That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2

Episode 33

“In which no one thinks to ask, "Are we the baddies?”

This episode begins with Rimuru explaining what he learned last episode: to bring back those who died, he needs to become the demon lord.

...by killing 10,000 people.

Rimuru then looks to the past and how things got to this point. He admits to his allies that he was a human in his past life. That's why he wanted monsters and humans to get along. In his heart, he is still human.

...a normal, everyday Japanese man who is about to murder 10,000 people.

Rimuru candidly points out his own big mistake that contributed to the deaths of Shion and the others: that he was too focused on personal things instead of statecraft. Of course, everyone in the room objects, trying to claim their own bit of responsibility for what has happened.

...none of them object to their leader's plan to kill 10,000 people, however.

Then the discussion moves to the treatment of humans in the future. Rimuru explains that he still desires peace with them, and wants to educate humans about monsters and eventually erase the line of prejudice that separates “human” from “monster.”

...you know, after he's done murdering 10,000 humans.

Ok, that's enough belaboring the point from me. This episode is basically a pity party for Rimuru where he can reflect on his mistakes and then have everyone tell him how great and perfect he is—that they are the failures, not him. They all want him to know he is a good person and they all love him like family. This might actually have succeeded as a feel-good moment if it wasn't undercut by the fact that this “good, kind, loving individual” they keep praising is about to go get his mass-murder on.

With the emotional music and heartfelt speeches, it's clear the show desperately wants us to side with Rimuru and friends. But how can we? It's not like Rimuru is going to battle to defend his people. If he were, all he would need to do is drive off the army—capture its leaders and ransom them for peace. With his powers, he could do so easily.

However, Rimuru's actual goal is the far more selfish one of bringing the dead back to life. To do this, he needs to kill 10,000 humans. If there weren't already an army conveniently coming his way, I have no doubt he'd find those 10,000 somewhere else—like the Kingdom of Falmuth proper. Sacrificing strangers to save those close to you is understandable—it's human. It's also downright evil.

What's worse is that Rimuru doesn't even see how far he's fallen. While he does need 10,000 human souls to become the next Demon Lord, his actual plan is to completely exterminate the enemy forces—to kill all 20,000 men just to be safe. Rimuru has reached the moral event horizon. Should he go through with this plan, it wouldn't matter what good he does in the future, since it will all be built on the deaths of 20,000 people who, regardless of being soldiers, didn't need to die.

And that's before pointing out that 10,000 of Falmuth's army are comprised of its knights. You know, the nobility? The people who run the government? Rimuru is about to destroy the bureaucratic infrastructure of an entire country in one fell swoop. Who knows how many will die from the resulting chaos before Youm and Myulan are able to take control.

Rimuru may talk idealistically about the future, but any peace he forges with human countries from now on won't be based on lofty ideals or mutual respect. It'll be built on fear—fear that if they don't play nice, Rimuru will slaughter their people in the tens of thousands without mercy.

In the end, Rimuru is about to undo everything he has done so far. All the goodwill he has propagated and all the work he has done to make the average human see that “just because they are monsters, that doesn't mean they are evil” is about to go up in smoke.

It's tragic. His love for Shion and his people has set him on a path where he is choosing to throw away the very thing that made them love him in the first place: his gentle human heart.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Honestly, this episode was kind of hard to give a rating to. It told the story it wanted to tell competently with good emotional beats and character development. However, it wasn't able to convince me that our heroes are in the right—which it was clearly trying to do. And I have a feeling that the tragic message I got from the episode was in no way the intended takeaway.

• I'd almost forgotten that Youm is actually from the Kingdom of Falmuth. I'm surprised at how down he is with the inevitable mass murder of his fellow countrymen.

• You know... everyone's been dead for like a day now. And their bodies are just kinda left out in the hot sun...

• How did knights with no magic ability do so much damage to the outside of Rimuru's city hall? I mean, did you see that gash that covered half the building?

• Milim's backstory is tragic, but I'm not sure how it fits with Milim as we know her. She always seemed innocent—like a child who didn't know any better—rather than someone that had gone through a rage-filled genocide and the imprisonment of her best friend.

• Has Milim even spoken a single line of dialogue this season?

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of experience living and working in Japan. For more of his writings, check out his Twitter and blog.