than a few yet small portions of every app to keep the audience salivating for the full course meal.
The coop between Phobio and Geld will be cool to see but can we ship Albis and Benimaru or maybe Albis and gobta?
Gobta is a lot stronger than he himself realises; his parry against Yamza and dodging a decisive blow lends to his prowess as a combatant. The anime did not note how the Goblin Riders accomplished a new form by fusing with their wolf counterpart. Phobio has come a long way since his arrogant debut, glad to see his character growth.
[i] However, I bet we won’t be seeing Walpurgis until the pre-final episode, as I’m sure the actual final episode is going to be a new dawn sort of thing. [/i]
It’ll be interesting to see how they handle this because there are three things happening simultaneously right now – this battle, the Clayman Castle invasion hinted at in the episode, plus Walpurgis – and there’s a reasonable amount of content attached to each to fit into 5 episodes.
Finally the war is underway.
Glad that you mentioned that Shuna giggle. The way they animated her working on Rimuru’s new outfit sure was nice.
The episode was mostly well animated, though I noticed a few pan shots over stills that were a little distracting.
I’m glad you noted Shuna’s chuckle. It was really cool how they animated her working on Rimuru’s new clothing.
The episode was largely nicely animated, with the exception of a few pan shots over stills that were a little distracting.
When Milim snaps out from her enchantment, sooner rather than later, Clayman is going to get pwned in so many ways thats not even funny…