That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3

Episode 64

Coming out of this episode, I want more episodes not revolving around Rimuru. While our little slime is present, this episode is much more Benimaru's story (and Hakurou's despite him being largely absent)—and it's better for it.

While a strong and competent leader—calm and quick-thinking—Benimaru isn't exactly a natural-born diplomat like Shuna, which gets him into trouble in this episode. His visit to the tengu is basically just a way to feel them out, to see if Tempest's plan to become the trading hub of the continent would inadvertently ruffle a few feathers. He's not making threats nor taking any hardline stance, he's just saying “These are our plans, do you see any problems with them?” Yet, the tengu, specifically their princess Momiji, react aggressively as if looking for an excuse to fight.

Soon Momiji and Albis are exchanging blows in the middle of a preliminary diplomatic talk between nations. Benimaru is smart enough to stop things before blood is spilled but not experienced enough to know he should dig deeper. He just seems to assume that this animosity to the outside world is a normal thing. It's only later when Momiji travels to Tempest that he learns of his mistake.

Basically, Frey had been focused on invading the tengu lands before stepping down from being a demon lord. With her in the south (though now under Milim's command) and Rimuru in the north, the tengu are basically surrounded by allied demon lords. Then Bennimaru just waltzes in with one of Milim's generals, further showing the close alliance between the two countries. It looks like a show of force saying “We're going to dig a hole through your mountain and you can do nothing to stop us if you want to survive.” This is why Momiji picks a fight. If she can beat one of the Beastketeers decisively in a fair fight, she'll be showing Benimaru (and Tempest as a whole) that her people are not pushovers.

Of course, the whole misunderstanding could have been avoided if Benimaru knew the first thing about the politics of the tengu and their relationship with Frey. If he had, he could have simply informed them of Frey's new position and change in focus. Sure, the tengu would have needed to confirm it, but the meeting in Tempest would have likely been far less tense.

Outside of the political implications, the rest of the episode is focused mainly on humor. Basically, outside of Rimuru himself, Benimaru is the most eligible bachelor in Tempest. He's a duke in all but name. Marrying him to a general or a princess of another nation would create a close tie to Tempest. Of course, said princesses and general are not really thinking of international politics—Momiji and Albis are just super attracted to strong men.

All this leads into a silly discussion about the male characters and their numerous admirers (or lack thereof)—with the big joke being that Rimuru doesn't realize he has his own harem of suitors hyper-focused on winning his heart. Lastly, we learn a bit more about Hakurou's life. He has a lost love just sitting on the mountain waiting for him, not to mention him having a daughter. I hope there is more follow-up to this in later episodes, especially with Kaede not long for this world.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Man, Hakurou sure does just take the whole suddenly have a daughter thing in stride, huh?

• I guess it makes sense that Kaede never reached out to Hakurou about their child. It's clear she thought he had died of old age—and even if she did search for him, she had no idea what his name was.

• So, Kaede and Hakurou met when they were relatively young, right? If Momiji is 15, how many hundred years was Kaede pregnant with her?

• I wonder if Rimuru can rename Kaede and give her a few more years with Hakurou?

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