Animehouse

I think isekai series get a bad name, and a lot of the time it’s for good reason, but That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime season 3 episode 2 shows off just what you can do (when you shed the cheapness of the theme entirely). Here, you won’t find a lick of action or fanservice. Instead, it’s an episode that incredibly thoughtfully sets the stage for a massive conflict to break out between the West and the Jura Tempest Federation- starting with Luminous Valentine, the “God” of the Western Church. Or, in actuality, with Yuuki Kagurazake and the Moderate Harlequin Alliance.

It’s a “rather” straightforward setup that basically shows how the Alliance is in a tight spot with the total destruction of Clayman, but it does go on to set up some more interesting pieces. Kagurazake goes on to effectively state that they placed the majority of their success in Clayman’s hands. It’s a bit weird when you think about it, no? To put the weakest link up to the strongest task? And to provide so many resources and tools to him, all to only be a little upset when he blows it all. Even further is that their aspiration is “conquering the world”. It’s a bunch of pieces that don’t quite add up, especially when Kagurazake claims that he’s intent on antagonizing Rimuru. It doesn’t feel like his words and actions align all that well, and while it’s not necessarily further strings behind the scene, it does encourage viewers to question his motives. And that “poke” he mentions earlier will certainly play into a much bigger conflict, which I’ll talk about in a bit.

For now, we need to discuss Luminous Valentine and Hinata Sakaguchi. Though Hinata’s backstory does drag on a little bit, it does show how Valentine operates within the Church, and sets the stage for their forthcoming conversation. The most interesting piece, in my mind, is how much it shows Hinata as “off her game”. Letting Laplace escape and kill Roy was a mistake, and similarly both attacking and letting Rimuru leave freely were bad ideas. It’s very curious that she’s been so shaken up as of late, and as she herself notes it’s possible that she’s been influenced by characters, such as a certain “merchant”. In particular, I’m sure viewer’s ears will perk up at the mention of “Eastern” in junction with the merchant that Hinata’s talking about. While my memory of earlier seasons remains somewhat hazy, I believe this may be the first contact to come from the other side of the forest of Jura, and one that was not known despite having to (most likely) pass through said forest.

It adds questions upon questions as to what the intent here is with That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime season 3 episode 2- especially when you consider the Tenma War that Louis and Hinata briefly mention. Here, what’s interesting enough, is that they mention the Tenma War as something that happens routinely, and is directly tied to the progress of “humanity” within the world. It truly does make it sound like the threat of a God, with angels descending upon the world. Even more interesting is that they tie the Tenma War to the east. Is it a single nation in the East that’s able to produce Angels to rain hellfire down on the West? If so, what would the intent be behind locking them at a certain technological era? It’s an interesting question, but the fact that it remains a routine makes it seem like there’s either a warning or concern to accompany it. If the East is strong enough to wipe the floor with the West several times over, but doesn’t entirely eradicate them, it feels less like a warning and more like a concern.

To provide a bit of theorizing, it’s most likely that the ability to create these angels is relegated to a single person, or at the most a handful like what would happen with a Summoning Ritual. Because of that though, it makes it seem as though the denizens of the East are, on average weaker than the West. If they possessed the ability to wipe them out, they would do so and simply subjugate or assimilate them, but instead they continually hit the reset button. It feels like someone is afraid of the ability of the West, but unable to completely crush it. In that sense, it could have Previously been Veldora blocking the East from easily eradicating the West, but now Rimuru stands in their way- a fact which Luminous seems very willing to take advantage of.

Speaking of taking advantage of, you suddenly feel a far greater scheme at play here with That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime season 3 episode 2. With a quick aside, King Edamaris of Falmuth abdicated his throne to his younger brother Edward, and a deceitful smile crossed his face. Because of this, it’s safe to say that Edward intends to rally against Rimuru despite the content of the first episode, and will likely use the dogma of the Western Holy Church to to spur other Western nations into action. The remaining question though is how Falmuth will successfully get these others nations to join forces against a Demon Lord, Veldora, and ties to the nation of Dwargon. The only connection I can make is that Kagurazake’s “poke” will spur Rimuru into starting the fire (or encouraging the Holy Church), forcing Falmuth and co into a war. Though we can leave those details for when they appear, as there’s a bigger picture to address.

The East has been behind the majority of events up until this point, I believe. Hinata speaks to her actions in relation to the Eastern Merchant, Falmuth charges into Jura Tempest to act as food, and similarly so Eurazania falls prey to it as well. Now, in the background a holy war is dropped in, Falmuth seems bent on exacting revenge against Jura Tempest, and Kagurazake is willing to poke the bear’s nest. What does it mean? To me, it means that the East recognizes Rimuru (and Veldora’s) power, and sees it as a meddlesome limitation in their waging of the Tenma War. Because of that, rather than bear their force against an opponent far more likely to win, they aim to split the front. They turn the West and Jura Tempest against one another, and within the chaos drop their angels upon the battlefield and (attempt to) reap the benefits of disorder.

The only question to me is why they couldn’t do something like this earlier. It’s doubtful that all Western nations have remained on highly amicable terms for decades, so I would have thought the potential to encourage dissent and mutiny would be much higher. But perhaps it’s the fact that the military of exclusively humanity cannot bear enough force to sew enough destruction for the East. All the same, it remains incredibly interesting and curious to me as an anime only viewer at this point in time.

And so at the end of the episode we’re left with the notion that Jura Tempest, as the center of the world (just check the map), will be fighting a war on multiple fronts in the future. It’s an incredibly interesting piece that extends upon the events of season 2, and swiftly brings the East into the conversation, almost as if it knew fans were beginning to tire of the puny efforts of the Western world (save Hinata).

Though, I should add a quick aside about the episode visually. Overall it’s nothing special, but it’s also not a complete waste. 8-Bit seems intent on working Masao Kojima to the bone, as they’ve boarded a total of 4 episodes with the studio this season already, and at a glance you can be confident that this was a “B” episode. There’s nothing attempting to be visually impressive or expressive; it’s simply filling the gaps. And truthfully, being only the second episode I’m perfectly accepting of that fate. It doesn’t look bad, and it’s not painfully stiff or anything of the sort- it’s simply a conservation of effort for the war-torn future of the series, which I am greatly looking forward to.