That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3

Episode 55

If I have one thing that drives me crazy in anime (or in fiction in general, really), it's contrived writing. I can't stand it when heroes and villains act out of character just to further the plot or cause excess drama. This often comes in the form of willful misunderstandings or the characters not grasping the obvious for no other reason than, if they did, the story would not happen. This arc of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime could have so easily become like this in forcing a confrontation between Hinata and Rimuru when neither of the characters wants to fight. However, thanks to competent writing, it avoids this major misstep.

Both Hinata and Rimuru want peace. They can see it in each others' actions since (and even during) their first fight. However, there are forces at work determined to make the fight happen. For Hinata, her issues are mostly external. They stem from the Seven Sages giving her and her companions false information (along with more than a few inconvenient truths) while limiting communication between the sides.

What's most important here is that Hinata knows that she is being played—even if she doesn't know why or what the end game truly is. Her trip to Tempest only further reaffirms this. She sees the way Tempest acts both with its neighbors and the strangers within its territory—and it's in no way like what you'd expect to see in a brutal expansionist empire of pure evil. She doubts both the information she's gotten as well as the source. However, she is forced to throw all that out the window when she sees her knights have invaded Tempest and are engaged in battle. While her troops shouldn't be there, she can't just stand by and watch them be slaughtered.

On the other side of things, Rimuru's issues are more internal. While our little slime puts on a happy face, he is still traumatized by the last time a foreign army came to Tempest. He had thought the best in people—if he showed that his monster population was peaceful, they would be treated in kind. That hubris led to the deaths of many of his people—and it was only through a one-off miracle (and thousands upon thousands of dead humans) that he was able to get them back.

Now, he is driven by the fear of something similar happening again—and the Seven Sages are acting in just the right way to stoke his fear. Hinata and her companions leisurely travel to Tempest on the main road while doing little to hide their identities and looks like a peace envoy. So the Sages send another group of knights along Tempest's back road, making Hinata look like a distraction for a guerrilla attack.

Like Hinata, Rimuru knows he is being played. The actions he sees in Tempest and Falmuth make that obvious. However, he can't take the chance on Hinata and just hope that things aren't as they appear—to do so could once again lead to the deaths of some of his people.

Thus, Hinata and Rimuru are forced into their fight. It doesn't matter that neither wants war—both are now in a position where they have to fight to protect their people. The Sages have out-thought and out-maneuvered them. Now the question that remains is what do the Sages hope to gain from this? Do they really expect that Hinata will win? Or is this some kind of Xanatos Gambit where no matter what our heroes do, the Sages win? We'll just have to wait and see when the battle between Rimuru and Hinata begins in earnest next week.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Yeah, leaving Shion in control of a battle where you specifically don't want to escalate things isn't the smartest of choices.

• What's up with Shion's squad's healing? Does everyone have healing magic in Shion's squad? I feel like I missed something important somewhere along the line.

• I'm still unclear where the sages fit into the hierarchy, and why Luminous Valentine would allow those who undermine her to run free in her territory.

• Despite the last episode, I don't get how the Rosso family and Cerberus fit into all that is happening—maybe their involvement is limited to what's happening in Falmuth?

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.