That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3

Episode 57

Cliffhangers are a staple of television. Their job is to keep you coming back week after week by exploiting our need for an ending. Stopping something halfway just doesn't sit well with humans. Until something is finished, all the time we put in feels like a waste. However, cliffhangers are also a kind of promise to viewers: “If you tune in next week, we'll let you see how things turn out.” And when this promise is broken, it can be really annoying.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is hardly the first anime to put off a cliffhanger for an extra week—but I won't pretend it didn't rub me the wrong way. Don't get me wrong—the episode's contents aren't the problem. Seeing Diablo dealing with Falmuth's new king and watching Ragna solo an army on his own would have been engaging and entertaining in any other episode. However, the promise for this episode was to see what happened to Hinata after her fight with Rimuru—and while the episode does shift back to her for the final scene, all it does is make the cliffhanger even more “cliffhanger-y.”

Then comes the other issue with this episode: supporting cast bloat. At this point, I think the amount of characters has hit the point that it's nearly impossible for your standard, casual viewer to keep up with who everyone is and what their goals/alliances are. This season, at least 20 new characters were introduced between the Saints, Clerics, and Cerberus. It's so much that I didn't even remember who Damrada was upon first watching this episode (and still don't remember seeing his maid before). It wasn't until I saw the gun on her thigh that I recognized Glenda later on.

The problem is that I still don't understand how everything fits together regarding the Western Holy Church, The Holy Empire Lubelius, The 10 Great Saints, The Clerics of the Seven Luminaries, and Cerberus. (Note: I had to look up all the names in the Tensura wiki just to make sure I got them all right.) I understand that Luminous Valentine is at the top of both the church and the state (as she's basically god) but have no idea where the Clerics fit in—like how they have the power to command Hinata and her knights.

Sure, I understand that the Clerics and Cerberus are the bag guys—using the Saints as their unwitting pawns—but the show seems to be reveling in some grand conspiracy that can't be understood simply because we don't have the context needed to understand. So, instead of enjoying the images of a happy dog going for a run or Diablo bemusedly explaining that he's way more powerful than he lets on, I'm instead focused on puzzling out who all these characters are and whose side they are ultimately on.

Honestly, this episode is a frustrating mess—partly through its issues and partly due to the failings of past episodes being compounded here. Hopefully, things will become clearer now that the puppet masters have fully come out of the shadows to confront Rimuru head-on… but I'm not holding my breath.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• I think another issue is that each group has several different names—some similar to the names of other groups. So I'm always a little unsure who we're talking about.

• I wish I had a character map showing how everything is connected.

• I think this is the first time we've seen a potion not work.

• I wonder, can Raphael cast holy healing magic?

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