That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2

Episode 30

“In which things go from bad to worse.”

This week's episode consists of little more than a series of cliffhangers. There's not much time for anything other than fighting as we rotate between our heroes and show them each being handily defeated by Falmuth's forces (though of course, we cut away from each fight at the moment of the decisive blow to leave a bit of hope for next week).

The message is simple: as powerful as Rimuru and his friends might be, ignorance is the great equalizer. Our heroes are completely unprepared for this type of pre-emptive attack—Rimuru didn't even know of the existence of teleportation prevention magic and anti-skill/anti-magic/anti-monster fields. Moreover, this attack is highly coordinated, hitting two places at once. By keeping Rimuru away from Tempest, the people there don't have their leader to take command in the crisis—nor does he have their support in the battle against Hinata.

And make no mistake, Hinata is more than a match for a weakened Rimuru. With a sword that attacks the soul instead of the body and a unique skill that lets her plunder other people's techniques, he's in real trouble the moment the fighting starts. On top of that, he faces a psychological obstacle: Hinata is not only Japanese like Rimuru himself, she is one of Shizu's former students—one that Shizu specifically wanted him to look out for. Killing her isn't exactly going to do Shizu's memory justice.

Then, on Hinata's side, it's personal. She knows that Rimuru killed Shizu, and the information she has been fed made talking her down all but impossible. Of course, this in turn raises the question of how she got that information in the first place. It's unlikely that it came from Falmuth—their info on Tempest is rudimentary at best. To know so much about Rimuru specifically—and to present it in such a way as to not only convince but manipulate Hinata—implies that there is someone behind the scenes controlling this whole situation.

Now as for why, let's think logically about how things could play out.

If Rimuru survives, he can't let what happened stand. He has to wage war with Falmuth—a war that Falmuth is unlikely to win once their surprise attack tactics are known. However, as Rimuru refrains from killing anyone in general (though who knows how blinded by rage he will be), this is probably the best outcome for the people of Falmuth as a whole.

If Rimuru is killed, however, Veldora will be released from within his slime body, leaving his magical prison weakened and his only family member killed. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day, he will break free and it's obvious what his targets will be: Hinata's Holy Empire Ruberios and the Kingdom of Falmuth.

Of course, Ruberios and Falmuth are unlikely to survive that long. Milim may be preoccupied with fighting the Beast Kingdom now, but the moment that she hears her best friend has been murdered and his country (with all its pleasures) wiped off the map, it's not hard to assume what her reaction will be.

But let's say that Ruberios and Falmuth somehow do to Milim what they did to Rimuru and are able to kill her. At that point, it's obvious that the other demon lords would unite to wipe out the two human countries. The Demon Lords rule (and are kept safe) by the fear of their power. Any country that proves otherwise must be quashed with extreme prejudice.

In other words, should Rimuru die, this war ends in only one way: the complete destruction of Ruberios and Falmuth.

Now as to the “who” behind this plan, I suspect it's one of the Demon Lords (probably Clayman given he's the only one to get any major screen time so far). Every generation or so the humans need to be knocked down a peg; they need to be shown why they shouldn't mess with the Demon Lords and their interests. The destruction of a human kingdom or two is an easy way to go about this.

Now all that's left is to hope that the resolutions to all these cliffhangers aren't drawn out over another week.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Honestly, there are so many ways Rimuru could prove he's Japanese. I mean, throwing a manga at her would be a good start. Or... you know... talking to her in Japanese

• If you're inside an antimagic field—or any type of ambush, for that matter—shouldn't trying to get outside of it be the first thing you do? I mean Rimuru doesn't even try.

• These barriers must take a ton of energy to maintain or every town and village would have one. I wonder how long they can be kept active.

• I was surprised we didn't get to see Youm or Myulan this episode. I guess we need to get everyone to a cliffhanger situation before we start resolving them.

• Given that the field only affects monsters, Youm is probably the strongest person in Tempest right now.

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.